OurWeek
The Grant County Record
in Grant County · Regular meeting · 2024-09-03 · full transcript
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZjp8T_Cceg
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    0:08  you not seen her before
    0:21  [Music]
    0:43  we're going to call the meeting to order it's the Maring common Council regular meeting it is September 3rd is now 7 PM
    0:49  in City Hall welcome everybody and we're going to goe and right into this evening's prayer and welcome Pastor
    0:57  joandy from God's house Church if you want to come on up put pastor and lead us in
    1:06  prayer you just want to hit the red button before I start Brian told me that
    1:13  you guys don't get enough thank yous so I want to personally tell you guys thank you for all your hard work and all your
    1:20  tireless uh work behind the scenes all right
    1:34  God As We Gather here today to come up with a plan to rebuild this city and
    1:40  make it great I want to give thanks and praise for all the elected and all the appointed officials here today I want to
    1:49  give thanks for all the work that they do behind the scenes in order to make this city great for
    1:58  everyone God please put your hand of Grace and love upon them please bless
    2:06  them with the gift of discernment and good judgment similar to all the great Heroes
    2:14  of the Bible no one and none of us can ever be more in public than we are in
    2:21  private so as we are here today working and building behind the scenes Let the
    2:28  work we do behind the scenes be shown in public to make everyone and everything
    2:34  better so dear Lord let's uplift this city let's uplift these officials let's
    2:41  uplift our mayor let's uplift all these residents here in maram and in your name
    2:47  we shall always pray amen amen thank you and we're going to have councilman Jim Brunner lead us in the
    2:55  pledge you Mr President please join me in the pledge of
    3:03  flag unit States stand
    3:10  na indivisible
    3:19  andice again thank you Pastor Jo Andy and councilman Brunner Madame clerk roll
    3:25  call Kan here Marshall here Florida here Runner here Klein here Divine here Wht
    3:35  here cgill here McKinley here okay we're going to move into the community Spotlight and tonight we're
    3:43  going to be spotlighting Rebecca zurl from The Hive mine market so Rebecca if you want to come on all the way up and
    3:52  um I you know social media is a great thing and have seen a lot of posts with the hive mind Market I've been to it
    3:59  many time you just want to stand over here and um I think it's a phenomenal thing we have in this community um but
    4:06  I'm going to let Rebeca explain more what hive mind Market is and help bring some awareness and attention to a wonderful asset we have in the community
    4:15  so go ahead Rebecca thank you thank you all for having me here tonight I see some friends in the crowd um I would
    4:23  love to introduce you guys to hm Market if you've never been there um first of all my name is Rebecca zurl I'm the founder and the owner if you haven't
    4:32  heard of hive mind we're deeply rooted in Maran and our purpose is to provide safe and clean consistent space for small businesses to come and grow their
    4:39  business and connect with the community um starting a small business is really hard so entrepreneurs come to hive mind for structure guidance friendship
    4:48  opportunity marketing and support all of our regular events happen on Saturday mornings in the Kohl's parking lot from 10: to 3: and we would love to see you
    4:57  there we also collaborate on other events events such as this P this year's past eclipse of paloa and the City of
    5:04  mar and birthday party and the state of the city address which are marisota um in the past uh hive mind started in
    5:13  2022 um from May until October of 2023 we hosted 72 events which contained over
    5:21  1500 popup shops from small businesses located around Indiana as well as out of state with our furthest maker coming
    5:29  from West Virginia um we have lots of Interest outside of Maran for events places like Harford city
    5:37  waren um Columbus Ohio places in Texas places all the way in Florida they're like we love what's going on we would love for you to come here so come join
    5:46  us so something like that may be what we do in the future um currently we are in our summer season
    5:55  it has been the hardest season to date for hi mind over the last three years um
    6:01  for a number of reasons but um we were forced into a license contract with kohs
    6:09  at the beginning of our season which took away our opportunity to host our favorite food trucks and our favorite local musicians and our favorite
