OurWeek
The Grant County Record
in Grant County · Regular meeting · 2024-08-20 · full transcript
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLYVZXDWIfQ
Exported Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:38:23 GMT

Source: YouTube automatic captions. Copied into the combined index from the marion-city-council-indexed report; same text, key prefixed by body.
These transcripts are machine-generated. They garble proper nouns badly —
company and personal names especially. Watch the recording before repeating
any name, number, or quotation. The video is the record.

==============================================================================

Indexed at https://ourweek.in/grant-county/reports/grant-county-record

    0:08  I'm finding you
    0:48  good evening we're going to go and call the Maran city council regular meeting August 20th 2024 to order at 700 p.m. in
    0:57  the Maran city council chambers and City Hall and I would like to start by inviting Maran Police Department chaplain Mr Mark
    1:05  barsley for the prayer welcome if you just turn the microphone
    1:14  on would you bow with me in an attitude of prayer we bow before you Heavenly Father
    1:21  blessed are you king of the Universe from the rising of the Sun to the setting of the same the lord's name is worthy of praise blessed be the name of
    1:30  the Lord Lord we do find our world in crisis tonight so much unrest and strife
    1:36  and Wars countries posturing against others intersected in this country we have a
    1:46  national decision on leadership and we need your wisdom and strength we're reminded in
    1:53  Proverbs in the hearts of humans they plan their own course but the Lord establishes their steps so help us to
    2:02  seek you we need your presence and approval for our plans for this community I pray for Marian Indiana and
    2:10  its residents I pray for each Community member where there is distress I ask for your presence I pray for every
    2:18  individual in our community that you would meet their needs today and with that may a new peace flood our souls and
    2:25  our neighborhoods I pray for each of our council members mayor Morel and all those that lead this community thank you
    2:35  for blessing us with leaders who are concerned about the welfare of our community and we thank you for giving our governmental leaders insight to
    2:44  identify and courageously address concerns that impact us as there is discourse and discussion and action on
    2:51  projects for our future I ask for your wisdom for these your Servants of our community help us to identify a clear
    3:01  path and in moving forward walk as you direct our steps I pray this in Jesus name amen am thank
    3:10  you chaplain and then councilman Mike clein to lead the pledge let's honor our country and our
    3:18  flag flag United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation God
    3:28  indivisible liy and justice for all thank you councilman
    3:38  Klein all right Madam clear for call here
    3:47  here here here here all right we're going to move into
    3:55  tonight's neighborhood Spotlight and um I would like to invite Mr Rashard Tyson up to the front
    4:02  here all the way up to the front you can walk around come up it's just how I do it come all the way
    4:13  up come up stand right here thanks for coming in appreciate it wrote something here I'm going to read
    4:21  uh I said uh almost a decade ago Rashard Tyson wanted a new start on life and always dreamed of doing something bigger
    4:28  with his life with an iPhone and a Facebook account he started a local news service for Grant County and I remember that it was at one of the first events
    4:37  he's walking around with an iPhone I like what's this guy doing figured it out pretty quick uh he uh service for Grant County called wmtv channel 27 news
    4:46  and entertainment now channel 27 news entertainment rashar has endured the challenges that many of us other small business owners have experienced but has
    4:55  managed to survive and do well Channel 27 has provided many other local businesses opportunities to advertise
    5:01  and grow while also provided a place for community members to connect and collaborate being that Maran is rarely looked at by the larger Fort Wayne and
    5:10  Indianapolis news channels his Channel 27 Facebook page now with over 49,000 followers has provided a resource for
    5:18  our citizens to connect stay and stay informed about our community rashar also had a dream of making a movie and he recently achieved that dream with the
    5:26  premiere of his first movie forgot about us in which he was is the writer and director and he's now set to release his second full link movie full custody that
    5:35  will debut on September 14th in the Marian High School auditorium so we just thank you rashar for your dedication and passion to the Marian Community would
    5:43  you like to share anything I just appreciate you acknowledgement that's all don't really got much to say I just
    5:50  appreciate it just thank you keep going okay appreciate it thanks RAR you got a picture real quick
    5:59  guys are welcome to come up always got to get
    6:21  picture okay two great thank you
    6:30  thanks appreciate all
    6:52  the okay and moving into the first responder Spotlight I would like to invite fire captain Tino Mitchner and
    7:00  private Blake Thompson to the front as well come on all the way
    7:11  up one you can stand here when you stand here if feel like see you you welcome thank you for
    7:20  coming and thank you for the other firefighters that could make it all right so tonight's first responder Spa life feates Mary and fire captain Tino
    7:29  missner and and private Blake Thompson Captain mner is a veteran of the Marine Fire Department and private Thompson is
    7:36  a newer member but you have some decent amount of time and um Captain Mitchner is also on the Department's dive team am
    7:44  I correct and then you're maybe aspiring to be on the dive tee now ICT got call yesterday oh okay great so on July 26
    7:51  2024 to approximately 3:45 a.m. fire units were dispatched to assist a woman and her dog trapped on the m missa river
    8:00  near the Branson Street Bridge the woman's dog had run into the river and she attempted to rescue it during her attempt she got swept in the river and
    8:08  was hanging on debris uh that was on the the bridge along with her dog so immediately upon arrival Captain
    8:15  Mitchner and private Thompson jumped into the river and swam out to the victim and her dog Captain Mitchner rescued the woman by carrying her back
    8:23  to shore while private Thompson rescued the dog while rescuing the small dog private Thompson actually got bit in the
    8:30  face and the neck you all right good okay yeah we want you going to be that
    8:37  next edition of the fireman's calendar I don't want you to get off of that so um once they were on land the women Elizabeth winter was treated and
