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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 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 September 16, 2019. Council Vice President Lisa Gill along with City Clerk Conlin called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm. Mr. Bobby Campbell gave the invocation. Council Vice President Lisa Gill asked those in attendance to stand while Boy Scout Troop 89 led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL:The roll call was conducted and those present were Councilperson White, Councilperson Maples, Councilperson Paris, Council Vice President Gill, Councilperson Hawkins, Councilperson Owen, Councilperson Ellis, Councilperson Samuel. Council President Zastawny was absent from the proceedings. MINUTES TO BE APPROVED: September 3, 2019 Budget Workshop—Councilperson Samuel made a motion to APPROVE the minutes with Councilperson Ellis seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. September 3, 2019 Regular Proceedings—Councilperson Maples noted he would like for a correction to be made. It said during the roll car for 2019-R-10 that Council President Zastawny voted no, he voted yes. Clerk Conlin stated that would be corrected. Council Vice President Gill said there was a motion and a second to APPROVE the minutes with that change, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. Clerk Conlin stated a new sheet will be attached to reflect the changes. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Councilperson Owen made a motion to APPROVE the agenda with Councilperson Maples seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. CLAIMS TO BE APPROVED: City Controller Heather Metcalf presented the Civil Claims. Controller Metcalf stated all claims were in order. Council Vice President Gill stated there are number of large claims being paid with this list. Councilperson Owen made a motion to APPROVE the Civil Claims with Councilperson Paris seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. City Controller Heather Metcalf presented the Parks Claims. Council Vice President Gill asked if all claims were in order and Controller Metcalf stated they are. REPORT OF THE CLERK: Nothing at this time. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Lisa Gill/ Heather Metcalf—2019-OR-49 An Ordinance Transferring Certain Funds Within The Same Department—Council Vice President Gill stated there have been no changes. Councilperson Owen made a motion to APPROVE 2019-OR-49 on the third and final reading with Councilperson Maples seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 2. Lisa Gill/ Heather Metcalf—PUBLIC HEARING -2019-OR-50 An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation—Council Vice President Gill said there are no changes since the last reading. 1 Council Vice President Gill opened the Public Hearing at 7:19 and as no members of the community came forward to speak for or against the matter the Public Hearing was closed. Councilperson Owen made a motion to APPROVE 2019-OR-50 on the third and final reading with Councilperson Maples seconding, PASSING on a vote, 7-1 with Councilperson Ellis voting against the matter. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Lisa Gill/Dustin White- Nick Creevy-River Hills PUBLIC HEARING CBDG Main Street Revitalizations Program Spring Street Hospital Segment—Nick Creevy 309 Amelie Dr. Jeffersonville, IN —Mr. Creevy stated this is a required Public Hearing for CBDG Applications. The City intends to apply for CBDG Main Street Revitalization funds on or around November 22, 2019. These funds will be used for community streetscape and public infrastructure improvements. The total amount requested will be$430,327. This will be a resubmittal of an application that was submitted earlier this year. The local match is$125,938 which is 20%of the overall project. Councilperson Samuel asked where we anticipated it coming from. The last submission was out of EDIT but that can be changed. Council Vice President Gill opened the Public Hearing at 7:23 PM and as no members of the community came forward to speak for or against the matter the Public Hearing was closed. 2. Lisa Gill/Les Merkley-2019-R-12 Resolution Approving Statement of Benefits for Proposed Real Property& Personal Property Tax Abatement(Delaco Kasle)—Matt Hall from One Southern Indiana presented 2019-R-12. He is here to request consideration for a Tax Abatement request for Delaco which is located at the Port. They are going to be doing an expansion as they were awarded a contract with Ford Motor Company. The project capital is 5.2 million dollars. They have 156 current employees. This would add 23 new employees. Keith Price is here with Delaco Kasle. They have been around since 2004. They are a favored supplier for Ford. The 23 employees is a low estimate, it could be as many as 30. They are adding another line to accommodate the need. Councilperson Maples asked with the average salary was and it will be over$20 an hour with benefits. Councilperson Owen made a motion to APPROVE 2019-R-12 with Councilperson Maples seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 3. Lisa Gill/Dustin White—2019-R- A Resolution Authorizing An Investment Deduction within the Jeffersonville Urban Enterprise Zone—Council Vice President Gill stated she would need a motion to reconsider for this agenda item. Public Comment will be after the motion to reconsider if it is passed. Councilperson White made a motion to reconsider the Resolution with Councilperson Owen seconding. Council Vice President Gill said this is not how it has been done in the past while she's been on the Council, it has always had to be a member who was in the negative to bring up a motion to reconsider. A roll call was requested. Councilperson White—Yes Councilperson Paris—No Councilperson Maples—Yes Council Vice President Gill—No Councilperson Hawkins—No Councilperson Owen—Yes Councilperson Samuel—No Councilperson Ellis—No Final vote, 3-5 motion to reconsider, FAILING. Alan Muncy asked if they could do their presentation now or if they had to wait to do it at the end. He was advised everyone who signed up to speak on the matter would still get 3 minutes at the end of the meeting to speak. 2 4. Lisa Gill/ Nathan Samuel—2019-OR-51 An Ordinance Establishing a Non-Reverting Fund for the Purpose of Funding Aide to Non-Profit Organizations for Addressing Needs and Services for Jeffersonville Homeless Assistance—Councilperson Samuel said there was a sample ordinance that would establish the Non-Reverting Fund for the purpose to fund aide to non- profit organizations. He is going to propose this is approved with some changes. Council discussed proposed changes. The changes will be reflected in an updated ordinance during the next meeting. He will send a cleaner copy. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to PASS 2019- OR-51 with Councilperson Ellis seconding with the noted changes. After further discussion, the motion and second was rescinded. Councilperson Samuel made a motion with all previous changes noted with the exception of 14 and 15 being left in with Councilperson Ellis seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0 on the first reading. 5. Lisa Gill/Heather Metcalf-Public Hearing 2019-OR-53 Appropriations and Tax Rates for 2020— City Controller Heather Metcalf presented the 2020 budget for all of the funds the amount is $54,326,693. You are adopting a levy of$29,622,000 with a tax rate of 1.8515. The levy and the rate is higher than what will be approved. These are estimated. Council Vice President Gill opened the Public Hearing at 8:47 PM and as no members of the community came forward to speak for or against the matter the public hearing was closed. Councilperson Owen made a motion to APPROVE 2019-OR-53 on the first and second reading with Councilperson Maples seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0 6. Lisa Gill/ Ed Zastawny—Appointments for Plan Commission Council Appointments— Councilperson Samuel made a motion to nominate Councilperson Maples with Councilperson White seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to nominate Council President Zastawny with Councilperson Maples seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. 7. Lisa Gill/Heather Metcalf—2019-OR-52 An Ordinance Transferring Certain Funds within the Same Department—Council Vice President Gill presented 2019-OR-52. Councilperson White made a motion to APPROVE 2019-OR-52 on the first and second reading with Councilperson Samuel seconding, PASSING on a vote, 8-0. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL ATTORNEY Attorney Zack Stewart was there in place of Council Attorney Larry Wilder. Thanks to the Council from Attorney Larry Wilder. In regards to Public Comments, any individual who signed up will have three minutes to make their comment. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Jay Casis—4070 Viewcrest Loop Floyd Knobs, IN—Alan is a great father and husband, he's a mentor to many. He's a very passionate business owner who employs over 30 Southern Indiana residents. He's a civic leader with high integrity, always focused on improving this community, always improving our community to make an impact in Jeffersonville, Southern Indiana, and in Louisville. He supports Alan and ARC for this investment credit. By not supporting this credit it could take steps backwards and he really hopes they reconsider. Thank you. John Ashton—54 Virginia Dr. —He was here a couple of weeks ago with Alan presented and this credit was discussed. At that time there was really no discussion from the Council, no questions from the Council, no one speaking against the project and the Council still voted it down. Councilman Ellis at lease did speak publically to the paper as to why he voted the project down but this project has been approved by every development plan, Historical Commission that is required to meet all the requirements and approval that have been done. It's a property that is in the UEZ that qualifies for the credit. He doesn't understand why the Council is denying it and he doesn't understand why the Council will not provide comment as to why they're voting