    6:18  nonprofits in places that connect with the community and hand out free information and make our city great um
    6:26  this came as a result of an unfortunate situ situation that stemmed from our store last winter but we have a much
    6:34  better location for this winter The Hive will be reopening on November 1st at Boston Hill Center right here in downtown we'll be open multiple days a
    6:43  week with all of your favorite makers Bakers artists creators we're going to pack them all in there we got room for about 50 so that'll be great and um
    6:53  looking forward to next summer since this summer has been a little rough and we love to support our community I have
    7:02  purchased land for hive mind Market in West Maran and the orchard at hi mind Market on Miller Avenue will be open and
    7:11  the permanent home for hive mind Market in 2025 so we look forward to seeing you guys all there and thank you for
    7:19  supporting us and thank you for having me here we currently have a little class going on over at CSA the hieline maker
    7:26  Series so I've got to Jet back over there um we're doing an intro to acrylic pouring tonight so well we appreciate
    7:36  you all the efforts you put in to the H mind market and um I think it is a wonderful asset I learned a lot about it
    7:42  and I I saw it on social media um or your post about going to the Boston Hill Center I thought that was phenomenal what a great use of space so just we
    7:51  need everyone to support them throughout the winter and through the summer and keep them going so everyone thank you Rebecca
    8:00  hold on we got to get a picture everyone wants get a picture real quick to do that picture we got to get as much
    8:06  attention online for her gr that business come
    8:14  on you want to come
    8:31  oh yeah you guys this all right thank you so much
    8:41  appreciate it thank you thank you
    8:55  congratulations okay and we're going to move into what now called the city employee Spotlight used to be the First
    9:03  Responders Spotlight but we can still recognize First Responders any time um but now we've opened it up to the whole
    9:11  city however their first city Spotlight is a first responder Spotlight and so I would like to invite Chief Gilbert up to
    9:18  the front Maran police chief um he would like to present a few Awards to some
    9:25  officers welcome chief welcome thank you uh with the mayor Morel uh Mr President members of
    9:33  the council I'd asked permission to come forward and present a couple Awards a civilian award and word to two officers come on up
   10:01  members of the council and the audience uh our first award is going to be our highest civilian award that we give from
   10:09  the police department to a civilian who's helped us in some way and tonight I'd like to call David Slusher forward
   10:18  uh to receive what we call the friend of the department award which is symbolized by a
   10:25  coin uh very similar to the one that all of our officers carry uh to symbolize their affiliation with
   10:34  police dep we want to do this with Dave because recently he helped our officers
   10:40  out there was a gentleman uh running a neighborhood uh we couldn't catch him to be quite honest with you
   10:49  and some of our best officers were on that case our officers are familiar with Dave saw him out of his yard and said
   10:57  hey Dave that's that guy as he was accelerating away from
   11:05  officers Dave I think thought about turning around go back in the house but he
   11:12  couldn't you want to see it he assisted Us in apprehending this person quite frankly needed some help
   11:21  was having an episode so tackled the person and assisted Us in getting that person into test so when I heard what
   11:30  happened I was not surprised and so without F further delay to give our highest civilian award I'll read this
   11:38  award as friend of the department presented by the Maran Police Department in honor of David W Slusher for your
   11:45  steadfast support of MPD officers and your bravery in the apprehension of a dangerous suspect on August 24th
   11:55  2024 in the area of Chapel Pike and Denver Drive given with gratitude on the third day of September 2024 in Maran
   12:04  Grant County Indiana so Dave I'm gonna have Captain Michael Ross come forward and actually get the awards and see in charge of those
   12:12  officers David thank you for your assistance and we could be more grateful
   12:22  [Applause]
   12:39  you to show that video to the uh this uh these
   12:47  Awards uh are one and uh several that we give officers for various acts of um
   12:55  distinction this award tonight is called the award for Meritor service it's the medal of Merit if you will and we're
