The Plainfield Town Council met on Monday, January 12, 2003. In
attendance were Mr. Kirchoff, Mr. Brandgard, Mr. McPhail, Mr. Fivecoat
and Mr. Gaddie.
Mr. Brandgard said we will take a moment to welcome our new
Council members to the Council to their first official Council meeting.
And also our new Clerk/Treasurer to his first Council meeting in an
official capacity. It is good to have everyone onboard. We look
forward to the next four years. I think there is going to be a lot of
hard work with the way that things have gone in the past and the way
that it looks for the future.
This is the first meeting of the year and the first issue in that
regard is the election of officers for the Council for the coming year.
We do that on a yearly basis. We have the President and the Vice
President as the two officers that we have to elect or appoint this
evening. With that I would open it up for discussion or a motion.
Mr. McPhail made a motion to nominate Mr. Brandgard for President
and Mr. Kirchoff for Vice President. Second by Mr. Fivecoat. Motion
carried.
Mr. Brandgard said the next item would be the liaison assignments
between the Council and the various departments. We have the water
department; sewer department; fire & police department; parks
department; street department and public relations. For the last
several years I have been the liaison between the water department and
the fire department. Mr. McPhail has had the sewer and wastewater and
groundwater.
Mr. Carlucci said also the trash and recycling is under that and
stormwater.
Mr. McPhail said I have tried to give a great deal of thought the
last couple of months and for myself I would like to make a change.
And what I have heard from some of the other Council members in terms
of what they would like to get involved in. Based on those thoughts I
would have the following recommendation:
Mr. Brandgard
Water and Fire Department
Mr. Gaddie
Parks Department
Mr. McPhail
Police Department and Public Relations
Mr. Kirchoff
Street Department
Mr. Fivecoat
Wastewater, storm sewers, trash, etc.
Mr. Fivecoat has expressed some interest particularly to be
involved in development. I don’t think there is an area more important
and tied to development than the sewer department. Mr. Gaddie has had
some experience with the Elks Club with some park-related activity.
Based on those thoughts that would be my recommendation.
Mr. Gaddie asked, would you repeat what Mr. McPhail said so I can
confirm it?
Mr. Brandgard said he said water and fire for myself; the
wastewater treatment, which includes trash and trash pickup and ground
water runoff would be Mr. Fivecoat; parks would be yourself; the police
would be Mr. McPhail. Mr. McPhail would also have the public relations
and streets would remain with Mr. Kirchoff.
Mr. Fivecoat said I don’t have a problem with sewer and
sanitation.
Mr. Brandgard said from the activities that is going on that
would be a lot of time especially with the new plant going in and the
new distribution system goes with it.
Mr. Carlucci said there is the combined sewer and overflows, CSOs
and stormwater. These are all costly things that are facing the Town
in the future.
Mr. Brandgard asked, Mr. Gaddie what are your thoughts?
Mr. Gaddie said what they picked out for me doesn’t matter as
long as we can work together with everything.
Mr. Kirchoff said none of us work in a vacuum on this.
Mr. Brandgard said the way that we have been set up is each
Council member is a liaison with the different areas in the Town. That
allows us to work with those areas and carry things to the Council for
discussion or resolution if there is something needed. We allow the
different departments to run themselves. We don’t get into the day to
day operations of the department but again we are there to provide
assistance or guidance when necessary. Again, as Mr. Kirchoff said, we
don’t do this in a vacuum. This is so that we can keep everybody
informed of what is going on in the various areas. One person can’t
hope to cover it anymore. So, again if any of us have a problem, we
call on the rest to help resolve it. Or if there is something going on
that you can’t handle or can’t be there to take care of it at that
time, call somebody else and one of us will sit in and take care of it.
So, it is a case where I look at it that we all agree to disagree and
work out the differences and go on. Nothing is ever where everybody is
exactly in agreement but we learn how to work it out and go on for the
betterment of everybody.
Mr. McPhail said I think one real plus that we have in all areas
is the fact that we have some excellent consultants that work with us
in all of these departments. They are a big help when you are sitting
there looking at any particular issue. You have Butler Fairman or
Schneider or other people out there. We have Avatar to help us with
communications. We have all of those consultants out there in addition
to our Staff. I think they are just an extension of our Staff. They
have a lot of good input and a lot of support. I can only speak
strongly from the sewage end of the thing and the sewage system. I
have spent untotaled hours out of six years working on this new sewer
plant. It is not nearly over. There is a lot of work to be done.
Every development that goes into our Town has to have water and sewer.
It takes a lot of time involved in that. I know that Mr. Kirchoff has
done the same thing with streets. I know that Mr. Ward did the same
thing with parks. When you have one individual to represent the
Council in all of those planning stages and then come back and report,
it is a real plus to us. We can’t all be there and we can’t have more
than two together at one time anyway. But it takes a lot of time,
maybe not on a daily basis, but on a monthly basis to each one of these
departments to have time to spend with Staff and consultants. One is
not more important than the other. They are all extremely important.
Mr. Carlucci said there is an interesting irony tonight. Mr.
Himmelheber who you followed on the Council was on the sewer plan area.
Mr. Himmelheber knows exactly how long you have to shepherd a project
because it is now being built. It has taken several years to get to
that point. The liaison system works well for the Staff too because we
can’t be experts in everything. We try to pick areas that we are very
good in but the liaison system makes it easier on Staff to bring a
project and discuss it with the Council. There are policy decisions to
be made and sometimes you don’t want to spend all of the time in front
of the Council. Otherwise, we would have work sessions every two
weeks. So, we will keep you as busy as you want to be busy in those
individual departments. Sometimes there will be a lot of things and
sometimes there won’t be very much. But the first thing that we need
to do is arrange some tours for both Mr. Fivecoat and Mr. Gaddie and go
and look at the new water plants and the sewer plants just to get you
up on what is going on out there.
Mr. Brandgard said in relation to that since we are formed it
would be a good idea, and I will look mostly to Mr. Castetter since
most of it touches him and with Mr. Belcher and Mr. Carlucci and Staff, to set up a Saturday morning where the whole Council or anybody else can take a tour of the facilities. It has been awhile since I have
seen them all. It would be a good idea just to refresh ourselves and
see what is going on. At the same time it may not hurt for the various departments and Staff to put together a short presentation of what you do and what you have going on. So, everybody knows what is going on even though one person will be working directly with that Staff area.
Mr. Carlucci said we will get that set up.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, do we have a motion on the floor?
Mr. McPhail said I would make that recommendation. Second by Mr.
Kirchoff.
Mr. Brandgard said we have a motion and a second as far as
liaison assignments as follows:
Mr. Brandgard
Water and Fire Department
Mr. Gaddie
Parks Department
Mr. McPhail
Police Department and Public Relations
Mr. Kirchoff
Street Department
Mr. Fivecoat
Wastewater, storm sewers, trash, etc.
If there is no further discussion, all those in favor signify by
aye. None opposed. Motion carried.
There are several appointments made at the beginning of the year.
They vary from one year to the next based on the term of appointments.
Currently I serve on the Plan Commission in the capacity as President
of the Council. Council member Mr. McPhail serves and then we have a
vacant Council member position. We need to reappoint all three
positions. Mr. Fivecoat has expressed an interest in it. Mr. Kirchoff
has expressed an interest in it over the years. I would open that up
for discussion. What we might do on this is go through the list. Once
we agree we can approve the list with one vote rather than go through
each appointment one by one. It makes it a lot easier, if it is
agreeable.
Mr. Carlucci said Mr. Brandgard already touched on the Plan
Commission. The Board of Zoning Appeals, Mr. Rick Matrana is a member
of the Plan Commission. The Town Council has to select a member of the
Plan Commission to sit on the BZA. The Plan Commission also selects
one of its members, which it did with Rick Matrana to be on the BZA.
So, you basically have two boards adding members to the BZA and then
you have three other members of the BZA that are appointed by the Town
Council. So, this year Rick Matrana is already a member of the Plan
Commission that the Town has appointed in the past to the Board of
Zoning Appeals. And then I believe this would be the second term, as a
member of the Board of Zoning Appeals, for Steve Blevins.
There are three members of the Board of Police Commissioners.
They are on staggered terms so this year it is Ralph, or as we know
him, Ed Daum. This would basically be a new term for Mr. Daum.
Because we are the largest community in Hendricks County we have an
appointment to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission, which meets in the
County. I believe they meet once a month. Mr. Hershel Marshall has
been on there for quite awhile. As a matter of fact, I think he
stepped in and wanted to serve again.
Mr. Ward had the Solid Waste District assignment in the past.
This might be something that Mr. Fivecoat might be interested in
because again it has to do with the landfill and trash, etc.
And the Redevelopment Commission all of these members have served
I believe since the inception of the Redevelopment Commission. They are
one-year appointments. They are all done at the same time. So, it
would be John Himmelheber; Arvin Lamberson; Judy Yoho; Stan Bassett and
Dr. Jerry Hollifield.
The Economic Development Commission Stan Bassett is on both the
Redevelopment and on the Economic Development Commission of the Town.
Mr. Bassett has served those roles for quite awhile.
The Hendricks County Convention and Visitors Bureau our Council
member Mr. McPhail has been on it and Mr. Young has been on it. I
believe because we are the largest Town in the County we have an
appointment to that board.
Mr. Brandgard said on the Hendricks County Convention and
Visitors Bureau they again sent a letter requesting that we reappoint
Mr. McPhail to that. They are happy with the job that he is doing
there. Just as a question on the Economic Development Commission we
have 02/01/04 through 01/31/08. Is 2008 correct?
Mr. Carlucci said yes. It ends up being four years.
Mr. Kirchoff said last year we staggered that. We were off a
month or something. I remember that now.
Mr. Carlucci said on the other side we have Larry Brinker, Chief
of Police. In the past we have done it for a two-year period. Bryon
Anderson is Fire Chief. Mel Daniel is Town Attorney. Even though they
are appointed for two years you can change that, if something comes up.
You can change that at any time. Those are the appointments.
Mr. Brandgard said on the fire chief, police chief and Town
attorney we went to a two-year appointment rather than a one-year
appointment for continuity purposes. As we went through there, we need
to decide who will serve on the Plan Commission and also who will
represent us on the West Central Solid Waste. If we have any other
changes we want to make, we need to do that. I will open it up for
discussion.
Mr. Carlucci said one thing that I did hear the other day on the
West Central Solid Waste District, and I first saw it in the paper
tonight, that there has been a resignation of Dave Odle. Secondly,
they are back to discussing whether they should go from a multi-county
district back to just Hendricks County. That should be a pretty
interesting discussion because they have had that in the past almost
from day one when they started the district.