it down. It just doesn't make sense. It makes him 3 think that the Council members other than Mr. Ellis who had previously spoke to his reasoning either don't have a good reason or don't have one they want on public record. Greg Pfeifer-428 Meigs Ave—He is here instead of Mr. Applegate who is out of town at a continuing education event. He just has a few brief comments. Not having the benefit of having been here two weeks ago but to follow up somewhat on the last speaker's comments without some feedback as to why the Council would be against the granting of the credit. We're shooting at moving targets a little bit. He knows they have adopted an ordinance that adopted Roberts's rules and procedure to run the meetings but he's things there's case law to the contrary. He's not researched that and in fact on the agenda tonight consideration of the resolution was on the agenda not a motion to reconsider so he things that's legally suspect to bounce this from public consideration on that basis particularly without listening to Mr. Muncy as to what has either changed or what he had hoped to factually correct here tonight as a basis for that could have been a basis for denial and we'll let him address two of those issue and that is he's heard criticism about the dollar purchase price and he things the Council should have allowed Mr. Muncy to present that in consideration of the resolution as well as the design of the project and what your ordinance is required that dictated the design that was approved by all of the other agencies and so if the design of the project is problematic he can explain to you why it was necessitated in order to comply with the legal requirements that you put in place by ordinance. What he wants to talk about is a misconception or misunderstanding about the use of the funds whether the UEZ credit is approved or not and he would like to point to the Council Indiana Code 36 7 439 G which says that when a TIF district and a UEZ overlay that statute goes to avoid disputes like this about how does the revenue get shared and what is say is to the extent that you have bonds that those revenues are pledged. They go there first but everything that is left over goes into a special new fund that can only be spent by redevelopment on the recommendation of the UEA. Finally what I think what Mr. Muncy really wants is not to be in litigation. Whether you approve the credit or not, he will still do the project. The credit just ensures that the pending litigation goes away. Bobby Bass—10037 Wind Hill Dr.—He represents the main tenant that was supposed to be going into this particular location. They run a concept that is called Mesa in New Albany, IN. They have some of the best chefs come in and they perform and that has allowed them to develop some relationships with Louisville tenants. This particular tenant is a multi James Beard Award Winner(think Emmy's for chefs) and they were excited to be able to come to this location. But without this credit they would not be offered the anticipated discount. They've been dealing with this for about a year/eight months now. LaHosta Fyke—1303 Sportsman Dr.—She would love to have a James Beard award winner restaurant here. This could bring so many people to Jeffersonville. Do we really want to pass that up because two sides are not getting along and they don't agree on certain things. Alan Muncy has went out of his way to provide and build wonderful establishments in the City of Jeffersonville. These are high quality establishments that he is planning on putting in here. You all really need to reconsider. Mary Walker—6027 Pebble Creek Dr. Floyd Knobs Indiana —If she were one of the voters she would personally be really angry that they did not ask questions of Alan. They are not giving any explanations as to why they are voting no. He's the only one that stepped up that was willing to take chance on this property. She is just here to support Alan. Bill Walker—2550 Allison Lane—He is a business owner and a resident—he thinks it would be great if they did something with this property and it would really turn this part of town around. Jason Frankston—310 Spring St. - He has been working on this project with Alan. He just would like to know why. That is his only question. They have put their blood, sweat and tears in this project. Alan Muncy—310 Spring St.