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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMAY 2, 2016COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA MAY 2, 2016 The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met in regular session in Room 101, 500 Quartermaster Court, Jeffersonville, Indiana at 7:00 pm, on Monday, May 2, 2016. Council President Owen along with City Clerk Conlin called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Mr. Campbell gave the Invocation and Council President Owen asked those in attendance to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: The roll call was conducted and those present were: Councilperson Zastawny, Councilperson Maples, Councilperson Gill, Council President Owen, Councilperson Hawkins, Councilperson Samuel and Councilperson Rodriquez. Councilperson White had contacted Council President Owen and let him know that he was running late due to being in court. Councilperson White arrived at 7:15 PM. Councilperson Jahn will not be able to attend due to a medical emergency. MINUTES TO BE APPROVED: Minutes from the Council Workshop April 18, 2016 — Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the minutes from the April 18, 2016 Council Workshop with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 7-0. Minutes from the Council Regular Proceedings April 18, 2016 — Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the minutes from the April 18, 2016 Council Meeting with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 7-0. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Council President Owen stated that we need to TABLE Items 1, 2, 3, and 5 under Unfinished Business. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the agenda as amended with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 7-0. CLAIMS TO BE APPROVED: City Controller Heather Metcalf presented the Claims. There are a few changes. On page 6 there is a claim for Dave Simpson in the amount of $10,125.90 — this needs to be pulled. On page 7 there is a claim for $360,000 for Circuit Breakers — this need to be pulled. On page 3 there is a claim for $240 — this amount needs to be reduced to $140.00 Councilperson Zastawny said he received a call from Mr. Simpson who stated he felt as though he was going by the contract and he asked Councilperson Zastawny to support him. Councilperson Zastawny asked Council Attorney Scott Lewis if he had been over the contract. Mr. Lewis stated he did look at the contract and the claim is clearly not in agreement with the contract. 1 Councilperson Gill stated she would like for it to be on the record that when she was going through the claims she contacted Mr. Lewis directly to look over the contract and that she spoke with Parks Director Paul Northam who was in agreement that if it did not agree with the contract it needed to be pulled. The new total is $1,201,120.54. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the claims as amended with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 7-0. REPORT OF THE CLERK: City Clerk Conlin received an email from Jay Ellis with two invoices. The first is for the Concert in the Parks and to Main Street to total $45,000. This was budgeted for. The second is for $2,500 for Jeff Fest. This was not budgeted anywhere. Please keep this in mind and let Clerk Conlin know how to proceed. AGENDA ITEMS: UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Les Merkely — 2016 -OR -23 An Ordinance Establishing an Ordinance Violation Bureau (Passed on 1st reading 3/21/16, Passed on 2" reading 4/4/16, Tabled 4/18/16) — Tabled 2. Les Merkley — 2016-R-5 A Resolution Of the Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville Approving the Order of the Jeffersonville Plan Commission (Tabled 4/4/16, Tabled 4/18/16) — Tabled 3. Les Merkley- 2016-R-6 A Resolution of the Jeffersonville Common Council Regarding Approval of Expansion of Economic Development Area (Tabled 4/4/16, Tabled 4/18/16) — Tabled 4. Heather Metcalf - PUBLIC HEARING 2016 -OR -28 An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation (Passed on 1St and 2nd reading 4/18/16) — City Controller Metcalf presented 2016 -OR -28. There have been no changes since the last reading. Council President Owen opened the Public Hearing at 7:11 PM and seeing as no members of the community came forward to speak for or against the matter, the Public Hearing closed. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE 2016 -OR -28 on the third and final reading with Councilperson Maples seconding, PASSING on a vote, 7-0. 5. Greg Fifer — 2016 -OR- An Ordinance Approving and Interlocal Agreement with the Town of Clarksville, Indiana. (Interlocal Agreement Exhibit A) (Tabled 4/18/16) - Tabled NEW BUSINESS: 1. Les Merkley —PUBLIC — HEARING - 2016 -OR -29 An Ordinance Changing the Zoning Map designation of a Certain Tract of Property Located at Maple and Walnut and Fully Described in Attached Exhibit A from NC to R3 — City Attorney Les Merkley presented 2016 -OR -29. There were no representatives present from the applicant. Planning and 2 Zoning Director Nathan Pruitt was present and stated this is cleaning up a neighborhood commercial property on a corner lot. The plan is to build four three story residential units that will be for sale as opposed for rent. Councilperson Gill stated there was minimal opposition during the Planning and Zoning meeting and that came from a resident who was concerned about where the driveways would be and the visibility of the property from their personal property. This did come with a favorable recommendation from the Planning and Zoning board. Councilperson Hawkins said he thinks this is a great project. Council President Owen opened the Public Hearing at 7:14 and seeing as no members of the community came forward to speak for or against the matter, Public Hearing was closed. