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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJUNE 6,2016COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA JUNE 6, 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, June 6, 2016. Council President Owen along 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 White, Councilperson Zastawny, Councilperson Maples, Councilperson Gill, Council President Owen, Councilperson Hawkins, Councilperson Samuel and Councilperson Rodriquez. Councilperson Jahn was absent from the meeting. MINUTES TO BE APPROVED: Minutes from the Council Regular Proceedings on May 16, 2016 — Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the minutes with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Councilperson Gill made a motion to AMEND the agenda by moving Department Heads to after the Report of the Clerk and Item 1 under Unfished Business needs to be tabled and we need to add under New Business item 5 which is the Resolution between Redevelopment and the School Corporation. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the agenda as amended with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. CLAIMS TO BE APPROVED: There is a claim for $8687.12 under Parks that needs to be pulled as it was not approved. It was to Southern Indiana Equipment for a Hustler Super z 60". The new total is $613,485.75. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the claims as amended with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. REPORT OF THE CLERK: Nothing at this time. Department Head Reports: Delynn Rutherford along with Assistant Police Chief McVoy came before the Council to request approval of a Resolution and an Interlocal Agreement for our JAG grant that we do annually. It does not cost the City anything. There is no match on this. Resolution is 2016-R-10. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE 2016-R-10 with Councilperson White seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. AGENDA ITEMS: UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1 1. Les Merkely — 2016 -OR -23 An Ordinance Establishing an Ordinance Violation Bureau (Passed on 1St reading 3/21/16, Passed on 2nd reading 4/4/16, Tabled 4/18/16) — City Attorney Les Merkley requested to TABLE 2016 -OR -23. He and Clerk Conlin are in the process of working with Judge Weber on this matter. Councilperson Gill made a motion to TABLE with Councilperson Jahn seconding, PASSING on a vote, 9-0. 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 5/2/2016, Tabled 5/16/2016) — Items 5 and 6 go together. City Attorney Les Merkley presented 2016-R-5 and 2016-R-6. There was a meeting between Redevelopment and Greater County Schools. Ten percent of the new TIF will be given annually to Greater Clark County Schools and in exchange, Greater Clark County Schools is not going to put their bus depot at the site of the Clark County Auto Auction. Councilperson Samuel said he is very favorable for TIFs and they are a great things but it is concerning about the property tax being decreased. Councilperson Samuel things the Council needs to look at recently how difficult it was to do the budget. Jeffersonville is at its caps. We are all supportive of adding additional safety personnel and it is concerning that our budget will not support this and then we have to keep dipping into our reserves. If we keep extending our TIF then it does not help the General Fund. Councilperson Samuel stated he is not in favor of expanding the TIF. Councilperson Gill stated she brought this up to Umbaugh Consulting associates and was told that we will still get the revenue in the General Fund for the residential areas, which are not in a TIF. Councilperson Samuel stated he is not concerned with the School Corporation but is concerned with the Operational costs that are not going to be supported by the General Fund without the additional revenue (such as Police Officers). Councilperson Zastawny stated by the time this starts collecting revenue, the old TIF will have expired and that revenue will be going back into the General Fund. Mayor Moore stated that Jeffersonville was the most financially sound city in Indiana last year. The City will not have the development that it is about to have without the TIF. The original TIF has 11 years remaining until it expires. Council President Owen stated once it expires approximately 300 million will be going back to the City. Councilperson Hawkins asked if future Councils will be able to extend the existing TIF. City Attorney Merkely stated as of right now there is no legislation that would allow that. Councilperson Zastawny made a motion to APPROVE 2016-R-5 with Councilperson Gill seconding, PASSING on a vote, 7-1 with Councilperson Samuel voting against. 