   13:02  going to award those tonight to officer Billy Cole and officer Scott Fletcher gentlemen if you would come forward
   13:20  please these uh gentlemen actually uh these gentlemen are receiving the award of Merit for meritorious service
   13:29  uh for a life saving measure which falls into that category I can tell you firsthand that it just so happened that uh I was actually meeting with officer
   13:37  Scott Fletcher the night this happened let him know he been awarded a canine which is a great accomplishment call
   13:45  came in and I you know wear ear pieces and I couldn't hear what was being dispatched but he was as we were I thought it' be a nice slow walk out the
   13:53  door to tell him thank you a good job he jetted out down the hallway and ran to a call I had to CL about and it was
   14:01  this call long story short gentleman in our community was attempting to take his all life and uh these two officers were
   14:11  dispatched officer Fletcher Officer Cole they responded and were able to remove
   14:17  this person from hanging himself and take him down to the ground and provide life saving measures and the person
   14:25  survived because of their actions here today or be alive today so that is the short story so even meeting with the
   14:34  chief of police uh said I don't have time for you right now
   14:41  and as I did before with the civilian award I'm G read the text of this award this is called the
   14:49  award of Meritor service presented to officer Billy Cole and officer Scott Fletcher for Extraordinary action above
   14:57  and beyond the Call of Duty on July 24th 2024 regarding life-saving measures of a
   15:04  citizen who had attempted suicide your actions on this date saved human life and represent the highest level of
   15:13  professionalism courage and Effectiveness in your duty to protect the citizens of maryan Indiana and this
   15:21  serves as Everlasting proof of meritorious service given with gratitude on the third day September
   15:30  2024 in Maran Grant County thank you
   15:35  [Applause]
   15:50  gentlemen you mind if we get photo with council with them too or you're still presting go for it
   15:59  you need to present out this is
   16:32  here we
   16:41  go awesome thank you thank you guys
   17:03  all right well thank you guys thank you for the other officers that came in as well and uh recognize their fellow officers so um we're going to move on to
   17:13  the consent agenda again this is a a new style a new agenda with the new rules we have um is it's going to be a little
   17:22  different tonight so consent agenda allows us to approve multiple things at one time however this evening we've got under the consent agenda
   17:31  includes the approval of minutes consideration of pre-approved claims and consideration of claims um normally it would ask for a
   17:38  motion to approve all those however uh there were some adjustments to the minutes that um second Deputy clerk
   17:48  Richard had handed out with some highlights I hope everybody had an opportunity to take a look just a few minor adjustments to the minutes there
   17:57  were just some um we'll say wording changes some typo not even typos just some editing of some
   18:06  words instead of seconded it's second but the the one that um I asked her to add was at the last meeting we had the
   18:15  alley vote for the alley maintenance I was the only one that voted no but nothing was in the minutes about why I
   18:22  voted so I asked her to add the summary of some things IID said on why I voted no so I just wanted it on the record so
   18:31  uh if everyone has a chance to look at that and I would ask for a motion
   18:38  to amend the minutes as
   18:46  presented second motion to uh amend the minutes as presented by vice president
   18:54  Calo second by councilman Caine any discussion
   19:03  mad clerk roll call k i Marshall abin
   19:08  bise I Runner I Klein yes Divine yes
   19:15  Whitten yes cgill I McKinley yes all right the amendment amendment has been
   19:23  approved and then so now what we do is uh we can literally just ask for a motion to to approve the consent agenda
   19:32  and it would cover all three of those so I would accept a motion to approve the
   19:38  consent agenda so move second motion by councilman Bruner second by councilman
   19:45  Kane any discussion Adam clerk roll call Kane I
   19:53  Marshall I for I I Bruner I Klein yes
   20:00  Divine yes Whitten yes cgill I McKinley yes all right and moving into committee
   20:09  reports any council members have any committee reports they'd like to share councilwoman Divine um the board
   20:17  of Works met this morning uh and I was detained um but I was hoping that Mr
