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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAugust 15, 2016 COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA AUGUST 15, 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, August 15, 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 Jeffersonville Boy Scout Troop 1 to lead 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 Jahn, Councilperson Maples, Councilperson Gill, Council President Owen, Councilperson Hawkins, Councilperson Samuel, and Councilperson Rodriquez. MINUTES TO BE APPROVED: Minutes from the Council Workshop August 1, 2016—Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the minutes with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 9-0. Minutes from the Council Regular Proceedings August 1, 2016—Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the minutes from the Regular Proceedings with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote, 9-0. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the agenda with tabling#5. Councilperson Jahn seconded, PASSING on a vote, 9-0. Council President Owen stated the booklets for#5 will not be reprinted and each Councilperson is to keep the one they were provided. CLAIMS TO BE APPROVED: City Controller Heather Metcalf presented the Claims. There are a few hand carried claims. $100—FOP for Shop with a Cop. $600—to JHS (Jeffersonville High School) for Tennis Boosters as an advertisement (Controller Metcalf has a copy of the advertisement). $500—to JHS for the Football Booster as an advertisement(Controller Metcalf is working on getting the advertisement for this claim). Also there is one claim being pulled for$192.27. The receipt for this claim to Menards was not tax exempt and needs to be looked into further. The new total is$714,126.90. Councilperson Gill said on page 10 under Steamboat Days there is not a contract for two of the performing acts. She would normally ask to have these pulled but due to the time constraint with Steamboat Days she will just request that before these are paid a signed contract be obtained. The Clerk's Office still has not received a copy of these contracts. 1 Councilperson Rodriguez asked for clarification on the$125,000 that was requested for last meeting. Controller Metcalf said this has been lowered to $80,000 which will hold the fund until the next installment of Gaming is made. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE the Claims in the new amount with the discussed changes contingent upon getting the appropriate advertisements and contracts. Councilperson White seconded the motion, PASSING on a vote,9-0. REPORT OF THE CLERK: Nothing at this time. AGENDA ITEMS: UNFINSHED BUSINESS: 1. Heather Metcalf—PUBLIC HEARING 2016-OR-46 An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation (Passed on 1St and 2nd reading 8/1/16) —City Controller Metcalf presented 2016-OR-46. This is for the Fire Overtime and the vehicle in Sanitation. There have been no changes since the last meeting. Council President Owen opened the Public Hearing at 7:10 PM and seeing as no members of the Community came forward to speak for or against the matter the Public Hearing was closed. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE 2016-OR-46 on the third and final reading with Councilperson Rodriguez seconding, PASSING on a vote, 9-0. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Les Merkley—2016-OR-48 PUBLIC HEARING-An Ordinance Changing the Zoning Map Designation for Property Located at 1800 Allison Lane (One Reading for passage) —City Attorney Les Merkley presented 2016-OR-48. This comes before the Council with a favorable recommendation from the Planning Commission. The zoning will be going from a C1 to a C2. Storage Express owns the property and is looking to build additional self-store units. This same request came before the Council a couple of months ago and was denied. Storage Express was not in attendance for that meeting, however they say they were under the impression that it was for a different date. Mr. John Kraft is here on behalf of Storage Express. Mr. Kraft apologized for not being at the previous meeting. There are representatives here from Storage Express today including the founder, Jefferson Shreve. What is before the Council is not plans to be approved, it is just a request to go from a C1 to a C2. Plans will still have to be submitted and approved in order to move forward. Mr. Jefferson Shreve owner of Storage Express was present to answer any questions. He assured the Council they are a quality business and good neighbors. They take safety seriously and staff appropriately. There is 24/7 Customer Service. The company recently lost two locations in this area so he knows that these units can be rented out. This is about a 1.9 million dollar project. This site isn't great for a lot of companies because of the lack of visibility from the road, but that happens to make it work well for self-storage units. Councilperson Hawkins stated this is the second time he has heard this proposal and he still thinks it is a good project. He cannot imagine the land being put to use and now there is a 2 company who is willing to come in and invest the money to make it useful. He cannot find a reason not to approve it. Councilperson Zastawny stated he is for this as it seems consistent with the requests in this area. Councilperson Rodriguez asked when this keeps coming before the Council when it has been denied multiple times. City Attorney Merkley responded that there are no limitations for how many times it can be proposed as long as they keep filing the requests. Councilperson Gill said this has been voted down multiple times. The Mayor is against storage units going in and Planning and Zoning is currently working on updating the plan to encourage other possibilities. She is concerned about property values. The City has worked hard to improve that area with a new park and sidewalks. She is concerned about the drainage aspect of this. Council President Owen opened the Public Hearing at 7:53 PM. Dr. Roberts— 1660 Allison Lane— His Animal Hospital flooded and there was 6 inches of water in their business. He is concerned about the storage units going in because he is worried it will further hinder drainage issues that already exist. Don Walker—5228 Satterview Jeffersonville, Indiana —Great things have been done in this area. Storage units seem to be counterproductive and going in the opposite direction. Richard Ekland — 1608 Flintlock Jeffersonville—There is already a healthy tax base. Please don't use that excuse to make this decision. The land has been vacant for so long. Now that it is within the City, use it for something great, not storage units. We have small businesses and would like to see more, not a storage express. Mike Hutt—2123 E. 101h Street—He lives next to a Storage Express. They are good neighbors. They give you contact information in case anything is not going the way it is supposed to but he has never had