—He is the President of ARC. He's got three minutes. He is going to try to figure out what to say because to be honest he is a little in shock right now. The investment that he and his company have made in this city over the last forty eight years both from living here, going to school here, building here, supporting here, supporting each of you individually, being personal friends with 4 some of you growing up. He doesn't understand. If he hasn't earned the right to have an explanation he is not sure what more he can do. He has invested his heart and soul in Jeffersonville. He has moved his business to Jeffersonville. It's been there for almost 20 years. The City has came to him time after time asking him to look at developing projects which he has and even with this project they came to him after another developer walked away. The Redevelopment Commission deeded this property over to the UEZ with stipulations to develop it with stipulations that it be kept in the UEZ with stipulations that It be developed within five years at the time that it was handed over the UEZ came to him and asked him to make a development. He was the only respondent to the RFP that was put out publicly. He spent over a year working on this and as a thank you they sue him. He has no choice but to come before the Council and request this credit because he is now in a lawsuit with the City simply because he did what they asked him to. He simply does not understand. He came to this meeting the last time and nobody even gave him the courtesy of even asking him a question or making a comment then he comes tonight and spends two weeks trying to be prepared and they won't even allow him to talk. He just doesn't understand. And to be honest he is ashamed to be standing here and to be from Jeffersonville. Theresa Tharp—78 E. 18 St. New Albany Indiana — It was an embarrassment at the last meeting to sit here and watch you all, you never even looked at Alan or listened to what he said. Half of you were looking up and down and all around just like you didn't even care. We really urge you to reconsider this and to reconsider voting yes for that tax credit. Thank you. Leslie Lewis Sheets—247 Spring Street-She is a business owner on Spring Street for the past 25 plus years. She is here as a supporter of pro-business, pro-community, pro quality of life. She encourages all of the Council to reconsider this. She doesn't understand why it was denied to even be heard again. She is very active in the community, is appointed by the Mayor and sets on various boards. She is confident of Alan's commitment to the community and strongly urges the Council to reconsider. Janet HemelHeber—23 Artic Springs—She feels a lot of the energy in this room is being divided. She believes in doing things fairly, it does not seem from everything that she's read that this is at all fair and business tries to teach us all the time that it's not that life isn't fair but she expects with her vote that we have some fairness going on in our local government. This does not feel fair and she would like to know why this is going on. If somebody else wants to maybe be like Mr. Ellis who spoke up on why they are voting now that would be great. Thank you. Brittany Green - 1514 Maple Ct. New Albany Indiana —Please reconsider this matter. She is here in support of ARC and this matter. DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS: Nothing at this time. COUNCIL COMMENTS: Councilperson White— In the past few years the project in the Council was granted deference especially in project that didn't cost the City anything. This is the project that was approved by the Urban Enterprise Zone. The reason that there was not a purchase price was because $200,000 worth of corrective measures that have been taken to make the soil stable in order to build something to cover. The City tore down Tubby's, it just buried the rubble underneath and didn't provide a good service so the Urban Enterprise Zone agreed to contribute $40,000. We could fix it for$200,000 then require them to pay us$200,000 if that makes people happy that they paid something for it or we can let them clean it up and build something. ARC was the only company that responded to the call for proposals. They had an initial design and were told to come back with a new design that was the approved by the Urban Enterprise Zone Board. They went on to the Historic Commission where they had to make some modifications again to be approved and then the Plan Commission and BZA. As Alan said the basis of the lawsuit is that they didn't get the tax credit so we can solve that if we approved it. The 5 Redevelopment Commission owned the Tubby's property, deeded the Tubby's property over to the Urban Enterprise Zone not requiring any money to be paid to Redevelopment Commission. Now people are saying that well that money should go to Redevelopment Commission not the Urban Enterprise Zone. Well then that was after the contract was made so now we're moving the goalposts in the middle of the game. So there was a contract that was signed and Alan in good faith in ARC and good faith have completed what they were supposed to do so as one woman said there needs to be some fairness. He's a little embarrassed that he wasn't allowed to speak before the vote was taken. Councilperson Paris—Nothing at this time. Councilperson Maples—He voted for it. He can't explain why other people voted against it. That's just his one vote. He wants to thank Heather. What you guys probably didn't see is Heather left and ran up to her office to do a bunch of changes we threw at her last minute to change our budget to move some money which he found surprisingly went smooth for them to budget for three new firefighters. This did not change the things the Mayor asked for such as the two new police officers and he thinks it is really