OurWeek
The Grant County Record
in Grant County · Regular meeting, July 16, 2024 · 2024-07-16 · full transcript
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6kn2WoOfbQ
Exported Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:37:58 GMT

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    0:00  through some traumatic series of issues that have
    0:07  affected and and divided our country once again and so we ask you that you be with us be with this country continue to
    0:15  bless us we ask these things in Your Name Lord amen
    0:23  amen to the flag of the United States of America and to the repu for it stands
    0:32  one nation God indivisible withy and
    0:42  Justice all right thank you a roll call please Kane here Marshall here cise here
    0:50  Brunner here Klein here Divine here Whitten here cill here
    0:58  mckenley okay I'll take the motion to adjourn Nick had the longest I'll get the shortest
    1:06  so um I know you would Gary uh next up is in our neighborhood Spotlight and uh
    1:14  we're very pleased to have Kelly Shear um from ker Services she is the vice president of advancement um to share a
    1:23  little bit about that so if you'd like to come on up here
    1:31  yeah go use the mic first I'm sorry red button good evening thank you
    1:42  very much for the opportunity to be here this evening and represent carry services for those who don't know about
    1:50  70 years ago actually just slightly more than 70 years ago a group of individuals in the community parents those who cared
    1:59  people in the just random Community people got together and talked about they wanted more more for people with disabilities they wanted to find a way
    2:08  to provide opportunities for increased Independence increased Community engagement and a more meaningful day and
    2:17  this community has done nothing but support that and turn abilities into opportunities over the last 70 years so
    2:24  this past Saturday July the 13th 1956 so 70 years forward to this past
    2:32  Saturday was the official celebration of that um we did it yesterday uh on our campus but we do know that that was the
    2:40  date that we officially recognized it's changed names over the years and locations we started um with a donated
    2:48  space and volunteer teachers in the community building downtown at the old YMCA and then have moved different
    2:56  locations and expanded opportunities and had the community chess um that helped
    3:04  us to purchase some uh land there along the bypass and I think that was done in the
    3:10  70s um I don't know the exact date but many of you probably heard different names um through the years but before we
    3:19  became carry Services opportunity Industries a lot of people recognize it as that well we still continue as an organization that's a 12.5 million do
    3:28  organization uh serving the community from prenatal mths to end of life care and helping everybody have a more
    3:36  meaningful day increased Independence and be integrated in the community but we can't do it alone so the Partnerships in the community that support us are
    3:44  what make it whole and I thank you for the opportunity while you're recognizing Carri services today and the over 500
    3:51  people that we touch each and every day um and the 230 plus employees uh that we employ
    4:00  this community is actually being recognized because you've carried us forward and you are helping us to achieve our vision of a world where all
    4:07  people are empowered and equally valued in the community and I thank you for that I thank you for the opportunity and the recognition that you've given us this
    4:16  evening absolutely thank you for everything that you guys do and Nick asked me to on his behalf to thank you
    4:23  he had an uncle that uh you guys helped him out out there and he's so he's real uh has a lot of emotional attachment to
    4:31  it and I know what you do out there I've been out there many of times and and you guys do do a fantastic job thank you thank you very much I will tell you if
    4:39  you haven't been since just nine months ago our renovation our $2 million renovation was unveiled and now
    4:46  effective today our restaurant is open so if you didn't come and enjoy it today um I will tell you come out and have some lunch breakfast or lunch it's 8:00
    4:55  a.m. to 1:30 the kitchen company um is serving you know everybody gathers at the kitchen right so we want you to
    5:02  gather as a community uh and come out and have breakfast or lunch with us you could call ahead in order car line in or carry out um and then we also have our
    5:11  retail store that op so we're continually you're going to hear more and more exciting integrated opportunities um for businesses that we're starting to support integrated
    5:19  employment so I thank you for that and I encourage you to come out and check it out because it's a a lot of people don't realize the wide array of services that
    5:29  we thank you so much um also if you'd come up uh go got to have a picture with you
    5:36  and uh God knows I don't want to make Nick angry so
    5:59  that's that's the way I'm working
    6:40  okay uh we don't have anything for the first responder Spotlight tonight so at this time I take the approval of the minutes of the July 2nd 2024 meeting uh
    6:49  Mr Vice President yes um I would like to amend that the minutes the minutes ought to be amended on both motions for
    6:58  appropriation ordinance 18-202 it has me as an I vote I
    7:04  abstained on each of them
    7:14  okay so do we need to amend that then yeah okay so then at this time I
    7:22  will take a a motion for the amendment okay I will I move that the minutes of July 20th July 2nd
    7:32  2024 be amended to note that on the vote for both motions to suspend the rules
    7:40  and to pass that uh clein should be and abstain instead of an eye on each of
    7:47  them okay do I have a second second okay we have the motion by councilman Klein
    7:54  and second by councilman Kane roll call Kane I Marshall I force ier hi Klein yes
    8:04  Divine yes Wht yes Cil I okay next thing we have uh the uh
    8:13  consideration of the pre-approved claims oh yeah all right we'll go ahead and vote if you guys might be take to call yeah that's right thank you we need
    8:21  to now vote to pass the amended minutes I'll take a motion I so move
    8:30  second okay uh councilman King uh gave us the motion and count councilman
    8:36  Brunner did the second roll call please Kane I Marshall I gise I Brer I Klein
    8:45  yes Divine yes Whit yes Cil yes now we'll go on to the consideration
    8:52  of the pre-approve claims I move that we pass the pre approve
    9:01  claims okay uh we have the motion by councilman Kane and second by councilman Klein roll call please Kane I Marshall I
    9:11  bise I Brunner I Klein yes Divine yes Whitt yes cgill
    9:20  hi and now we'll do the consideration of the claims take a motion for that I move that we pass all claims
    9:31  okay uh we have the motion by councilman Kane and the second by councilwoman Divine roll call please Kane I Marshall
    9:41  I force hi Brunner I Klein yes Divine
    9:47  yes whon yes cill hi uh do we have any committee reports
    9:56  at this time okay yeah Council one or Divine go
   10:03  ahead um attended the Board of Public Works meeting yesterday for their regular meeting and they discussed um
   10:12  and approved three demolition orders they had the hearings for those um at
   10:19  3611 South Nebraska 3709 South race 2208 South brownley and 2210 South brownley
   10:28  uh nobody attended those public hearings so they were approved um and we'll move on to the demolition process um they also discussed how they
   10:38  go about and how they make the notifications and and making sure that they do all the legal Parts they'll publish it in the paper as well so
   10:45  there's a lot of moving pieces that go on behind the scenes before it comes to the board of at works for demolition
   10:53  approval um my understanding is they've got somewhere in the neighborhood of about 50 in the pipeline right now um so
   11:02  we'll expect to hear more in the coming weeks as they continue through the process on
   11:09  those um I also attended the mar and utility board meeting last week
   11:16  um they are working on quite a few of their projects which are being paid for out of this um srf funds so the state
   11:25  revolving funds they one of the ones that they talked about for quite a while is the replacement of the lead service
   11:34  lines that they're doing it's an area between the cardinal Greenway and 20th Street and Nebraska and Grove Street um
   11:42  their intention is to make four attempts what they were talking about is that they have made phone calls they've sent letters um they've knocked on the door
   11:50  and left flyers and so they are going to do one more attempt um but at this point they don't they have 10% that have declined it because they've already had
   11:58  their lines replaced and they've had at least 50% that are non-responsive um so I have asked them
   12:06  to reach out to the individuals that are elected from that area as well as reach out to the neighborhood associations I
   12:13  gave them the information I had on those so that we can try and help them get that notification out uh to have those
   12:20  Leed service lines from the from the main line to the house replaced um and my understanding is there's no cost to
   12:28  the home owner so it's it's a win-win situation and if I'm wrong in that I'll find out for sure and report on that next meeting but um
   12:38  it's a great thing to get those out and not have that that lead issue going on into the houses um they are also working
   12:46  on starting to do the meter Replacements they said they would start notifying people as those are going on
   12:53  um I think we've seen the water towers being sandblasted and starting to be repainted so those are going on as
   13:01  well um one of the other things that they considered and and approved was
   13:07  taking on um Bluff Basin that they had their own private utility that they were running and that has been purchased back
   13:16  by Maring utilities and they'll be taking that area over as part of their service area
   13:23  um and they mentioned that they will be doing some boring under the bypass um near Mason and Seventh Street and then
   13:32  the rest of the work along that line will be um along Western Avenue so just
   13:39  know that if you see a big crew they're going to be boring under the under the bypass sometime in the next few
   13:51  weeks trying to think what else they were looking at um they're starting the process of doing some initial inves
   13:59  ation towards another um another storage tank that they
   14:06  need um and they're working on some things with a storm waterer runoff and
   14:14  release and then they talked about the two new board members that they were going to have um I understand the mayor
   14:21  I think appointed one already to replace uh B Jackson who is there and then um were cons one here in a little bit for
   14:30  the other opening I think that's everything thank you chn
