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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAugust 1, 2022 Council Minutes JEFFERSONVILLE,INDIANA August 1,2022 Regular Meeting Minutes The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met for the Regular Meeting on August 1, 2022. Council President Owen along with City Clerk Gill called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.The meeting was open to the public in personas well as live streamed via the City Website using Zoom. INVOCATION: Councilperson Ellis led the Invocation. ROLL CALL: l The roll call was conducted by City Clerk Lisa Gill and present in Council Chambers were Councilperson Burns,Councilperson Paris,Council Vice President Maples,Councilperson Croft,Councilperson Webb, Council President Owen, Councilperson Hawkins,and Councilperson Ellis. Council President Owen advised Councilperson White was running late. Let the record reflect that 8 Council Members were present in Council Chambers. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Councilperson Burns made a motion to approve the Minutes of July 18, 2022 of the Regular Meeting, seconded by Councilperson Paris; motion passed,8-0. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Council Vice.President Maples made a motion to approve the agenda,seconded by Councilperson Croft; motion passed,8-0. CLAIMS TO APPROVE: Civil City$2,014,667.01—Mrs. Metcalf stated there were no changes. Council Vice President Maples made a motion to pass the Civil City Claims, seconded by Councilperson Paris; motion passed,8-0. Parks$136,939.52-Mrs. Metcalf stated there were no changes. Council Vice President Maples made a motion to approve the Parks Claims, seconded by Councilperson Burns; motion passed, 8-0. REPORT OF THE CLERK: i Clerk Gill let the Council know that the dates for the workshops,August 16,2022 and August 18,2022 have been noticed and if a third meeting is needed the Council will have to advertise. Council President Owen stated he thinks everything can be done in two workshops. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Heather Metcalf 2022-OR-41 Ordinance of Additional Appropriation (Public Hearing) Mrs.Metcalf stated there were no changes.Councilperson-White arrived at 7:04 pm. Council President Owen opened the Public Hearing at 7:04 pm. Clerk Gill stated there were no- comments submitted to the Clerk's office. No members of the community were present in Council Chambers to speak for or against the matter. Council President Owen closed the Public Hearing. Council Vice President Maples made a motion to approve on the Third and Final Reading, seconded by Councilperson Croft; motion passed,9-0. 2. Heather Metcalf 2022-OR-42 Ordinance Transferring Certain Funds Within the Same Department Mrs.-Metcalf stated there were no changes. Council Vice President Maples made a motion to approve on the Third and Final Reading, seconded by Councilperson Burns; motion passed,8-1. Council President Owen voted no. NEW BUSINESS 1. Nick Lawrence(Wheatley Group)2022-R-8 Resolution Application for Vacant Land Building Deduction&Personal Property Tax Abatement for Amatrol,Inc. Mary Jo Wallin-Orlowski with One Southern Indiana was present on behalf of Amatrol; Inc.to propose a capital investment project worth 8.5 million dollars that will create 30 new jobs with a pay rate of$24.75 per hour which is above average for Jeffersonville. One Southern Indiana is supporting the project fully. President of Amatrol, Paul Perkins provided the Council with background information about the company. Amatrol is a manufacturer of learning systems for technical education;they make hands on training equipment and e learning software for learning technical skills including solar and wind training equipment and robotics training equipment. Amatrol serves all 50 states and 53 Countries. In 2014 they were awarded the E Award foroutstanding efforts in exports and were the only company in Indiana to receive the award that year. Amatrol was started in 1981,came to Jeffersonville in 1983, and expanded in 2004, 2014,and 2019. Over the last two years they have acquired two training companies located in New Jersey and Texas. Amatrol is family owned, Mr. Perkins is the second generation and the third generation just joined and they are looking forward to continuing deepening their roots in Jeffersonville. The project,being proposed is for the former Key Electronic building which has been vacant for a couple of years. This project will allow them to continue growing online software development. The number of jobs is conservative and they have always _ exceeded what they have presented to the City in the