Mr. Carlucci said one thing that I did hear the other day on the
West Central Solid Waste District, and I first saw it in the paper
tonight, that there has been a resignation of Dave Odle. Secondly,
they are back to discussing whether they should go from a multi-county
district back to just Hendricks County. That should be a pretty
interesting discussion because they have had that in the past almost
from day one when they started the district.
Mr. McPhail said I certainly think that position ties into the
assignment that Mr. Fivecoat has. If you remember, Mr. Ward volunteered
with a lot of coercion to fill that seat instead of me because I had
the Convention Visitors Bureau. It was a little bit overwhelming at
that point for me to sit on both of those boards.
Mr. Brandgard asked, Mr. Fivecoat would you like to take that on?
Mr. Fivecoat said yes I will go ahead and take that on.
Mr. Brandgard said I think it usually meets once a month.
Mr. Carlucci said they meet once a month and typically they meet
in Danville.
Mr. McPhail said they have an office there.
Mr. Brandgard said that brings us up to the Plan Commission. The
President is an automatic appointment. Does Mr. McPhail want to
continue to serve on the Plan Commission?
Mr. McPhail said I would definitely like to continue to retain
that seat at least for one more year. I have been working on a subcommittee
with the ordinance review and revisions. We are making a lot
of progress on that so I would like to continue to serve.
Mr. Fivecoat said I will drop out of the running on the Plan
Commission because I have taken on West Central and the sewer. I think
it would be too much right now since I’m just getting on the board. So,
I will drop out of the running on the Plan Commission.
Mr. Brandgard said I appreciate that and we do this every year so
we may be able to shift at some point. If you continue coming to the
meetings, it is appreciated.
Mr. Fivecoat said I will probably be at the meetings because I’m
interested.
Mr. Brandgard asked, Mr. Gaddie do you have any thoughts?
Mr. Gaddie said no. Mr. Kirchoff said he was interested so I
think that would be a good choice.
Mr. McPhail asked, have all of these other folks agreed to serve?
Mr. Carlucci said we don’t know. We send them a letter saying
that they have been re-appointed. Mr. Marshall will come in and ask
why we haven’t done this already. But most of them will want to
continue to serve. They enjoy what they are doing. They play a big
role in what the Town does especially last year. The Redevelopment
Commission did a lot of things last year.
Mr. Kirchoff made a motion to adopt the recommendations. Second
by Mr. McPhail.
Mr. Brandgard said we have a motion and a second to approve the
following appointments:
Appointments for the Plan Commission as Council members:
•Mr. Robin Brandgard
• Mr. Kent McPhail
• Mr. Bill Kirchoff
Appointments to the BZA from the Town Council:
•Mr. Rick Matrana
•Mr. Steve Blevins
Board of Police Commissioners
•Mr. Ralph (Ed) Daum
Alcoholic Beverage Commission
•Mr. Hershel Marshall
West Central Solid Waste District
•Mr. Daniel Fivecoat
Redevelopment Commission
•Mr. John Himmelheber
• Mr. Arvin Lamberson
• Ms. Judy Yoho
• Mr. Stan Bassett
• Mr. Jerry Hollifield
Economic Development Commission
•Mr. Stan Bassett
Hendricks County Convention and Visitors Bureau
•Mr. Kent McPhail
Hendricks County Economic Development Partnership
•Mr. Robin Brandgard
Chief of Police
• Chief Larry Brinker
Fire Chief
•Chief Byron Anderson
Town Attorney
•Mr. Mel Daniel
If there is no further discussion, all those in favor signify by
aye. None opposed. Motion carried.
Mr. Carlucci said your binders were pretty thick when you got
them. We try to put the items that really need your attention and need
to be voted on on yellow paper. So, you can just focus on that and
prioritize them. Then the way that we have worked the Consent Agenda
since we initiated this basically four years ago when Mr. Kirchoff came
on, if you just say you want an item pulled off, all of the other
members will consent to pulling it off. There is not a vote on that.
They will just pull it off.
Mr. Brandgard said what has happened is if there was something
there that somebody wasn’t comfortable with, they come up and tell them
before the meeting and we would pull that off and deal with it as a
separate matter.
Mr. Carlucci said you would just then take a motion and a second
to approve the rest of the Consent Agenda. This is about as short as
it has been in a long time. It has made the meetings go a lot quicker
but again the deal that was made when we went to the Consent Agenda, is
if one member wanted an item pulled off, all of the other ones would
agree to do that. There wouldn’t be a vote to leave it out or on. It
would just automatically come off. So, you have that power to take
something off, if that is what you want to do.
Mr. Brandgard said for Mr. Gaddie and Mr. Fivecoat the first item
you can be excused from since you were not on the Council for that
meeting.
CONSENT AGENDA
1. Approval of the minutes of the Town Council meeting of
December 22, 2003.
2. Approval of the December 2003 monthly reports for the
Plainfield Fire Department, Communications, Department of
Planning and Zoning, Department of Public Works, Plainfield
Police Department, Human Resources Director’s Report and
the Town Engineer’s Report dated January 8, 2004.
Mr. Kirchoff said I have one correction on the minutes. On page
7, about four paragraphs up where Mr. Brandgard is speaking, the word
“confidential” should read “confidentiality.” The agreement itself is
not confidential. With that change I would move to approve the Consent
Agenda as amended. Second by Mr. McPhail. Motion carried.
BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR
None.
TOWN MANAGER’S REPORT
Mr. Carlucci said I have the Plan Commission report for the
meeting on January 5. In both Mr. Fivecoat’s and Mr. Gaddie’s binders
I put the Plan Commission report in there. I don’t know if you have
seen but at least, because you are not on the Plan Commission, you have
the report to review. The only items that we bring back to the Town
Council from the Plan Commission is rezonings and any kind of text
amendments where you change the Zoning Ordinance. Or a Comprehensive
Plan or a new Zoning Ordinance or a new Subdivision Ordinance. But
typically when you are between Comprehensive Plans and Zoning and
Subdivision Ordinances what will come back is rezoning requests or text
amendments. It could be the Comprehensive Plan that is changed where
you have amendments to that or amendments to the Zoning Ordinance.
Those will come back. The Plan Commission can only recommend those.
They cannot approve those. They only make a recommendation to the Town
Council. I will go ahead and read this and will try to fill in the
details and then Mr. Higbee is here also. I, Richard A. Carlucci, in
my capacity as Secretary of the Plainfield Plan Commission, hereby
certify that a public hearing was held by the Plainfield Plan
Commission on Monday, January 5, 2004 on the petition of Duke Realty
Limited Partnership for rezoning of 32.072 acres from AG Agricultural
to I-2 Office Warehouse Distribution Industrial. And 19.38 acres from
AG Agricultural to GC General Commercial. The Plainfield Commission
voted six to zero to make a favorable recommendation to the Plainfield
Town Council to rezone said property as described on Exhibit “A” dated
the 9th day of January 2004. Of course, the legal descriptions are
attached. This property is located east of Clarks Creek Road basically
south of Perry Road behind Primo’s. It is the former Bishop property.
Duke has requested rezoning for both Industrial and for General
Commercial. They had previously submitted a petition late last year to
rezone it all Industrial. After discussions with Staff and a couple of
Council members basically they withdrew the petition. At the Plan
Commission meeting several conditions were placed on the rezoning. One
of the conditions placed on the rezoning is that this rezoning would
not take place until an additional nine acres was brought in and zoned
General Commercial. So, a lot of times we will bring an ordinance in
with this but we didn’t do that tonight because they put that condition
on it at the meeting. So, if the Council is favorable to the Plan
Commission’s recommendation, you can vote either to accept the
recommendation or to reject it. Sending it back is really iffy under
Indiana law. The options seem to be mostly either accept it or reject
it. You have to do that within so many days of the request coming out
of the Plan Commission too. But we will have Mr. Higbee and Mr. Daniel
keep us on track on what those rules are. I don’t know if Mr. Higbee
wants to add anything to what I have said.
Mr. Higbee said no. I would be happy to answer any questions but
you covered it.
Mr. Carlucci said if Mr. Fivecoat, Mr. Gaddie or Mr. Kirchoff has
any questions about the rezoning I’m certain we would be able to answer
them. But again the only motion that we would take is to accept in a
positive or negative fashion the recognition of the Plan Commission.
Nothing else can happen because they put restrictions on this rezoning.
Mr. McPhail asked, weren’t there also some commitments in the
rezoning as far as the buffering any docks along I-70 and on the west
facade of the industrial building?
Mr. Carlucci said yes. Typically, we would have the zoning
commitments and those actually get recorded as you go through the
rezoning. As a matter of fact, if the Council is in favor of this, we
won’t bring the rezoning ordinance in until we have those signed
commitments and get them recorded. But they did put some other
restrictions on there. One of the other restrictions was they had to
have an agreement with the Town for infrastructure. I believe the very
next day or two days later they were in here talking to Staff. They
have to make a decision if they feel the costs are too high, then they
will back off of their request. It is an issue of money for them and
for us. That rezoning will have a rolling effect on a lot of roads and
signals out there as Mr. Kirchoff knows. It is a cascading effect. It
is all for the positive but if that rezoning is allowed, then it is
really incumbent upon the Town to get with Duke and get it all done at
once because you can’t do it by piecemeal.
Mr. Kirchoff said we had discussions on that and we are still
continuing those discussions. So, nothing has been resolved.
Mr. Carlucci said I have a feeling that this will be back, the
discussions between the Staff and Mr. Kirchoff about the streets. This
effects Hadley Road and Clarks Creek Road. It effects Cambridge West
Drive as you head in. It effects traffic signals at Clarks Creek Road
and the signal at Quaker Boulevard and Hadley Road. It has a lot of
impacts. That is why that it came to you in this form that this is the
recommendation. This is not the end of it because this still may not
happen and then again it might. If you vote favorable, this does not
mean the property is rezoned because you have to do a separate
ordinance to rezone a piece of property.
Mr. McPhail said but we do need to act on the recommendation.
Mr. Brandgard said yes. We need a motion to either accept the
recommendation or reject it.
Mr. Kirchoff made a motion to accept the recommendation of the
Plan Commission to rezone 32.072 acres from AG Agricultural to I-2
Office Warehouse Distribution Industrial. And 19.38 acres from AG
Agricultural to GC General Commercial for Duke Realty Limited
Partnership. Second by Mr. McPhail. Motion carried.
Mr. Carlucci said the next item is vehicle financing. I put
together a request for quotes to every financial institution in
Plainfield. And also to the financing firm that is not located in
Plainfield but had financed our last police vehicles three years ago.