   14:38  kin thank you the board of Aviation Commissioners met July 11th there's a grant in the works now they're working
   14:45  on it uh for a future approach path indicator lighting for Runway 22 design
   14:52  work is started on the new fuel tank I think it's the Jed a fuel tank that uh they received arpa funding from the
   15:01  city and the work on the Flight Academy room is progressing and should be done by fall and the ice cream shop still
   15:09  going well anybody else at the point okay I um we had a traffic
   15:18  commission meeting today and in front of us a gentleman wanted to put a stop sign
   15:25  uh was it Harvey and 33rd yeah Harvey and 33rd because he feels like cars kind of speed
   15:32  through there and everything so um is it Captain tile I think did some research on it and there has been no
   15:41  accidents there there's been no problems there with anything so in order for the traffic commission to vote on something like that you kind of have to have a
   15:49  reason to change it um and we actually felt like putting one there might create an issue where people's not used to that
   15:57  or somebody comes to from Harvey and it's just it so that was voted unanimously voted down not to put the
   16:04  four-way stop there that was it okay we yeah we'll go on to uh The
   16:15  Unfinished Business um the review of the you got the approval of the the form the what is it the cf1 forms you have
   16:24  approval yeah for the um I don't have it in front of me it's itial approval for uh lead done and I
   16:34  don't have the address in front of me but it has must and ought to be approved
   16:41  and ready for a motion I'll make that I'm ready for it second okay so we have a motion to
   16:50  accept the cf1 forms on what you said Michael
   16:59  Cal Drive in Mar and we have a second by councilman Kane roll call please Kane hi
   17:08  Marshall hi bise hi Runner hi Klein yes Divine yes Whitten yes Hill
   17:18  hi okay we will go on to um Madam clerk on to um the appropriation 17
   17:25  2024 second reading in public hearing an ordinance appropriating the amount of $90,000 from the edit fund for wond
   17:34  space play speaking mayor Ronald Morel
   17:45  Jr good afternoon everybody I was informed you can hear me
   17:55  better if I back up from the mic so okay I appr say the okay
   18:04  um I uh during this last I think this would have been 20 22 I started doing some cleanup days
   18:13  with a crew of me and some volunteers and we walked uh through the city of Maran and we're doing cleanups so on this day I had a photographer with me I
   18:22  wish he was here today with aial imagery and this photo looks like it's stage but it's honestly what happening I had my my
   18:30  daughter who was 3 years old at the time with me and we had our gloves on as you can see she had her gloves on there very oversized um but she was working and we
   18:37  went and we're cleaning up we were walking up and down boo Street and we got to this area and I seen her bend down this pose and on the ground right
   18:46  in front of her is a drug syringe and you see her hand her right hand is right towards that reaching towards that that
   18:53  drug now as a father I rushed over there as fast as I could and my daughter is very inquisitive and she said you know
   19:01  Dad what's this and I couldn't formulate how to explain to my three-year-old walking down the streets of mar what
   19:10  this drug syringe was she was getting ready to pick up so I Rush grab it and put it in the bag now on this walk we did this for two hours on this walk we
   19:17  found upwards of five drug syringes just in this four block radius right so then
   19:24  I took my daughter and I went back home but then I begin to realize there's so many people who do not have that option on the streets of
   19:32  Maran we have for a lack of better terms we have to look at ourselves in the miror and say we failed our we failed
   19:39  our children to a point where it's not safe to walk up and down the streets it's not safe
   19:47  to go out and be a kid and ride your bike and I mean what my kids my age look forward to the most it's not safe to go
   19:54  outside and play in areas because we as leaders have not made space for our children to be
   20:02  successful so again I consider myself on the crib one I could take my daughter back home and we can do other things but there are
   20:10  a well overwhelming majority of kids and parents and Mar who do not have that option whether that comes from lack of
   20:19  funds whether that comes from lack of Transportation um there are plethora of things that that that go into this but
   20:29  the idea of us as a city playing a small role in
   20:36  transforming the next generation's lives to put us in a position where we are developing the
   20:44  next doctors lawyers city council people Mayors attorneys um
   20:52  Engineers they may never make it to that phase if we don't don't develop them and
   20:59  invest in them right now so when I think about Economic Development which can be used in a very uh sometimes box uh
   21:08  terminology I look at it very broad I think as I've been on record saying multiple times that investing in cleaning up the city is actually
   21:16  Economic Development investing in beautifying our parts is economic development I asked us today to consider Economic Development being invested in our
   21:25  children because without our children what are we doing all this for so this
   21:32  proposal um that we bring before you today uh second reading public hearing of w space when we're considering you
   21:40  know what this is and why this was brought I ask you just to look at it through the lens of what can we do and what's our responsibility and quite
   21:49  frankly As Leaders what is our burden to assure that our kids are coming first and being taken care of now I believe I
   21:56  have some people who to day that um we speak and answer any other questions um this is time you can
   22:13  come just push the red button on there yeah thank you I'm Stephanie freemer uh founder of wond space and
   22:22  children's director at college Wesley and church and when mayor Morel uh started this conversation with us and asked us what would we need to scale the
   22:31  work that we are already doing to reach uh the scale of the city um the city need this is the proposal that we
   22:39  responded with um we are on your team uh we are on the city's team when it comes to improving the quality of life for
   22:47  children in Marian we are not here to make a profit we are here to improve the lives of
   22:56  children um here we are committed to making a difference in this matter in fact we are confident that Maran cannot
   23:04  do what we're proposing and to reach this to the scale that we are capable of reaching this to for less than $200,000
   23:12  while also keeping it free for every participant we truly want what is best for the city of Marian and its children
   23:20  and we have drafted a cost-effective plan to do that I'd like for you to hear a little bit of the research behind what drives this then have a few other words
   23:29  um after they share that research hello Council I'm Stacy rubber
   23:38  I'm the director of wonderspace I'm also a liis mental mental health counselor um what the mayor was referring to is
   23:45  actually a term called play deprivation it's defined as the lack of sufficient play during childhood and play depr
   23:52  deprivation can have profound impacts on Mental Health and Social Development the tragic story of Charles whitmann
   24:01  erves as a stark illustration of the potential consequences of play deprivation whitmann was a 25-year-old who committed the infamous Texas Tower
   24:09  shooting in 1966 he had a childhood notably devoid of play his father's strict and abusive parenting style left
   24:17  little room for the spontaneous and joyful activities that characterized a healthy childhood Dr Stuart Brown who
   24:24  studied Whitman's case extensively found that this lack of play contribut to Whitman's emotional instability and violent tendencies Whitman's story
   24:33  underscores the critical importance of play in emotional and psychological development highlighting how its absence
   24:40  can have devastating consequences according to a 1997 study of children living in poverty and high risk of school failure published by the
   24:48  high scope educational Research Foundation in YP salani Michigan kids who enrolled in play oriented preschoolers were more socially adjusted
   24:56  later in life than the kids who attended playfree preschoolers PR preschools uh where they can constantly instruct were
   25:04  constantly instructed by teachers by age 23 more than one-third of the kids who had attend instruction oriented
   25:11  preschoolers had been arrested for a felony as compared with fewer than one tenth of the kids who had been in play
   25:19  oriented preschoolers as adults fewer than 7% of the play oriented preschool attendees had even been suspended from work work
   25:29  and more than a quarter of those um directly instructed kids had so I share this not to get into a discussion about
   25:36  education practices but to focus our attention on a validated antidote play play is an antidote to many mental health challenges because it boosts the
   25:44  positive neurotransmitters of dopamine and serotonin it's the antidote to school failure and Dropout rates as curiosity and re resiliency are
   25:52  reinforced it's antidote to crimes as was the case with the Charles Whitman story because it has developed it develops Pro positive pro-social
   26:01  kills we all want the same thing low crime rates successful schools and education systems family relation Ral
   26:09  relational quality of life a robust economy these are all factors that contribute to our quality of life as a
   26:16  community yet we seem to be a community stuck in years of Downstream thinking we are reacting to problems that have
   26:24  accumulated over decades and we're treading water at best wonders space play is attempting to offer Something
   26:32  Different by encouraging our community to look Upstream to be proactive about solving problems particularly for
   26:41  children and particularly play deprivation play deprivation has contributed to years of accumulating
   26:49  adverse childhood experiences in this community and the related outcomes are crime academic failure and mental health
   26:57  difficulties good evening Mr Mayor and City Council
   27:10  Members my name is Dr Angie leer and I serve as associate professor in the school of teacher education at Indiana
   27:17  westlan University and on the advisory team for wond space thank you for considering this proposal and mayor
   27:25  thank you for reaching out to us and considering ways to partner with wonderspace I'm coming forward tonight
   27:32  to share ways in which wonderspace play can benefit the children of Maran as you
   27:39  may know we are facing a literacy crisis our schools are faced with endless standards that are not
   27:46  developmentally appropriate for young children High Stak standardized testing has forced schools to remove play from
