Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout November 7, 2022 Council Minutes COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY JEFFERSONVILLE,INDIANA November 7,2022 Regular Meeting Minutes The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met for the Regular Meeting on November 7, 2022. Council President Owen along with City Clerk Gill called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m.The meeting was open to the public in person as well as live streamed via the City Website using Zoom. INVOCATION: Councilperson Ellis 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,Councilperson Burns,Councilperson Paris,Councilperson Webb,Councilperson Hawkins, Councilperson Ellis and Council President Owen. Let the record reflect that 7 Council Members were present in Council Chambers.Council Vice President Maples and Councilperson Croft were absent. APROVAL OF MINUTES: Councilperson Burns made a motion to approve the Minutes of October 17,2022 of the Regular Meeting,seconded by Councilperson Hawkins; motion passed,7-0.. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Councilperson Burns made a motion to approve the agenda,seconded by Councilperson Paris; motion passed,7-0. . • CLAIMS TO APPROVE: Civil City$7,403,779.92 Mrs. Metcalf advised that 5.9 Million is a transfer of ARPA Funds to go into the construction account for the Wastewater Plant. Council President Owen advised a large portion of the.Civil City Claims is for Health Insurance Claims. Councilperson Burns made a motion to approve Civil City Claims,seconded by Councilperson Paris; motion passed,7-0. Parks$107,910.59, Mrs. Metcalf advised there were no changes.Councilperson Paris made a motion to approve Parks Claims,seconded by Councilperson Burns; motion passed,7-0. . REPORT OF THE CLERK: Clerk Gill advised there is a Holiday Open House Downtown Jeffersonville on November 10,2022 from 6- 9pm. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: . 1. Heather Metcalf 2022-OR-67 Ordinance of Transfer of Funds within the Same Department Mrs. Metcalf advised there were no changes. Councilperson Ellis made a motion to pass on the Third and Final Reading, seconded by Councilperson Paris; motion passed,7-0. 2. Heather Metcalf 2022-OR-68 Ordinance of Transfer of Funds within the Same Department Mrs. Metcalf advised there were no changes. Councilperson Burns made a motion to pass on the Third and Final Reading, seconded by Councilperson Paris; motion passed,7-0. NEW BUSINESS: 1. 2022-R-17 Redistricting Brian Bosma with Kroger,Gardis& Regas LLP was present to discuss the Redistricting process and challenges. Mr. Bosma advised this is his fourth decennial walking through this with different principalities over the past 30 years.There is a process to limit the likelihood of successful law suits should someone disagree with their work. There are two key criteria that have been successful around the country. The first one is there is no opportunity for public input,there is none required,by statute.The second one is equality of population; a map was passed out to each Council Member that shows the current parameters that were beside their district and there is a total deviation which is the largest percentage of the largest district to the ideal district added to the percentage of the smallest district, District Six has a 22.69%over population from the ideal district and District One is 17%under population which put that number at 40%. Everybody has changed over the past 10 years. There will be some challenges with ensuring more than one Council Member does not live in the same district so the current Council would not be put to have to run against each other. One of the criteria is to have the Council to appoint 1 person to put a draft map together, bring it back before the Council for consideration and action as an Ordinance. The reasoning for 1 person is that if there are 2 or more,that is considered a committee that would be subject to the Open Door Law. This Resolution appoints the President of.the Council as the redistricting coordinator and charges the redistricting coordinator with bringing a plan back to the Council in a timely manner and gives the public the same. Exhibit A of the Resolution on page Al shows the statutory criteria for a second class city.You cannot have a separation in the districts intervening unless you happen to have that as part of your normal precinct,Jeffersonville does not.Secondly,they have to be reasonably compact. Thirdly,they cannot cross precinct boundaries except with a couple of big exceptions. Most importantly,contain as nearly as possible equal population. There are 2 situations in which you are allowed to cross precinct boundaries or split precincts as your current map does. One very specific situation is if two Council live in the same precinct and after the districts are drawn they don't live in the same precinct. The second one is if the district needs to be spilt to