    8:45  released at the scene private Thompson refused any treatment at the scene but was later evaluated for the small bik these two firefighters demonstrate what
    8:53  true courage looks like while they may say they were just doing their job this career they've chosen is not something
    9:01  just anyone could do not only does it have tough physical requirements but it requires people like them who have the innate instinct to run to strangers in
    9:09  need in danger and through danger even in the scariest of circumstances they should bravery courage and sacrifice all
    9:17  in the short amount of time to make that decision so thank you Captain Tino Mitchner and private Blake Thompson for setting the example of what a true hero
    9:26  looks like you were Elizabeth's hero that day and will forever be a hero hero to her and the rest of our community
    9:33  this rescue also highlights that even with what appears to be a lower water level um after the removal of the dam the river still poses a threat to life
    9:41  and safety so the entire city council fire chief Curtis gar your fellow firemen the entire city of Maran and
    9:48  your families are very proud of you so thank you for what you do and thank you for thank you helping her out of the river and her
    9:56  dog next Chief did you want to say something I was going to you but I guess
   10:05  you you stole all the Thunder I was um add a little things uh Captain
   10:11  Menner is a 14e vet and like you said he is uh with the HazMat team he is also head of our CPR instructors um Captain
   10:20  miter has proven to be a strong leader with the Mar Far Department um his willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done and to train the young
   10:28  members on department just something that's greatly appreciated by our office um private Blake Thompson although he
   10:35  only has two years he is an EMR emergency medal responder and and a DI team member Heist whole yesterday but if
   10:43  the name of Thompson sounds familiar uh private Thompson is the grandson of right retired firefighter and former me uh Maring council member Paul Thompson
   10:52  Jr and and the son of retired firefighter Paul Thompson III uh even though he has his Legacy private
   11:00  Thompson is making a name for himself and he is uh going to have a bright future with us and I also want to uh
   11:09  just make note that even though these two are highlighted and much uh deservingly so uh we don't work alone we
   11:15  always work as a team so uh in addition to those two members there we also had fire marshal Hayden Oliver engineer
   11:24  chance cgill Captain Adam Trexler private Chad Shipley probationary private Quinn Luton Captain Thomas
   11:31  Pierce Captain Ranch F Captain Anthony Monday maintenance Private Benjamin hker and Captain Steven Johnson and as you
   11:41  said earlier that even though the river is low that Charles mcam has been removed um it actual brings a different
   11:48  type of uh obstacles for us and what these two gentlemen did is remarkable I
   11:54  appreciate them I thank them and um wish them much success in our department great thank you so much gentleman would
   12:02  you like to say now I I would just like to add it's the best job ever best career ever you can have and I would also like to add that Mar and police
   12:10  department did an outstand job because they were actually there first they had her spotlighted so we knew exactly where she was when she got there so those guys
   12:18  uh you know we work together with the police department so those guys need a big uh big Applause because they had her spotlighted we knew exactly where she was and we were able to go get her so
   12:26  like I said it's the best job ever don't feel like going to work I love it great thank you all right you good y I'm good
   12:35  all right well thank you guys so much i' love to get a photo Chief you want to come up and any other firefighters that came you're welcome to come stand in the
   12:42  back just come over this side through this side just don't walk front of the
   12:47  [Applause]
   12:48  camera come on in here come out front out front
   12:55  here we'll come out front here
   13:04  your other firefighters are welcome to
   13:27  combine okay ready one two
   13:41  three good oh looks great perfect you guys look awesome noter than you than
   13:50  [Applause]
   14:14  an all right that's always one of the highlights um of every meeting is to highlight exceptional uh city employees
   14:22  Heroes First Responders so um thank you Chief gar Chief gar is actually the one that recommended them and I just
   14:30  appreciate him um recognizing them to the council as well okay we're going to move on to the
   14:37  approval of the minutes I hope everyone had an opportunity to take a look at them and I would entertain a
   14:46  motion so move second motion to approve the minutes from August 6 2024 by vice
   14:53  president cgil second by councilman Brunner any discussion Madame clerk roll call
   15:03  I I I yes yes yes
   15:11  I yes minutes have been approved moving on to consideration of pre-approved claims I would entertain another
   15:20  motion so move I have a motion by vice president
   15:26  Calo second by councilman Klein any discussion roll call and don't forget your
   15:36  mic maybe can you try try Aisha oh it was tested ahead of time so apolog go
   15:44  ahead I I I yes
   15:53  yes yes hi yes moving into the consideration of
   16:01  claims hope everyone had opportunity to review those anyone have any questions I would entertain a
   16:16  motion I have a motion by vice president kle second by councilwoman Divine any other discussion Madam clerk
   16:24  rool I I I
   16:30  yes yes yes hi yes and moving into committee reports do
   16:38  we have any committee reports councilwoman Divine the Board of Public Works and
   16:46  safety met yesterday um on their agenda was several different items uh the first was swearing in one of the fire
   16:54  departments uh a probationary private that finished probation um the human resource department
   17:03  presented an updated policy and procedure manual for review uh changing just a lot of language and um I don't
   17:12  want to say language a lot of correcting a lot of grammatical and spelling and verbiage to make it flow a little bit
   17:20  better um they also looked at um and approved transferring the city property down at
   17:29  Ballard fields to the Redevelopment commission and then um the board of
   17:36  Works approved the demolition of I think 10 properties throughout the city um reviewed each of the structures and had
   17:45  the reports given to him by uh Jerry fosite and then um approved going going ahead and demolishing those and then he
   17:54  said that there's still a huge list and so they're going to continue bringing between 10 to 15 each meeting through