   27:54  our early childhood curriculums and classrooms the idea behind this push down curriculum is the thought that by
   28:02  teaching more content earlier and younger that it would improve learning in fact it's done the opposite
   28:10  because we are skipping significant developmental stages thus creating gaps in the development and learning through play children have the
   28:19  opportunity to engage in meaningful experiences where learning can occur I love this quote from Fred Rogers
   28:27  play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning but for children play is serious learning play
   28:36  is really the work of childhood through play children are communicating problem
   28:44  solving and developing critical thinking skills at wond space we believe that by developing additional play spaces with
   28:52  quality engaging learning experiences children can build early Readiness skills to get them ready for the
   28:59  classroom and for learning I want to assure you that wond space has intentionally created meaningful play
   29:07  exhibits using research of how children learn and the benefits of play as our foundational Mission through each of our unique play
   29:16  experiences that are stem based which can enhance early Readiness to help close these gaps that children have in their early literacy
   29:25  development we believe that through play children can grow in their language acquisition and vocabulary development
   29:33  which is critical in their early literacy development wonders space is more than just a place for children to go it is a
   29:42  place where Wonder exploration and learning can enhance the development of young children it is a place where families can play together and Community
   29:51  can gather the school of teacher education at Indiana westle University is continuing to grow their part Partnerships with wond space and is in
   30:00  full alignment with the mission and the research-based practice as a co-founder of wonderspace and faculty at IW I have been able to
   30:09  work alongside our founder Stephanie freemer and our director Stacy rubber in dreaming for this for this future the
   30:18  school of teacher education has involved our teaching candidates in many ways with wond space and is continuing to work on innovative ways to involve them
   30:27  as well I can attest to the passion commitment to Excellence and investment of our founder director and advisory team in
   30:36  this community over the last five years I've seen countless ways in which wond space has brought joy to families and this community I look forward to seeing
   30:45  how we can continue to partner with the city to continue to grow in our mission thank you for your
   30:56  consideration the most most effective way that we will see a change in the quality of life and mental health of
   31:03  children in Maran is by our community working together and tackling the hard challenges as a united front we know
   31:12  that by the city and a religious organization working together has caused some
   31:19  concern we know that inviting the city into this work will complicate some conversations we'll lose some autonomy
   31:27  we have to figure out how we're going to allocate the money these aren't simple conversations but we are willing to have them because we believe that the
   31:36  physical social mental and educational health of children in Mar will be far greater if we collaborate in this way
   31:44  this isn't simply a request for funding this is an invitation for us to pull our
   31:50  resources and for us to work together towards this problem wonderspace is willing to contribute everything we've
   31:58  got we've got our research we have a tried and tested successful way of engaging with children and families in the community we are willing to go above
   32:06  and beyond our job descriptions we want to Rally our volunteers we want to give you the infrastructure why because the
   32:14  children in Marian are worth that extra effort for us I also want to make clear
   32:21  that if this proposal isn't accepted wonderspace will continue advocating for the children of in our
   32:29  community we will find other ways to unite with organizations and people in this city to expand our
   32:38  reach if this proposal isn't right for you then it isn't right for us either however I want to encourage all
   32:47  of us every one of us in this room to not think about what is best for us but
   32:54  what is best for the children in this city because if this is right if this proposal is what's right for our
   33:01  children then we can figure out the complexities of the relationship and how to make it happen we're committed to
   33:10  that so for the sake of what's best for the children we can do that together there is real research behind the power
   33:18  of play like we said we're not talking about a frivolous play date there is power behind what play can do for our
   33:26  community and we have backed our model with research that indicates that we we that what we are offering can shift the
   33:34  literacy rates it can shift the foundations that we build for children in math Readiness it can improve the
   33:41  mental health and physical wellness play has the power to do those things and while we believe completely in the work
   33:48  that we are doing we aren't interested in forcing this to happen saying yes to this won't be
   33:56  healthy for any of us it will only complicate our work if you don't fully believe that this is the solution and
   34:04  that we can work together towards this so please don't pass this proposal if you are not confident that we can work together in these
   34:13  ways when wonderspace first came to the council meeting we emphasized we can't buy ourselves out of a childhood
   34:20  Wellness problem there is no amount of money large enough to fix this children in Maran face many
   34:29  challenges and it is going to take masses of people who are committed to this work who are dedicated to this
   34:37  effort to see our children Thrive and have access to the resources they need wond space is a part of those people we
   34:45  have thriving families thriving mil Township the calm Corner the Maran Library the Family Resource Center
   34:52  prevent child abuse Coke Casa and many others I haven't even listed these are the people in our community
   35:00  committed to working towards this end and I've heard there be a voice of concern around working with
   35:08  nonprofits and I do not claim to understand all the complexities of of those conversations I know that there
   35:16  are many angles that you all have to consider in making these decisions I respect that and I know that you are
   35:23  looking into those with wisdom with discernment and I trust you as you make those decisions as they relate to the matters of the
   35:31  city however I do want to emphasize that it is the nonprofits in this city who bring the people and the compassion and
   35:39  the care to face the problems that you're trying to solve Maran has great Park amenities
   35:47  including matter Park and the recently constructed Bowman Stone Park which I like to uh comment was uh made possible
   35:56  because of a collaboration between multiple religious and non-religious organizations in our community but even with these wonderful
   36:04  resources families are going to continue to seek indoor play options given our cold and rainy climate
   36:12  for a majority of the year not to mention the high temperatures in the summer that draw people indoors we need
   36:19  quality Developmental and research-based play indoor play to impact the physical social mental and educ educational
   36:28  health of children if this isn't funded now I believe that our city will continue to wrestle with
   36:36  Solutions so if not now whenever the city is ready to pursue these solutions
   36:43  for children and families of Maran I ask I humbly ask that you would think of wond space and the years of research
   36:51  that we have already done we're deeply involved in this work for children and Maran and we would Val you continuing to
   36:58  have a voice at the table when these conversations arise again we believe we can work together for the good of our
   37:05  city pulling all of our resources and contribute expertise to fight for the childhood our children deserve if not in
   37:14  this way through the funding of this proposal perhaps we'll discover other ways that we can collaborate for this
   37:22  purpose I want to thank you for giving us your time and ear as we share what we're doing I have enjoyed these conversations as we've explored the
   37:30  possibilities of what this could look like and I'm eager to see where the future will take us I do request that as you consider
   37:39  this proposal you prioritize what the children in Maran need and if wond space can be a part of that solution we are
   37:47  eager and we are willing to work with you towards those purposes thank
   37:54  you thank you May did you have anything else to add
   38:05  okay um thank you Stephanie um do we have any discussion before I open it up to public
   38:12  hearing here okay yes thank you um I have a bunch of thoughts these may
   38:21  seem random and forgive me indulge me uh the folks at the Lily Foundation have agreed with the promise of Wonders space
   38:29  and it's a good promise it's a great promise uh with a grant of more than a million and I think that's great I think
   38:37  that's wonderful and I'm going to vote against this let me tell you why first of all there is a
   38:45  practical solution to this we set up a process a procedure with ARP money
   38:54  channed through the Community Foundation that uh will accept grants Grant
   39:02  applications and award money based on Merit so I would suggest that
   39:10  um I still have issues with the church and state
   39:16  relationship um I just do and I would guess I can't prove it I wish I had the
   39:23  numbers but I would guess the number of kids served by wond space over a year is a drop in the bucket compared to our
   39:32  city parks which are all over town open every day to every kid without having to
   39:37  look up what's open where and when um I just I just think this money if
   39:45  we're if we're doing stuff for the kids of Maran let's spend this $90,000 on parks that on yeah on our
   39:53  city parks that are open all the time to all the kids around the year without having to look up where am I going today where can
   40:00  I go today and I would suggest to wond space to apply to the grant process that we've set up through the Community
   40:09  Foundation with arpa money thank you any
   40:16  other yes of the of the I think it's the 1 point is it $1.25 million from the
   40:23  lowly Grant how much of that money is encumbered at this present time and how much do you have to work with yet can
   40:31  that be answered thank you Mr
   40:40  Kane um the grant the $1.25 million is a fiveyear grant um so that is like I
   40:49  explained at the last meeting um to develop another program called wond space blue which is pure grief support
   40:55  groups um the money is allocated over a fivey year or yeah distributed over a five
   41:03  year it was distributed in one amount to us we are holding it with plans to execute the objectives of that Grant