good. Councilperson Hawkins—Thanks Heather. He does want to address a couple of things that he heard that were not factually correct. He was a no vote and he was the one when Alan pointed out that he's known some of them forever. It's been almost 40 years that they have been friends and he was still a no vote. But to say that they didn't give reasons why isn't true. He gave a reason why. Two meetings ago they met on this. Last meeting they said nothing because they had heard this for the second time. The first time he spoke he believes for six minutes why his no vote was a no. Since no one remembers or looked that up I want to highlight what that was, what those reasons were. It had nothing to do with the purchase price. They had nothing to do with the project design and when I spoke with Alan even way before this came to a vote I shared with him my same concerns that when this tax credit goes through the money is going to be doled out will essentially be controlled by the UEZ. The UEZ is not a governmental agency. It is not subject to open records requests. We have asked the former president in a meeting to tell us how much money the UEZ put towards a project and we were told that they don't have to tell us so how can he in good conscience give taxpayer money to an entity that will not even share information back with them when it concerns a project. So that is his no vote. He even told Alan that he didn't even look at the project because he knew it would be great and it wasn't about the project, it was about the UEZ. He is elected to be a protector of taxpayer money and that is what he thinks he is doing. But he heard something tonight. He heard an attorney speak for Alan about who is in control of the money and if that is the case then another conversation can be had. Another point he would like to discuss is he has heard that the City is in a lawsuit and he does not believe that is the case. He thinks that it involves the UEZ. Councilperson Owen—He has been one of the yes votes from the beginning. This piece of property specifically has been point of focus for him and for the last five years. Alan is actually the third developer that has looked at this property and it doesn't matter to him if it goes through UEZ or Redevelopment as long as it gets done. Councilperson Ellis—He has heard his name mentioned a number of times that he did not support this project and it's true. He does not like what would be being developed there. This situation could have been solved a long time ago if we had not had a representative that was president of the UEZ that illegally signed the contract allowing this property to be transferred. Now that's why we are in litigation and until we go through some litigation, until the court has made a decision he will not vote for bringing 6 this back up or will he support it. He thinks once the litigation is over then there could be some conversation about it but until then he stands by what he's done from day one. Councilperson Samuel—He came to a meeting a number of meetings ago where this was on the agenda, he had been told nothing ahead of time then we talked about some issues, it was voted down for various reasons. It's come back to them three times for a vote, they have been advised to be cautious what they say. When it was first voted down it was said a Council member said don't worry about it we will bring it back in January and that's what he thought would happen but it's already been brought back 2 other times since then. It's very unfortunate because it makes our City look bad. Councilperson Gill—She is running a meeting tonight that Council President could not be there tonight. She told Alan the first time this was presented to them that she tried to do her due diligence like she always does and was unable to find any information. She couldn't find minutes, she couldn't get a copy of this so-called agreement. We didn't find out about an agreement until afterwards. There was a lot of he said she said. She voted no that very first time and she stated why. She should have been able to go through the Clerk's office and get the minutes to get copies like anything else to do her due diligence but she couldn't find anything. She will keep voting no. She will not support anything going to the JUEA and she will support later on this year for the City not to be associated with the JUEA so why I'm not going to vote for something that's going to go into something that she has found a lot of issues with and for the money to go there. They are taking in what they can especially with their attorney not here. We did do our Planning and Zoning appointments tonight but we still have to do the Building Authority Appointment so if we can put that on the next agenda. Councilperson White said a statement was made from a Councilperson that he had done something illegal and that is pure speculation. He will check the minutes to make sure it is on the record. ADJOURNMENT: Councilperson Owen made the motion to ADJOURN and the meeting adjourned at 8:50 P.M. APPROVED BY: Lisa Gi I, Vice-President A EST: / Vicki Conlin, Clerk 7