past. This expansion will also allow them to grow in metal fabrication. They would like to implement a more automated process increasing cost efficiency which would allow them to compete at a global level. Mr. Perkins stated they would be very grateful for the support of the City.Council President Owen stated there was unanimous support from Redevelopment for these abatements.Council.President - Owen confirmed in the past when Amatrol has requested a tax abatement they have always exceeded the projection they have presented to the City. Amatrol is a great business, neighbor, and partner for Jeffersonville. Councilperson Hawkins stated Redevelopment analyzes whether a company is appropriate or not for a tax abatement,Amatrol exceeds all expectations based on the criteria needed for a favorable recommendation for a tax abatement. Councilperson Webb stated that investing in Jeffersonville since 1983 that says a lot about the company. - Councilperson White met this company 18 years ago and stated they continue to do good work. Councilperson Ellis said he is thankful for the robotics training for local kids during the summer. Councilperson Hawkins made a motion to approve 2022-R-8,seconded by Councilperson Webb;. motion passed,9-0. 2. Chad Reischl 2022-OR-43 Hearting on Rezoning for Property Located in the 2000-2001 Block of Aster Dr. (From M2, Multi-Family Residential-Medium Scale to R3,Single-Family Residential- Medium Scale) Millennium Builders is requesting to rezone a 9 acre parcel in order to develop a second phase of a subdivision that is already under construction. This phase will allow for a 26 lot single family attached subdivision which meets all of the criteria. This comes with a favorable recommendation from the Planning Commission. Councilperson Croft stated he is very pleased with the builder's products. Council President Owen opened the Public Hearing at 7:16 pm. Clerk Gill stated there were no comments sent to her office and no members of the community were present in Council Chambers speak for or against this matter. Council President Owen closes the Public Hearing. Councilperson White echoed what Councilperson Croft said. Council Vice President Maples made a motion to approve 2022=OR-43, seconded by Councilperson Croft; motion passed, 9-0. 3. Chad Reischl-Comprehensive Plan Kickoff Announcement Mr. Reischl advised the last update to the Comprehensive Plan was in 2015. Many projects have been completed and many have just begun. In the last couple of months the Planning Department has worked to start the update. The plan will be called: Building Jeff-Our Comprehensive Plan. Planning and Zoning has been working with a public relation consulting company,.Garr&Co.and they have put together a video presentation for the Council to view. The video will be shared on Social Media this week. The project website can be viewed at Buildingjeff.com. This website will include information such as current projects,the Comprehensive Plan and what it is,and a map of the City of Jeffersonville that will be an interactive tool for the residents to tell us what they like and what needs worked on. Over the next 3 weeks, Planning staff will be out speaking with the residents about the future of Jeff at several different locations. The Planning Department will be coming back before Council in October or November of this year to report the results. He is excited to kick off this project. Council President Owen stated it is important to talk about where we have been,where we are and where we are going,especially when we consider all of the development of this area. ATTORNEY COMMENTS: Larry Wilder—No Comment DEPARTMENT HEADS: Chief Kavanaugh—Chief Kavanaugh apologized for having to leave last Council Meeting. There were questions regarding the Police Departments transfer request and he was present at the meeting but had to Ieave prior to that item on the agenda due to a situation and he needed to join the SWAT team. Assistant Chief McVoy sent out an email earlier apologizing for the,lack of communication ahead of time and explained that the funds requested are currently available and were not available previously when the Additional Appropriation was requested in March of this year. PUBLIC COMMENTS: - Alice Butler-1773 Summerlin Place,Jeffersonville, IN 47130 Mrs. Butler presented a handout to the Council with her statement and concerns regarding the pay grid. (See attachment) .. James R McClure Jr.-1006 Hazelwood Ct, Clarksville, IN 47129 All lives matter. Wants to mention the lives of 3 men and their stories. 1. Elijah Dicken,saved people in a shooting in Greenwood. 2. Nicholas Bostic, noticed a fire,saved the lives of 4 people. 