   41:10  over the fiveyear period so it is in an interest fairing account correct okay how much are you getting per month off
   41:19  that um investment I do not know the per month rate uh I was recently briefed on
   41:25  some interest that we Drew down I think it was over a six-month period of time so I do know what that
   41:33  is okay last meeting there were some questions asked about the
   41:42  attendance we couldn't really come up with a good number Kids versus parents sponsors that are bringing the
   41:49  kids do you have any good numbers for us this week just the same amount that our our play dates average in the numbers of 120
   41:58  to 150 and I don't have how that breaks down adult to child now thank
   42:08  you anybody else um I I'll I have a little bit too
   42:14  um when this first come to us um I have to you know embarrassingly I never heard of Wonder space so if I'm going to vote
   42:22  on something to give funds to something then I need to find out so I reached out out to Stephanie and Stacy and they gave
   42:31  me a date I went out there I seen they had it there I seen what it was and like I told you guys I am
   42:39  100% with you guys this this is a wonderful thing the kids they have to use their imagination creative skills
   42:48  the thing that you put the ball in the scarf through the thing and hand eye coordination I personally like that one the best but um it's it is a good
   42:57  program it truly is the issue is is we as stewards have to give the money to
   43:03  where we think best and with the 1.25 I as I discussed with you guys um I I I
   43:11  can't vote Yes and good conscience for that when we have the other ones that don't have anything but with that said I also told you guys I've raised a lot of
   43:19  money in our community over the years there I believe in the ying and yang Theory I think the mayor has done a great job with that ying yang Theory
   43:28  meaning for every problem there is a solution you just got to be willing to to fight for it and look for it that's
   43:36  that's where I do good that's you know where the mayor's doing good and uh so I'll help you guys I will but on this I
   43:43  just wanted to explain why I feel like I have to vote the way that I have to
   43:51  vote okay at this time I'll open this up for uh public hearing and anybody that like to speak for or against this uh
   43:59  ordinance uh come up to the mic say your your name your address and you'll have three
   44:07  minutes uh Marty would you okay thank you go ahead Sir Charles Moon 703 East
   44:14  way street I am totally against this because what we're doing what they're wanting us to do is take government
   44:21  funds for Church's Ministry that is clearly against the church State
   44:30  issue uh as a what part is a Ministerial Association played in this how much are they G how about other churches we've
   44:39  mentioned the uh Forest Department take the $90,000 to get part and again I agree with you it's a wonderful program
   44:48  but the government funds are not appropriate for this kind of program it's totally outside what
   44:56  happens they all this equipment if this organization goes Belly Up where does it go who gets it uh is it
   45:05  going to the churches and that is very much wrong the issue is not solving play deprivation for these children uh the
   45:14  issue is $90,000 of government funds taxpayer funds are supposed to take care of the government and not
   45:22  churches I have heard the word ministry um if if this is a
   45:30  Ministry uh and they're not speaking of gospel to bringing the gospel to these young people uh and and showing the way
   45:39  of Christ uh they're not fulfilling their Ministry the scripture does not say go out and have all kinds of play
   45:47  equipment to solve the play deprivation of his children it says go out and preach the gospel present the gospel to these young
   45:56  people if they can't do that then they're not fulfilling their Ministry this is just a secular organization a
   46:04  secular uh uh program uh and last of all the slippery slope what comes up
   46:13  next how far is this going to take us are we going to be paying Pastor salary
   46:22  some where do you stop right here no is the correct
   46:32  vote and I urge you as a counsel do not use government funds for churches
   46:40  Ministries that's totally against thank you thank you anybody else like to speak
   46:47  for or against this
   46:58  Karen cree and live in iron wood Mary uh I'm going to have to take opposite side of the gentleman just spoke um as long
   47:06  as this is a one-time appropriation and it's not something that is going to be continually budgeted or given to this
   47:13  organization gets started I don't see a problem with it I don't believe that there is actually Ministry going to be going on this I attend a church that has
   47:21  an outside building it's not a a part of the actual part where you have Sunday School church services they rent it out
   47:28  for bake sales they rent it out for craft shows they rent it out for youth basketball it is really it is on the
   47:35  church grounds but it isn't part of the church itself and I'm I'm assuming that
   47:42  these two other organizations both being fairly large churches to want to sponsor this would have separate facilities that
   47:50  are unrelated to the actual sanctuary and the preaching of the gospel and just because a church is a sponsor doesn't
   47:57  mean that the state is supporting the church because the monies aren't going to the church the monies are going to
   48:05  purchase the play equipment which I would be like the lady who rded all this to explain then his Wonder plate own the
   48:14  property as far as the equipment so if these Church ceases to be a sponsor the equipment would return to the Wonder
   48:22  space if you could clarify that would help as well I think that we should give it to them as long as the stipulation is
   48:29  a onot deal they have to be self-sufficient going forward they can't come back and ask for more money and as long as they are showing that is an
   48:37  outside Source or in an area where the no one is exposed or forced to hear preaching or being introduced if someone
   48:47  asks about church or God I believe they should be able to answer the child's question how draw it is for learning so
   48:54  if not approach they won't be preaching I don't see anything really wrong with it we've given money to things that I thought were not appropriate to give
   49:03  money to and have seen no sin of on any type of return on investment that I could see as a taxpayer you can't judge
   49:11  this anymore and you can measure your slab of concrete for exercise this is something that have to show up Les as time goes by and as long as they can be
   49:19  self-sufficient going forward I don't see anything wrong with sponsoring it but I would like to know like the gentleman did bring up a good point
   49:27  who owns the equipment and where does it go if these churches cease to be a sponsor I think that should be asked thank
   49:39  you I just want to make a few comment name and address first uh Teresa Davis um I've lived in Maran all of my life I
   49:48  am a grandmother a mother and a great grandmother and when you think about our
   49:54  kids aren't they important aren't they all important what about the whole
   50:02  Community what about their future these children are our future they're
   50:08  important and they deserve this this community needs this look at all the
   50:15  problems that we have and all the issues we need to work on
   50:22  this it's important so please reconsider and think about the
   50:29  kids they're the future we have to remember that please
   50:37  reconsider thank you hi Bill Cree 1409
   50:49  Ironwood you know I didn't I was like you Mr Cowgill I did not know what wanders space was
   50:57  so we reached out and asked some questions and you were kind enough to answer a lot of them I read through the
   51:04  responses that you sent my wife and uh after reading it I thought
   51:12  what a great program we don't have kids unfortunately so we didn't know about it but after looking at that and and
   51:21  understanding that kids are the future I just want to reiterate that these are arpa fun this is not part of regular City
   51:29  budgeting and this coming out edit this is coming out of the edit not our I'm sorry I'm sorry I stand
   51:36  corrected on that but I do find it kind of interesting that we're worried about
   51:43  separation of church and state obviously they're using the church facilities but really not part of the church it's just
   51:52  a housing current but we're recommending that we don't give it to them and asked
   51:59  them to go ask for a community grant that was approved by the
   52:07  council wouldn't that be a church and state conflict too so you're you're saying we're
   52:16  encouraging you to go to another organization that we already approved and you wanted to ensure that that was a
   52:25  separation of church and state at that point with that funding that you gave to that group so I don't understand that's
   52:34  that's kind of in Conflict to what you're saying so that recommendation kind of threw me when you're saying
   52:43  maybe you should go ask them we already gave them a bunch of money and maybe they'll approve it but
   52:51  you're supposed to have oversight over them that you said we're going to proove this based on the fact that we give you
   52:58  the oversight to ensure you have separation of church and state I think it's a wonderful program I think we
   53:06  ought to to support it and I asked you to kind of reflect on your your thought
   53:12  process there because you can't recommend one thing and say you're going to monitor it
   53:21  and then deny another by saying go to them and maybe asked them for money that
   53:28  we said we were going to monitor that makes absolutely no sense to me and I'm sorry if that that uh upsets anybody but
   53:36  it it it's just not that makes no sense so if you can explain that to me please do and I
   53:45  appreciate your time thank you vote Yes hi my name is Heather Melle and I
   53:55  live at 1106 West Spencer here in Maran um I came here to observe not speak but
   54:02  here I am um I am a mom of three um and I've raised my kids here in Maran um and
   54:09  I will say my biggest like struggle with living and marrying with kids is truly the winner like we have nothing to do
   54:17  when my kids were toddlers there's literally nothing to do so I would put my kids I'd load us up in the van and we would drive to Indie we would drive to
   54:24  Fort Wayne I have um the privilege of being able to afford that and being able to do that with my kids um One time my
   54:32  husband and I took some kids from the center for Success that was back in the day um to the um Children's Museum in
   54:41  Indianapolis and as we're driving on 37 and leaving um one of the kids in the back said wow I've never been outside of
   54:49  maring before and this kid was like a third grader um and so that's a whole other issue but what I'm saying is he would have just been in in his house because it was Winter we had nothing to