So, a total of 12 were invited to participate. We got these in today.
We had a total of eight responses. We had a quote sheet to put this on
and we would have someone with a higher interest rate that had the
lower monthly payment than people who had lower interest rates. So, I
want to thank personally Chief Brinker because he called all of them.
We had one bank that their total interest, because they misplaced the
period and a common, the payments of $80,000.00 was $8,000.00. And
then some transposed other numbers. The total amount we are financing
for police vehicles and two fire trucks was $1,586,273.81. So, that is
what we asked to finance. What we do is we want to pay this off in
three years or basically it is two payments a year. Except the way
that we are starting out this year is it is one payment this year; two
payments in 2005; two payments in 2006 and one payment in 2007. So, it
is a total of six payments. So, it appears to us that National City
Bank, which has a local branch by Kroger their annual percentage rate
is 2.27%. So, the semi-annual payments, which there will be basically
six of them spread out in 2004; 2005; 2006 and 2007 will be
$275,000.00. On the very right column the amount of interest on that
that the bank will receive is $63,726.19. Then you have the rest of
the chart that goes all the way down from the high to the low. Fifth
Third Bank has been very aggressive with this. Public Finance.com,
which is actually a preferred provider for the Cities and Towns
Association is the company that had the last financing on the cars. We
thought the rate was low three years ago. I just never thought it
would get to this 2.27%.
Mr. Gaddie asked, is this a fixed rate?
Mr. Carlucci said this is a fixed rate. We talked to the three
or four that were the closest and the ones that had something that
didn't make sense. So, we feel comfortable recommending to the Town
Council that National City Bank, One National City Center,
Indianapolis, Indiana be awarded the financing at 2.27%, fixed rate,
six payments to be spread out in 2004; 2005; 2006 and one in 2007. The
semi-annual payments will be $275,000.00 and the total interest to
National City will be $63,726.19. I would also like to ask the Council
to not only approve that but to authorize Council President Brandgard
to sign any necessary documents. Apparently, the Dodge dealership
having been told not to send any cars is sending them. Mr. Daniel will
obviously review the documents.
Mr. McPhail made a motion to accept the recommendation to select
National City Bank as a lender for the 2004 public safety vehicle
financing. At the annual rate of 2.27% with six semi-annual payments
of $275,000.00. And authorization to President Brandgard to sign the
necessary documents. Second by Mr. Kirchoff. Motion carried.
Mr. Carlucci said the next item that I have has to do with a
Sierra Crest Equities. They have made a tax abatement request. Sierra
Crest is a company located out of Sacramento, California. They have a
project that they built in Greenwood. They have a web site that you
can visit at sierracrest.com showing that one building in Greenwood.
They want to locate based on what is now the southwest corner of
Stafford and Six Points Road. I also sent their rendering. This north
is to my right. I don’t know if Columbia Road has been blocked off but
you can drive down Columbia Road. Did they block it off do you know?
Mr. Belcher said no.
Mr. Carlucci said they ought to. It is not paved all of the way
down at the south end. You can drive down that roadway. It is pretty
impressive but to the north here you are not right at Stafford Road
here yet. You go a little bit north in the General Commercial section
that proceeds that off Stafford Road. I will say that Mr. McNaught has
carried a lot of heavy water there because the State took all of the
right-of-way off of Six Points Road and made it a restrictive right-ofway.
So, he had to go to the Fish and Wildlife, which is located in
Bloomington. It is an unpleasant experience under the best of
circumstances. He had to deal with the airport. He was able to get
the road in and Sierra Crest has shown an interest in building flex
space.
What they are proposing on this 37.1 acres with the six buildings
that are shown is to develop flex space that we currently do not have
in Plainfield. They would be smaller size buildings. Right now most of
our buildings are averaging over a half million square feet per
building. Their first building is going to be 104,000 square feet.
They will divide it up between office space and then in the back of the
office would be warehousing space.
The tax abatement committee under the Tax Abatement Ordinance
consists of myself as the Town Manager; the Chairman of the
Redevelopment Commission, which is Mr. Himmelheber and the Chairman of
the Plan Commission, which is Mr. Haase. I talked to both of them
about their request.
What is intriguing about their request is that we think flex
space may do pretty well there on that section because of its proximity
right next to, not only a good road system internally, but as you come
right off I-70 up to Stafford Road that may be an ideal location for
that, to come up to Six Points to Stafford. If you know where the TKO
Graphics is being built now, Dermody had set that lot aside to build a
flex space building but they could never market it at that location.
But we think it is important to try to diversify the type of buildings
that we have out there. This is a perfect site to put flex space in.
So, their project is estimated with an investment of $25,000,000.00 to
$30,000,000.00 and 104,000 square feet.
On my report to the Council I listed several items and under
number 3, and this is important because I will to have the
Redevelopment Commission get together to discuss this, but the subject
property is located in the Six Points TIF district. Which basically
means the Redevelopment Commission has to approve a resolution allowing
an abatement in that district. Because there are bonds pledged toward
the Galyan’s project. Our financial advisor said this will have no
impact because the bonds were set up based on existing buildings and
not new buildings. So, typically the Redevelopment Commission have
approved these abatements but they have the right to do that because
their first priority is to make sure that the bonds get paid off. But
these are new buildings. The existing buildings were used to calculate
payment on the bonds and not any new buildings that might come in the
future.
So, it was the Tax Abatement Committee’s Advisory findings that
we have to bring this to the Redevelopment Commission. I will try to
set up that meeting next week if I can, prior to the next Council
meeting so that can get reviewed. The tax abatement process is a twostep
process. There is a resolution in the binders tonight for this.
That is a Declaratory Resolution. If you approve the Declaratory
Resolution, then we will publish a notice for a public hearing at the
next Council meeting, which would be on the 26th. In the interim we
have to send letters to the Hendricks County Commissioners; Plainfield
Public Library; Guilford Township and the schools letting them know
that this abatement has been requested. We have done a lot of
abatements over the years and I have never heard back from any of them.
Especially when they see our assessed value they are all real happy.
But again that is part of the process. This resolution tonight does
not approve an abatement. It sets in motion the process to have the
public hearing and then there will be another resolution. The
abatement will only be approved if you approve the confirmatory
resolution. If that is not approved, then there is no abatement.
There is nothing more for me to do here other than the resolution will
follow in the agenda.
But I would be happy to answer any questions about their
proposal. It seems pretty straightforward and again I don’t know if Mr.
Himmelheber wants to add anything as the Chairman of the Redevelopment
Commission. If not, it will come up later in the agenda. They appear
to me to be a quality developer from what I have seen on their web
site. Flex space I think is important to the Town. It will bring in
more opportunities. I think it is in the right location. I can tell
you that you cannot fit one big warehouse anymore on 37 acres. It will
just eat up 37 acres. The new Brylane warehouse is on 45 acres out
there. You can see that this is probably the best location for this.
I have one more item. Mr. Brandgard sent me an e-mail today
saying I didn’t get as much as I usually get in e-mail. He was
surmising that we put it all in the binders, which we did. I have
asked Chief Brinker, Mr. Castetter and Mr. Higbee to bring some
recommendations back to the Council on how to handle this issue. Mr.
Castetter prepared a CD-ROM and he put all of them on the disk. Then
you click on the list and you have all of the items on there. We are
going to have them make a proposal to the Council to give you some
options and we will let you select what option will work best. We had
a department head meeting and somebody said why don’t we put some
options out there and let them decide what they want to do. Maybe part
could be on the CD-ROM. Part of it is getting the two new Council
members laptops. All of that discussion is going to come at once. So,
we will bring that back because we don’t want to be sending binders
home with that information. That report will come back to the Council
at the next meeting and you will have it ahead of time so that you can
make a decision on how you want to do this.
REPORTS
Mr. Fivecoat said I have an uniformed conflict of interest
statement that I need to file with the Town by virtue of me being
President of the Modern Progressive Service Corporation, which is the
Plainfield Quality Cleaners. Some of the officers of the police
department and fire department use my facilities. We bill the Town and
we get a check so I need to file this to make sure that I’m legal. I
will give this to Mr. Isaacs after the meeting.
Mr. McPhail said I just have a quick report on the recreation
center. I believe given the weather conditions of the last month or so
and the holidays that progress is moving along. I would hope by the
first meeting in February to be able to give you a firm schedule and a
firm opening date for an outdoor aquatic center.
Mr. Brandgard asked, I know we thought we had the steel problem
corrected so do we now have all of the steel?
Mr. McPhail said we have fired the original steel contractor and
contracted with an additional firm to finish basically the vestibule.
That is going through final detailing or engineering to make sure that
it fits because you have one steel fabricator backing up to another
one. It looks like that is moving along very well. That contractor
has furnished some of the other steel like the stairways with a
miscellaneous contractor. We feel real confident that we will come
along in time and not be a hindrance.
Mr. Kirchoff said on December 30 I know that Mr. Carlucci, Mr.
Brandgard and I did attend the special called meeting of the Hendricks
County Council to discuss their main item of business, which was the
Inventory Tax. If you will recall, we did take a position, as a
Council, that we opposed the early repeal of that tax. If anybody
wants, we did get a packet of information and if you want to read it
and explain it, I would very much appreciate it. But basically based
on the information that was given that night from Senator Tom
Weatherwax and others that were there I think it became obvious that it
probably was appropriate to repeal it early. It gave the County more
options than we had realized. I think Mr. Carlucci had publicly stated
to me that we were opposed because of the information that we had at
the time. I think we have all agreed that it was the right thing to do
and we communicated that to our local representatives on the Council.
So, again I have some reading if anybody would like to take a look at
that.
The second thing is this Thursday we have another meeting of the
north/south corridor. Apparently, HNTB has moved it to a point that we
will be looking at some other reports and status of where we are on
that. It is my understanding that they have not yet contacted us or
the Plan Commission about a joint meeting here.
Mr. Brandgard said not that I know of.
Mr. Kirchoff said me neither and they need to get that done
because they wanted our input.
Mr. Brandgard said a comment relative to the Inventory Tax is I
thought it was extremely interesting that the author of the Senate Bill
came out to plea his case for the early repeal of the Inventory Tax.
Which I think is somewhat different than you usually see. As Mr.
Kirchoff said, our initial objection was because we weren’t contacted
and didn’t know much about it. As Mr. Kirchoff said, Mr. Carlucci
conveyed that message and then a little later on I conveyed the message
that our real objection was that we weren’t consulted on something that
would have an effect on us with what the County was going to do.
Again, as it moved on, it became apparent that it was the thing to do.