   18:02  for the foreseeable future as they come up into those points where they're ready for action for
   18:09  Demolition and that was everything on that one great question maybe they've addressed this there but um do they have to slow down in the winter or they
   18:17  Contin can they continue to tear down over the winter do you know as far as I'm aware as long as um as long as the
   18:25  machines operate they should be able to continue um I think the biggest thing is that I would say in the spring is probably the
   18:34  worst when the ground starts fall and everything can just sink in but right thank you any other committee
   18:44  reports okay all right we're going to go ahead and move into unfinished business beginning with appropriation ordinance
   18:51  31-202 24 third reading as amended an ordinance of the city of mar Indiana
   19:08  am the mayor isn't here tonight he's at a conference um but I I spoke with him and so I'll be speaking on this um so on
   19:16  the cemetery um a couple things have changed we amended at last meeting the council voted to amend it since the
   19:24  council has amended that the mayor actually wanted to amend a few things things good things tweak some language make it a little bit stronger and also
   19:33  he wanted to change the fund that it would come out of um instead of the general fund the edit fund so with those other requests that he
   19:41  has um mixed with all the other amendments the changing of who it's going to um not only were we going to
   19:50  air on the side of caution to represent this but uh we did some checking um trustee Kane did as well the city did
   19:58  but uh the dgf also recommended since we pretty much changed everything including where the fund is coming from that we go ahead and
   20:07  read vertise this so um basically what I'm going to be asking is for this particular ordinance to be Ted and we
   20:16  already have the mayor has the new ordinance that will be presented at the uh September 3rd council meeting so the
   20:24  next council meeting um really nothing I mean you'll see when it comes out nothing major um it's just taking what
   20:33  we had amended just adding a few things legally in there um and then changing of course
   20:40  to to where it's going Center Township Trustee and then the fund that it's going to come out of so my ask is that
   20:47  if uh I could get somebody to make a motion to table this um and then the new ordinance will be presented at the
   20:56  September 3rd meeting and we'll go through the normal procedure um like this one so move Mr
   21:05  President second all right got a motion to table from councilman Bruner a second
   21:11  from councilman Kane any
   21:19  discussion Madam clerk roll call okay I
   21:27  hi yes yes yes
   21:36  yes all right we're going to move into and by the way I know some of you here for the cemetery I really appreciate you coming you're welcome to come back at the other meetings but again uh nothing
   21:45  a whole lot has really changed and um I as an individual council member look forward to getting it passed and through um so we can get that behind us all
   21:53  right moving into General ordinance 11-202 for third reading an ordinance amending and restating
   22:01  amending ordinance 523 6
   22:12  2013 yes so again third reading um essentially there's a few rules we're going to change within the council the
   22:21  agenda is going to have a few changes instead of it saying first responder Spotlight it'll say City's City employee Spotlight so not not only can we
   22:29  Spotlight uh firemen and police officers but other city employees that well deserve recognition um but yeah there are are
   22:37  several other rule rules um essentially the way the rules are written now this is probably one I'll
   22:44  point out and then I'll move on but um as of now the president of the council has the the way the rules are written
   22:51  the authority to table something pretty much at any time um I personally felt like there was just too much power and I mean technically I could have tabled
   23:00  this 31-202 24 but I'd rather the whole Council vote on that so that is changing the rules that will require Council vote
   23:09  to table something after it gets pass first uh reading so but uh other than that anybody have anything want to add
   23:17  any discussion on the rural changes all right I'd entertain a motion
   23:28  Mr chairman I move that we pass General ordinance number
   23:37  11224 second I have a motion by councilman Kane a second by vice president
   23:44  cgill any other discussion one last thing I'll add for the public that might be watching or here um one of my favorite Parts is that
   23:52  with these new rules when you get this agenda whether you see it online or you come in here it will now require an executive summary underneath it so I
   24:02  know sometimes you might read it and go I don't really know what that is or what that's going to that executive summary requirement is just it's just that it's
   24:10  a summary of really what this is doing right instead of just saying I'm transferring money well what are we transfering money for and truthfully
   24:17  it's just for the public to better understand the business of the city council um because I've gotten a lot of questions of like I don't know what you
   24:25  guys are even doing so anyways looking forward to that um Madam cler roll call
   24:32  I I yes
   24:39  yes I yes General ordinance 11-202 has passed and those rules will
   24:49  go into effect for the next council meeting moving on to General ordinance 12-22 for second reading and public hearing an ordinance of the common
   24:58  Council of the city of Maran Indiana amending Maran city code chapter 153 zoning ordinance and
   25:08  providing 9 Street speaking city engineer and city
   25:17  planner Mike good evening so what you have before you
   25:24  obviously you'll have to take it into an ordinance but the uh plan commission uh
   25:31  met on this uh we looked at the existing uh zoning in this area and this is this
   25:39  is a couple Parcels that that didn't get zoned many years ago uh to R3 that is
   25:46  still uh in I basically I2 uh we just there was a request brought to us uh
   25:55  somebody wants to do something with the the old structure that's on that building um I'm not sure if they're here
   26:03  okay pastor's here that he can answer any questions uh but basically it's just kind of clearing up um a zoning issue
   26:12  that's probably in need uh because the usage of that particular area far
   26:19  outweighs what people might want as opposed to what an R3 can do so I'll be glad to take any questions if not the
   26:27  pastors here from New Life Church uh that they're the owner of the the property in question and they can answer
   26:34  any questions as well any council members have
   26:45  questions all right is there anything you would like to share if you would like to share