   54:58  do so I was taking him to the children's museum um so I just want to say if if we're not going to support this then I really want to encourage you guys who
   55:06  make decisions for our city money like what are we going to do then like what are we gonna what can you guys put in our city for our kids to do inside in
   55:13  the winter because we really desperately need it so thank you thank
   55:23  you tmy fber in 23 16 South por Street and I urge you to approve this it's the same from what I understand they're
   55:32  being housed at the church and that's where they're working from just the same as the training center is housed out of
   55:39  New Life Community Church but they're a separate entity and they're a great service they've been there 11 years and
   55:48  I think wonders space is a great idea yeah we got rainy days we got winter these kids need a place to be in the winter time and these rainy days
   55:56  so I urge you to vote F thank
   56:04  you hi my name is Melissa Tyson to14 West 14 Street I urge you all to
   56:12  reconsider and six words are our children not our
   56:19  future we need this it's important our children are important
   56:26  thank you thank you Emily Hoffman 4307 South Poler
   56:36  street so when I have I found a winter space pretty regularly through the winter I have three children they are
   56:42  six three and one and um I still remember maybe probably in January being a cold day gain out I fortunately live
   56:52  close to wond space um so I can walk there uh with my my kids and I met another mom who had just moved into Myan
   57:01  and I was just I hadn't noticed her there before and I was just getting to know her and she said well I just moved here and someone at Walmart in the checkout line told me about wond space
   57:10  and she was so relieved that she could go inside with her one and a halfy old to play um I am a kid of the 90s so I
   57:18  used to go to the mall or a McDonald's play place I don't know if you know but the one is now torn down in Maran we
   57:25  don't have indoor play places for our kids um unless you can afford to send them to daycare or um unless you can
   57:34  afford to leave the city so to be able to have other places where people can actually physically walk I mean I literally my kids are like scooting and
   57:43  biking we're all in the like stroller if we're able to walk there but I live on the South Side I also live on the south side where we don't have a playground so
   57:53  um unless it's maybe attached to a school so you're like waiting to visit after hours um because Center School was
   58:01  also a playground back in the day uh but there's not that playground anymore on the South Side so like others have said I would love for you to consider this
   58:10  vote yes maybe say yes to the next time to continue to explore it if you haven't had a chance to go see it it is like a miniature Children's Museum um I know
   58:19  other towns um have these uh obviously Wes has theirs within their Museum um
   58:26  and so if it looks like exploring something for the future like let's continue to have those conversations
   58:33  because I personally would like other people to not have to pay to go in like I can do that right like I can go to the Wes Museum and pay for my kids to go in
   58:42  but like the playground which is free when it's warm enough to be out there and when you have warm enough clothes to be out there and different weather um
   58:51  right like my kids have a puddle jumper and they just suit up and we go out in the mud but not everyone is putting their finances to clothing their
   58:59  children to be outside um so it's just another opportunity to bring our community together specifically to have
   59:07  other places in the city so people could walk um if they are unable to drive if they don't have the ability to drive um
   59:15  and it also allows people to meet each other in different parts of the city if they need to get out if they can't make the one day of the week to have other
   59:23  options to meet with other parents caregivers grandparents um and children
   59:30  thank you thank you goria 2214 Meadow Brook Drive Mar in
   59:42  Indiana I've raised four children in our community and I love the investment that I'm seeing in our community there seems
   59:49  to be two sticking points one is that this is uh the locations are in churches
   59:56  um we would I'd like to stress that the only reason they are in churches because churches are willing to provide and have
 1:00:05  the space this is a large muscle um activity and it needs a very large room
 1:00:13  and really churches are often the only places that have these large community rooms that we can set up these huge uh
 1:00:21  blocks if you had not been to w space you should come it is a a a wonderful wonderful place no pun intended where
 1:00:31  these children um from their just their imagination they fashion uh uh buildings and they have
 1:00:40  carpentry things that they do with very safe tools um they do all kinds of imaginative thing this is not a screen
 1:00:47  that they sit in front of this is something that is a large muscle activity and it needs a very large space churches are one of the very few places
 1:00:56  in our community that can provide this space this is why we would like to have them there there's nothing to do as it's
 1:01:04  been me mentioned before with um um preaching or asking people to come to the church or anything like that if there's questions of course the staff
 1:01:12  will answer but it's just um we need that space and there are not very many places that are available for that and
 1:01:19  also the other two um places besides College Church that are being considered for these locations are in different
 1:01:27  areas of the Community College churches so far out South a lot of times um they're not able to reach um some people
 1:01:35  that are further away and if you look at the two locations that are being um proposed those locations are varied and
 1:01:42  so other it opens that up to more people um that may not be able to make it to College Church for those days and um
 1:01:50  there was a question about the schedule oh having to look up a schedule well pretty much everybody has a little device that they can look up the
 1:01:58  schedule it's just right there in the palm of their hands um and so I I um those are um two things uh also I'd like
 1:02:07  to stress again this is an indoor thing and 7even months out of the year it is too chilly um for in our community for
 1:02:16  children to get outside and so the indoor play place is so so so important thank you for your consideration in this
 1:02:24  thank you
 1:02:39  my name is Aaron Murray I live at 624 West Spencer Avenue and I'm here in support of the wond space proposal so
 1:02:48  I've attended the last couple of Council meetings and had discussions with people and I just wanted to address some of the concerns that I've heard um as a community member and also as someone
 1:02:57  whose son has gone to wonders space so as many people have mentioned this is an indoor activity and the weather is cold
 1:03:04  a lot in in Northern United States where we happen to be I would love to be somewhere where it was warm enough to be at the parks all the time but it's not
 1:03:13  that way I also happen to be the youth uh youth sports athletic director for Mar Community Schools so I'm aware of
 1:03:20  the challenges facing young people today um the the young man that mayor Morel talked about at the last meeting who had committed
 1:03:28  murder he was a student of mine so this is something that that um touches me personally so when my wife and I had our
 1:03:38  child we started looking for things for him to do during the winter months uh his first year we went to the YMCA which is one of the few places that
 1:03:46  you can go indoors to do things they had a a swim lesson the next year the number of lessons had been cut in half and the
 1:03:54  price had doubled so at that point it was no longer worth it for us to do that and that was pretty much the only thing
 1:04:01  for a child of one and a half to do in our city wond space is is the other thing to do indoors so we we took him to
 1:04:10  that um and we've loved watching him play with the other kids his imagination uh you know grow through that the other thing that I know has
 1:04:17  been a sticking point for a lot of you guys is the number of children versus caretakers but as many of you know uh and as I experienced on a daily basis
 1:04:26  when you're trying to help young young people develop especially children the adults being present and engaged in their life is just as important is
 1:04:34  developing the children and so the way wond space is is designed is that the parents and caretakers are there with
 1:04:40  the children so the 6,500 people that have been impacted could it matter whether it's children or caretakers maybe but at the
 1:04:49  end of the day the all the people are growing from wond space the adults are interacting with their children uh and other community members and and
 1:04:58  the children are getting to play in a safe environment with adults that's a really important part excuse me part of development the other thing that I know
 1:05:05  has been a a sticking point has been the church and state issue uh legal council already advised
 1:05:12  it's not actually an issue um it's a complete separation other people have also talked about how it's just a housing thing just like a food pantry or
 1:05:22  an after school program wond space being housed here are housed in churches is a a facility request I know one of the
 1:05:29  other places people would point to is well what about the schools well is you sport director I work to build our our school programs uh to be quite robust
 1:05:38  and so at this point I can tell you that our schools don't really have the space for this either if you were to look at well what if we just put it in the gyms
 1:05:45  at the schools so the the churches are meeting a a facility request um and then I know also people said well it's not
 1:05:53  permanent it is permanent it's it's a mobile play space with permanent struct like with with a permanent home in
 1:06:01  church buildings because they have the space for it so I would I would love for you guys to reconsider not not passing
 1:06:09  this um it's a wonderful thing for our city and it's something that's badly needed for our children and would would
 1:06:16  greatly benefit this community thank you thank you
 1:06:27  um good evening I'm Christy Barney I live in Marian um I live on 800 North night Circle I also serve on the board
 1:06:36  of the training center um and I agree that this Wonder space is a wonderful program um
 1:06:44  however I I have a question for them because their website says that they're only open one day a week on
 1:06:53  Tuesdays um from November to April they're closed in December so if it's a
 1:07:00  organization where we need something to do for our children in this community when it's cold out an indoor PlayStation
 1:07:09  it's closed in December at least this is what the website says and that is the biggest month where our students have