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 5/2/2016, Tabled 5/16/2016) — SEE ABOVE — Councilperson Zastawny made a motion to APPROVE 2016-R-5 with Councilperson Gill seconding, PASSING on a vote, 7- 1 with Councilperson Samuel voting against. 2 4. Lee Ann Meixell — PUBLIC HEARING 2016 -OR -33 — An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation (Past on 1st and 2nd reading 5/16/16) — Councilperson Gill stated she feels a lot better about the amount coming out of the Insurance Fund in comparison as to where it was in the beginning. Council President Owen opened the Public Hearing at 7:25 PM. As no members came forward to speak for or against the matter, the Public Hearing was closed. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE 2016 -OR -33 on the third and final reading with Councilperson White seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 5. Lee Ann Meixell — 2016 -OR -34 — An Ordinance Transferring within the Same Department (Passed 1st and 2nd reading 5/19/16) — Councilperson Samuel made a motion to APPROVE 2016 -OR -34 on the third and final reading with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Matt Owen — 2016 -OR -35 An Ordinance Establishing a Fund for the Special LOIT Allotment — Council Attorney Scott Lewis stated there was an error with his email and this would need to be tabled until the next Council Meeting. Councilperson Gill made a motion to TABLE 2016 -OR -35 with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 2. Lee Ann Meixell — 2016 -OR -36 An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation (Public Hearing June 20, 2016) this is the Ordinance for the Street Department. They are appropriating money out of their non -reverting fund to buy trash cans to replenish their supply. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to APPROVE 2016 -OR -36 on the first and second reading with Councilperson Rodriquez seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 3. Lee Ann Meixell — 2016 -OR -37 An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation (Public Hearing June 20, 2016) This is the Ordinance for an additional appropriation taking the money out that was set aside in the Council's budget for performance increases and distributing it to the departments. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE 2016 - OR -37 on the first and second reading with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 4. Edward Zastawny — 2016-R-11 A Resolution Approving an Interlocal Cooperative Agreement Councilperson Zastawny stated he asked Mr. John Seacor to return to answer any potential questions. Mr. John Seacor stated they are seeking funding to complete the match needed for their federal funding to expand. This combines Clark County's $220,000, Clarksville's 100,000, and Jeffersonville's proposed $400,000. Mr. Greg Fifer (428 Meigs Avenue Jeffersonville, IN) is the attorney representing the Clark County Regional Airport. He is here to give go through the Interlocal agreement. There will have to be a change. Sellersburg rejected this proposal so they will have to come up with the match funds they planned being contributed by Sellersburg from elsewhere. He will get this change over to the attorneys in the morning. This extends the runway from 5500 to 7000 feet. 3 When this first started the State was going to pick up 7.5% and we would be responsible for the rest. Now it has flip flopped and the State will only pick up 2.5%. We cannot rip out what we have now without knowing we will have the local grant matches required by the FAA. Clarksville has tentatively committed to the $100,000 and it will go before them at their next meeting. The City will get monthly updates to the escrow account and the disbursement of the money. The authority will refund and repay anything that is not approved by this agreement. In respect of the Financial Appliance. The Authority was created in 2013. Through 2013 the SBOA went ahead and audited as a part of the County Government Unit. SBOA has not audited the Airport for 2014 or 2015, they are in the process of starting that now, and after that, the Airport will be audited annually. Councilperson Gill wanted to clarify if the State Board of Accounts was currently doing the audit, Mr. Fifer stated they are getting ready to start the audit. Councilperson Gill stated she had spoken with Mr. Shireman which is the Audit Manager and they showed up to do the Audit and could not do it because the Airport did not file their report with the State. They are now in Jeffersonville doing their audit and Mr. Shireman is out at the Airport helping them to file their reports with the state. Ms. Kris Brutscher (Office Manager for the airport) stated Mr. Shireman showed up to show her how to do the reports and enter them because she has never been required to do those. Councilperson Gill: I spoke with him personally and he said when he and his team showed up at the airport. Ms. Brutscher: No Councilperson Gill: Are