   26:52  something yes well just wanted to say that we just
   27:00  want to as I stated the first time around we just want to flow with the vision of the city uh to beautify help beautify Marion and um that's really the
   27:07  heartbeat behind it and see really good use out of that building and um and just want to thank you thank you so much for coming
   27:18  tonight all right I'm going to go ahead and move it into the public hearing portion so at this time if you'd like to speak on it you can make a way to the
   27:25  microphone not seeing anyone moving I'm going to go
   27:34  ahead and close the public hearing and I would entertain a
   27:45  motion Mr President I'll move we pass uh I just lost it here um 12 General
   27:53  ordinance 12 thank you to uh third reading a
   28:01  econd so we have a motion
   28:04  [Music]
   28:05  to move General ordinance 12 2024 to a third reading and a second by that was
   28:13  by councilman Klein the second by councilman Whitten any
   28:21  discussion Madame clerk rol hi hi hi
   28:30  yes yes yes hi
   28:37  yes all right that'll move to third reading at the September 3rd meeting and moving into appropriation ordinance
   28:45  32224 second reading and public hearing an ordinance of the city of mar Indiana appropriating the
   28:54  am600 F maintenance I'm speaking again mayor is not here tonight
   29:01  he's at a conference um I did speak with him and all transparency had launch with them last year or last year last week um
   29:10  about various things and this did come up um and basically the discussion was that
   29:18  probably not wouldn't be able to even spend that money this year because the contractors aren't even available to do a lot of the work this year um we've
   29:27  already pass the $500,000 and he said it was perfectly fine if we tabled this because it only last till the end of the year anyways
   29:35  and then I told them well come back to us at the beginning of next year whenever that 500,000 might expire and we can
   29:43  reconsider that so um yeah I don't know Mike if you wanted to speak on that as well that that was the conversation I
   29:50  had with the mayor and I had had a similar conversation uh but then going forward um
   29:59  the I'm going I'm looking at bidding the process going through the bidding process and in in all likelihood what
   30:07  I'd like to do is bid it all at one time so that we can lock in a price so that next year we don't get a 10% or 15%
   30:15  increase we could lock it in have the money there obviously there's no way that we can use all expend all the money
   30:23  this year but I but I would certainly if we have the opportunity to save a little bit money if I could get the bid locked in all at one time rather than rebidding
   30:31  or bidding it twice and coming in with another number I also am putting in uh some of the questions were conversations
   30:39  about uh asphalt I am putting a a an asphalt component in to the to the bid so that if we have some alleys that are
   30:48  that we can do an overlay to to make them last a little bit longer I'm going to put that within the the bid too but that's just my you you all can do what
   30:57  you want but I I'm thinking if we could save a few dollars that's that would be my suggestion to you so your wish would
   31:05  be P this get that bigger pile to work with is that what I understand yes I
   31:13  obviously you're going to get a better price from somebody who if they're bidding it has a $1.1 million project as opposed to a $500,000 project and and
   31:23  speaking to a couple of contractors if they know going through the winter that they can keep their guys busy they're going to be a little bit more
   31:30  competitive to try to do that um if we're if we're looking at bringing it back and more than likely passing it
   31:38  next time then you know if you're going to wne I'm afraid it that it could cost you some additional dollars
   31:46  so I have a question too mik hold on So when you say bidding what are you officially going to ask for the bid like
   31:53  what work so we'll ask for option one and we'll ask for option two so the option one is the removal of if there's
   32:02  existing asphalt and bring it down to some Stone and then top top it with stone and then the other option is to
   32:09  remove or to Overlay the existing asphalt that's there depending on height and any conditions that I have that
   32:18  might that we were we might have to bring the asphalt out and then put in new asphalt over the top of it so we'll get we'll have that kind of option so so
   32:27  I wanted to put that component in there just in case so for option two for the asphalt component everyone knows where I
   32:36  stand on that um so like what would you be bidding would you have certain alleys that you're going to ask them to bid or how
   32:44  does that work it's just GNA be a unit price okay yeah because I don't know at this point which alleys we would determine are a candidate for that but I
   32:53  would I would just base it on a unit price so that it'd be either e by the ton or by the square foot or however we
   33:00  decide to do it and so I'm just trying to understand so on the asphalt side you would just see basically how
   33:08  many miles of alley we could do for the asphalt is that I mean I'm trying to understand that process well again unit cost
   33:17  is uh so if if I'm going to pay let's say $100 a for a ton of asphalt whatever
   33:24  I can cover however many miles or one mile I I get a base price of $100 so and my concern is if I'm
   33:34  obviously we won't be able to use any asphalt past November uh so we'd be looking at uh 2025 and if I bid it then
   33:43  more than likely I'm going to see an in increase in like I always do when I bid uh asphalt prices it's going it could go
   33:51  up so if there's a way to lock it into a specific number that the guys will agree to carry that into 2025 I think that would be advisable for
   34:00  us okay um so I guess what would so if you have two options you're going to bet out what
   34:08  would make you pick one over the other I think just looking at the individual uh if if there if the alley is completely
   34:15  gone or a very little bit of asphalt there's no reason to throw asphalt over top of that we would remove that if the
   34:22  alleys are poth hold uh but the base structure is pretty decent then I would then I would look at it either maybe an
   34:30  just an overlay without having to do any removal but I'd also want to take into consideration slopes there I mean we had
   34:37  the discussion we have several alleys that are on slopes that if I put Stone in them the all all that's going to happen is there's going to be stone at
   34:45  the bottom of the the hill so we so those are some areas that we would definitely have to look at