 1:07:16  almost a two to two week break from school um and then it's only open the
 1:07:23  first Saturday of every month from November to April from 9: to one so the the Tuesday that they're open they're
 1:07:32  open from 9: to 12 and 4 to 7 so my question to the city council is and I definitely support wonders space like I
 1:07:39  said I'm on the board of the training center so I I know there's a need there um the training center is open you know
 1:07:49  five days a week um after school program but I would definitely question that if that is is their hours and supporting
 1:07:59  them with that amount of money out of the government thank you there anybody else who would like to
 1:08:08  speak for or against my name is Linda Walker I live
 1:08:19  on Marshall Street in Maran um that was also a point I was going to bring up was uh
 1:08:26  I do agree 100% that Maring is lacking for indoor spaces for children um when I was growing up you it was safe to ride
 1:08:34  your bike it was safe to go outside and play in the woods it was safe to wait until the street lights came on but now
 1:08:41  we all know that that isn't the world we live in you're afraid to leave your kids out you're afraid to let them walk around the corner uh without somebody
 1:08:50  being there watching them um you hear all the time of these kids that people stop and take pictures of them Ste
 1:08:57  people stop and pick them up um and I think that Maran has a long way to go as far as I I believe our parks are
 1:09:06  gorgeous I believe we've provided Amazing Outdoor spaces for our kids to play at I have three girls uh 10 eight
 1:09:15  and or 10 seven and four so I'm you know they're all ages playing through the
 1:09:22  parks but that's only for so long and when it's super hot out like it has been it's hard to tell then there's nowhere
 1:09:29  to go you get us our options are sit in the house and play with your toys or we get to go smell candles at Walmart
 1:09:38  because um it's too expensive to take them to the movies uh the four-year-old can't Bowl
 1:09:45  there's no fun things to do in town and it's not worth the drive to try to drive
 1:09:53  to cooko or munie or uh you know to go to these fun experiences um for such a short time for
 1:10:01  them uh whether or not we allocate that $90,000 to wond space I I believe needs
 1:10:08  to come down to uh what the decision Maran needs to make on building an indoor
 1:10:16  space um for our children I do believe we need more time uh available if wond
 1:10:23  space is going to be the one that's the city supports because there needs to be some kind of accountability if they want
 1:10:31  to be this forfront indoor safe space for kids
 1:10:37  um but yeah so that's good Lu thank
 1:10:50  you Ethan Linder 3923 South Poler I think the proposal if I'm reading it correctly would actually solve the
 1:10:58  access question right there would be greater number of days of access with more sites available um like Council
 1:11:06  mlan I love the parks department and I'm a big fan I have three kids under seven were're built to be outside uh and yet
 1:11:14  every January I sort of face the problem of not really being able to go out there with any level of comfort um and so I think the question for me as I think
 1:11:22  about my tax sellers is is there a lean way uh to solve this problem and when I
 1:11:29  look around um at the the climate in this moment I'm just not sure I see a leaner way to solve a huge problem
 1:11:37  because there's not a ton of money in this work and in Maran I don't think we wanton a ton of money in this work because we want it to be affordable and accessible and so I'd like to invite the
 1:11:46  council if not to vote Yes on this then to consider what other leaner way we can solve this problem thanks thank you
 1:11:58  there anybody else would like to speak for or against
 1:12:08  see push this my name is Vicky Conrad I live at 819 West Robert Avenue um I am for this
 1:12:17  um my husband and I have been in this community since 2001 we have three children who have been in this community we thought they would move away but they
 1:12:26  actually are living in this community and serving in this community in various ways um I see I I keep hearing this um
 1:12:34  separation of church and state um I actually am an Outreach pastor and we go into a school every single day and we
 1:12:44  abide by the separation of church and state we have several children in this school that we mentor and I have several schools in this community that ask us as
 1:12:53  a church can you get another church to do what you're doing so churches and schools and governments can come together I remember when I first came to
 1:13:02  this community I think I went to a church to vote and so we can come together and to do things and I this is
 1:13:09  what I would love to see is that our community our church and our governments come together for the children and I
 1:13:17  think that's what everybody wants um whether or not we vote on this I hope we do this is going to this is going to
 1:13:24  take take off I know it is because I believe in it there's other people that believe in it um but I would just like to see us all come together on this
 1:13:33  thank you so much thank you no
 1:13:42  want twice and if I if I shouldn't answer
 1:13:51  this question just tell me I'll go back and sit down uh there is the question about the um oh she's gone I don't know where she went oh okay someone asked a
 1:14:00  question about the hours and how we're only open one day a week um Ethan addressed this a little bit but the proposal is designed to expand that
 1:14:09  operation uh so I as I've said this is an extension of my full-time job as a children's director um I I have a
 1:14:18  full-time I have full-time responsibilities at the church that I have to fulfill uh and this has been an extension above and beyond that um and
 1:14:26  my capacity is I can do that one day a week um I I don't have the capacity to open this every day of the week and keep
 1:14:33  my job uh and keep this free for the community um I don't want to open a play space that I charge people to come to uh
 1:14:42  that goes against the work that I believe needs to be done for the city uh so with that said uh we have partnered
 1:14:49  with others who are willing to do the same thing that we are doing um in expanding the hours to get this open
 1:14:57  three days a week three Saturdays a month um and then increase the hours for accessibility uh throughout the city not
 1:15:05  just at one location um I'll also speak to the mobile nature the questions about that uh we we have a a proven track
 1:15:13  record of people following us of um knowing that we're mobile being willing to find out where we're going to be set up and following us to those locations I
 1:15:22  actually think having three spaces in this City would be um helpful in that communication because we're not going to be moving around then we're going to
 1:15:30  have three solid locations but that was just to answer the couple questions that came up yeah thank
 1:15:41  you nobody else if not I'll go ahead and close the uh public
 1:15:49  part oh that's right I'm sorry yeah I just I have one more com um just
 1:15:56  to mean add this inting there one things that come up a lot is our separation Church State you know I've been so now I've been coming to Council meetings now
 1:16:04  for about two years we actually pray at the front of every council meeting we host a National Day of Prayer City Mar so I think we're a little bit more
 1:16:13  entangled than what we going to admit so we really separate each other we got a lot of
 1:16:21  search um I was sent an email from wil um who was unable to attend and she asked me to it in to public hearing um
 1:16:30  she said hello I'm unable to attend this meeting tonight person apprciate coun reading my comments the record as a
 1:16:38  private Marist 106th Street I'm asking that you against this proposed priation forace because it sets a precedence that
 1:16:47  I do not believe the city afford if w space a nonprofit organization is funded I would expect
 1:16:54  Al provide essential wellbeing and quality of life assistance to also for funding the city instead I would encourage Wonder face and all to purs
 1:17:04  the AR funding approved at the last city council meeting the Community Foundation thank you Lind thank
 1:17:12  you Sarah thank you for reading that because I was going to bring up that exact
 1:17:19  thought um that I'm not sure why you know Wonder spaces is great great thing
 1:17:26  but I'm not sure why we're singling them out for particular funding from City funds
 1:17:35  um the question that I proposed earlier uh just the interest off of 1.25
 1:17:45  million conservative figure would be $50,000 a year I don't know if I'm correct on that or not but uh you know
 1:17:53  if that's put into an interest account you should be getting somewhere around $50,000 a year off that that that could
 1:18:00  be uh funding your programs that and I know the resources from some of the areas that
 1:18:09  you come from um there's a tremendous amount of resources that are in this community that I think can step up to
 1:18:17  the place um other than Government funding for this program um
 1:18:27  so I I guess that's that's all my thoughts thank you the other council
 1:18:35  members okay if not I will anybody want to entertain a motion at this
 1:18:43  point oh go ahead um and thinking about it listening to everything because I do
 1:18:50  know Wonder space I think was when they brought the proposal forward because of this very issue what what do we do what are the things that we can do to help
 1:18:59  the children during the winter months aside from you know the after school program is be addressing more the
 1:19:06  younger age children um that maybe are not quite ready for school or not in
 1:19:12  school full but I know this funding looking at funding which is economic development if it's something that the
 1:19:20  thought was Economic Development Fund because similar to economically new startup business or
 1:19:28  something along those lines is it not something that in order for it to be it shouldn't
 1:19:38  runess start that nature look at the cost and benefit analysis to know if
 1:19:46  it's something that the funding would be appropriate for as opposed to it being funds which we know is a totally
 1:19:53  different set of just kind of a totally different thought out there okay thank
 1:20:02  you okay again I'll anybody make a motion Mr chairman yes I will make the
 1:20:10  motion to deny additional appropriation ordinance on ordinance number 17 20124
 1:20:19  and that motion is to deny I got a on the floor by councilman Kane and a
 1:20:27  second by councilman Klein and this this motion your vote will be to
 1:20:34  deny roll call please k i Marshall
 1:20:42  ier no yes divine
 1:20:55  is so yes V is you're denying it correct okay
 1:21:10  yes it didn't pass okay all righty that that one there did
 1:21:17  not pass okay next is uh probation ordinance
 1:21:29  number 24 2024 29
 1:21:38  2024 am77 from the fund to maintenance
 1:21:47  agement speaking police chief mayor Morell vice president members of the council this is reading
