HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 29, 2021 Council Special Meeting Minutes COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY
JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA
March 29, 2021
City Council/Sewer Board Workshop
Minutes
The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana along with the Jeffersonville Sewer Board met for
a combined workshop via teleconferencing on March 29, 2021.
Council President Owen along with City Clerk Gill called the virtual meeting to order at 6:02 p.m.
ROLL CALL:
The roll call was conducted by City Clerk Lisa Gill and those Council members teleconferencing (Covid-19)
were Councilperson White, Councilperson Burns, Councilperson Paris, Council Vice President Maples,
Councilperson Croft Councilperson Webb, Council President Owen, and Councilperson Ellis.
Sewer Board members teleconferencing (Covid-19) were Board Members Mayor Mike Moore, Bill
Saegesser and Dale Orem as well as Utility Directory Len Ashack.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Len Ashack 2021-OR-7 Discussion Between City Council and Sewer Board -Council President
Owen stated the only thing on the agenda tonight is to discuss 2021-OR-7. This will establish sewer
rates. At the last meeting the Council discussed bringing everyone together to talk this over to
make sure everyone was on the same page about a couple of different things. The Council
amended the ordinance that was presented to them to reflect some changes that he had tried to
work out between some of the Council. Since then, he now believes that the language that was
used to amend the ordinance will not work. Member Orem reached out and requested to discuss
the ordinance. Council President Owen met with Member Orem and Mr. Ashack, Councilperson
Burns and Councilperson Webb and they discussed the legal ramifications and they concluded that
the language they amended to at the last Council meeting is not going to be appropriate. They will
need to make an adjustment to that to reflect just one number for an EDU and if they choose to
charge a premium for those outside of the City they can do that up to the 15% mark without having
to go to the IRC, which he believes everyone agrees that they do not want to go that direction.
Member Mayor Moore asked what any of the questions were.
Councilperson Burns said he feels like the meeting he had last week was very beneficial to him and
based off the information in that meeting his stance is to still keep the tap in rate the same, raise
the outside rates, and adjust the commercial rates as well.
Council President Owen said one thing he needed clarity on is adjusting the formula for industrial
and commercial capacity fees outside what they control as a Council, he stated they had asked
about that back in January but had not gotten any answers until last week when they met.
Member Mayor Moore stated the bottom line is they need to raise enough money to pay for this
expansion. If the Council has a formula that they like that will make the debt payments, they are all
ears. They have to raise money to pay for the increase capacity and they have to do it now. They
do not have time to sit back and study this any longer. He appreciates the questions and he hopes
they have the answers they need. He stated he doesn't think anyone wants to stunt growth for
Jeffersonville but that being said but if the capacity at the North Plant isn't increased and they don't
get on this quick then stunting growth in Jeffersonville is exactly what is going to happen. Member
Mayor Moore stated the formula wasn't their suggestion, it was the expert's recommendation of
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what they passed and presented to the Council. That came from analysis of where the growth will
be. He doesn't want to see Jeffersonville growth stop because the North treatment plant reaches
full capacity.
Councilperson Webb said it was his understanding that they were going to recalculate the formulas
to what the commercial rate increase was going to be to where it wouldn't so much affect the
residents of Jeffersonville for the tap in fees. Council President Owen agreed that was his
understanding as well. Council President Owen stated they want the growth for Jeffersonville to
continue and for anyone who is thinking of coming to Jeffersonville to be confident that
Jeffersonville has the utilities to meet their needs.
Member Mayor Moore said he wanted to make sure everyone was clear that the tap in fee is$3500
for a single-family residence. In River Ridge the tap in fee is in the ball park of$200,000 for a
company. There is an apartment project going in across from Kroger's that their tap in fee under
current rates will be over one million dollars. There are already commercial projects coming in to
Jeffersonville that will be paying tap in fees in excess of one million dollars. These fees do give
developers pause and if you are planning on shifting the fees to be covered by commercial projects,
then you need to look at what the commercial projects are already paying.
Councilperson Burns stated his concern was that they need more rooftops to attract businesses to
their 10th Street Corridor. If they continue to raise the fees on single family,they will not see that.
Councilperson Burns stated that the study that the consultant did didn't include any of the revenue
from the new developments that are coming in as well as the commercial projects that have been
announced.
Council President Owen asked what the Council was comfortable with for the dollar amount for the
EDU inside the City of Jeffersonville. Today it is$3300 and they are asking to increase it to $4900.
Mr. Ashack asked if they could explain how that number was determined. Doug Baldessari stated
they did assume conservative growth based on historical growth when doing the study. The
capacity fee has been calculated based on not only the equity in the system but then also the cost
of the future capacity for the treatment plant. They calculated a maximum amount that could be
charged. All of the amounts that are being talked about are cost justified, even the $4900 that is
being requested is well under the$6400 that could be justified for capacity fees.
Board Member Orem stated this increase is necessary to continue the growth of Jeffersonville. To
increase by 6 million gallons is going to cost approximately$37 million dollars. We need to do this
to move forward for the future developments for the community.
Board Member Saegesser stated we are currently looking at projects at River Ridge that our
facilities cannot serve and they would have to go somewhere else.
Mr. Merkley asked that it be explained how the non-residential fees are determined under the
ordinance. Mr. Ashack stated it is the type of building and the number of square feet of a building.
Mr. Merkley asked if they were going to raise enough to pay for the plant expansion.
Council President Owen said he would like to see them meet in the middle. He thinks when you are
raising these fees you are going to ultimately have developers pause before deciding to come to
Jeffersonville.
Councilperson White asked the difference in the price between expanding 3 million gallons vs 6
million gallons. 3 million gallons will be around 27 million dollars and 6 million gallons will be
around 37 million dollars.
Member Mayor Moore stated they hired experts to come up with a plan on how to pay for these
expansions and this is the plan that they have presented. These fees will not change for any
developments that have not already been started.
Councilperson White stated there is a Developer in his District that builds starter homes and he
would not want to see those additional fees added on to those developments. He is open to
hearing different types of solutions but he hopes whatever is done they protect the current citizens
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they have as well as those who want to start their families in Jeffersonville as well as those who
want to buy their first homes.
Councilperson Webb said he would like to see a scenario where we keep the current residents the
same and the outside residents the 15%and what it would be and then if we went to $4000 and
the 15% premium on the outside and how that would impact the commercial side. The Council
would like to see two other options.
Council President Owen asked for Mr. Baldessari to calculate additional scenarios for the Council to
review.
Councilperson Paris stated he feels the Sewer Board has done an excellent job with this panel. If
we are going to grow like we want to grow he believes it has to be spread out between all of the
groups.
Councilperson Burns asked Mr. Baldessari when the recalculations would be available. Mr.
Baldessari said they would be ready in a week or two.
ADJOURNMENT:
Councilperson Burns made the motion to ADJOURN the meeting at 7:09 p.m.
APROVED BY:
0-0
Matt Owen, Presi A- ST: Lida Gill, Clerk
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