   20:24  grath might want to come up and give a little information about the bids that were being led through the
   20:34  agenda good evening I was on time just so so we had uh we opened bids
   20:42  today for the uh marine animal carent control kennels uh we had uh three biders uh uh that we looked at
   20:52  um we we didn't make we made no decision today I'm taking them under advisement to make sure that all the paperwork is
   20:58  corre correct uh it did look like uh the the most responsive bidder came in under
   21:05  uh our estimate which is a good thing uh so if there's some money left there's some probably some other items that we could use that for uh and then the other
   21:13  bid was for the downtown uh brick removal and replacement with asphalt we only had one bidder on that one uh that
   21:22  one was a little bit over Engineers estimate but knowing that we're going to be doing that in 2025 that probably
   21:29  didn't surprise me too much so uh that that was from Brooks uh construction so again nothing was awarded uh we'll we'll
   21:38  look the bid specs over to make sure that they've got everything in there that we requested and we'll pick that up at the next board
   21:45  works there you go thank you and chief did you wna
   21:52  mention the officers you swore in today did you want to mention the four officers you swore in
   22:01  today at the board of works
   22:12  or I'm making you guys give my committee report since I missed the meeting she didn't tell me she going to put you all on the spot no I I it's a a sound
   22:22  problem back there I no we uh we have three officers who just graduated from the academy and uh um
   22:29  uh officer Kelly Carter and uh Mitchell we swore them in today uh we have four who were at the Academy now and we'll
   22:37  have two more going as it stands right now in the session after that we swore a three in today and they're finishing up
   22:45  their fto program and they'll be hitting the streets if they do their job uh solo very soon yeah thanks for the
   22:54  opportunity thank you y councilman come uh plan commission met the 27th I was there for the whole
   23:03  thing and it approved two amendments to the Maran Consolidated Economic Development Area one removes several
   23:11  Parcels that were underperforming and that allows that Tiff money to go into the city's Tiff
   23:17  fund and the other added the river rock Lofts to the Consolidated Development Area thank
   23:25  you thank you Council M Klein any other committee reports or the haison
   23:33  reports all right thank you we're going to move into unfinished business and that' be General ordinance
   23:41  12-2020 third reading an ordinance of the common Council of the city of Marian Indiana
   23:48  amending Maran city code chapter 153 zoning ordinance and providing for the effective date thereof the resoning of
   23:56  9912 South Miller Avenue and two Parcels on West 9th Street speaking city
   24:03  engineer and city planner Mike gra good evening so this is the the the third reading so if there's anything that you
   24:11  have anything that I wasn't able to answer on the second reading or the first reading I'll be glad to help you with
   24:19  that any council members with questions all right not seeing any
   24:30  questions I would accept a motion Mr chairman I move that we pass General
   24:36  ordinance number 12 2024 I have a motion by councilman Kane
   24:45  second by councilman kleene any other discussion Madam clerk roll call Kane I
   24:54  Marshall I for I I runer I Klein yes
   24:59  Divine yes Whitten yes cgill I McKinley yes thank you mik appreciate
   25:07  it I'm sure you're probably going to hang out for the next one moving into additional appropriation ordinance 33- 224 second reading and public
   25:16  hearing an ordinance of the city of Maran Indiana appropriating from the wheel tax fund to miscellaneous
   25:25  contractual Services the amount of 57
   25:28  [Music]
   25:33  93111 speaking I guess I'll do it like crap there you go I know a little bit more
   25:40  about about it than Kaa but I'd love to have her come up if she wasn't come up so uh again this is similar to a few
   25:49  that you've done in the past uh this is some money that we actually uh were allocated for from the county back back
   25:56  last year uh but we really didn't find out that we had an issue until earlier this year um and Linda fall did a very
   26:05  nice job of locating it for us sent several emails uh till we finally got the funds uh put into our account uh but
   26:14  because it was not um budgeted uh this is this is will be an appropriation in order for us to put that in the fund so