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE 2016 -OR -29 with Councilperson Hawkins seconding, PASSING on a vote, 7-0. 2. Les Merkley — PUBLIC HEARING - 2016 -OR -30 - An Ordinance Changing the Zoning Map designation of a Certain Tract of Property Located on Peachblossom Drive and Fully Described in Attached Exhibit A From M2 to C1 to M3 — City Attorney Merkley presented 2016 -OR -30. This comes with a favorable recommendation from the Planning and Zoning board. This will be for high density multifamily homes. Councilperson Gill asked why a representative from the company was not here to answer questions on a project of this magnitude. Council President Owen asked if this was a part of the Corridor that would need additional approval. Planning and Zoning Director Nathan Pruitt said he was not sure and he would need to check, but the applicant would still need to have their plans approved prior to moving forward. Councilperson Gill said this does come with a favorable recommendation from the Planning and Zoning board, there was concern with traffic since that is already a highly congested area. Councilperson Gill stated during the Planning and Zoning meeting the applicant did not present any findings from their traffic study. Mr. Pruitt stated there are multiple exits, Thompson Lane will be open soon, which will help a lot as well as the update to Holmans Lane. He is not concerned with the traffic there, as all of the updates will help drastically with that issue. Councilperson Gill said these would be high-end apartments so that is a plus for the area. The Mayor is in favor, and this is going to get more residential options in the area, even if they are apartments. We want people to come to this location. Councilperson Hawkins said the rent would be just shy of $1000 monthly so these will be high end, stainless steel appliances with granite counters. 3 Councilperson Rodriquez asked how many apartments would be built and there will be 245 new apartments. Councilperson Rodriquez said he would be okay with tabling this matter as he feels a representative should be here to answer the Councils questions. Councilperson Hawkins said he would understand if other members wanted to table this, but the Planning and Zoning board got all of their questions answered. Councilperson Maples stated this is in his district and he definitely supports it. Councilperson Maples made a motion to APPROVE 2016 -OR -30 with Councilperson White seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 3. Les Merkley — PUBLIC HEARING 2016 -OR -31 An Ordinance Changing the Zoning Map Designation of a Certain Tract of Property Located at 1800 Allison Lane and fully described in the attached Exhibit A from C1- Small to Medium Scale General Commercial to C3 -Medium to Large Scale General Commercial — City Attorney Les Merkley presented 2016 -OR -30. This comes with no recommendation from Planning and Zoning as it was a deadlock vote. This property is at Allison Lane and Middle Road and is to be developed into a Storage Express. Councilperson Rodriquez asked if this was the same applicant that requested this a few years ago. Mr. Pruitt did not think it was the same applicant but believes it was the same type of project. Mr. Merkley stated he thought that project was a storage area for boats, RVs, and Autos but this application is just for a straight storage unit area. Councilperson Gill said she is disappointed that the applicants are not here seeing as this came with no recommendation from Planning and Zoning. This area floods. Councilperson Rodriquez stated the City just recently spent $400,000 on a park close to there, there has been shootings and crime in the area. He is not in favor of this. Some of the neighbors he has talked to also have not been in favor of this. Councilperson Hawkins stated he too is disappointed the applicants are not here because this was something he voted for in the Planning and Zoning meeting. This is his district, and he cannot think of any other type of business that would be willing and able to build in a flood zone. This could generate income for the City. Storage Express lost two storage areas when the Bridge Property was purchased. It is a needed service in the community. Councilperson Gill reminded the Council that the Storage Expresses were paid well for their property and the Council just approved an expansion project last year on Highway 62. Mr. Merkley said the doors were locked when he arrived, but there was an officer out there letting people in. 4 Clerk Conlin let everyone know that she contact IT before every meeting to tell them