 1:21:55  um my request is to as suppos suspend the rules and pass this second reading also point of order
 1:22:04  the amount needs to be revised to $108,000 874
 1:22:13  56 we're able to negotiate a better deal and the corresponding later year of the agre will also be so yeah we have to to
 1:22:22  vote on the uh to amend to that yeah I will leave it to council to give advice I won't comment on that except the
 1:22:30  number needs to be changed before we start let's go ahead
 1:22:41  and do that then I'll I'll entertain a motion to amend the amount to
 1:22:48  8,847 56 74 okay that one too there we go Mr President yes sister
 1:22:57  chairman I move that we amend appropriation orance number 29
 1:23:05  2024 to read the dollar amount 8,874
 1:23:15  56 okay got a motion by councilman Kan second by councilman K or yeah K go ahead real I know Kane and Klein man we
 1:23:24  got to change that up some I tell you that's too close go ahead K
 1:23:31  hi rner yes Divine yes wh yes
 1:23:40  hi okay for the members of the citizens in the room uh just in review briefly this is an appropriation request for
 1:23:48  appropriation for funding for a new agreement for body cams for officers every officer uh is issued one every officer works at the patol S which is
 1:23:57  the majority of the police department where's a body camera on their body on their chest it's designed to record uh any activity they're doing that is
 1:24:05  interactive with with citizens and on calls uh the agreement that we're in now that we inherited uh ends in August we
 1:24:15  found that out and uh what we'd like to do is to uh seamlessly transition into a new agreement that was that was a five-year agreement we' like to go into
 1:24:23  a new five year agreement in summary that is uh with new equipment uh a new
 1:24:31  uh uh part of the technology is that when the officer's gun would be drawn the camera would come on without having
 1:24:38  to activate it manually uh new cameras the agreement uh also includes uh maintenance of the uh gear and if
 1:24:46  something's wrong they'll take care of that during the term of of the agreement and then finally uh halfway through
 1:24:54  through the agreement about halfway through we'll receive new even newer body cams and that is I think about the summary of it this is this amount is the
 1:25:03  largest amount it's the first installment of the five-year agreement and the amounts after that in the portfolio provided are much less than
 1:25:11  that but they will need to be budgeting as time goes on so that's what I have to offer I'd ask you to approve it at a
 1:25:19  second reading and and take the steps necessary to do that I'll entertain any questions have so any discussion on Council before
 1:25:27  I open it up to the public okay at this time then this is the second reading public hearing so
 1:25:36  anybody that would like to speak for or against this ordinance uh come to the mic state your name address and you'll have three
 1:25:48  minutes Charles Moon 703 East W Street uh thank it was he goes without
 1:25:55  saying I support the police it's is not everything they want to do we need to provide for a police the very
 1:26:03  best uh an example this morning uh a recording of a man claiming
 1:26:11  he was going to shoot the police officer we need to have something that this can come out and we know what's
 1:26:18  going on I remember a few years ago some citizens were wanting the police and
 1:26:24  this was before they had the um uh cameras uh they were wanting the police
 1:26:32  to have the cameras and the police chief at that time I think was G made the statement it says you know we find out
 1:26:41  what they want to say as well as what we we say and uh whenever they record and they take the cameras and the citizen
 1:26:50  sort of kned off a little bit on his request of having this because it protects both sides or we condemn both
 1:26:57  sides that's what we need uh it's something that that takes it out of the object subjective view sub subjective
 1:27:06  situation where uh somebody can say this another person say that how do you know if it's a recording there very little uh
 1:27:16  qual about that so I urge you I don't think might be a problem with this but I Ur you goad and pass this because it is
 1:27:23  something something that we very much need and uh we need to protect our placement as much as they're protecting
 1:27:31  us thank
 1:27:42  you Ken cre Ironwood Drive I'm 100% for this we need to protect officers at all costs as a taxpayer I'd rather pay more
 1:27:51  for them to be protected against liability lawsuit Etc as well as protecting the public against a police officer may not be quite as honest as
 1:28:00  ours seem to be so I think that's all the way around 100% protection it protects the city against lawsuits I think protects officer and especially if
 1:28:09  they're a forced to do firearm and and as he says it automatically activates there can't be any question that the officer deliberately didn't turn it on I
 1:28:17  think it's a win-win for everybody and I think it's a good investment of our money thank you thank you
 1:28:31  L Walker Marshall Street Maran um I would have to agree um I'm for this motion um
 1:28:40  the People Are People and so it is if it's a mistake and you forget to turn on your camera then it can look suspicious
 1:28:48  if that gentleman didn't turn on his camera and he went in and he had to fire on the guy inside the room to protect himself then they could say well he just
 1:28:58  did it out of he was just doing it um the camera I think protected the city it protected the officer and um I believe
 1:29:07  that having the cameras uh just be turned on automatically is amazing technology and I think that it is just
 1:29:16  something that the city definitely needs um and I'm all for supporting the police
 1:29:22  getting um I know everyone's afraid of a police state but I'm more afraid of not having the technology to provide the
 1:29:29  service that the police are supposed to provide to the citizens and to each other as a team so
 1:29:36  I am uh for support for that anybody
 1:29:46  else want twice okay I'll close this portion of the public hearing on this um
 1:29:55  I agree I'm You Know Chief you and I have had many conversations and I love the fact that the technology of where they draw the weapon and it kicks out
 1:30:03  automatically because I know there's times that it's second you don't have time to go wait a minute let me turn my camera on and then you know so the fact
 1:30:11  that you have that in there I I think is awesome and I know we've had police shootings in the past that somebody said
 1:30:19  this right their own tape and all of a sudden everything was different so anybody else any discussion with the
 1:30:26  councel if not I would entertain a motion
 1:30:36  chairman I move that we suspend the rules on appropriation ordinance number
 1:30:42  29 2024 I think I need to say as a minut okay
 1:30:49  yeah have a second Andy you say second okay uh motion by councilman Kane second by councilman Whitten roll call
 1:30:58  please I Marshall I I'm going to make an exception on suping the rules
 1:31:18  onine yes wh yes yes Mr chairman I move that we pass
 1:31:26  appropriation ordinance number 29 2024 as amended
 1:31:35  okay councilman Kane had the motion we'll go with councilman Whitten for the second roll call
 1:31:44  please I Marshall I I is amended
 1:31:52  I yes yes Whitney yes I thank you thank you Chief
 1:32:00  appreciate it okay we'll go on to new business at this
 1:32:07  point go ahead discussion and selection of Utility Board appoint on this right here as we all
 1:32:16  know um we have an A we have to replace uh position on the utility board and this is one where they have to have so
 1:32:24  many Republicans and so many Democrats on this one I think it's like the only one in town that does it like that but
 1:32:31  anyway so we had three applicants but two of them are Republicans and the one
 1:32:38  was a Democrat and Christy Barney is the um Democrat so she'll automatically fill
 1:32:45  that uh by default but um we've known each other many years she served on this board before and done i' I talked to
 1:32:53  some of the people was on the board that served with her and said that she done an unbelievable job so um I'm tickled to
 1:33:01  have you back congratulations Christie and do you want to say anything or oh yeah that's right h on yeah that's
 1:33:10  true we have to vote even though you are the only one we still have to do the vote okay yeah that's you're right thank you
 1:33:18  for catching me on back you want to wait a minute for I get back or
 1:33:28  I feel like we need to wait for her to do the vote that's true all right I'll take a
 1:33:38  motion Mr chairman I move that we accept and pass the appointment
 1:33:46  of chrisy Barney sorry about that okay we have the Mo by councilman
 1:33:54  Kane second by councilman Brunner roll call please I Marshall
 1:34:02  hi hi hi
 1:34:10  yes yes hi
 1:34:21  congratulations mam CLK and go to the next one yes I'm
 1:34:30  yeah appropriation ordinance 30 2024 first reading an ordinance appropriating
 1:34:37  the amount of $500,000 okay you give us your name your
 1:34:48  go ahead my address is my address is 301 Sou yeah go ahead that's true that's
 1:34:56  right yeah well glad for you again um so just a a brief story about this I mean I don't think I need to tell you too much
 1:35:04  but I I'll give the presentation anyway I was uh received numerous complaints by way of social media email text
 1:35:12  message uh direct messages all those kind of things about the alley so I took a uh Sunday afternoon I left my wife and
 1:35:19  kids and went on a drive for about 30 to 40 minutes around the city and coach many and I got a big
 1:35:29  truck big truck and it was a third world off-road experience trying to trying to
 1:35:36  get to these alleys um so much so my room actually got chipped up and I had to go
 1:35:44  get but it is horrendous horrendous then I started doing some digging and trying to see what happened when why how long
 1:35:53  has it been ET so just to give some rough numbers in the late 1900s was the last time we anything with the alleys um
 1:36:00  and that would have been one two three three mares ago three mares ago um and
 1:36:08  they kind of just did like a a skin Co pav over top of alleys it caused a few different issues for alleys one um I'll
 1:36:16  speak at a high level when I have our there that can give you more detail but the paving caused some issues because they cause drainage issues for people's houses
 1:36:24  um and then obviously we paav them and now some of the uh the equipment that we need wasn't kept up keep Paving over and
 1:36:31  over again ex said now here we are a whole lifetime my whole lifetime allies have not been done have not been maintained so we've now
 1:36:40  placed um some of our citizens I mean a decent majority of I would say people who live between second and many like
 1:36:48  14th Street that a good estim people who use these Alle daily basis and are
 1:36:55  necess are main Necessities for their household um they're they're at extreme
 1:37:02  disservice and Al rest extreme disservice and lastly I think I mean I think as from this Administration you