   26:23  that we can use it for Community Crossing dollars or or some other saving money depending on how much we do for
   26:30  the community Crossing so be glad to entertain any questions I have a question um so you
   26:38  talked about the brick being replaced and that those a bid being a little over this
   26:45  money could go towards that if needed it it could if we get it under contract um because like I said it won't happen that
   26:53  will probably happen till 2025 but if I allocate the funds yes that that would definitely be something we could use it
   27:00  for great any council members with questions all right I would entertain a
   27:09  motion oh my bad we're in second reading my bad so thanks Mike appreciate it we're going to move this into public hearing so if anyone from the public
   27:19  would like to speak on this they can make their way up to the microphone at this time I know it's a thrilling topic so
   27:28  don't get too fast so all right I don't see anyone making their way to the microphone so we'll go ahead and close the public
   27:36  hearing and now i' entertain a motion Mr chairman I move that we suspend the rules on appropriation ordinance number
   27:46  33224 second a motion to suspend the rules by councilman Kane second by vice president
   27:53  Cil any discussion Adam clerk roll call Kane I Marshall I
   28:03  for I I Runner hi kleene yes Divine yes
   28:10  Whitton yes calill hi McKinley yes RS have been suspended I would entertain a
   28:17  motion Mr chairman I move that we pass appropriation ordinance number 33 2024
   28:25  second motion by councilman Kane second by Vice pres vice president kgill any other
   28:34  discussion Adam clerk roll call Kan I Marshall I for I I Runner I Klein yes
   28:44  Divine yes Whitton yes cgill I McKinley
   28:51  yes all right appropriation ordinance 33-22 24 has passed and moving in to
   28:58  General ordinance 13-22 for second reading in public hearing an ordinance amending ordinance
   29:06  number 9 2004 tree ordinance speaking city engineer and city planner Mike
   29:15  graph good evening once again uh so this is basically taking um some previous
   29:24  ordinances uh that the language was a little archaic uh it had some verbage
   29:31  in um about tree boards and quite honestly the the tree boards that
   29:38  were provided under this ordinance back in 2002 and 2004 have never been
   29:46  followed um it it required Council appointees and the mayor appointees to
   29:53  have a five person tree board um which it's kind of multi-layer to uh you know
   30:01  to try to figure out things uh I'd spoken a couple years back with uh vice
   30:09  president Cowgill uh about this and we kind of let it just ride and I think
   30:17  it's come to the point now where as we're as we continue to to go through the process of trees and the blight and
   30:24  and uh everything that that that the trees within the rideway um undertake I think it was it's kind of time to
   30:32  revisit this uh there is I you were supplied with the the couple of previous
   30:39  ordinances you were supplied with a yellow line to kind of tell you what we're removing and some verbiage that
   30:47  we're replacing to try to Define what the trees are and whose responsibilities there are um so it's there's quite a bit
   30:55  of material there um so I'm not going to believe labor other than if you've had a chance to look at it I'm sure you
   31:02  probably jotted some questions down that you could you want to ask me and I'll be glad to offer any assistance to answer
   31:11  in those and we can just go from there so see see what you what you'd like to do with
   31:18  it any council members with questions
   31:29  all right okay I appreciate it I I will say that I think what uh I know the mayor and I were talking about this from
   31:36  the very beginning of the year and I brought up we have all these dead trees in the rideway so we literally are waiting to cut down dead trees and
   31:44  rideways until this passes because we wanted to follow the rules properly because we approved the money a couple
   31:51  months ago for that and then realized oh well we don't have a tree board to approve it and so that we're just waiting to cut them down until we we
   32:00  want to follow our rules and so we're changing the rules to make it uh we have sometimes dead trees that are hazardous
   32:07  to the community the last thing we want is it to become a political issue and we have a dead tree waiting to fall and a
   32:14  tree board is holding it up or decisions being um held up so we we need the mayor we need code enforcement to be able to
   32:21  make quick decisions on taking down hazardous trees and I think this is the right step forward so okay we are going to move it to the public hearing thank