Mr. Daniel said last January 6 we closed on the Clement Electric
Company for our Town Center project. That is completed. We have also
received the return of the appraisals on the Dan Jones property. All
of those are in court now. But since that time we have also settled
both Coleman cases and the Cox case, which looked like was going to be
a problem. We now have resolved that so that is coming, hopefully,
rapidly to a close. We have four left that we are working with. We
can see if we can’t get them resolved based upon what the court
appraisals came back with. Some were higher and some were lower, as
usual.
Mr. McPhail said so we are down to four pieces.
Mr. Daniel said I think that is right.
Mr. Brandgard asked, Mr. Isaacs do you have anything to report
on?
Mr. Isaacs said not at this point. I had an interesting week and
will have something later.
Mr. Brandgard said I might ask the other duty the Town Council
has, and I forget the exact term at the moment because we only see it
maybe once a year or once every two years, is the Board of Finance. Do
we have to do that this year or are we okay? I think what it amounts to
is we go out to the community to where we would deposit the Town’s
funds.
Mr. Kirchoff said I think our approval last year was only for a
year. We didn’t do it at the first meeting but in January, if I
recall.
Mr. Brandgard said it used to be every two years that we did that
and then for some reason it became every year.
Mr. Isaacs said I will check on that.
Mr. Carlucci said I have been trying to mention to Mr. Isaacs
periodic things that maybe I thought he ought to know. I’m sure it’s
not enough but one of the things that maybe Mr. Isaacs knows or doesn’t
know is there happens to be if there are only four members at a Council
meeting and a vote ends up in a tie, I don’t know if you know that you
have to break the tie.
Mr. Isaacs said that was mentioned.
Mr. Carlucci said since I have been here it has never happened.
I have had other clerk treasurers come in and they have told the
Council you make sure that you all vote because I’m not. They usually
take that advice and make sure there’s not a tie vote. It does put the
Clerk/Treasurer in an awkward position but it doesn’t happen very
often.
Mr. Gaddie said I have been a member of the Optimist Club and I
was at their last meeting when Doug Esamann was there. I think on the
17th they are having a meeting to discuss what their plans are relative
to Lovell Field. I don’t know whether the Town has had any more
approaches on parcels of land that they have looked at.
Mr. Carlucci said since now you are the parks liaison I probably
need to spend some time to bring you up-to-date with what we have done
and talked about.
Mr. Prince said I would like to welcome Council member Fivecoat
and Council member Gaddie. I look forward to working with you. We
have a big year ahead of us in Parks and Recreation. My monthly report
was not included in the Consent Agenda. Generally, when I have a
report, it usually requires some action from the Council. I have four
items tonight. February 2nd our new Parks and Recreation’s employees
will begin with the Town. I don’t know if Mr. McPhail is going to
discuss anything tonight but it is our plans that we would occupy their
building in Town. And at that point and time we would set up our phone
systems and computer networks. Hopefully, this will happen as they
arrive here and we can have some place for them to sit down. That is
what I am hoping but I wanted the Council to be aware of that. We are
planning a reception for these new employees after they have been here
for a week or two. We will have something at the interurban to where
we can introduce them to the community and to the Council members.
Hopefully, you can get to know them a little bit. I will keep you
posted on that.
Secondly, I understand that you had a very large packet. I added
to that quite a bit but it included from Parks and Recreation a
proposal from Context Design. Some of the Council members will remember
that they are the design firm that did our master plan for the Bob Ward
Park. In the 2004 budget request we recognized the need for the
renovation of the Swinford Park tennis courts. Context has been chosen
by the department to start the design process to renovate these courts.
This is a project that was budgeted and hopefully will not exceed
$200,000.00. The renovation would include coming up with a strategy
for the placement of those asphalt courts. We have three options. We
can grind them up in place and put asphalt on the top. We can put a
fabric over the top of the asphalt and put a new layer down. Or we can
remove everything altogether. The firm is going to help us decide what
is the best process. That alone is going to have the greatest effect
on the price. That would include new fencing and new lights. We can’t
let anymore night play go on on those courts with the quality of
lighting that we have or we are going to open ourselves up to liability
issues if somebody gets hurt. We don’t have adequate lighting on the
court. I would answer any questions that you might have with this.
Context provided a pretty thorough summary of their understanding
of the job. I can tell you that I read through it and I approve of the
document. Near the end is the pricing on the document that is called
professional fees. What I’m asking the Council for tonight is
permission for a Council member to sign this contract to begin with the
planning phase, which is $2,400.00. But I am asking the Council to
approve this project. We would follow through with Context all the way
through design documents and helping us bid this out. I’m thinking, if
I could be real nice to Mr. Belcher, he might help me monitor the
construction and Mr. Castetter and we can lower the price of this
proposal by not including the bidding and the construction observation.
I think we can do that on our own in Town.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, is this simply updating the two courts in
Swinford?
Mr. Prince said they would be four courts. The courts are used
by the middle school and high school and they are used by the PE
classes. It is my hope that you will start seeing our own departmental
tennis program, which includes lessons and a tournament for our own
children in the community in these courts. Believe it or not we have
had play even as recently as the last Council meeting. If you will
remember how cold it was when I went home, we have had residences ask
to keep the lights on at the tennis courts. I hesitated and when I
left the last Council meeting in December, they were out there playing
tennis. We told them they had to be out of there by ten though.
Tennis is very popular and the courts at Swinford are in a state of
disrepair. They are cracked and uneven. They have multiple birdbaths
that keep the surface wet and allow algae to grow. The tennis net
posts are pulling away, which they are going to do. We have some
hardware issues and we need to make the improvements on those courts
and we need to move forward with that with your permission.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, are these the courts the high school uses?
Mr. Prince said the high school uses their own courts for
competition but the middle school practices tennis on our courts. And
the PE classes since I have been here we have always with open arms
offered them to the PE classes to practice tennis on. There are four
courts in our park and the school has four courts adjacent to the
administration building.
Mr. McPhail asked, with this proposal is there a $15,000.00
design fee? I certainly don’t have any problem moving forward. I
hesitate before we see bids and details to approve the construction. I
certainly like to see the design come in and get the bids in and give
our new Council members a chance to get involved and help make a
decision whether we move forward or not. I think you mentioned that
you wanted authorization to move ahead with the whole project is that
right?
Mr. Prince said I will clarify that. What I’m asking for is
permission to move ahead with the planning but it is my intent that we
will keep moving through planning design, development construction
documents and then bidding construction this year providing the plans
suit the Council.
Mr. Brandgard said I think the key is at this point he is asking
to approve the proposal for the planning and the construction
documents. Then once we have that in and we approve it, we will go out
for bids and that is when we would formally approving going ahead with
the program or not depending upon what happens there.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, are you asking approval for $11,200.00?
Mr. Prince said I’m asking approval to spend that much in design
but each one of this would be taken step by step, which would satisfy
Mr. McPhail. We will come back after planning and show you what we are
planning and ask permission to go through design development. But I
wanted it to be clear from the start that I had asked for funding for
this this year and providing everything is acceptable to the Council it
would be my intention to make these improvements in the park this
summer. I wanted to be clear on that point so that everybody could
understand what the department is trying to do this year. That is one
of the capital projects that we asked for funding for in 2004.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, are you comfortable putting them back where
they are?
Mr. Prince said yes. We are going to look at their orientation
to the sun but they face the proper direction. I don’t think we are
going to move them.
Mr. Daniel said what they submitted here is a proposal. At the
next to the last page they talk about terms of the agreement and it
says, “the standard terms and conditions attached form an integral part
of this agreement.” There was nothing attached to my document other
than the proposal of the fee sheet.
Mr. Prince said I’m sorry I have those in my office and I can
supply those to you.
Mr. Daniel said the fee sheet also refers to the standard terms
and conditions.
Mr. Prince asked, would it be acceptable to give those to you
after the meeting and I assume that we might ask Mr. Gaddie to be the
signatory on those? I could give those to him as well pending approval
of the attorney.
Mr. Brandgard said yes.
Mr. McPhail made a motion to authorize moving forward with the
contract with Context Land Planning for the tennis courts subject to
review by the counsel on the terms and conditions not to exceed
$11,200.00. And that we authorize Councilman Gaddie to sign the
document on behalf of the Council. Second by Mr. Fivecoat. Motion
carried.
Mr. Prince said next on my report is perhaps the most important
that I will ever ask you to approve for the Parks and Recreation
Department. This is approval of entering into a relationship with Jeff
Ellis & Associates who would be our aquatic management firm of record.
We would use the Ellis & Associates National Pool & Water Park
Lifeguard training program to train our lifeguards. Along with this we
would except Risk Management Services from Ellis & Associates. This
would not only include using their lifeguard training program but this
would also include unannounced operation safety audits and their
consultation. This relationship with Ellis & Associates also provides
us with legal support to our own attorney in the event that we have a
catastrophic aquatic accident at the recreation center.
Mr. Carlucci said I’m familiar with it a little bit because my
daughter is trained in it. But do you want to go through some of the
training that they do and what is involved in that and why it is
important?
Mr. Prince said the Ellis & Associates program differs from most
other certification programs in some unique ways. First of all the
lifeguards have to be retrained every year. They can receive their
training through Ellis instructors but it has to be updated at our
facility. It is very facility specific training based on the aquatic
attractions that we have. They are issued a license. They are not
issued a certification and the license can be taken away at any time.
In their training they are subjected to about 24 hours of a pretty
intense training protocol, which includes the use of a seal easy mask.
This allows the lifeguards to administer rescue breathing in the water,
which is very difficult. They are trained in the use of supplemental
oxygen, which is very important therapy if somebody suffers an injury
due to immersion under water. They are also trained in the use of an
AED, which is an automated external defibrillator. This is due to the
fact that our older residences at the recreation facility typically
have medical illnesses that require an AED. And a youth patient that
has stopped breathing due to immersion will often need the use of an
AED. This is just among other things. They attend extensive training
and how to actually watch water. It has been said that lifeguarding is
hours of boredom separated by 10 seconds of terror. That is what we
have to train these guards to do is to constantly watch the water.
What Jeff Ellis & Associates will do, and since we have an indoor
facility, this turns into a year around situation, four to five times a
year they will come to Plainfield without our knowledge. They will not
discuss it with anybody. They will do an audit that has three
components to it. The first is unannounced. They stay off the
property and they use video equipment. They may have to notify the
police department that they are coming to Town because they will be in
the parking lot somewhere with video equipment. They will zone in on
several lifeguard stations and they will keep that camera on that
through three or four rotations of the lifeguards. The lifeguards have
criteria that they have to keep. If they fail, they fail and their
license is taken away.