 1:37:10  can argue has been one of my most important things and top focuses is to public safety issue um are police and
 1:37:19  fire need to navigate through these roads and I mean talk about having buy new trucks cars you if you have to go
 1:37:27  down these Alle any any rate of speed it's going to be immediate adantage um I guess we can start a at ATV task force
 1:37:36  for and buy V I think it's cheaper to do fix right um but so it's public safy
 1:37:43  issue and also are a lot of people get their trash picked up down so all that to say this is kind of um this is our
 1:37:51  solution to be able to reped something as we noticed in Mar for so so long now for whatever reason a ple
 1:38:00  reason that we have things has not simply been maintained thus causing um uh a severe stain in White
 1:38:09  City so um if you look at this picture you can see this is a truck full size SUV and sunking down into this crater
 1:38:16  size hole in the alley um and I I put this picture up there so you can really see that my Pres wasn't exaggerating
 1:38:25  that these alleys you have if you have a normalized car swallow your whole car you bottom your car out no doubt in this in these so um The Proposal before you
 1:38:34  today uh are three are three layers um and three options rather so option I go and reverse option three is
 1:38:43  a $10 million option which is I'm calling the Mercedes option is go through and strip all the alleys down and repay them
 1:38:51  in the same way the streets option two um and then Mike will give you more detail this and perfect perfect option
 1:39:00  two is more like s model and you strip the alleys down not as low and then pay
 1:39:07  over pay again option one which is the option that I want to advocate for we St the Allies down and replace it with uh
 1:39:14  with stone and um make the alley driveable and function all and so I'm sorry option two is about 66.6 million
 1:39:22  option one do every Ali Mar is 1.11.1 million so at this time I'll let
 1:39:30  Mike Mike city engineer My Graph come up and kind of dig into a little bit more of the details of the the ass and why
 1:39:38  that we believe is best economically and um uh maintenance wise for the city to
 1:39:46  go with option one for the grael good evening so uh
 1:39:54  for most most of you know that I the alley Paving program was done under Ma's
 1:40:01  Administration uh we had our own crew uh the street department had a had a p and
 1:40:08  uh a fourman crew that would do all that uh obviously over the years um the
 1:40:14  equipment uh wore down um some of it actually is still at the street department just never been sold
 1:40:23  uh the the Manpower has shifted uh to address different situations that we have uh
 1:40:31  so uh when the the the mayor asked me to look at this and I started looking at you know where we were and why we were
 1:40:40  where we were at right now we're at um at a at a place where we just get a
 1:40:48  phone call or a concern an email concern to the website um that that we go and
 1:40:54  try to address the alleys as as we as best we can uh over the years uh that
 1:41:02  I've been here uh the majority of Mayors uh have just not worried about the alleys they've worried more about the
 1:41:08  streets because the streets are what's traversed most often than than alleys you'll have some people that will say
 1:41:17  well why why spend my tax dollars I don't have an alley you know you know I get around just fine but there are as as
 1:41:25  the mayor stated in that that one demographic uh area within the city that's that's where their garages are so
 1:41:33  they're parking they have to come through the Alleyways and get to their garages and not only are the the the
 1:41:40  alley itself um probably something that we definitely need to look at but that we're probably going to need to send our
 1:41:46  inmate work crew to clear back uh brush it and trees and everything in order for me to even do work in the alleys there
 1:41:55  some of them are so overgrown so that'll be another thing that we'll we'll address as we go um there was a question
 1:42:02  brought up about longevity of each option
 1:42:09  um the the stone which is literally what arey alley was before it was ever paved
 1:42:16  is probably the best solution as we as time goes by and this Administration lead and other administrations and other
 1:42:25  Council come come to play that's the easiest to maintain you can bring in stone uh later on we might purchase a
 1:42:33  grader uh the stre department and be able to grade the alleys and just keep up with them on a regular
 1:42:40  basis they solved the issue in some areas where we've created drainage issues into people's uh garages uh when
 1:42:49  the asphalt was put in because we didn't cut the alley down correctly we just overlaid with the asphalt and and the water needed to go somewhere where it
 1:42:57  was originally sinking into the stone going into the subbase now it's traversing off and getting into uh
 1:43:07  garages so uh the option one which I I think is probably going to be favored by
 1:43:15  some uh that they would rather be able to Traverse a stone alley as opposed to um a a bombed out alley
 1:43:24  uh we can spend a lot of money on asphalt but if you see in your options if we if we stick with a
 1:43:32  $500,000 initial request out of the 430 some alleys that we have depending
 1:43:39  on the options we can do 35 allet with the option two that's not very much so then it becomes I'm going to ask you
 1:43:48  folks to look at who gets it done first where do we go because quite honestly I
 1:43:54  do an assessment value valuation on our streets every year you can't assess the alleys they're they're just they're too
 1:44:02  too far gone um and again you're going to have uh residents that if if we're buying for 35
 1:44:10  alleys uh literally clamoring to to want to know who's going to be first with the
 1:44:16  stone and getting it back into into a a condition that that we can maintain um with very minimal equipment very minimal
 1:44:25  Manpower and stone Which is far cheaper than asphalt um you know I I would love
 1:44:33  to be able to say that you know we could go back to the day of of the Mari Administration and PVE every alley and you know get rid of the dust and it's
 1:44:42  just not feasible the cost associated with it is not feasible the longevity one thing about stoning
 1:44:51  doesn't go away you can add you can add a little bit to it as it goes it it'll help with the drainage so I I mean this
 1:44:58  is the first Administration that I've been in for a long time that has has ever asked me what we can do with allies
 1:45:05  so it took me a little bit to put together what you have all of that is engineered estimates they're not hard numbers we'll have to bid this we'll
 1:45:13  have to get we'll have to look at it uh a little bit harder as we go forward and and we're willing to do that so entertain any
 1:45:21  questions m on this two oh I'm sorry um go ahead you go ahead I'll wait whichever one we
 1:45:30  approve I like the stone alleys that the stone those are great but your budgets are going to include maintenance so we
 1:45:39  don't have to do this tap dance again well years obviously my my budget wouldn't I would assume that we would be
 1:45:46  looking at the street department yes you're you're going to have to we're going to have to look at the piece of equipment one is is a greater uh you
 1:45:55  can't do it with a backo it's just not designed for that properly um but the stone is cheap we can keep stock piles
 1:46:03  of stone put it in the back of a truck have the truck go out with the with the motor grader and a couple guys and and
 1:46:11  and do that a lot quicker than we can doing what we're doing now which is subcontracting it out and paying someone to go in and throw asphalt into holes
 1:46:20  that won't hold the hold the asphalt it's it's just not designed for it that yes that would be a yes long story short
 1:46:29  yes we we'll have to do something for sure yes I was just going to say that I I'm
 1:46:36  in favor of option one to for a couple reasons one that we have a plan designed where we can maintain it get a gr or
 1:46:44  whatever and and with us the city maintain it it'd be so much cheaper than like you said what we have to contract out now all the time
 1:46:53  and it's the biggest bang for the buck we get all the alleys done because like you said what eight alleys do you pick if it's the Cadillac version or what you
 1:47:02  know so I appreciate you putting this together and and you and the mayor that that we're finally getting these taken care of I'm sorry Mr for I that it's not
 1:47:11  not as nice as the Chiefs but you know presentation okay thank you um one thing
 1:47:21  I add is so for I think I told all the counil M when we spoke but to the public as well so where I'm asking for these funds from is um are coming from the
 1:47:30  county to recalculation of our payment to us from I believe I don't want toe this but I'm not say recalculation pay
 1:47:39  to us and they sent us an additional $888,000 that um I've had people the people in the controlers office that they been working here for 18 years this
 1:47:48  only the second time has ever happened so they sent us aition calculation 800 88,000 that went to our general fund and
 1:47:55  another $175,000 that went to our f u recalculation and stuff and they sent us pay more money so thank you for
 1:48:04  that um so where where will we requesting These funds from would be from the excess of money that came in from that so um in The Proposal you'll
 1:48:12  see in option one with a half a million dollars we can do 206 outs of
 1:48:18  463 or we could be very B and amend this and do all alleys for the $1.1 million
 1:48:28  and get it out the way and then start a mainous program for and and I like to stress too I I
 1:48:37  don't believe and I and I would uh not think that you would believe that I could get 443 alleys done this year uh
 1:48:45  so we would appropriate it we would we would bid it out and we would we would uh look at at a 2025 uh going into 2025
 1:48:54  to to do it the good thing about doing the stone is in the winter months if the temperatures are right you can remove
 1:49:02  the asphalt put put uh the stone down as needed and dress it and still work through the winter
 1:49:11  so that was my what fun is this
 1:49:33  umf that would be correct yes have toic we can do a
 1:49:40  carryover okay that's what do yeah okay we don't want to do that right
 1:49:48  right and Mike one more question you're not going to brick brick yeah there are definitely
 1:49:56  some brick alleys uh yeah that if they're in decent shape but you don't plan on messing with those at all done
 1:50:04  yeah that would have been nice thank you yep question for the mayor
 1:50:12  orik it's already almost the end of July and we get some early bad weather
 1:50:21  can you get this or I guess I didn't exactly hear which of the two
 1:50:29  options warning us to look at because you got one doing about half of them and one doing all of them so especially with
 1:50:38  weather com so the so the original IED before you guys for the half million dollar and
 1:50:47  that will cover about 206 of the alleys option one which will be the asphal and replacing that with
 1:50:54  the