   32:29  you Mike appreciate it so if anyone would like to speak in regards to this General ordinance make your way up to
   32:38  the microphone now I don't see anybody moving towards
   32:46  the mic so I'm GNA assume there's no comment so we'll go and close the public hearing and I would entertain a
   32:56  motion like to make motion that we pass General ordinance or um suspend the rules from General ordinance 13
   33:06  2024 second I have a motion to suspend the rules by vice president calil a second
   33:13  by councilman Kane any discussion Madame clerk roll call Kane I
   33:22  Marshall I bise I Runner i Kin yes
   33:28  dine yes Wht yes cgill I McKinley yes rules have been suspended and I would
   33:37  entertain another motion uh Mr President I'd like to now uh pass General ordinance number 33 2024
   33:47  oh no we already did that one how about we pass 13224 second motion by vice president cgill
   33:56  second by councilman RoR any other
   34:02  discussion Madam clerk roll call k i Marshall I fori I Runner I Klein yes
   34:13  Divine yes Wht yes cgill I mckenley yes agenda ordinance 13 2024 is
   34:23  passed and again um thank you Mike for having all this language put together for us much appreciated and moving into
   34:30  new business I will just point out for those that are holding on to a agenda maybe hasn't seen one before part of the
   34:37  new rules is that uh any any further business requires an executive summary so this is the last time you'll see
   34:46  unfinished business without an executive summary and new finished or new business with an executive summary so you'll now notice any Appropriations requests
   34:56  ordinances um not not only will it have its legal language but a more plain languaged executive summary just for the
   35:05  general public be able to understand more what is being discussed so just wanted to give that before people were
   35:13  wondering why there's an executive summary there so moving on to additional appropriation 36 2024 2025 budget first
   35:23  reading mayor Morel is set to present the 2025 City of Maran budget to the city council outlining projected
   35:31  expenses for the upcoming year this budget reflects the administration's vision for Maran in
   35:38  2025 providing a road map for the city's strategic improvements and essential
   35:48  development go ahead mayor all right well what an honor it is to be here thank you all city council um honor and
   35:56  the priv to be able to do this I'm looking forward to be able to present uh the budget for 2025 this year um our main focus from
   36:05  the administration was the investment in people so I like to think about all the assets that we have and what we um have
   36:13  as a city and the number one asset that I think that we have as a city are our people we have amazing employees and we
   36:21  want to do everything we can to be able to invest in them so our budget for 2025 is a reflection of that vision um to invest in people so I'm not a
   36:30  person that likes to talk about the past much or dwell on the past but only about how it informs us to be prepared for the future so I did a little bit of research
   36:39  and I had my Controllers Office pull some history um for us and I'll just share briefly what it is so
   36:47  2021 um negative $384,900
   36:54  2022 93,6 13 NE uh 2023 3, 33,6
   37:05  48 um 2024 negative $2,469 120 so the budget we present to
   37:14  you today um while the last years that I read you have showed a negative in our general fund the bud that budget that we
   37:22  present I present to you today is balance and that was one of the biggest accomplishments and one of the things that we wanted to do and pull off for
   37:29  the city of M so without further Ado I won't talk too long and I'll um let's let's move for with any questions or
   37:37  discussion thank you mayor appreciate that any council members have questions I will say we did have two prior budget
   37:44  committee meetings uh probably all in total close to four hours um for those that weren't aware they are on our
   37:53  YouTube page you can go back and watch them um so we've had a lot of discussion on already on the budget with the council and the mayor and all the department heads and I appreciate the
   38:01  mayor having all the department heads available um just commend him for giving access I was able to email contact
   38:09  department heads and get all the questions answered ahead of time and even at the budget committee meeting so thank you mayor I appreciate that I know
   38:16  the other council members do as well so any other any council members have any followup questions from the previous