you saying that what he told me is not true? Ms. Brutscher: Yes Ms. Brutscher: Mr. Shireman showed up on a Thursday afternoon to show me how to enter the information into the system Councilperson Gill: That is correct. Ms. Brutscher: His team did not show up with him. Councilperson Gill stated the team is currently at the City of Jeffersonville. Mr. Shireman has been working with the Airport to get the information entered so they can do the audit there. Councilperson Gill stated Mr. Shireman has been working with the Airport for 3 weeks and is going to spend some more time there to ensure everything gets entered. Ms. Brutscher stated that the Airport was on a biannual audit basis and she contacted State Board of Accounts and was told that it would begin to be annually and was scheduled for the end of the year, however Mr. Shireman showed up and said that laws had changed and 2014 was under a different set of stipulations as 2015 but after these two it would go on an annual basis. 4 Councilperson Gill stated she just wanted to clarify because she did not want the Council to be under the impression that the Audits were being done because those annual reports had not been done. Ms. Brutscher stated it wasn't that she was behind, it was just that the system had changed. Councilperson Zastawny asked if the deadline was breeched and Ms. Brutscher stated they will not have a deadline until next year. Councilperson White asked if the Internal Controls were approved by the State Board of Accounts. Ms. Brutscher stated yes, they have something in writing that it is approved. Chris Snyder is the project engineer and speaking on behalf of the grant administration. He helps the airport establish the Internal Controls. They are within compliance with what the audit identified as needing an internal controls established. Councilperson White asked Mr. Fifer the following questions: Have all of the municipalities been asked for a contribution? They had not asked Charlestown, Utica, or Borden. Is there a reason why? Mr. Fifer stated their budgets and contributions would be so meniscal that it would not effect this. But if it is required it can be done. Has Scott County been asked? This has never been a multi -county airport. Would they be unable to participate in the agreement? There are no boundaries that have been established but not sure if a County that is not Clark County could contribute to this matching fund. Phil McCauley here to speak about the benefits of this project. River Ridge has enormous potential. An airport will be a significant factor in the growth of Jeffersonville. Air will become a large player in the time that it takes for large corporation's to come to the area. It is a great benefit to have corporations be able to fly into Clark County for meetings that are needed. INDOT recently had a study that showed that large corporations consider air travel when locating. This project will increase the payroll for the airport which will increase the EDIT funds. This will also allow management to not struggle with day to day financial struggles improving the effectiveness of the management. This project gives the opportunity in the future to help 80,000 acres be developed residentially and commercially. With the 400,000 commitment it is going to get a 14:1 return. The potential revenue you will generate is real. Chris Snyder stated if there were any additional questions regarding timing or grants he would be happy to answer them. Councilperson Gill asked the following questions: Why were there no financial documents provided to the Council when this large request was made? He will be happy to release that information as long as the Airport Authority allows it. How was the number determined? Councilperson Zastawny stated that he had a factor in the number being determined. Jeffersonville is getting a large sum of money and we are getting a lot of benefit and growth from this. 5 Are you asking for the right amount or not? When putting the numbers together he looked at each grant as it is, there are 7 or 8 and looked on the local share of each. This goes off the construction estimates that have been received so far. Mayor Moore — He is not here to talk about the airport, but is here to talk about a problem in Jeffersonville. He sat down with each Councilmember last November to talk about the need for Holmans Lane. Everyone agreed and committed this money. It does not need to go to the Airport. It needs to benefit Jeffersonville citizens. You have made a commitment to improve Holmans Lane. You cannot ignore the 19,000 cars that drive it every day. Councilperson Zastawny said that was not true because nobody knew how much money the City would receive. Councilperson Samuel said he remembers talking about 10th Street and Holmans Lane and they've moved forward with 10`h Street and Holmans Lane can still be done. He doesn't