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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 21,2025 Council Minutes COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA January 21, 2025 Regular Meeting Minutes The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met for the Regular Meeting on January 21, 2025. Council President Stoner along with City Clerk Gill called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m.The meeting was open to the public in person as well as live streamed via the City Website using Zoom. INVOCATION: Council Vice President Burns led the invocation. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: ROLL CALL: The roll call was conducted by City Clerk Lisa Gill and present in Council Chambers were Councilperson White, Council Vice President Burns, Councilperson Semones, Councilperson Anderson, Council President Stoner, Councilperson Reed, Councilperson Hawkins, and Councilperson Snelling. Councilperson Webb was absent from the Proceedings. Heaven Williams, Council Youth Advisor was present for the proceedings. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Councilperson Semones made a motion to approve the Minutes for Regular Proceedings on January 6, 2025, seconded by Councilperson Snelling; motion passed, 8-0. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Councilperson Semones made a motion approve the agenda, seconded by Councilperson Burns; motion passed, 8-0. CLAIMS TO APPROVE: Civil City$ 2,341,637.45 Councilperson Reed made a motion approve the Civil City Claims, seconded by Councilperson Stoner; motion passed, 8-0. Parks$ 234,967.83 Controller Metcalf stated there were no changes. Councilperson Semones made a motion approve the Parks Claims, seconded by Councilperson Reed; motion passed, 8-0. REPORT OF THE CLERK: Clerk Gill requested that Council President Stoner confirm which Councilperson made the motion and the second for each item. REPORT OF THE YOUTH ADVISOR: Youth Advisor Heaven Williams said she did not have anything for this evening. Council President Stoner said before moving on to official business he would like to put out there that everyone is welcome to call him Evan, he does not need to be addressed as Council President. Evan is just fine. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1. Building Authority Appointments for 2025 Discussion—Tabled on January 7, 2025 Councilperson Reed said there is one replacement; his name is Greg Miller and he has 10 years of experience and works in weatherization. Mr. Mille will be replacing Richard Eklund. Council Vice President Burns made a motion for Greg Miller to replace Richard Eklund on the Building Authority seconded by Councilperson Reed; motion passed, 8-0. Council Vice President Burns asked about the need to appoint someone for the Public Arts to replace Teah Williams-Hampton and Councilperson Reed confirmed that was correct that Teah has a conflict during the meeting time since she is now on the Clark County Council. Council Vice President Burns made a motion to reappoint Mr. Connor and Mr. Fry on the Building Authority and Councilperson Reed; motion passed, 8-0. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Public Comment: No comments 2. Amber Powell 2024 Depot Annual Report, 2025 Plan for the Depot, and Request for$25,000 Donation to Support the Depot Budget.—Ms. Powell gave an update on the first year of operations. The plan for 2025 was determined by evaluating community feedback on what went well and what didn't. They are planning to do a weekly concert series on Thursday nights with local bands that do original music. Ms. Powell said they are requesting the same $25,000 that was requested last year to help balance their budget. After discussion Councilperson White said he would like to see this funded by the Parks Surplus. Councilperson White made a motion for the $25,000 to be taken out of Parks Surplus and Councilperson Hawkins, seconded the motion. Mrs. Metcalf confirmed with the Council they wanted to see an additional appropriation prepared for this at the next Council meeting and they confirmed that was correct. The motion passed, 8-0. 3. Heather Metcalf 2025-R-1 Resolution Authorizing the Investment of Public Funds Pursuant to IC 5-13-9-5 Controller Metcalf advised this was an annual resolution that allows them the invest in designated repositories by the State. Council Vice President Burns made a motion to approve 2025-R-1, Councilperson Hawkins seconded the motion; motion passed, 8-0. 4. Heather Metcalf 2025-OR-1 Ordinance of Additional Appropriation Controller Metcalf advised this was for postage in the amount of$10,000 and was discussed at the end of last year. Council Vice President Burns made a motion to approve 2025-OR-1 on the first and second reading and Councilperson Reed seconded the motion; motion passed, 8-0. 5. Heather Metcalf 2025-OR-2 Ordinance of Additional Appropriation Controller Metcalf advised this would true up all of the Police and Fire salaries based off of the contract changes. Councilperson Snelling made a motion approved 2025-OR-2 on the first and second reading and Councilperson White seconded the motion; motion passed, 8-0. 6. Heather Metcalf 2025-OR-3 Ordinance of Transfer of Funds Within the Same Department Controller Metcalf advised this was a transfer that is an annual transfer for the Department Head's pay increased from the Mayor's budget. Council Vice President Burns made a motion approved 2025-OR-3 on the first and second reading and Councilperson Anderson seconded the motion; motion passed, 8-0. COMMITTEE REPORTS: ATTORNEY COMMENTS: Larry Wilder— Mr. Wilder thanked the Council for the opportunity to serve in the position of Council Attorney. Les Merkley—Mr. Merkley said he would forward the AIM email to the Council to keep them updated. DEPARTMENT HEADS: COUNCIL COMMENTS: • Councilperson White—Councilperson White thanked everyone who agreed to schedule the workshops today to talk about the budget. They received informative information about how the budget works and the results of the work they did last year. Also thanks to the entire Council for agreeing to do the excess Levy appeal. The workshop also allowed them to understand some of the healthcare issues and hopefully they can get to work on that and see if it's possible to find a solution. • Council Vice President Burns— No comment. • Councilperson Semones— No comment. • Councilperson Anderson— No comment. • Councilperson Reed—Councilperson Reed thanked everyone for coming out to the Soln Tourism stakeholder meetings. The more they can get the people in their town to spend their money and enjoy their City, the better. She is grateful for the MLK services they had, this past weekend 6 scholarships were awarded to young people going off to college. Congratulations to Jeff High on their win against New Albany and to the chess champions and bowling champions as well. • Councilperson Webb— Not present • Councilperson Hawkins—Councilperson Hawkins said he had someone call him about House Bill 1233 concerning Fire Territories being eliminated and he wanted to make sure it was on someone's radar. Mr. Merkley said he was aware of it and he has reached out to AIM and they do not believe it will go anywhere but he will keep everyone updated. • Councilperson Snelling—No comment. • Council President Stoner—Council President Stoner said that government work can be hard at some points and he appreciates all of the work that everyone has put in. He appreciates that they are able to ask questions and get the questions answered. Council President Stoner congratulated the new President and Administration. When he first came to a City Council Meeting back in 2016 he had started an organization after seeing bullying that happened in their community and he wasn't okay with it. That organization was built on the premise that we should treat people like people and he thinks it's very sad to see how far we have fallen and how we treat people sometimes. There's positives and negatives to everything, but hopefully there is a lot of positive with will come out of this next four years, particularly around housing and homelessness. HE was able to listen to the new HUD Secretary in his confirmation hearing and he's looking forward to that. There is an open house for Sunrise Recovery on February 4' and February 7th ADJOURNMENT: Councilperson Snelling made the motion to ADJOURN the meeting at 7:29 p.m. DISCLAIMER: These minutes are a summary of actions taken at the Jeffersonville City Council meetings. The full video archive of the meeting is available for viewing at www.cityofjeff.net for as long as this media is supported. APP OVED BY: / Evan Stoner, Council President ATTEST: Lisa Gill,Clerk