Then Ellis & Associates comes into the facility and they set up
an aquatic emergency that our Staff has to respond to while the pool is
opened. They have to do it 100% right or their licenses are revoked on
the spot. After that they do an administrative audit where they come
in and measure how well Staff is supporting lifeguards and how well we
are keeping our paperwork up and how well we are monitoring water
quality. And how much in service training that we are putting the
lifeguards through. Is our oxygen ready to go? Is our AED ready to
go? Are our first aid kits stocked and ready to go? We are subjected
to this at any time. We do not know when this is going to happen. This
is what makes the system works. It is based on a system of
accountability. Over a period of years being audited four or five
times a year we start filling out a bookshelf of video tape of our
Staff doing it 100% right 100% of the time. Should we have an aquatic
emergency, this will not prevent it. It could happen. They will come
and assist our attorney with our record of getting it right in a court
of law to prove that if we had an accident, it was truly that, it was a
tragic accident. That is what Ellis does for us.
There have been some other companies in the 20 years Ellis
started this that have come on board and they are starting to think
this is a pretty great way to make some money. But Jeff Ellis &
Associates started this in the late 80s and it is the best. It does
15
not get any better than this. You can tell that I’m pretty emotional
with this. I have been working in aquatics for 22 years now and I can’t
imagine running an aquatic facility without this program. As I said,
it is truly the most important thing that I brought in front of the
Council.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, are you thinking of a multi-year contract?
Mr. Prince said through 2005.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, when would you want this to be effective?
Will you tie it to the opening of the facilities?
Mr. Prince said I’m asking the Council to approve it and a
Council member to sign that tonight. We are going to start training
lifeguards in March and April. So, we need to establish a relationship
so that we can start ordering our textbooks and our licenses. I happen
to be certified already and our aquatics manager has been with the
Ellis program for 10 years and his certification is up. We are going to
re-up his in March as well. We get discounts on these materials as
soon as we become a client. So, I’m asking the Council to approve this
tonight and identify a Council member, probably Councilman Gaddie, to
sign that document after everybody feels that they are comfortable with
it.
Mr. Fivecoat said I noticed a program one time on the Discover
channel on Ellis. It showed the process that they go with and how they
evaluate their lifeguards. I was very impressed with it. Like they
said they never know when they are being evaluated. In that one they
really didn’t know when they were going to have it. A guy just walked
over and keeled off in the pool in front of the lifeguard. They found
out when they got in the water, that it was a test. But they don’t
know when it is going to happen. I was really impressed with this
document that you gave us.
Mr. Brandgard said you stated that you want this through 2005 but
I don’t see that in here or the amount.
Mr. Kirchoff said it said multi years you could lock in the rate
so that is why I was asking.
Mr. Prince asked, did you receive the contracts?
Mr. Daniel said once again this is a proposal I think Mr. Prince.
There is no contract attached.
Mr. Prince said they are right here. Each one of these has a
second page to it. I might add that we are not billed for this until
it happens. You are seeing a lump sum. We get billed after our audits.
We get billed after our safety inspections so we don’t write them a
check for this amount. We write it when services are rendered.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, wouldn’t we need more than this for a
contract?
Mr. Daniel said the only question that I have is you talked about
several things that they provide, etc. but I don’t think any of that is
in here.
Mr. Prince said I have a suggestion that I could get Mr. Daniel
in touch with our contact from Ellis & Associates and let them discuss
it and then come back with that. Would that be acceptable?
Mr. Brandgard said I think that would be a good move. What you
gave us here to me when I read across, it is says quantity one, annual
client retainer fee, division three, price $700.00. And the delivery
date says $700.00. When you come down to the third item there, it says
quantity four, aquatic safety operation audit, unit price $700.00,
delivery date $2,800.00. To me that should be the extended price. The
way this sheet is put together is not exactly what I would call a
proper form for what it is showing. It doesn’t give the time period of
the service to be performed. You have a thank you for your inquiry
dated January 6, 2004 but I don’t see anything in here that says that
it is good for 2004 and 2005. For everything that you say that you are
getting for $4,200.00 and $4,900.00 that seems to be terribly
reasonable.
Mr. McPhail said it is a little difficult to read but at the top
it says 2004 and the second one says 2005. So, they are giving you a
quote of $4,200.00 for 2004 and $4,900.00 for 2005.
Mr. Prince said I’m sorry I didn’t know that was where the
trouble was.
Mr. Brandgard said that is what gives me concern. It is not very
clear.
Mr. Prince said there is a document for 2004 and there is one for
2005. You pay the firm for a retainer and then they bill you after the
audits. Since you don’t know when they are coming you don’t know when
you are going to get billed.
Mr. Brandgard said I understand it a little bit better. This is
a retainage fee and then as they perform the services we are billed in
addition to.
Mr. Fivecoat asked, on these training levels how many levels are
we going to be in?
Mr. Prince said we have talked to Ellis about that and we think
we are going to be in two levels. We think we can go with a shallow
level lifeguard and we can go with a pool lifeguard. A special
facility lifeguard is usually with drop slides and we don’t have any
drop slides in wave pools and we don’t have a wave pool. So, we can
get into shallow water and a pool lifeguard, which will get you into 12
feet of water. It starts to get pretty challenging but the shallow
water certification allows us to run a class. It doesn’t require deepwater
skills. It allows us to put a lot of different types of people
to work. The shallow water lifeguard is for three and a half feet and
less of water, slide, catch pools, things like that. I think the most
important thing is Mr. Daniel obviously wants to get to know Ellis a
little bit better and I would suggest that we allow them to do that.
Mr. McPhail said what this is saying is there is an annual
retainer fee of $700.00. Your safety inspection is $700.00 and your
four audits are $700.00 so that totals $4,200.00. In addition to that
for each shallow lifeguard training it is $70.00 each. If you have 10
of them, that would be $700.00.
Mr. Prince said that is right.
Mr. McPhail said $4,200.00 is not the total cost. That’s the
fixed fees and then you have a unit price for everything else.
Mr. Prince said we typically ask the lifeguards to buy their
licenses so those fees that you see down there, $70.00, etc., we
typically ask them to meet us half way and get that license. After
that we take care of their needs. So, typically speaking that is not a
fee that we ask the Town to pay. It can be done. I have done it both
ways where the town has bought the licenses or we ask the lifeguard to
buy the license. The license is only part of the class. We have to
pay the instructor, etc.
Mr. Kirchoff said obviously these are services that we need. You
seem to think the pricing is reasonable but I think all of us are
saying that we need some kind of contract here. What do we do?
Mr. Brandgard said at this point let’s let Mr. Daniel contact
them to discuss what we have. This may be okay.
Mr. Daniel said I think it is conceivable that we can tie in what
they have attached to this in terms of the contract.
Mr. Prince said I might add that Indy Parks is on this program,
Deep River Water Park in Merrillville, Splash and Safari, Santa Claus
and Ft. Wayne Parks and Recreation, etc. There are YMCAs that are going
with the Ellis program as well. So, we are in good company in Indiana.
Mr. Kirchoff said we can approve it at the next Council meeting
or the early February meeting.
Mr. Prince said I will work with Mr. Daniel and Councilman Gaddie
on that and make sure that everybody is comfortable with the language.
The department is in the process of developing a very
comprehensive web site to be launched sometime………
[Tape one concludes at this point and time and resumes as
follows:
We set up a non-reverting account to hold donations the
department receives and also sponsorship money that I collected. Right
now this account holds $6,500.00 in it. We talked about this in budget
meetings. I don’t know if you will recall it but I had set up and
proposed a non-reverting fund for each of the departments in the Parks
and Recreation Department to set aside money for long-term
rehabilitation of the properties. Also, we have this other account
into which I deposit sponsorship money that comes in. I mentioned to
the Council in the budget meetings that I don’t expect to spend that
without permission. What I would like to do as we continue with the
sponsorship program, which is going to get pretty substantial in the
coming years, is come to the Council and ask your permission to spend
that money. It is not tax money. It is donations and sponsorship
money. In this account right now there is over $6,500.00. I would
like to use that money to pay the first phase of our web site
development. We had budgeted through the end of 2003 and into 2004 for
web site development but 2003 is over and we did not get the bill in on
time for the first phase, which we had planned. By using this
sponsorship money we leave money in the operational budget in our
marketing and our promotion accounts for opening up the recreation
center. I would like to spend this money that really hasn’t been
earmarked for anything that I have earned and has come in from
different sources through donations. Mr. Carlucci has some money
donated that he is putting in that account from other sources and I
would like to spend that on our web site with your permission.
Mr. Gaddie asked, have you discussed that with Mr. Castetter
since we have a computer expert?
Mr. Prince said Mr. Castetter and I are becoming close friends
and he is going to help us to set up our network. He is going to help
us with the phone system and he is going to help us ultimately make
this high tech web site work. We are going to attempt to become a
paperless office with this web site. We are going to have a lot of our
departmental activities take place on it and a lot of e-mail and
communication through this web site. Mr. Castetter has volunteered to
help us through this so yes.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, does Avatar do the actual design?
Mr. Prince said Avatar is designing the web site.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, what is your estimated cost for this?
Mr. Prince said $18,000.00.
Mr. Kirchoff said so you want to apply this $6,500.00 toward the
$18,000.00.
Mr. Prince said actually the second part of my question is we
have earned over $7,000.00 in Pepsi revenue and I would like to use
Pepsi money that I believe was put in the General Fund. I know that in
the past year and a half all of the kids that go to the skate park have
helped us save $7,000.00 on a Mountain Dew. It is an important part
that I think I can pay for this web site without tax dollars. That is
my goal. That is the direction that I’m heading with it.
Mr. Brandgard said part of it when Mr. Prince came in, he said he
would pay part of this whole program with what he can accumulate from
various sources. It looks like he is doing a fairly good job with it.
Mr. Prince said Mr. Carlucci has put money in there too.
Mr. Brandgard said $7,000.00 in soft drink sales is a lot.
Mr. Carlucci said we have them at Swinford, Franklin and the Town
Hall.
Mr. Prince said we have six machines right now. We are going to
add two next year just in the parks. That is nothing compared to what
we are going to go through in the summer at the recreation center.
Mr. Kirchoff made a motion to approve Mr. Prince spending
$6,500.00 that he has received from sponsorships and the $7,000.00 odd
dollars from the soft drink sales to be applied toward the web site
development for the Parks and Recreation Department. Second by Mr.
Gaddie. Motion carried.