   38:24  meetings councilman pise good evening mayor good evening glad you're here thanks for all you do for
   38:32  our city you're doing a fantastic job and I really appreciate it and I'm sure the community does can you just give me a brief
   38:39  summary on the salary raises and how you formulated that yes I know you briefly went over it in the committee meetings
   38:46  but just for the general public and for my yes so I'm I'm a I'm a firm believer in rewarding people with a merit so what
   38:54  the city of mar has traditionally done in the past is just give a a flat race to everyone and I think that um we incentivize better performance better
   39:02  attendance better everything by giving our employees raises based off of performance so our uh each department
   39:09  here went through and uh analyzed their employees in their Department we have what's called uh with did three three months six months and that's all we'
   39:18  been here so far three and six months reports on uh how people have performed so it's not a shock or a surprise to any of our employees how raises were
   39:25  assessed because they were have been um reviewed um quarterly so that's that's the way we arrived on that okay thank
   39:33  you and on some of the items like uh on the uh the fire did we get the fire
   39:41  department settled on on their on their raise right yeah their their their contract is complete at uh five and a half% and the police department we get
   39:50  that taken care of so the police department's negotiation um is in 2026 and right now I am um considering given them AR raise in the middle of their
   39:59  contract as well okay so we don't know what that's going to be yet on police so for police with their um their current budget is 8 million1
   40:06  13,000 and and we're negotiating with those rais it won't go above that that bottom line $8 mil 13,000 okay on on
   40:14  their bud bud and and on on your uh Economic Development you have miscellaneous contractual Services
   40:23  300,000 can you break that out for me yes so so um so there's a few different things so
   40:31  the the reason why I left another miscellaneous contractual service because there often some surprises as we know that happened this year um and
   40:39  we've had some three to four hour counsel meetings regarding those things and I would try to do our best to avoid that unless you guys want to keep doing it um but uh this is gives me uh I guess
   40:49  I could have renamed it as um unexpected projects or future projects funds so everything from uh from marketing to um
   40:58  extra helping developments to um being able to assist in um some art development going on our downtown this
   41:06  gives me the latitude to be able to do some things um without having to come back to the council for the the month process to have access to those
   41:14  funds okay thank you very much for that explanation and um I know we kind of briefly went over a few other things that we we did get rid of the lobbyist
   41:23  correct yes out that's out of the budget yeah there's no lobbyist lobbyist anymore
   41:30  okay uh I think that's all the questions I have mayor I appreciate it very much thank you thank you councilman Force any other
   41:37  council members with questions
   41:48  okay all right I would entertain a motion Mr chairman I move that we pass appropriate
   41:57  ation 36-220 to a second reading and public
   42:05  hearing motion by councilman Kane second by councilman kleene any other
   42:12  discussion Madame clerk rall Kane I Marshall I for I I Runner I
   42:22  kleene yes Devine yes Whitten yes I McKinley
   42:31  yes additional appropriation 36224 2025 budget will go to a second reading public hearing at the next
   42:39  regular council meeting and moving on to additional appropriation
   42:46  34-22 first hearing an ordinance of the city of Maran appropriating
   42:53  $300,000 from the edit fund to the center Township ship trustee upon acquisition of the Estates of Serenity
   43:02  Cemetery the cemetery is an extremely blighted property with historical significance in the city limits this
   43:11  request is to help the trustees office reach their goal of creating a large fund to help with maintenance and upkeep
   43:19  of the cemetery if they are able to acquire the cemetery the money will not be transferred until proof of
   43:26  acquisition speaking city Administration actually I think uh Deb
   43:33  are you the so um Senator Township Trustee Deb Kane is actually going to speak I will say um this is pigging back
   43:43  off of the previous one we had where we tabled and um had the language Rewritten and we had to
   43:51  repost um per the dgf because we pretty much changed everything the fund wording and all of that that so