   34:53  okay I guess so my only concern is if I approve this how do I know my is not getting converted to rocks I can't
   35:00  guarantee you that okay that answers my question okay anybody else yeah I do mik I got I guess I'm just a little confused
   35:09  on you're talking about the bidding if if if whether we approve this tonight if it ends on December 31st and they're not
   35:18  doing the job okay help me out with that I would bet it to go into 2025 that would be the that would be the
   35:25  specifications when I'm writing it up the number that you give me now will carry on into
   35:33  2025 there willon be an escalator there won't be a cost increase right by the contractor if I lock it in now it's
   35:40  locked in David David bids this kind of stuff or sees this kind of work where you where you where you get it now to
   35:48  save you money later so well I guess I okay because that's I said you could bid anything for any time
   35:56  but if they couldn't get it to done until let's say January February you wouldn't need the money till January February or do you bid maybe I don't
   36:03  understand well again if if we wait until January or February to bid the the additional 600,000 that's two bid
   36:12  packages that means one contractor that that bid the first 500 may not get the second but if they're bidding on the 1.1
   36:19  as one contractor I'm going to get more of a competitive bid okay as opposed to breaking it breaking it apart
   36:34  councilman C or K thank you Mr chairman I totally agree with Mr gra on this m
   36:42  this this gives us an opportunity to encumber $1.1 million before the end of
   36:50  the year that Mr graph can go out and ask for bids um and like he said he'll get much
   37:01  better Returns on asking for bids for 1 million $1.1 million worth of work now
   37:09  you're bidding at today's prices those prices will be locked in for next
   37:15  year um and like Mr graph said if we wait and do not spend this money or
   37:24  appropriate the money till next year we will I will guarantee it be looking at higher prices so to get the most bang
   37:34  for our dollars we need to approve this additional $600,000 and put it with the $500,000
   37:43  that we passed last meeting to get give us a total of $1.1 million so Mr graph can go out and ask
   37:51  for bids for that total um $600,000 is600 $1,000 in today's
   37:59  money next year due to inflation it will not be worth $600,000 so yes we will be
   38:07  able to save money if we appropriate the money and encumber that money this year thank
   38:15  you councilman pise yeah I agree 100% with Dave in in uh M Mr engineer um and
   38:24  and the reason being is because right now we have the money and once we appropriate this it goes into the streets and Roads and it's nonreverting
   38:33  it stays in there it doesn't go back into the general fund at the end of the year it carries over to next year so um
   38:40  not only the bid but since we've got the money and it's available we don't know what we're going to have next year to be able to appropriate it so since we've
   38:48  got the money it's nonreverting it can get a better price on it I think that we should go ahead and go with this and pass
   38:55  it thank you councilman F yeah thank you and I I do not intend to sound Flip but
   39:03  an analogy I see is a forever stamp we're spending this money now prices may go up but we're not going to have to pay
   39:12  the I mean it's like I've got a 54 cent forever stamp that I bought then it's whatever it is now it's paid for it's an
   39:20  investment that we I think we need to make any council
   39:29  members all add so why I'm stuck is the rock as you all know so if this if this were to
   39:37  pass and constituents in your District get rock in their alley just be prepared for some phone calls because I've uh had
   39:46  a I've had no positive feedback from anybody in the city that that lives off an alley that they would be happy about
   39:54  having Rock I've had nothing but negative and go what you guys are crazy I don't want Rock in my alley um so I'm just saying that's where I'm hung up on
   40:02  it's why I had to asked the question about the bidding I think it's a huge mistake to go back to rock um without a proper plan in place and you will hear
   40:12  negative feedback when someone wakes up and the next day their alleys and rock and so yep just saying go ahead so I I
   40:21  don't think the way this ordinance is written that we make that Det determination or
   40:28  could make that determination tonight it's up to the we're leaving this up to the administration to use their best
   40:36  judgment on which alleys get stoned that's not a good
   40:43  word I think you meant that rock let's use the word Rock and versus assball so
   40:52  um right so yeah that's we don't determine that here tonight the Administration will determine that the way this ordinance is
   41:00  written oh I understand that but I still can ask questions of how and when like any other ordinance so that's our job but anyways any other council members
   41:08  before we go to public hearing yeah I I think that's a great Point Nick that everybody needs to know that you know
   41:16  the surfac is the way we do the alies is subject to change we're just appropriating the money to get the alleys repaired we can at a later date
   41:23  in time have a committee meeting or meet with the mayor and meet with Mike and determine which alleys need what like we had discussed before I mean you know I
   41:32  understand your concern and I agree with you on a lot of them you're 100% right but we're not determining what Aly gets what at this point in time we're just
   41:40  allocating the money that we've got to put into that fund to start on working on the Allies is my determination right
   41:47  but I understand but once this money is approved there's nothing to come back to us for us to choose which alley right once the
   41:55  money's approved then it's the executive branch gets to decide that go ahead Mike no I I wouldn't disagree I mean that's
   42:03  that's the function of the government but I can tell you with just two guys in my department anybody that has alleys within their I'm coming to you and
   42:12  talking to you I there's there's too much out there for for two guys to try to undertake to determine that I'm going
   42:20  to need feedback for me folks so just that I really appreciate that I really do honestly um
   42:27  I think we should let our the people that live off those alleys have a say in as well but we do have a public hearing not everyone's going to hear this
   42:35  message a lot of people don't pay attention um but those that would like to speak the public hearing will go a and open that up so if you like to speak
   42:42  on this then move your way to the podium okay I don't see anyone coming to
   42:51  the podium so we're going to close the public hearing and I would entertain a motion Mr