make population more equal. They try to avoid that if possible. Legislature has made some changes this year that have been the same for the past 4 years. Previously, Council could add to redistrict at the 2nd year after the census but could redistrict at any other time.That ability was taken away this year. Redistricting is 1 time in 10 years with some minor exceptions such as if someone goes from 3rd class city to a 2nd class city. They also consolidated a number of provisions that appear as Indiana Code 3-5-10 in the guidelines that apply to all units that we district now,Schools,Counties,Cities,Towns,Townships;that is defaults in case you don't get something right. The same precinct in 2 descriptions of the district that goes with the one that has the lower population. If one is missed it goes to the district that has the lowest population. The guidelines go on to expand on those various criteria and on page 7 it adopts standards for the public to submit a plan.There are attachments that are included in a public access packet that was given to the Clerk's Office. Those contain a copy of the redistricting guidelines, instruction for submitting district plans,copy of the 2012 Redistricting Ordinance, table of Precincts by population, map of the precincts and current district maps and a submittal sheet. If anyone is wanting a copy of the Public Access Packet,they will be asked to sign-a sheet and give their email address due to sometimes finding an error that needs to be communicated those individuals. The timeline for this process will be attached to the Resolution in the News and Tribune which will run on November 11,2022. If anyone comments on the guidelines, those will be brought before the Council with a proposal.The deadline for the submittal of the plan by the redistricting coordinator and any comments from the public will be November 29, 2022 at noon. Assuming all goes well, December 5,2022 Council President Owen will submit an Ordinance for consideration for Public Hearing that evening which will also be included in the notice in the News and Tribune on November 11,2022. The second reading if all goes well will be on December. 19,2022. Mr. Bosma advised that if any of the Council member are not planning to run again for office to please let the firm know. Councilperson Hawkins made a motion to approve 2022-R-17,seconded by Councilperson Webb; motion passed,7-0. 2. Heather Metcalf 2022-OR-69 Ordinance of Additional Appropriation Mrs. Metcalf advised this is for the Animal Shelter Spay and Neuter,the cash being appropriated is in the fund and needs to be appropriated so they can spend that money. Councilperson Burns made a motion to pass on the First and Second Reading,seconded by Councilperson Hawkins; motion passed,7-0. 3. Heather Metcalf 2022-OR-70 Ordinance of Additional Appropriation Mrs. Metcalf advised this is for the 457 Match for the Police Department,cash already appropriated in the fund. Councilperson Burns made a motion to pass on the Firstand Second Reading,seconded by Councilperson Hawkins; motion passed,7-0. 4. Heather Metcalf 2022-OR-71 Ordinance of Transfer of Funds Within the Same Department Mrs. Metcalf advised this should be the last transfer ordinance of th'e year. Councilperson Burns made a motion to pass on the First and Second Reading,seconded by Councilperson.Paris; motion passed,7-0. ATTORNEY COMMENT: Larry Wilder—Wished Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Maples good luck on election day and he is happy Councilperson Paris is going to run for Council again after this term. Les Merkley Not Present DEPARTMENT HEADS: Chief Kavanaugh No comment Heather Metcalf-No comment PUBLIC COMMENTS: No Comments • COUNCIL COMMENTS: • Councilperson White—No Comment • Councilperson Burns—No Comment • Councilperson Paris—Good luck to Scott and Scottie,everyone get out and vote. • Council Vice President Maples—Not Present • Councilperson Croft—Not Present • Councilperson Webb—Good luck to both the Scott's and they ran with integrity and he appreciates that. • Councilperson Hawkins---He learned just a few weeks ago that if you do succeed at being elected to the General Assembly you become that immediately and you do not wait until the beginning of the year. He has preemptively turned in a contingent a letter of resignation upon if he were to win the General Assembly. If this is last Council Meeting he thinks they have done good,everyone takes this seriously and he believes they have served the City of Jeffersonville well. He thanked everyone for their support and the opportunity to work long side of each of them. • Councilperson Ellis—Good luck Scott. • Council President Owen—Good luck Scott, it has been very beneficial to have you on the City Council and Redevelopment Committee for the City of Jeffersonville. ADJOURNMENT: Councilperson Burns made the motion to ADJOURN the meeting at 7:23 p.m. APROVED BY: L,;( Oftla 0/4014 ote Matt Owe afti 4 ent ATI(EST: Lisa ill, Clerk