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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJANUARY 20, 2015COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA January 20, 2015 The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met in regular session in Room 101, 500 Quartermaster Court, Jeffersonville, Indiana at 7:00pm, on Monday, January 20, 2015. Council President Gill called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. President Gill asked those in attendance to stand as Mr_ Bobby Campbell gave the Invocation_ President Gill then led all those present in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Council President Gill presented Councilperson Julius with his gavel, engraved for his service as Council President_ She thanked him for his service and stated he did an excellent job. The roll call and those present were: Councilperson Smith, Councilperson Zastawny, Councilperson Wadsworth, Councilperson Sellers, Council President Gill, Councilperson Julius, Councilperson Webb, Councilperson Owen and Councilperson Samuel. MINUTES TO BE APPROVED= Councilperson Owen made a motion to APPROVE the Council minutes from the Regular Proceedings on January 5, 2015, with Councilperson Sellers seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA_ Council President Gill stated that items 1 and 2 under Unfinished Business need to table and Council Appointments need to be added. Under New Business add an item 6 for City Attorney Scott Lewis to discuss Fire Contract Amendment. Councilperson Owen made the motion to APPROVE the agenda with the changes, with Council Vice President Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0_ CLAIMS TO BE APPROVED= General Claims. Controller Amy Deering presented the general claims list in the amount of $928,520_75. City Clerk Conlin present a hand carried claim from the Police Merit Commission for Attorney Bottorff's fees in order to close out for 2014 for $1,080.00 for several months. Ms. Deering stated the new total was $929,600_75. Councilperson Smith made a motion to APPROVE the general claims list with the changes, with Councilperson Samuel seconding, PASSING on a vote of 8-0-1. Councilperson Julius abstains. REPORT OF THE CLERK. None at this time. A_ UNFINISHED BUSINESS. 1_ Andy Crouch — 2015-0R-1 An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation for Specific Sidewalk Projects (Passed on and 2"a reading 1/5/15) Tabled until next meeting_ 2_ Amy Deering — 2015-0R-2 An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation (Passed on and 2"d reading 1/5/15) Tabled anti/ next meeting_ 1 3. Council President Gill — Appointments: Board of Public Works was on the previous list, it is a Mayoral appointment. Building Authority: Don Sperzel, Bill Frye, and Dennis Julius; Councilperson Zastawny made a motion to ACCEPT the nominations, with Councilperson Smith seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Drainage Board: Matt Owen and Ed Zastawny, District 2 Grant Martin, District 4 James R. Rogge, At -Large, Chester King, At -Large Steven Gill, At -Large Steven M. McCreight; Councilperson Owen made a motion to ACCEPT the nominations, with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Plan Commission: Lisa Gill, Ed Zastawny, and Connie Sellers; Councilperson Smith made a motion to ACCEPT the nominations, with Councilperson Julius seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Public Arts Commission: Shane Corbin, Jay Ellis, Melissa Deaver Wood, and John McCarthy, Nathan Samuel. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to ACCEPT the nominations, with Councilperson Julius seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Redevelopment: Derek Spence and Marty Chalfant; Councilperson Julius made a motion to ACCEPT the nominations, with Councilperson Smith seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Solid Waste: Dennis Julius; Councilperson Sellers made a motion to ACCEPT the nominations, with Councilperson Samuel seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. UEZ: Mike Smith, Peggy Hardaway, Warren Schmipff, and Stephanie Garner; Councilperson Smith made a motion to ACCEPT the nominations, with Councilperson Samuel seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. 911 Board: Mike Smith; Councilperson Julius made a motion to ACCEPT the nominations, with Councilperson Samuel seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Finance Committee: Lisa Gill, Connie Sellers, Nathan Samuels, and Dennis Julius; do not need a vote just wanted to publicly let everyone know who is on that committee and everyone is welcome to attend. BZA: Terry Hicks; Councilperson Sellers made a motion to ACCEPT the nominations, with Councilperson Smith seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. City Clerk Conlin requested that we receive an email with all individuals on the boards as W9's are needed for each person. B. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Chris Grimm- 1. Appropriate Funds to 409 Funds per IC -5-2-8-2 2. Training Request for 20`h Annual Drug Training Conference Auditor caught this, there was a City Ordinance, 2012 -OR -62 that set up our Non -reverting Funds and how they can be allocated; and the auditor found we were doing it against state statute and it looks like next on the list is Les and we are fixing that. The cash value of that fund that we are setting up the correct way today is $87,431.98. Went to the Finance Committee and requested the full amount be approved, had to come to the Council Meeting to approve $77,000.00. Controller Deering should have the breakdown of how that can be spent and such. This is just a cleanup to make sure we are in compliance with the auditor. Next is the training request. This should just be a travel and mileage request for $960.00. It is IDEA, to send officers up to Indianapolis. It is within our budget and it is something we send them to every year. 2 Councilperson Samuel made a motion to PASS, with Councilperson Sellers seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Third is not on the agenda but last year I spoke to Amir about insurance funds. Over the past few years we have received a reimbursement around $50,000.00 from other insurance companies for totaled and/or damaged police cars. Requesting that $50,000.00 is allowed to be spent to replace and fix detective vehicles. LOIT money is spend solely on patrol vehicles. Two new detective vehicles have been bought since 2006. There are currently nine vehicles that are in that division. These vehicles need to start being caught up a bit. With this money we can probably get two cars to replace a couple and hopefully after this year start cycling in one or two to keep them up to date. Detective cars fall through the cracks because they don't take the wear and tear that patrol cars do. Councilperson Owen made a motion to allow the Chief to work with Ms. Deering to prepare the necessary additional appropriation, with Councilperson Sellers seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. President Gill stated she had spoken with Chief Hedrick about meeting monthly regarding public safety issues and to stay on top of them. Chief Grimm also wanted everyone to know that there were going to be three Tahoe purchased for the K9 division. Also, the middle of February is probably when the ribbon cutting would be for the new police department. The plan is to have an open house probably an hour before for city officials and do the ribbon cutting, and then have an open house to the public after. President Gill asked if it would be advertised so the public would be aware, Chief Grimm stated it would be. 2. Les Merkley — 2015 -OR -3 An Ordinance Amending Ordinance 2012 -OR -62 Establishing the Police Non -Reverting Fund For the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana and Directing the Deposit for All Funds Now Collected and Deposited in the Services Charges for False Alarm Established by Ordinance 2009 -OR -11; In the Non -Reverting Automobile Fund Established by Ordinance 97 -OR -63; and the Police SWAT Non -Reverting Fund Established by Ordinance 2004 -OR -2: Corporate Attorney Merkley stated that funds were collected and combined that should not have been. Per statute and SBOA certain funds must be separate. They can still be collected, just must be put in separate funds. Councilperson Owen made a motion to PASS 2015 -OR -3 on the 1st and 2"d reading, with Councilperson Webb seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. 3. Amy Deering — 2015 -OR -4 Additional Appropriation: Most of these items were brought before the Finance Committee on Thursday with favorable recommendations to bring to the full Council except maybe the first item. Public Safety LOIT City Share, we budgeted $800.000.00 and it was $826,409.21, so we had to ask for that to be an additional. The second two items are actually an addition by reduction. We had budgeted some capital out of the Council's budget and we are moving $10,000.00 over so Bubby can buy some equipment. The next item was for Andy in Engineering for some contract services. The next item is a correction of some hire dates for eight firemen, where the City hired them on before they were accepted into the retirement system; this $65,000.00 is to make them whole and allow the City to contribute to what they missed out on. The 409 Fund, the next several items, are what our two agenda items earlier were about, we are just budgeting the revenue in that local 409 law enforcement fund. The 209 items are for the ice rink. There 3 was no budget adopted in 2015 so we are just asking for that revenue to be appropriated so they can pay their bills. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to PASS 2015 -OR -4 on the 15t and 2nd reading, with Councilperson Owen seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. 4. Nathan Samuel — Public Arts Update: Dawn Spyker, Public Arts Administrator, gave a brief report on potential projects for 2015. Councilperson Samuels stated that they are very happy to have someone who very passionate and excited to push things along. Ms. Spyker thanked everyone for listening to her and began presenting. The presentation consisted of sixteen projects that she stated were ambitious but do -able. The overall theme is Momentum, you can't just stand there if you want something to fly. Council President Gill thanked her for her work and stated her momentum was contagious. Councilperson Samuel stated that they were looking into getting as much funding as possible and need to get this stuff going as opposed to just waiting on a grant. Ms. Spyker stated that she was looking into funding, such as four different grants that she is applying for. There are also civic groups that are going to give money as well. 5. Amy Deering — 2015-R-1 A Resolution of the Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville Authorizing the Investment of Public Funds Pursuant to IC 5-13-9-5: An expired resolution that needs adopted to invest public funds into. Councilperson Owen made a motion to PASS 2015-R-1, with Councilperson Sellers seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. CITY COUNCIL ATTORNEY REPORT: City Attorney Scott Lewis discussed Fire Fighter contracts. Article 23.9 was agreed on by the committee and is up for approval by the entire Council tonight. It was agreed to that in January of each year all firefighters who used no more than 24 hours of sick leave in the previous calendar year will have the option to sell back up to 16.7% of their annual accrued incentive hours after straight time rate of pay. No firefighter who used more than 24 hours of sick leave in the previous calendar year will be eligible to sell back incentive hours. This particular section will only be amended for a trial basis for the calendar year of 2015. The Union and the City will evaluate the effectiveness of reducing the sick time use and we will meet in early 2016 to decide whether this particular clause will remain in effect for 2016 and the following year(s). Effectively, both the FOP and Firefighter's Union contract were to expire December 31, 2016. Since we agreed to have the wages increase over a three year period going into 2017 the contract is extended by one year. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to ACCEPT the amendment to the contract presented, with Councilperson Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS: None at this time. PUBLIC COMMENT: Ellie Vassileva, owner of Jefferson Jewelers- wanted to come to ask, discuss, or propose maybe, about the LED lights for the small businesses. I am having trouble with the people from the City Hall, here about my LED lights on the windows. I need these lights to attract people's attention. As a small business I need more customers and right now I don't have enough customers. The enforcement officers want me to take them and I cannot afford to do so because I need them to attract more customers. So they told me to come over here because you are the people who make the rules for the City and maybe you will be willing to change this special rule. I don't see the common sense in this. The lights are pretty and attract people. I just would like to draw your attention to this problem for the small businesses. We can pay our bills only if we have customers. This is very stressful for a small business owner. 4 Samai Morris, Mai Thai Restaurant- we put up the lights about eight months ago. We were told to remove them. The lights are very pretty and the customers love them. They like that it lights up the parking lot which is very dark. It allows people to see us and not just pass us up. We are on a commercial street so we aren't interfering with anyone's sleep. If anything could we keep them on and turn them off at night when we close? We are just looking for some type of help with this because our customers have been requesting lighting for years. We've been robbed a couple times due to the lighting in the past. We appreciate anything you can do to help us. Robert Rhodes, Rob's Touch of Glass Window Tint- Been in business since 1990. I put the lights up and so many people told me how much they loved them. Then I was told I had to take them down, after paying $1,200.00 for them. I took them down in the cold with no help. I had no time, I was given like a week and a half. I just don't think this is right. It makes it look better out there, when you drive down the road it looks good. It was safe. COUNCIL COMMENTS: Councilperson Smith: None at this time. Vice President Zastawny: Asked about the hours of operation for the new police station. Chief Grimm stated it was 8-4 and a call box is in for after hours. It brings central alarm and goes straight to dispatch. Councilperson Zastawny asked if the old water tower on Hollman's Lane would be painted, as it was an eye sore and it could be so cool looking. Councilperson Samuel stated it was being torn down. Councilperson Zastawny asked about the new one that is being built. City Attorney Scott Lewis stated we'd have to get permission as it was Sellersburg as well. There would have to be an Interlocal agreement for painting the tower and possibly the school building art. Councilperson Zastawny suggested maybe doing some painting or art with the railroad tracks or near the entrance sign to Jeffersonville. He spoke to Brian Glover and he said they had worked with cities and entities before to do things like that. Thanked Councilperson Samuel for all he had done with the planning for 2015. Councilperson Wadsworth: None at this time. Councilperson Sellers: None at this time. Councilperson Webb: None at this time. Councilperson Julius: Attended a UEZ meeting this past week and asked them for the $10,000.00 for Tourism and next meeting for Redevelopment is the end of the month and I will ask them for $10,000.00 and that will break it down how we discussed. One thing that was brought up was Kelly had been to a Tourism meeting and she was under the impression that they were not going to advertise locally. They were going to advertise in Indianapolis and Cincinnati so I called Jim Epperson, who is the head of the Tourism Bureau; they have not changed their scope any since Kaphammer was in here. They are going to advertise the Big Squeeze, mainly to Louisville, to illustrate that our businesses are still open. There is no real traffic problems to get here. I will let you know how I do with Redevelopment after I go. Councilperson Owen: None at this time. 5 Councilperson Samuel: None at this time. Council President Gill: Need to schedule a workshop, Monday, February 2"d. We need to have a workshop so the Council will hear where we are at and get information on the Greenspace maintenance and also I want to add to that workshop unplanned emergency events. We may have residents that need evacuated for example. It may not be an emergency but unplanned. We need to have a workshop to discuss possibly getting a credit card and have another ordinance for emergency purposes only. We will do 5:30 for February 2"d for the workshop. City Attorney Lewis stated he would notify everyone. President Gill wanted to publicly welcome the new Council members. ADJOURNMENT: Councilperson Owen made a motion to ADJOURN at 8:26pm, with Councilperson Sellers seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Vicki Conlin, City Clerk APPROVED BY: 1 Lisa ill, Council President 6