Mr. Prince said lastly keeping you apprised of the construction
you may see in the parks when you drive through, in 2004 we asked for
funds to make enhancements to the shelters. We bring in over $6,000.00
in shelter rentals every year. I’m not asking to spend that but we
have a lot of people that enjoy our shelters. We recognize that we
need improvements. We welded the grills together three times now. We
are getting new grills and new water fountains. We are redoing some
cracked sidewalks and adding outlets for warming and tables. We are
going to place in the Franklin Park some port-a-lets closer to the
shelter. You will see that work taking place in Swinford Park right
now. So, if you are wondering what the mud is, we just got it put back
together and that is what we are doing is enhancing those shelters
before the busy picnic season gets here.
Mr. Fivecoat asked, do we have port-a-lets at the skate park?
Mr. Prince said we don’t and they have been requested. We put a
line in the budget this year to add those in the most tasteful way
possible, which is usually building a nice enclosure for them. And
having them cleaned up more than once a week, a couple of times a week.
We have had some parents ask for some port-a-lets at the skate park and
I’m definitely considering that.
Mr. McPhail said during the holidays Mr. Prince brought to me a
lease agreement for his computers and computer system. Between him and
Bill Castetter they have recommended that we enter into a lease
agreement with Old National Bank in Jasper to finance the leasing of
all of the computer equipment for the recreation center. I have asked
Mr. Castetter to go through this thing because the lease agreement is
quite involved beyond my capabilities of understanding. Mr. Daniel has
told me that it is a little different than anything that he has seen.
There is even a place in here for the Clerk/Treasurer to sign. It is
pretty in depth. Mr. Castetter has recommended that we agree to this
lease agreement. Mr. Prince do you understand this total cost and all
of this stuff?
Mr. Prince said yes.
Mr. McPhail asked, can you help me with the numbers?
Mr. Prince said I don’t have the document in front of me.
Mr. McPhail said I will let you look at it but Mr. Daniel has
reviewed this document and has I think attached the information that is
required from his legal opinion on there. There is just one objection
that I want to make and I will make a motion that we approve this
agreement. The bank has asked that we pay a $300.00 preparation fee
and I’m not willing to do that. If they are willing to do this, they
should not have to charge us for preparing the documents.
Mr. Brandgard asked, did we go anywhere else to see if we could
lease this or what did we do here?
Mr. Prince said we asked for three quotes from leasing companies
and they were all the same. When Mr. Castetter got here, he happened
to get that file in its entirety and took over on that. After talking
with the leasing companies, he selected this as being the most
favorable rates. So, that is where we took it from there. We did
request three different quotes from leasing companies and as I recall,
they all came in with the same interest rate and same structure. And
then Mr. Castetter interviewed the company. I hate to speak for him
but I think that is my understanding.
Mr. McPhail said the note from Mr. Castetter says “attached is a
computer equipment lease. There are several places for Council member
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signatures and a letter to be sent out by our attorney and one place
for the Clerk/Treasurer. I suspect those would be more comfortable if
the legal is done first.” And we have done that. Mr. Daniel has
reviewed the whole thing. It is a little outside my area of expertise.
Other than the financial part of it I have to depend on Mr. Castetter’s
expertise in terms of this being a good lease agreement for that
equipment. In the past we have purchased all of that kind of stuff.
It makes sense to me to lease it. Mr. Castetter has worked with this
particular leasing company in the past, it is my understanding.
Mr. Prince said yes he has. When we put the budget together for
the recreation/aquatic center, we were going to purchase the computers.
We had a line item in that budget for $50,000.00. The computer
equipment for the recreation center has come in at $43,903.00. I
presented to the Council at the last budget meeting my intent to use
this as a lease and use that as an operational expense that we would
pay every month. In three years we would enter into a new lease at
which time the warranties will run out on this equipment and we would
upgrade the equipment. This includes our two networks that it will
take to run the facility and all of the PCs for the facility and all of
the printers that we are going to have in the facility. This is 19 PCs
and every point of sale in the facility has a PC at it. Actually, the
longer we waited on this the prices kept going down. That also includes
four PCs for the full-time employees and then a much lower priced
machine that we have at our points of sale and registration terminals.
That actually gives us one extra computer that we will use in case one
goes down. If you are expecting 1,500 people and one goes down, we
don’t have to worry about it then. We can remove it and bring out the
new one and put it in place while the other one is getting repaired.
For instance, if we had one go down when we were opening up the pool.
Mr. McPhail said I would add one comment that Mr. Prince alluded
to earlier. With the closing on the Clement Electric building it is our
intent when they move out of that building, to allow Mr. Prince to move
into that building with this new computer equipment. And have a place
to test it and start training people until such time that the aquatic
center is ready for him to move in. So, we have a place to set it up
and operate it. I don’t know how many days we have after the closing
to get possession but I know Mr. Clement will work with us and we will
be able to work that out.
Mr. Prince said it is our intent to set this network up in the
next few weeks in a building somewhere. So, we can load our facility
management software and start going through our training. So, that in
March and April we can start selling memberships to the community.
Then with Mr. Castetter’s help we will load all of that equipment up in
our truck and take it out to the recreation center where we can plug it
in the walls and it will work out there too.
Mr. McPhail asked, what is our lease payment there?
Mr. Prince said $1,337.95 a month, which is funded in the 2004
budget.
Mr. McPhail asked, is that a 36-month lease?
Mr. Prince said yes.
Mr. McPhail made a motion to approve the lease agreement for the
computer equipment required for the Parks Recreation Aquatic Center
with Old National Bank of Jasper, Indiana. The motion does not include
paying them the $300.00 document fee for the preparation of documents.
And that Councilman Gaddie be the authorized signatory for the
document. Second Mr. Kirchoff. Motion carried.
Mr. Higbee said Mr. McPhail had mentioned about me reporting
briefly on my ordinance committee. Is there still a desire to hear
about that tonight? If you wanted, I could defer it to another meeting
but I would be happy to talk about it tonight.
Mr. McPhail asked, would you give us a brief report?
Mr. Higbee said for more than a year the Plan Commission has been
talking about several changes to our Zoning Ordinance. Over six months
ago we formed an ordinance committee that has been meeting at a mind
boggling pace. We have met once or twice a month usually for two to
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three hours each time to really look at a number of changes to our
Zoning Ordinance.
There were several driving forces. One of them was the Town
Center Plan, which was adopted earlier in 2003, which necessitated a
whole slew of changes to make the ordinance compatible with the new
Town Center Plan, which is part of our Comprehensive Plan. We are also
doing a few more revisions related to our residential design
guidelines, which were passed last year also and are also part of our
Comprehensive Plan now.
There was also interest in parks in creating a new parks zoning
and the ability to have a master plan approved by the Plan Commission
and then subsequently be able to make changes in conformance with the
master plan without having to come back to the Plan Commission for
every little change. Instead those minor changes that would happen
after the initial master plan was approved would then be approved out
of my department administratively and that would just ease the process
for everybody.
But another driving force was to try to go through the ordinance
with a fine tooth comb to make sure there was nothing in there that was
unduly restrictive in terms of a lot of little minor things that are
being regulated. As an example, we just today had a meeting and we
were discussing ground signs, which are the typical signs that you see
out in front of a commercial outlot. You will see a 48 square foot
ground sign, for example. And we decided that we should allow what we
are already allowing but also give the ability to have a base
underneath the ground sign, which adds area to it and raises the height
a little bit. And also have columns to the side up to a certain width
that would not penalize the person for having those. Because what was
happening was people were coming in with some nice designs with those
items included and our calculations that were required by our ordinance
were penalizing people for doing that. We have been looking at all
kinds of things throughout the ordinance to see where does it make
sense for us to loosen up and allow a little bit more and maybe clarify
some things that have been confusing some people.
Lastly, this is probably as significant as anything that I have
said is we are really looking at taking some items that are now coming
to public hearings that are more minor in scope and having them being
approved administratively out of my department. What that will do is a
number of things. One, it will unclog some of our agenda so that our
Plan Commission and BZA and our Design Review Committee as well will be
looking at bigger projects. And really focusing their time on those.
But also on the smaller items, which now because they have to be
docketed for a public hearing, automatically take at least 30 days and
longer depending on when they file and what they have to do after they
get through the Plan Commission. I would say that many of those items
could take up to 45 days from the conception to when they finally get
something approved that they can build. By making those items
administrative we will probably more than cut that in half for many of
those items. So, people who are now feeling like they are not getting
service will suddenly notice that things are happening a lot faster.
So, we are spending lots and lots of time on that. We are hoping that
maybe in the February and March Plan Commission meetings I will bring a
piece of some of those ordinance changes to you as a heads up, this is
where we are headed, are we headed in the right direction? If that
goes favorably, maybe right after the first quarter in 2004 we will
bring something to the Plan Commission that they could vote on and then
be brought to the Town Council for adoption later on.
Mr. McPhail said to add to your comments we are looking at things
to try to streamline the process. Right now we are looking at things
at the Plan Commission that meet all of the ordinances. And not only
is it taking our time but it is an added expense to the petitioner and
everybody else. So, we are trying to grease that sled a little bit.
If everything is okay, let it go through administratively. We don’t
need to look at all of that.
Mr. Higbee said it should have a little bit of benefit for the
Staff as well. We really tried to work hard on handling the increase
load that comes with growth. We think that the administrative
approvals will have at least a slight positive impact on our Staff load because it will mean less items coming to you. And less Staff Reports
getting written and so forth. I will still have to go out and visit
the sites. I will still have to review things. That quicker review
time should allow me to get them out of my hair faster so that I can
concentrate on other projects.
Mr. Belcher said one thing that I wanted to add is Mr. Daniel had
reported on Dan Jones Road. A little bit of good news there is we
actually received a call, and our consultant did who is working on the
design of it, and it appears that they are looking for some projects
that are ready to go. Because Mr. Daniel has the cases filed and those
kinds of things we can certify our right-of-way by the end of this
week. Which puts us in the line of all of the projects wanting funding
earlier and hopefully if things go really well, which we can’t be sure
of it, but instead of starting possibly in May we could be moved up
from that earlier in the year. It has a lot of good things not just
the idea of getting the funding obviously, which is great but the idea
of how the road would be this time next year if we start earlier in the
year. It is really exciting if they are looking for places to spend
money, certainly a lot of our residents have put a lot of that money
into the till. So, if we can get that money on Dan Jones Road, that
would just be great. It does bring the issue of Lovell Field right to
the center of where it should be so that we can get that figured out
anyway but that will hopefully happen.
The second thing that I wanted to show you is I didn’t want to
talk a lot about it tonight because there is so much in it. I just
dropped it on your desk this evening on South Center Street, the
traffic analysis that has been done. Just for the benefit of the two
new members last August/September time frame the Council approved
looking at the South Center Street corridor. Basically, because we
have balancing issues there of pedestrian movement in that area going
up and up because of the great parks that we have, Hummel and Swinford
and the skate park. And then the potential conflicts that we are
seeing with the traffic. So, we are trying with this report to find
out what we can do on the short-term and long-term for that corridor
and attempts to make it easier for pedestrians to move about down there
in a safer manner. And also keeping the traffic moving. Center Street
is an extremely important corridor for us as far as traffic movement.