see it as having to choose one or the other. Mayor Moore stated we need to know how this $400,000 is going to benefit Jeffersonville and the way to do that is to put it towards Holmans Lane. Councilperson Hawkins stated he remembers the conversation he had with the Mayor and agreeing that the projects needed to be done. He apologized for any miscommunication at the time, but he was not committing any money to anything. He was newly elected and he did not know that was a binding discussion. He did however attend a workshop from One Southern Indiana that stated local access to an airport could set you apart from other competing areas that large corporations are looking at. He feels this is an investment. Councilperson White stated his district needs every dollar used in Jeffersonville. What isn't used on Holmans Lane could be used for flooding issues or other infrastructure problems. Council President Owen stated he hears both sides of this discussion and it is an interesting one to have. Councilperson Zastawny made a motion to APPROVE 2016-R-11 with Councilperson Rodriquez seconding. Council President Owen requested a roll call: 2016-R-11 PASSED on a vote, 5-3. 5. Les Merkley — 2016-R-12 A Resolution Approving An Interlocal Agreement — This is the outcome of the meeting between Redevelopment and Greater Clark County Schools. 10% of the newly established TIF will go to Greater Clark County Schools and in return they will not be putting the 6 Yes No Councilperson White X Councilperson Zastawny X Councilperson Maples X Councilperson Gill X Councilperson Hawkins X Councilperson Samuel X Councilperson Rodriquez X Council President Owen X 5. Les Merkley — 2016-R-12 A Resolution Approving An Interlocal Agreement — This is the outcome of the meeting between Redevelopment and Greater Clark County Schools. 10% of the newly established TIF will go to Greater Clark County Schools and in return they will not be putting the 6 Bus Compound at the location of the previous Clark County Auto Auction. They will be only purchasing one portion that will need to be rezoned as IS and will come before the Council at a later date. Councilperson Zastawny stated he thinks this is a great agreement and made a motion to APPROVE 2016-R-12 with Councilperson Rodriquez seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8- 0. City Council Attorney Report: Nothing at this time. Public Comment: Ms. Wendy Chesser from One Southern Indiana came to give an update. She thanked Councilperson Hawkins for coming to their workshop. One Southern Indiana has announcements totaling 1 Billion dollars in investments in Floyd and Clark Counties. Jeffersonville's contribution in that is huge. Also distributed One Southern Indiana Advocacy Agenda. Council President Owen stated he had it on his Council Comments section to congratulate One Southern Indiana on One Billion as he had just seen that press release. Council Comment: Councilperson White — Councilperson White requested an executive session to discuss all pending litigation going on with the City of Jeffersonville. Councilperson Zastawny — No Comment Councilperson Maples — Congratulations to Zach Blankenbaker. He graduated from WestPoint, which is a huge honor. He is a great representation of Jeffersonville. Councilperson Gill — Discussed a handout she provided. These are guidelines for the performance increase so it can be retroactive. This gives Department Heads and HR a set of guidelines to go off of when determining the performance increase each employee receives. Also thank you to North Harrison Bank for donating your service for the cookout. Councilperson Hawkins —Thank you and congratulations to the Crusade for Children efforts. In regards to Mr. Blankenbaker, he was a model student. He was a pleasure to have in class and a pleasure to teach. He is a fine person. Also 72 years ago today was D -Day. A lot of people do not know what happened on this date — it is important to remember this date. Councilperson Samuel — Councilperson Samuel stated he spoke with City Engineer Andy Crouch in regards to the 10th Street Extension. Councilperson Samuel apologized for what the audience heard. He likes to conduct himself in a calm manner, however he does not appreciate being called a liar in a public meeting. It is not true that the Council is choosing between Holmans Lane and the Airport, he feels that both can be accomplished. Councilperson Rodriquez — Councilperson Rodriquez asked for clarification on the Executive session and when it would take place. 7 Council President Owen — Council President Owen stated the Executive Session will be regarding pending litigations concerning the City. It is scheduled for 5:00 PM on June 20, 2016 with a Workshop following starting at 5:15 PM. Adjournment: Councilperson Gill made a motion to ADJORN at 9:02 PM APPROVED BY: Matt O - en,- Pre ATTEST: LL Vicki Conlin, Clerk 8