   42:59  chairman I move that we suspend the rules on appropriation ordinance number
   43:11  32224 and a motion to suspend the rules by councilman Kane the second by councilman Klein any
   43:18  discussion Madam clerk roll call I no
   43:28  yes yes yes
   43:36  no rules have been suspended I'll entertain another motion Mr chairman I move that we pass appropriation
   43:43  ordinance number 32224
   43:50  second I have a motion by councilman Kane who was the second I didn't hear second by councilman for
   43:59  ice any other discussion Madame clerk roll call
   44:06  hi hi yes yes
   44:14  yes hi no all right moving into new business
   44:23  additional appropriation ordinance 33-2247 first
   44:36  [Music]
   44:38  reading3 miscell speaking city
   44:49  Administration welcome controller G good evening president Council so the controller's office is seeking have
   44:57  these funds from the county they missed sending us these funds in 2023 and so the deputy controller
   45:04  emailed them and they sent the funds over in 2024 so um so this was funds from last year that we want to
   45:13  appropriate great thank you so much any council members have questions councilwoman Divine just to clarify so
   45:21  this the fund that is listed is the wheel tax fund yes so because we've appropriated and used all the current will tax fund this allows them to use
   45:30  the additional that's that's correct okay any other council
   45:40  members thank you controller B okay I would entertain a motion I'd
   45:47  make a motion to approve appropriation ordinance 33- 2024 to Second reading public hearing
   45:55  second we had a motion by councilman Force I'll do the second by councilman Brunner any other
   46:03  discussion Madame clerk rookle I I I
   46:11  yes yes yes hi
   46:19  yes moving into General ordinance 13-20 24 first reading an ordinance
   46:35  Mike are you on this one too hi oh appreciate you I've gotten elected get I don't get the salary but I
   46:43  got the election so so um this is the tree ordinance um has
   46:53  been before city council several times since it since its Inception uh 2002
   47:02  2004 um and and probably a little bit earlier there's if you go into American legal there's probably been an existing
   47:10  ordinance on what defined a tree and how how trees were defined and who whose
   47:17  responsibility trees were and that kind of stuff but um over the last few years uh as uh we
   47:27  had a conversation about what is a public uh tree and the public tree fund that uh that somehow the engineering
   47:35  department inherited um that there there's very limited funds
   47:43  within that budget and uh after speaking with uh at least three three administrations and three different
   47:51  legals uh most came to the determination uh on what what a public
   47:57  tree was or what a park tree was um the consensus was that um trees are the the property owners
   48:06  responsibility however in the existing language uh there are some discrepancies
   48:12  that that give the city um autonomy or or some controls to go onto private
   48:20  properties and remove trees uh as we deem necessary uh which is fine um
   48:28  but with a a small amount of budget that we have I literally could do a half a dozen trees uh when it when it came down
   48:37  down to it per year to where we started looking more because we had inherited or not inherited through the county we
   48:45  through the tax rols we got a number of uh vacant properties uh that obviously we're still going through and and trying
   48:54  to get um those taken off of our uh roles and and given back to the uh the
   49:01  taxpayers or the the folks that live with it uh or live beside those um Lots
   49:08  uh so the tree money that that I have allocated is has really been taken over by the sheer number of parcels that we
   49:17  have of trees that are falling on those properties or rather falling on a neighbor's fence or a neighbor's garage
   49:26  garage that is City owned property so those funds
   49:31  have get uh depleted very quickly um
   49:37  so I really worked uh through a couple of different models uh for the tree ordinance uh the existing tree ordinance
   49:46  we have right now has a very interesting um portion to it it's that
   49:54  they have a tree board and and the tree board was enacted in 2002 under
   50:03  um Henry's Administration or maybe Ma's but it it continued on some language was changed a little bit in 2004 I gave
   50:11  everybody a copy of those early ordinances uh that all referred back to uh tree boards uh the problem with that
   50:20  with the tree boards was there there hasn't been an existing tree board since the ordinance was
   50:27  last so everything all the trees that that ever came from either the administration or from Council or from
   50:36  uh the citizens at large would be directed to the engineering department uh to the point where we
   50:46  didn't have the manpower to go out look at the trees we had an arborist on staff at one point which the existing ordinance talks about having an arborist
   50:55  um I I'm not sure what the arborist need was uh if a tree looked dead it was dead but some people wanted me to get an
   51:02  arborist to determine if the tree was dead so fast forward to where we are today obviously the the funds are very
   51:11  limited the the cost for a standard tree uh for removal uh is anywhere between
   51:19  900 to $2,000 dollar per tree uh some larger uh trees can and can go up to
   51:28  $55,000 uh obviously the engineering department doesn't have a budget uh and even if I requested uh $100,000 I'm not
   51:36  sure that the city council would approve $100,000 for for trees and and and quite honestly with the amount of trees that
   51:45  that are concerns out there which there are definitely concerns 100,000 over the next 20 years might help but it's it
   51:54  it's a lot of money uh so what you have before you is uh is an is an amended ordinance that
   52:02  clarifies uh the removal of uh the tree board in its entirety the removal of the arborist and then starts getting into
   52:11  clarifying language as far as so that when a citizen makes a phone call or
   52:19  sends a picture on the app and says I've got this tree uh I want to be able to
   52:25  have a much more clear concise picture to be able to talk to them about right
   52:33  now it is it's a gray area at best I've been advised by at least three legal councils over my time that the trees are
   52:42  the responsibility of the property owners under that ordinance it's very gray and I think that going forward I
   52:49  think we need to clarify that we need to to whoever is sitting in my seat uh or if the tree ends up going down to
   52:58  Citywide maintenance wherever it ends up being that that that it's a much clearer picture going forward uh on on the
   53:06  clarification of public trees Park trees um and whose responsibility there are so