So, we do want to keep cars moving. It is just the matter of how fast
and making it safe for people to cross the street to get to the parks.
I will let you absorb that and if you have any questions as you look
through it between now and the next meeting, you can let me know. We
want to do a more formal presentation to you but I wanted to get it in
your hands first.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, can it wait for our work session?
Mr. Belcher said it probably could and that might be a more
appropriate time. Mr. McGillem and I went to the Guilford Township
Trustees’ meeting this last week just to basically give that to them
too. They are one of the largest landowners or land managers in that
area and what is in this report impacts them. So, we wanted to make
sure that they were aware of it. They seemed real positive about it.
I think we have their support at this point on it. But there is a lot
of things going on down there. I think there are some good ideas in
this report too and some that you might want to add if you think of as
you drive down through there and look at it in a different way. I
would appreciate it if you could do that.
The next item in the report also I’m not looking for an approval
tonight but the agreement with the Settlement development on water
services. This sort of represents where it is at the point of being
close to finalized. I wanted to get it in your hands for your
consideration. If you have any questions, I could talk about them now
or at another time. I think the developer is getting to the point where
he would like to start and get this thing behind him. He has all of
his other agreements in order. He has some approvals through Avon now
so in the spring he will want to get started. There are some things
that obviously we have to do and they have to do also when this
agreement becomes approved. If there are any questions on that, I
would entertain them now or we can talk about it at another time.
Mr. Carlucci asked, is it your intent at the next meeting to get
approval of this agreement?
Mr. Belcher said actually what I would like to do after Mr.
Daniel has had a chance to look through it and any Council member
between now and the end of this following week, if it is final, is give
it to the developer to get it signed. And come back signed to the
Council already approved by the developer. So, that when it is signed
here, it is done. That would be my preference.
Mr. Kirchoff asked, how soon can that happen?
Mr. Belcher said it would be the following Council meeting unless
something comes up.
Mr. Brandgard said I think the key is if Mr. Daniel reviews this
and has no problems with it, then we can release this to the developer.
And he can sign it and bring it back to the next meeting for us to sign
or receive comments.
Mr. Belcher said that is what I thought too that there may be
some other comments from the Council members or the developer. If it
were in good shape, it could be on the Consent Agenda or we could bring
it up for discussion.
Mr. Kirchoff said I think timeliness is of some value here.
Mr. McPhail said I feel we could probably approve it tonight
based on Mr. Daniel’s review. Any changes would have to come back to
this Council.
Mr. Daniel said I guess I would be inclined to have anybody make
comments that they want to make and have it in his hands by Friday. And
then if he has any comments, he would then have a week to hash those
out. I went through it very quickly this afternoon. It looks like it
still requires some work.
Mr. Belcher said I expected that it would. We used a lot of the
old ones but it is sort of a mesh mash of several that we have had in
the past. I knew that you would look at it.
Mr. Brandgard said I think the key is if the developer is ready
to sit down and agree to something, we need to get this moved along.
We have had some difficulty is getting everybody to sit down and agree
to agree to something. I think reading through it I agree I’m pretty
comfortable with it but like Mr. Daniel said there is some tweaking
that needs to be done within it. If we could get that done by the end
of the week, we could get it to the developer to let him review it.
So, that we could approve it at our next meeting.
Mr. Kirchoff said I think there is some urgency to get that done.
Mr. Brandgard said there are a lot of things contingent regarding
the road and also getting the water lines going also.
Mr. Belcher said the only other thing that I would add wasn’t in
my report. But just to update you a little bit, this is the first
sewer problem that you get to be involved with, the sewer between
Buchanan and U.S. 40 where we had the bank eroding. A couple of weeks
ago we had a couple of inches of rain and then over the weekend another
two or three feet of that bank went away. Basically, between Mr. Brown
and Mr. Castetter and Mr. Carlucci we talked and we said we have to do
this. So, we just started buying riprap. We didn’t have our permits
back yet and I do give DNR credit. They came out. Physically a person
came out and we said guys we can’t wait. I’m sorry but we have to go
forward. They said well you better wait. As it turns out, one more day
they gave us our permits. We didn’t start so we had the permit in hand
now and it is going to start immediately here. Actually, I think Mr.
Brown is hoping to do that himself. He has equipment down there and all
of that. I think we are pretty ready to roll on that now.
Mr. Brandgard said it is one of those things that it was so
critical even without a permit we had to protect it. But just on the
other side of that issue if we have the permit, we should have had it
done already if it was that critical.
Mr. Belcher said there is always a balance there.
Mr. Brandgard said what I’m saying is the fact that we did wait
and they got us the permits the next day but if it was so critical as
soon as we got the permit, maybe we should have been dumping stone down
there.
Mr. McPhail said the stone is there. It just needed to be pushed
in place.
Mr. Belcher said the stone was coming in before the permit was
issued but the machine didn’t start pushing it in the creek yet.
Mr. McPhail said if we had a rain forecast, I guarantee that we
would have had somebody pushing it in there.
Mr. Brandgard said the lower it gets the better it is for pushing
that in where it belongs.
Mr. Belcher said the freeze helped a little bit but that is going
away now too. We will get it in there and things are going well with
that and we will be within our permit.
Mr. Carlucci said I’m not sure which is worse getting crosswise
with DNR or IDEM. I can tell you one thing IDEM holds our permits for
the sewer plan and sewer lines and everything. I’m not caviler about
this but we were going to go ahead without the permit because we had to
protect that sanitary sewer from leaking into that creek, which would
have been a worse situation. And would have been a very costly one. We
can’t wait until they decide they are going to have to approve a
permit. If they don’t like it, fine us but it is going to cost us 20
times as much to clean it up after the fact. So, you get in the middle
between those two departments and it is amazing how they did finally
get the permit. The permit wasn’t the issue. We were going to put that
riprap in and protect that sanitary sewer. That drains the entire
Saratoga development. All that sanitary sewer is coming from there.
Mr. Brandgard asked, Mr. Castetter do you have anything to add?
Mr. Castetter said no other than DNR coming down and being very
beneficial and seeing what we had. I think they moved the process
along in a quick pace and they were very helpful. Granted we weren’t
going to wait on the permit and we were going to do it.
Mr. Brandgard said before we move onto old business, especially
for the new Council members, as we went through earlier with the
various departments, we have liaisons too that if somebody comes up and
asks, say Mr. Fivecoat has the sewer, asks about the water, go find out
about the water and answer the question. You don’t have to defer it to
me to take care of it. That is one of the most practical ways to make
it work.
OLD BUSINESS
None.
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Fivecoat said the only thing that I would like to bring up is
during my campaigning for this seat I had a lot of business people ask
me about the City ordinances on signs. And if we would try to help
them work with the signage ordinance. They are saying that they are
being strapped too hard. If we would look at it, and maybe come up
with a committee to look at it with business people, the Council and
the Plan Commission and the Planning Director, to look at our City
ordinances on signs. When the new person comes into Plainfield, they
are having problems with our sign ordinance and they would like to have
some help.
Mr. Brandgard said I think to answer that issue that is a Plan
Commission function more than it is the Town Council function. But with
that said, and one of the things that tends to upset those who have
been around for some period of time, especially with the signage, every
time we have gone through and revamped the ordinances, we have put them
out and asked for comments. We have hand carried them and asked for
their comments and we get nothing back. We put things into effect and
those people start complaining about it. I’m just saying that is the
background with it. Again, as Mr. Higbee said, we are going through
revamping the signage now. These are public meetings. The Plan
Commission is a public meeting. If somebody has a problem with the
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signs, they should come in and discuss it and they don’t do that. They
sit back and discuss it at the coffee shop. I take what you are saying
wholeheartedly and at the Plan Commission we need to bring that up and
look at it again. I know just like with the auto dealerships we
attempted getting something going there with the auto dealerships to
discuss. We had meetings and they didn’t show up. It is easier to sit
back and complain than it is to try to work it out. From the Plan
Commission’s standpoint and the Town Council we are more than willing
to try to do that.
Mr. Fivecoat said that is what I tell people. Through this
process I told them if they don’t come to the meetings and express
their feelings, how is the Council supposed to know? I have been
coming to these meetings for the last two years and I know what was
going on up here. Nobody comes and talks and I tell the public this is
what they need to do. They need to come to these meetings and speak up
but the business people ask me and it is not just one or two or three
it is several ask me if I would help them and look into it and that is
what I did.
Mr. Brandgard said I appreciate that and you are doing exactly
what you ought to be doing. We continually look from the Plan
Commission’s standpoint. We review where we see we have problems. If
there is an issue on certain things, as Mr. Higbee went through sort of
earlier, that we see it come back and we review that. Do we need to
tighten it up? Do we need to loosen it up? Or how does it fit? The
business people speak but I think the citizens speak also. There is a
fine line what the businesses want to do and the other half, what the
citizens consider as garbage of what they do also. So, you are kind of
walking a fine line and I don’t have the answer except they need to
come and work with us to get the job done.
Mr. Fivecoat said they have said that if we set up something,
they will be here and I will bring it up at the Plan Commission.
Mr. Brandgard said that is where we come back at the Plan
Commission. That is why it is a two-way street, why there are Council
members on the Plan Commission. One is to help guide the Plan
Commission with the overall direction of the Town. And the other is if
we have something come into us, we can carry it into the Plan
Commission too. Don’t take what I’m saying in a bad light. There are
things that get irritating now and then when you work real hard to try
to get something that will work and the ones that are effected by it
the most don’t want to come to work out the solution. Where we have
tried to work out the solution with them they have ignored us there too
by not coming back and working with us on it.
Mr. Fivecoat said I’m new and they had somebody to bend their
ear.
Mr. Brandgard said I understand and that is just a prospective on
it.
Mr. McPhail said I think with this subcommittee that we have been
working on we obviously identified what we believe are process changes
more than substance changes that we have been able to identify their
areas of frustration. That may or may not solve some of those. I
don’t know because we have kind of interpreted from some of the
feedback because I’m in the same situation. Every time I have had a
complaint I said well give me a solution. I don’t ever get the
solution I just get the complaint. But the process itself has been
cumbersome but I think Mr. Higbee will tell you that we have addressed
the process more than we have the substance of signs. Hopefully, that
will be some help.