3. Ellwood Police Office, Noah Shahnavaz lost his life during a traffic stop. Mr. McClure greatly appreciates the effort and sacrifice of these people. COUNCIL COMMENTS: • Councilperson White—Councilperson White stated for the record, he is very proud to pay the hard workers of the City of Jeffersonville the amount approved for them. They do a great job making sure this city operates in an efficient manner and cleanly manner through many types of weather. They work very hard and deserve to be compensated well for the work that they do. If anyone wants to criticize that,then he will fight against that every step of the way. He is proud of the vote that he cast to raise the pay for our city workers that do a great job day in and day out. • Councilperson Burns— No Comment • Councilperson Paris—No Comment • Council Vice President Maples- No Comment • Councilperson Croft—He concurs with Councilperson White. • Councilperson Webb— He concurs with Councilperson White; he believes the City is way above a lot of the national cities across the United States. Councilperson Webb thanked Mr. Reischl for a great presentation. He feels that the Council may have to step in on some of these lots, he doesn't want to restrict developers on what they put in their locations but he thinks they are getting too many car washes and banks going in. • Councilperson Hawkins—No Comment • Councilperson Ellis—He has been attending the Sewer Board meetings and the expansion of the North Wastewater Plant is on hold due to there being no money. Promises have been made but not followed through on. He suggested the Council members attend the workshops that are available at the AIM conference. • Council President Owen—Council President Owen stated he agreed with Councilperson Ellis, they need to pay close attention to what is going on in the Sewer utility. We have a lot of work to be done on the East end, he thinks he speaks for the whole Council, intends to raise rates on current users. Team Jeff Wrestling sent a thank you card. Regarding all of the banks and car washes, he has the same frustrations. In response to the accusation to the Council not taking care of the taxpayer dollars, he thinks they are doing a good job of balancing how they take care of our city employees and how they take care of our taxpayers.They have 10.3 million dollars in reserves in the Council's general fund.That represents a 28% reserve cash level over our budget. Looking through the different funds that they oversee,they have funds of 2.6 million in reserve, 1.05 million, 2.501 million,700 thousand, 500 thousand, 800 thousand,total these up, our target is to keep 30%of our tax dollars in reserves,that would be 13 million dollars,they have 20 million in the bank across all funds,that's a 47% reserve rate on our cities finances. He thinks they are doing okay. He issorry that there are folks that feel they are not being transparent enough, but there was a lengthy discussion here about Mr.White's proposal to increase a couple of people and probably the better idea of looking at an approach that wouldn't provide for compression, in addition to the conversation that happened here,they had multiple meetings amongst a minority group of Council members, different groups of Council members, the Administration here in City Hall about how they need to make moves to make sure they are improving the turnover rate so that they have a steady work force that go out and work for our tax payers. It doesn't do the tax payers any good to have to be training someone new every 18 months because they can't keep up with industry standards and salaries. He thinks they are doing a pretty good job and is not ashamed to say they are passing balance budgets every year, they have great reserves in our cash funds every year. They have come through a global pandemic with a stellar balance sheet and to say anything otherwise is a little miss guided. Chief Kavanaugh made a good point,the administration had been working on the pay grid for months before it was presented to the Council. ADJOURNMENT: Councilperson Croft made the motion to ADJOURN the meeting at 7:41 p.m. APROVED BY: "�' a_1 —�— ��W`7 4_4 1 Matt Owen, President A ST: Lis Gill,Clerk On May 16th, you voted 8 to 1 to approve a new salary grid that was - recommended by the mayor, all department heads, HR and an outside consultant who you hired to analyze the current job market and labor rates. The total annual cost impact.was estimated at $964,452. Mr. White recommended raising six specific jobs (construction and sanitation workers) an additional $1 or $2/hour and asked what the cost impact of those adjustments would be. Mr. Webb wanted to