   53:15  that it's so that I'm not uh either being questioned about it that uh as as
   53:23  President McKinley said there there is some language in the existing Lang in the existing ordinance that allows us if if
   53:31  a tree is in bad shape to go on that property and and uh and take care of it
   53:38  which is fine I just don't have I don't have the funding for that and and I've been around for quite some time in
   53:47  dealing with this issue I I can probably name a few areas that I know that the city of Marin has planted trees within a
   53:55  Boulevard uh but not very many so typically the trees uh that are out there were planted
   54:04  uh as a shade tree in front of a house uh nobody questioned about what type of tree it was going to grow up to be uh
   54:11  and the trees are now tearing up sidewalks they're tearing up curbs they're tearing up streets um and once
   54:19  they get so large anybody on a fixed income is going to struggle uh to repair to to have that tree removed quite
   54:26  honestly we don't have the funds for it we didn't plant the tree uh when they before it got to a certain uh situation
   54:35  that they probably either should have cut it down when it was smaller or done proper pruning which a lot of people
   54:42  don't do they just let the tree grow and then when it get it gets to a certain size and a certain dollar amount then
   54:50  they're looking at us as City officials to say we need help so I need clar ification going forward that's why uh I
   54:59  originally brought this uh to vice president Cowgill a couple years ago we decided to kind of keep keep it going
   55:06  but still never got the tree board and what the tree board as far as I could together was there was a five person
   55:14  tree board that was supposed to go out and take a look at these trees come back and make a determination on what we're going to do with the tree but that's
   55:21  never happened so that's why I'm here trying to clarify some of this Lane which it gets get the body in there I try to do my best to highlight what what
   55:30  I was removing and to replace the verbage um I don't know if you how far you want to get into that tonight or I'm
   55:38  I'm happy to talk to you about it going forward so all right thank you Mike y council
   55:46  members questions vice president cgill Mike on you're right we've talked a lot about this last couple years you
   55:53  feel comfortable with this to where it to make since this is kind of like you said being thrown in your lab and I know
   56:01  you've been with the city since you was like five so you feel you feel good with this or yeah I mean I I I'm not going to
   56:09  say I plagiarized but I I went through several Community ordinances to get this verbiage U to where I felt comfortable
   56:16  some of them had more stringent rules uh as far as even if it's your tree that you were
   56:24  required to get permits to do I mean I tried to you know if it's your tree it's your tree you know we just want to know if if you're going to do it let us know
   56:34  so that if it goes out in the street we're prepared to either come out and help or whatever but yeah I
   56:41  mean this this has been probably a three-year process to get us to where we're at uh I don't think I can rewrite it anymore so I think it is about what
   56:49  it is now so all right thank you any other counil
   56:59  members yeah I think removing the tree board will be great I will say the we approved some funding for some tree removal couple months back and from what
   57:08  I understand and correct me from wrong mic that the work is being held off until this gets passed is that correct
   57:15  well yeah because again it the proper channels didn't go through since there is no tree board yeah uh and I didn't
   57:23  want anybody in the public to think that we were out specifying specific trees over somebody else's tree knowing the
   57:31  fact that the property owner this a property owners a responsibility I didn't want to get up get us into a catch 22 where we we we did something
   57:40  and then the next door neighbor says oh wait a minute uh you guys did that one don't forget me so just I didn't want to
   57:48  get anybody into Y into a situation we couldn't couldn't deal with yeah Essen we wanted to follow our own rules so
   57:55  we're changing the rules so we can follow them the way we would like them um we don't want to circumvent the system and go well our tree board that
   58:03  doesn't exist didn't approve this well we don't have one so I appreciate that I know I since I got on i' been talking to the mayor from day one about this so
   58:12  it's great to see this cross the finish line hopefully um because as I said last meeting we have a if you look around a
   58:19  ton of tree blight in this community sure on private property but if you look in the rideways you start looking it's
   58:27  everywhere dead trees everywhere um and there's a lot in this tree ordinance there's a lot of teeth in this actually I just don't think we've had the
   58:34  Manpower like you said to really enforce it I mean I know we have contractors removing trees in the city that are not insured well this says right here
   58:41  they're required to have insurance um and so there's just a lot of things that we could do but I think cleaning is a
   58:48  fantastic idea and just like anything else anybody that is hiring a contractor that is the number one thing you should
   58:56  ask for yep you you may be getting a really good deal somebody's going to come in and say I'll deal for $500 and all of a sudden they lay it and
   59:04  it lands on a car lands on it out in the street or on a on a pedestrian walking by and you don't have insurance number
   59:11  one thing you should be asking for I have seen it in this city through my other career so yes it does happen
   59:21  Okay anybody else oh sorry council member Runner um
   59:27  are you going to give us a dollar figure what this
   59:35  will well I don't know councilman Brunner if there is an actual dollar figure because again if we
   59:43  follow the guidelines you know we're going to be looking at that that most of these are the property owner responsibility to
   59:51  maintain um obviously we're going to and I'm not I'm not going to stand in front of you to say that if we've got a
   59:58  situation that we've got to go in it's going to cost us dollars now will we put a lean on the property uh that that you
 1:00:06  may never see until someone sells the property I I I have to do that a lot whether it's uh digging up an alley
 1:00:14  because someone's sewer failed but they can't afford to do that I I put a lean on the property so uh yeah I mean I'm
 1:00:22  not I'm not going to stand here in front of you saying that I don't believe that we're going to be completely out of the tree business but this does put a lot
 1:00:29  more clarification to it and it appears to me that this is been a ordinance that