to unlock the door. Council President Owen opened Public Hearing at 7:32 PM. Mayor Mike Moore — 803 E. Court Ave. — Mayor Moore knows this area and he takes pride in this area. The City just built a beautiful park back there and there are some people who spend a lot of time and take a lot of pride in that intersection. Nothing good comes from a big slab of concrete with no employees. There will be problems with this, it's not a positive thing. We have generated a lot of enthusiasm back here, let keeps it going. We can do better than storage units. Settling for storage units is not a good plan. Mike Hutt — 2123 E. 10th Street — Mr. Hutt lives next to a Storage Express now and they are good neighbors. There is no noise from them, and its quiet being there. It could be a lot worse. The City would probably benefit from 25-30 thousand in taxes. They may not be the most beautiful things but you are not going to get that there. Seeing as no other members of the community came forward to speak for or against 2016 -OR -30 Council President Owen closed the Public Hearing at 7:37 PM. Councilperson Zastawny made a motion to PASS 2016 -OR -31 with the intent that it will be voted down with Councilperson White seconding. Councilperson Zastawny said there are worse things than a storage unit. They are not super intrusive but it does say a lot that the applicant did not show up. With a motion and second, the Council voted, FAILING 2016 -OR -31 on a vote, 0-8. 4. Heather Metcalf — 2016 -OR -32 An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation (Public Hearing May 16, 2016) — This is for the Thunder Fund under other supplies. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE 2016 -OR -36 on the first and second with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 5. Josh Rodriquez — Appointment to the Drainage Board and Appointment to the Plan Commission — Councilperson Rodriquez made a nomination to add Stacy Slaughter to the Drainage Board with Councilperson Samuel seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. Councilperson Gill wanted to publically thank Abby Dobson who was being removed. She was a great asset and invested more time than required. Council Attorney Scott Lewis asked if anyone had given her a courtesy call and Councilperson Gill stated she had contacted her via email. For the Plan Commission Councilperson Gill nominated Councilperson Zastawny with Councilperson White seconding PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 5 City Council Attorney Report: Nothing at this time. Department Head Reports: Nothing at this time. Public Comment: No Public Comment. Council Comment: Councilperson White — Nothing at this time. Councilperson Zastawny — Councilperson Zastawny noted that the sound sounds much better and louder in the Council Chambers. Just a little Parks History. When the Authority changed over at the beginning of the year, they gave away a $400,000 asset to Redevelopment. Redevelopment turned around and put out a proposal for a great project (condominiums). Currently the minimum bid for that is $175,000. Councilperson Zastawny would like to see Redevelopment reinvest some of the profits back into Parks. Also Parks continues to sign contracts that the Council does not see or approve. These add up at the end of the year. They are considering squeezing in another park in a not so ideal location. With the reduction in the Circuit Breaker, Councilperson Zastawny is not sure where that money will come from. Councilperson Maples — Thank you to everyone who helped to pull off Thunder. It was another great event. Thanks to all of the City Employees Councilperson Gill —Just to let the Council know, Councilperson Gill met with the police administration and they will be coming before the Council in June to request an additional appropriation for overtime due to coverage for Thunder. We are consistently adding more and more venues that need security. It may be something we could look at during the Finance Committee meeting. Also thank you to the City Employees who helped with Thunder. It was a well -organized event. Please go vote tomorrow. Councilperson Hawkins — Thank you to the City Employees for everyone's assistance with Thunder. Also as a High School Government teacher, do your Civic Duty and go vote tomorrow. Councilperson Samuel — We have someone who is raising sponsorships for our event, but we don't have the cost factor of the police factored in to that. We may look at having him roll the cost of security into the cost of sponsorship. Also thank you to the officers that are here tonight. We appreciate you keeping us safe. Councilperson Rodriquez — Nothing at this time. Council President Owen —Again, thank you for Thunder. We need to establish a contract negotiations committee for the Police and Fire contract. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to nominate 6 MINUTES: COUNCIL REGULAR PROCEEDINGS MAY 2, 2016 Councilperson Gill, Councilperson White, Councilperson Maples, and Councilperson Hawkins with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. Adjournment: Councilperson Gill made a motion to ADJORN at 7:53 PM with Councilperson Hawkins seconding. APPROVED BY: ATTEST: fa2412-4- li---- Vicki Conlin, Clerk 7