to use that information because everything has been find. Public Hearing was closed at 8:03 PM. Mr. Kraft reiterated that per the statute the changes only have to keep the current values, not improve surrounding values. Mr. Pruitt reiterated that he believes the C1 classification is the best option for this land. Councilperson Gill said she respects his expertise and his vision. He has expressed a vision for this area from the beginning. Councilperson Rodriguez reminded the Council that a lot has recently been put into this area with the new park and sidewalk and planting bushes and trees. Councilperson Hawkins stated that Storage Units that hide behind already existing businesses don't seem to belittle any work that has already been done to him. If there is a drainage issue, he feels confident that the Drainage Department will catch that and rework the plans to assure that it does not hinder drainage. Council President Owen stated he is not against Storage Units however there are no other Cts in this area. Councilperson Hawkins made a motion to APPROVE 2016-OR-48 with Councilperson Zastawny seconding. A roll call was requested. Councilperson White—No Councilperson Zastawny—Yes Councilperson Jahn —Yes 3 Councilperson Maples—Yes Councilperson Gill —No Council President Owen — No Councilperson Hawkins—Yes Councilperson Samuel—No Councilperson Rodriguez— No Final vote, 4-5, 2016-OR-48 FAILING for lack of support. 2. Les Merkley—2016-OR-49 PUBLIC HEARING An Ordinance of Changing the Zoning Map Designation for Property Located at 3402 Charlestown Jeffersonville Pike—City Attorney Les Merkley presented 2016-OR-49. This comes with a favorable recommendation from the Planning Commission. It has been approved in the past and the project never went through. David Blankenbaker is here to answer any questions. Councilperson Samuel asked if it has been approved in the past why it is back before the Council now. Mr. Blankenbaker stated that things change, the recession hit and then the previous developer passed away. Council President Owen opened the Public Hearing at 8:17 PM and as no members of the community came forward to speak for or against the matter the public hearing was closed. Councilperson Rodriguez made a motion to APPROVE 2016-OR-49 with Councilperson Gill seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. (Councilperson Zastawny needed to leave the meeting at 8:15 PM before the vote was conducted) 3. Vicki Conlin—2016-OR-50 An Ordinance Transferring Certain Funds Within the Same Department (Council Budget Property Causality Insurance/ Property Causality Insurance Claims to Workers Comp) —City Clerk Conlin presented 2016-OR-50. This is to cover the insurance claims that are coming in. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to APPROVE 2016-OR-50 on the first and second reading with Councilperson Rodriguez seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 4. Les Merkley—2016-OR-51 Ordinance Regarding Approval of a Lease Between the Jeffersonville Redevelopment Authority and The Jeffersonville Redevelopment Commission (Economic Development Lease Rental Bonds 2016) —City Attorney Merkley presented 2016-OR- 51. This is to issue a bond to fund some projects. This is just the second or third step of a many step process in order for this bond to be approved. This will help fund two major projects, 10th Street widening and North 1011 Street. The bond is not to exceed 29 million dollars. This takes 3 readings and we would like to keep it moving forward. Attorney Merkley recommended passing this on the first reading and then holding a workshop before the next meeting. Council President Owen agreed it would be best to schedule a workshop. Workshop will be a lunch workshop on September 6. This will be joint meeting with Redevelopment (Redevelopment will take minutes for Workshop). Councilperson Samuel said it looks like all of the special LOIT money that we received will be going towards these projects and he's not sure that has been actually decided so they will need to discuss that as well. Councilperson White made a motion to APPROVE 2016-OR-51 on the first reading with Councilperson Maples seconding, PASSING on a vote, 7-1 with Councilperson Rodriguez voting against. 4 5. Les Merkley—Approval of the Multi Hazard Mitigation Plan Clark County—TABLED during approval of agenda. 6. Heather Metcalf- 2016-OR-52 An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation (Public Hearing September 6, 2016) —City Controller Metcalf presented 2016-OR-52. This is for a siren repair, local road and street to finish paving, and for the Public Arts for a grant that was received. These are all revenues that we have already received. Councilperson Gill made a motion to APPROVE 2016-OR-52 with Councilperson Jahn seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 7. Heather Metcalf— Budget Workshop Schedules—City Controller Metcalf passed out the Budget Hearing Schedule determining which departments presented each night. City Council Attorney Report: Nothing at this time. Department Head Reports: Nothing at this time. Public Comment: Michael Sadofsky—3127 Eastbrook Blvd.Jeffersonville, Indiana —Just wanted to bring to the Council's attention that Jeffersonville is really getting the unfortunate end of the deal with these bridges. He realizes the Council has no authority on this but Kentucky DOT is completely ignoring the residents of Jeffersonville. The impact of traffic is so outstanding that really you can't even get to downtown Louisville anymore. Council Comment: Councilperson White—Nothing at this time. Councilperson Zastawny—Nothing at this time. Councilperson Jahn—Councilperson Jahn participated in National Night Out and loves to see it growing each year. Thank you to Councilperson Gill and Councilperson Rodriguez for your involvement in getting that event together. Councilperson Maples—In regards to 3402 Charlestown Jeffersonville Pike -the Fire Department did reach out because they have had difficulty getting the fire trucks out with parking and the developers are going to limit parking to one side to accommodate that. Councilperson Gill— Congratulations to Mr. Merkley on the birth of his daughter. Thank you to JNLA and the City Departments for everything they did to prepare for National Night Out. Also just to recognize Station 5 Crew B. They recently saved a young boys life. Councilperson Hawkins—Nothing at this time. 5 Councilperson Samuel—Apologies for being absent at the last meeting, he was visiting his new grandson. Also he would like to get the City Engineer in here for a workshop. Also, congratulations to Mr. Merkley. Councilperson Rodriquez—Councilperson Rodriguez asked Planning and Zoning Director Pruitt to have a Code Enforcement Officer out to check the back of the buildings that were discussed earlier in the meeting. Council President Owen—Nothing at this time. Adjournment: Councilperson Jahn made a motion to ADJORN at 8:47 PM. APPROVED BY: Mattw n, r ATTEST: zi, Vicki Conlin, Clerk 6