 1:00:36  has existed for 20 years so now first time 20 years
 1:00:42  Chang well I I don't think that the the existing ordinance if it would have
 1:00:49  been adhered to I don't think it was it it had some discrepancies in it yes it was it a a completely failed ordinance
 1:00:58  no what the failed part was that it relied on a an independent tree board that never
 1:01:06  existed thank you you're welcome I'm certainly in favor of removing another lay of bureaucracy so any other council
 1:01:16  members thank you so much Mike appreciate it all right I would entertain a motion
 1:01:24  make a motion that second I have a motion by councilman
 1:01:35  Brunner I heard the second from vice president calill any other discussion Madam clerk
 1:01:44  rall I I I yes
 1:01:52  yes yes I yes and we'll move on to Second reading public hearing all right uh two quick
 1:02:01  announcements just a reminder for the public there is a third Citywide cleanup August 31st 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m U of
 1:02:08  course the central location for drop off of items is at 520 East 6 Street that's the the city street department location
 1:02:16  and then um the locations for curbside pickup 9th Street to Chapel Sydney Lane
 1:02:23  and then Washington SL River drive down to Miller Avenue again for curbside pickup and then lastly just reminder we
 1:02:31  do have a budget meeting uh our second budget meeting next Monday August 26th at 6 pm here in the council chambers and
 1:02:38  it will be also streamed on YouTube as well for those watching so that's all I have any other council members councilman Divine um just one thing that
 1:02:48  I brought up a little bit before the meeting um in talking with the engineering department it sounds like the 50/50 money for sidewalk has been
 1:02:57  depleted I'm getting a yes from Mike graph over there um I know I still have some of the money that as a councilman
 1:03:05  that I was able to be able to use to help various Property Owners I wondered what the feeling of the council was if I
 1:03:13  allow my money to be used kind of in that 5050 motion because I know there's at least one if not two more people in my ward that would like to have their
 1:03:21  sidewalks done just putting it out there since we were kind open on our rules say let's invite Mikael that's that's a
 1:03:29  great question thank you for bringing that up yes we're about completed in 5050 what we have left is your your your
 1:03:36  funds and uh it's some of you have 500 left some of you have $2,200 some maybe
 1:03:43  you had more uh but I'm gonna I'm GNA put it in Nick's lap actually if you if you all at this point would just say
 1:03:51  until we can get a better plan for next year if this goes for next year is to pull your funds because what I'm finding
 1:03:59  is the the the people that we're communicating with are trying to get a hold of counsil people and are waiting and but we've got people that are ready
 1:04:07  to go now that we waiting on that because they came in first uh so if you would if you don't mind if you would
 1:04:14  like to just pull the funds and allow us to finish out the rest of the year with the pooled funds I I we would not have a
 1:04:23  problem with that I'm just throwing that out there that's totally up to you I'm just trying to Fig to get the best way to deplete the funds faster because I'm
 1:04:31  afraid if we just wait for Andy's W to come up with a little bit or or or Gary's Ward we may not deplete it so so
 1:04:40  just for clarity you're asking if we can just take all those funds into one pool and let you guys decide and actually use it for the city's 505050 correct correct
 1:04:50  correct yeah I don't I'd have to I don't know if language on that ordinance I don't
 1:04:59  I guess we would have to take a look at that so yeah something to consider um yeah we could take a look at the language and come back at that because
 1:05:07  right now I mean we're we have some people that have reached out to some council members uh to to get funds but I
 1:05:14  know that where we're at right now I mean most sidewalks are are costing a minimum of
 1:05:22  $2,500 for a one person's house we don't we don't have that and some of you in your Wards don't have it so you
 1:05:30  really need to kind of start combining it either as council at large which you're already doing you have some council at large that are helping
 1:05:39  specific Wards so you're already cross crossing that but I don't I don't want to get into the legality part of that I'll let Marty hand that
 1:05:48  yeah what's your time I'll be done I'm going to assume by late October
 1:05:59  counc correct and and if we would need to amend it then that's at least a month there so I think we just need to review
 1:06:08  it legally now if it doesn't require Amendment for whatever reason does that any council member have an opinion on
 1:06:16  putting that new pooled fund positive or negative I think we should do it I mean that's that's what this is all intended
 1:06:25  for anyway so I personally wouldn't have any problem pulling it all
 1:06:32  together yeah I don't either anyone that wouldn't be in favor of that okay well I I I kind of got a
 1:06:41  comment on that I I'd like to know if I'm using my money I'd like to know it's used in my district I've got people in
 1:06:48  my district that have asked for it and that's whether you want to hold a committee meeting or what I've got people want to put sidewalks in I told
 1:06:57  them I'd go ahead and help them with 500 or 700 or whatever they would just have to pay the remainder on theirs uh
 1:07:05  without using a 5050 they could personally put in a sidewalk and the council person could help with $500 or whatever they just couldn't get the 5050
 1:07:14  on it yeah I what we've always tried to avoid was you paying their 50 and the and my department paying their 50 in in
 1:07:24  broader terms that's 100% they they didn't have any skin in the game so yes you're right there and and we still wouldn't do that we would pull your they
 1:07:33  they would they would be required to their forther 50% it wouldn't be cross the board free yeah because currently we're
 1:07:41  providing money to help subsidize their 50% to match the city so that's where I think where that ordinance is written if
 1:07:49  it says we are matching it well if the city has nothing left there's nothing to match so technically we can't use it so that's I think where we need to slice
 1:07:56  and dice that so we we can uh come back to that okay I have nothing else anybody
 1:08:06  else all right I'd take a motion for adjournment I'd make a motion to adjourn motion by councilman forite
 1:08:13  second by councilman Klein any discussion Madame clerk roll call
 1:08:24  I yes yes hi
 1:08:31  yes meeting's adjourned sorry I didn't even see it sitting here my bad usually it get
 1:08:39  handed me I didn't see it I'm ahead of you D I'm ahead of you
 1:08:58  yeah all