see the numbers also. On June 6th, the HR director said she had sent you the "final grid" and "the changes were made that were recommended by Mr. White and she had not received any comments regarding the updated grid." It passed 8 to 1 with no discussion. But what the HR director did not say was that not only were the six jobs changed that Mr..White recommended, but EVERY single person on the grid was raised — EVERYONE — All hourly people were raised $1 or $2/hour and ALL salaried people — department heads, directors, professionals, etc. were raised an additional $2000 per year. But this was NOT mentioned at your meeting. Why? Why didn't any of you question it? Mr. Hawkins is running for State office and didn't say a word. None of you did. Were you trying to hide it? Why was EVERY single job raised instead of just the six requested? The cost impact of the initial grid was $964,000 but the final grid was almost $1.4 million ($1,366,991)--- an increase of over $400,000 ($402,539) or 41.7%. That's a SIGNIFICANT increase! I asked Ms. Metcalf who instructed her to raise the salaries for EVERYONE rather than just the six? She said that was a "question for the council". So I ask you — "which one of you told her to increase the entire grid?" --- was this Mr: White's intent? And even though you raised the cost by over $400,000, the appropriation (OR-30) did not change by a single dime. How can this be? Ms. Metcalf told me the appropriation was originally the amount needed for a year — but she didn't change it because it was still enough to cover six months! That's called deception! Taxpayers work hard for their money and want it spent wisely. Those of you who voted for a 41.7% increase without even discussing it should be ashamed. Where's the transparency? You gave away over $400,000 of our tax money unnecessarily. That's tantamount to theft! You are elected to serve the taxpayers and be watchdogs of our money, but you have failed miserably. I call on the person who told Ms. Metcalfe to do this to stand up — and resign. This is outrageous and needs to be corrected immediately. Alice Butler -- 1773 Summerlin Place —Jeffersonville p.s. I could say a lot more and give.a lot more details, but you limit me to 3 minutes! But, most importantly, the dollar estimates that were given to you by Ms. Metcalfe are based on only 215 employees --- yet, the city has up to 300+ employees at various times throughout the year. Therefore, the "estimated" impact appears to be too low. Hopefully, you will demand a full accounting when you prepare the 2023 budget. The real effect of this new grid will be much higher than $1.4 million. I was not opposed to the original grid. I was also not opposed to giving construction workers an additional $1 per hour or sanitation workers an additional $2 per hour. But I am'. adamantly opposed to raising EVERYONE on the grid - especially all salaried personnel. This was absolutely not necessary and you should be ashamed. It needs to be corrected as soon as possible. 1 This is what I gave the council. All costs are estimated and projected for the year. First reading: • 21-Apr-22 Est.Total Cost City Fund Name with Service credit SS INPRS Total Admin 1101* $339,410 $ 25,965 $ 48,196 $ 413,571 Drainage 6501 $52,114 $ 3,987 $ 7,400 $ 63,501 Motor Vehicle 2201 $24,958 $ 1,909 $ 3,544 $ 30,411 Parks 2204 $94,211 $ 7,207 $ 13,378 $ 114,796 Redevelopment2580 $2,131 $ 163 $ 303 $ 2,597 Sanitation 2223 $86,355 $ 6,606 $ 12,262 $ 105,224 Wastewater 6201 $192,329 $ 14,713 $ 27,311 $ 234,353 Total $79175O8 $ 60,550 $ 112,394 $ 46445`2 Final approval: , 18-May-22 Est.Total Cost City Fund Name with Service credit SS INPRS Total Admin 1101* $417,611 $ 31,947 $ 59,301 $ 508,859 Drainage 6501 $70,150 $ 5,366 $ 9,961 $ 85,478 Motor Vehicle 2201 $54,258 $ 4,151 $ 7,705 $ 66,113 , Parks 2204 $148,141 $ 11,333 $ 21,036 $ 180,510 Redevelopment 2580 ' $4,432 $ 339 $ 629 $ 5,401 , Sanitation 2223 $163,100 $ 12,477 $ 23,160 $ 198,737 Wastewater 6201 $264,171 $ 20,209 $ 37,512 $ 321,892 Total $ai121863' $ 85,823 $ 159,305 $ 1'3`669`9'1' First reading total cost May 16 $ 964,452 Final approval June 6th $1,366,991 • • Total Increase from May 16th To June 6th $402,539 41.7% increase 22-OR-30 Appropriation of Funds $663,167 (supposedly the total for all categories except Drainage, redevelopment and wastewater) Yet the total for those categories actually adds to $664,002 on first reading and 454,219 on the final reading. An'additional increase in wages over and above the first reading of$290,217 or 43.7%. Was this Mr.White's intent? And who instructed Ms. Metcalf to change EVERYONE-not just the construction laborers and sanitation workers?