Mr. Brandgard said I think in the same light where you only have
a ground sign rather than a pylon sign or something like that what we
have tried to do is not disadvantage or advantage one business over
another. Where we have designated an area where we are just going to
have the ground signs we still have people coming in wanting the
pylons, which gives them advantage over the ones that don’t. You have
that out there also but I think it is also trying to control how people
perceive the Town has a lot to do with the signage too. But again the
businesses have to have the opportunity to advertise. In my mind
putting your name out there is one thing but putting out a menu board
that changes is something else. Again, that is something that we will
get into at the Plan Commission. I guess the message going back is if
they want to play, they have to play. That is where we have had the
people come in and we have offered them the opportunity to come in and
sit down and work in a committee sitting with us. They have opted not
to but yet they still complain about the fact of what they have. I’m
glad you brought that up. It is one of the tough ones and frustrating
ones in trying to get something done.
Mr. McPhail said I have one item that I would like to bring up
for thoughts or discussions. I appreciate the fact that you and Mr.
Kirchoff and Mr. Carlucci and some others went to the County Council
meeting where they voted to rescind the Inventory Tax. From the
reports that I have gotten from you folks it appears to me that one of
the compelling facts that caused the council to be put on the spot and
have to make a decision pretty quickly was the fact that special
legislation was passed last year to relieve ADESA of their Inventory
Tax. That was unbeknownst to this Council and the County. If you
remember, back several months ago ADESA came to us and asked us if we
would support rescinding that Inventory Tax and we told them to come
back with a reasonable replacement solution. If they did, we would
consider supporting it. As far as I know, they never brought anything
back. They had special legislation passed that has eliminated their
Inventory Tax. I believe that has put them in a situation where I
believe they are double dipping. That this Council gave them a tax
abatement based on a certain criteria of facts and one of those facts
was that they were paying Inventory Tax. Now that is eliminated I
wonder if this Council ought to review their tax abatement and whether
we ought to continue it or if there is a method in which we could
rescind it? I don’t know but I believe it merits discussion.
Mr. Brandgard said the County originally gave them the tax
abatement on the full facility. We gave them an addition to what they
had out there. I told our State legislature, Mr. Whetstone you probably
did the right thing because it is a competitive thing with the states
that don’t have the Inventory Tax. But on the same hand you need to
understand the full picture when you do these things. Number one the
tax abatements were given based on criteria and part of it was what the
return was going to be on the Inventory Tax. Now you have
disadvantaged everybody and advantaged them twice. You need to start
understanding the dynamics of what is going on rather than just jumping
and doing things. Again, this is ADESA and there are two auctions in
the northern part of the State. I think that is what really drove the
issue. The thing that was really upsetting was that Harold Hiser
stumbled on that, who is the Washington Township Assessor, and brought
it up. But certainly nobody else was aware that happened.
Mr. Kirchoff said Mr. McPhail you make a valid point because one
of the real points of discussion that night was if they didn’t approve
it, that was 25 of the 45 million dollars assessed valuation, if I
remember, in that area that would just fall to other property owners.
Mr. McPhail said I’m one of the property owners and I’m real
sensitive to that. I live in Washington Township.
Mr. Kirchoff said you are right. Almost to a person it was news
to the County Council people. I know Ms. Palmer and Mr. Hardin both
said they were not aware of that. So, I think you make a valid point.
I don’t know if we could legally revisit it.
Mr. Daniel said we can look at it.
Mr. Carlucci said I think the real problem is it is the County
Council that approved that abatement originally. They are in the Town
and I had to sign, out of nowhere, a compliance with the Statement
Benefits Form only because now it is in the Town limits. I’m not sure
that allows us to go rescind the abatement that we never granted to
begin with.
Mr. Brandgard said I don’t think we can rescind the abatement
that the County gave but I believe we gave them one when they expanded.
Mr. Carlucci said no. I don’t think they went through the
expansion either. I’m pretty positive that we didn’t grant them an
abatement. The other thing that Harold Hiser started, this started
several years ago, was that he wanted the County Council to appropriate
some money because all of a sudden the amount of taxes they were paying for these cars were dropping. He didn’t believe they were paying their fair share but it never went anywhere. As a matter of fact, the
numbers that I have seen on them lately it was dropping anyway before
it got to this point but it was still pretty substantial all at once.
As a matter of fact, ADESA sent us a letter asking if we would get rid
of the Inventory Tax and right after that the legislatures started
working on that two years ago and did get rid of it. Basically, it was
going to be gone in four years anyway. But you are right on that
legislation nobody knew that piece of legislation was in there that
would get rid of that next year completely as opposed to cycling it out
for three more years. That was an amazing thing to find out at a
meeting. The way that it was structured if one of the County Council
members voted no, it rescinded the whole thing for this year because
they had to have everybody vote yes. That changed two members over
right away. It is just an ugly way to do business when you find out
stuff like this. I don’t know what the true impact will be but I think
they made the right decision too because without all of the information
what could you do. But I will check on the abatements. I know they
were planning to do an expansion but I don’t believe they have ever
gone through that expansion out there. Mr. Rudolphi do you know if
they built any additional buildings out there?
Mr. Rudolphi said a few years ago they built a basement.
Mr. Higbee said they never did the full expansion that they got
the additional rezoning for. They said they were going to do that a
year or two ago but they never did.
Mr. Kirchoff said we got a letter of invitation to IACT on the
21st.
Mr. Carlucci said the Council members have indicated that they
are going to the roundtable. It is up at Charbonos on the 21st in
Avon. If any department heads wants to go, let me know. Registration
is at 6:30 and dinner at 7:00. There are a lot of new elected
officials in Central Indiana so it would be a good time to get
together. I need to turn those in at the end of this week.
RESOLUTIONS
Mr. Brandgard said we have two resolutions this evening.
Mr. Carlucci said I might have Mr. Daniel explain the first one
because it was written by him.
Mr. Brandgard said this is a redo of the one that we had before.
Mr. Daniel said the other one expired at the end of the term. We
buy real estate and sometimes papers need to be signed on behalf of the
Town. Different title companies treat that differently. Some do not
require a resolution at all. Some require a photocopy. Some require an
originally signed resolution saying who has authority to sign on behalf
of the Town. So, this is a new one that commences when it is passed and
runs through December 31 of this four-year term. I brought six original
copies. I would like to have them all signed because sometimes I have
to give those an original at the closing and then I end up running out
of them.
Mr. Carlucci said Mr. Isaacs has three additional copies.
Mr. Daniel said so that is the purpose of that. It is a four-year
resolution unless rescinded by the Council, which obviously it can be
rescinded at any time.
Mr. McPhail made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2004-01:
Authorization to Execute Real Estate Documents. Second by Mr.
Kirchoff. Roll call vote called.
Mr. Fivecoat – yes
Mr. McPhail – yes
Mr. Kirchoff – yes
Mr. Gaddie – yes
Mr. Brandgard – yes
5-ayes, 0-opposed, 0-absent. Motion carried.
Mr. McPhail made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2004-02. A
Declaratory Resolution for a 10-year real property tax abatement for
Sierra Crest Equities. Second by Mr. Kirchoff. Roll call vote called.
Mr. Fivecoat – yes
Mr. McPhail – yes
Mr. Kirchoff – yes
Mr. Gaddie – yes
Mr. Brandgard – yes
5-ayes, 0-opposed, 0-absent. Motion carried.
ORDINANCES
Mr. Brandgard said we have the third and final reading of
Ordinance No. 38-2003, the Indianapolis Airport Authority/Airwest
Associates II rezoning. The reason that is brought in for a third and
final reading here is since the first two readings were approved by a
different Council than this one. So, we wanted to have this brought in
for the third and final approval. Normally this would have been on the
Consent Agenda.
Mr. Kirchoff made a motion to approve Ordinance No. 38-2003 on
its third and final reading. An ordinance for the Indianapolis Airport
Authority/Airwest Associates II LLC rezoning. Second by Mr. Fivecoat.
Roll call vote called.
Mr. Fivecoat – yes
Mr. McPhail – yes
Mr. Kirchoff – yes
Mr. Gaddie – yes
Mr. Brandgard – yes
5-ayes, 0-opposed, 0-absent.
Mr. Kirchoff made a motion to approve Ordinance No. 01-2004 on
its first reading. An ordinance for the Six Points Road right-of-way
vacation. Second by Mr. McPhail. Roll call vote called.
Mr. Fivecoat – yes
Mr. McPhail – yes
Mr. Kirchoff – yes
Mr. Gaddie – yes
Mr. Brandgard – yes
5-ayes, 0-opposed, 0-absent.
Mr. Brandgard said it has been requested if we so desired, to
suspend the rules to allow the second and third reading and adoption of
Ordinance No. 01-2004 this evening.
Mr. McPhail made a motion to suspend the rules in order to allow
for the second and third reading of Ordinance No. 01-2004. Second by
Mr. Kirchoff. Roll call vote called.
Mr. Fivecoat – yes
Mr. McPhail – yes
Mr. Kirchoff – yes
Mr. Gaddie – yes
Mr. Brandgard – yes
5-ayes, 0-opposed, 0-absent. Motion carried.
Mr. Brandgard said that was requested so that they could go ahead
with the transfer of the land that is required out there.
Mr. Kirchoff made a motion to approve Ordinance No. 01-2004 on
its second reading. An ordinance for the Six Points Road right-of-way
vacation. Second by Mr. McPhail. Roll call vote called.
Mr. Fivecoat – yes
Mr. McPhail – yes
Mr. Kirchoff – yes
Mr. Gaddie – yes
Mr. Brandgard – yes
5-ayes, 0-opposed, 0-absent. Motion carried.
Mr. McPhail made a motion to approve Ordinance No. 01-2004 on its
third and final adoption. An ordinance for the Six Points Road right-of-way vacation. Second by Mr. Kirchoff. Roll call vote called.
Mr. Fivecoat – yes
Mr. McPhail – yes
Mr. Kirchoff – yes
Mr. Gaddie – yes
Mr. Brandgard – yes
5-ayes, 0-opposed, 0-absent. Motion carried.
COUNCIL COMMENTS
Mr. Brandgard said I would like to thank everybody. This was a
little longer than normal but I think we covered a lot and hopefully
provided explanations where they were required.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. McPhail made a motion to sign the necessary documents and
adjourn. Second by Mr. Fivecoat. Motion carried.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. McPhail made a motion to sign the necessary documents and
adjourn. Second by Mr. Fivecoat. Motion carried.
The last thing is in reading Mr. Higbee’s report he made
reference to having 230 or so home inspections that were backlogged.
Perhaps sometime we can have a conversation either at a work session or
whatever else about that and a plan for addressing that backlog. I
think it is important that we get some sense of that.