   43:59  um truste K go ahead so I'm not going to speak long but I want to again urge you to pass this
   44:07  ordinance on to Second reading public hearing this is not for me as the trustee Center township but for the many who came before you last month in the
   44:16  previous public hearing for those headstones that are left uncared for knocked off the
   44:23  foundation damaged or headstones that are set on top of another headstone to make it
   44:30  easier to mow and not replaced upon the deceased grave as you see in the P pictures portrayed they should never be
   44:37  moved ever Gary even though I already confirmed the city could appropriate
   44:45  money from the general fund to the township you argued in the last meeting that your resource stated that the city
   44:52  could not do so so again like I confirmed the cemetery boundaries need I
   44:59  need need to correct that information as I made a personal call to the director of audit services at State
   45:07  Board of accounts the expert who confirmed that it was accepted appropriation the mayor has now requested the funds to become to come
   45:15  out of the edit fund which is still appropriate in the eight years as a councilman I believe I showed my work
   45:23  ethics as one to make sure that every eye was dotted T was crossed that was why I voted no to the most recent
   45:30  shutdown business metal source as I did extensive research and realized that they would not be a good fit for the city of Maran and they proved that the
   45:38  company was not I was the only council member at president at the meeting that voted no but I held to my grounds and
   45:45  beliefs begging other members to vote no I've not walked into this situation without doing the same extensive
   45:53  research and obtaining the appropriate professional expertise and advice I want to update the councel that
   46:01  I've received two letters from the Attorney General's office Todd red stating that it appears that my office is in a better position to assist and
   46:10  investigate further two complaints received by their office updating their office of my results I have submitted a
   46:17  reply with a full investigation including pictures of my written response I also just recently had a
   46:24  conversation with preservation specialist list of DNR his written response to me after speaking with other staff members and his supervisors
   46:33  advised further legal action should be taken which is the same statement from both real estate litigation Section
   46:41  Chief and litigate legislative director from the Attorney General's office in my video conference with them I cannot
   46:50  pursue these routes without knowing that there will be funding to clean up and maintain the cemetery I stated in meetings before this is like
   46:59  buying a home the finances need to be there before I sign any loan agreement please help assist this funding to
   47:08  pursue and correct the situation that is affecting the families of the 40,000 plus buried on these sacred
   47:17  grounds I could go on and on about all the conversations and research that I've had since we've recently met but I will
   47:25  not and I just ru request that you vote Yes and also vote Yes on the 17th of September at the public hearing I'll
   47:33  take any questions you may have thank you count truste k
   47:43  c um real quick uh just for anyone watching I know some people are watching um and those in the audience because we
   47:51  did change this and we added a section to it I just want to read it real quick because people at home don't see it um because this was added to it and I part
   48:00  of our amendments that we had proposed to give it more teeth and so I'm just going to read it real quick be it further ordained by the common Council
   48:07  of the city of Marin Indiana Grant County that the funds appropriated in section one which is the 300,000 shall be held with the city and released to
   48:16  the center Township Trustee only to be used for the cost of the Estates of Serenity Cemetery the balance of the fund shall be transferred to the center
   48:25  Township Trustee of upon proof of acquisition of the Estates of Serenity Cemetery the status of the fund shall re
   48:32  be reviewed in four months or end of 2024 calendar year if the trustee has not acquired the Estates of Serenity
   48:40  Cemetery if the trustee does not acquire the Estates of Serenity Cemetery in that time then the fund shall revert to the
   48:48  edit fund so that was added to it and of course if it doesn't happen by the end of the year it doesn't stop the the
   48:55  mayor from coming back back and asking again but it it's just basically saying this isn't an indefinite hold on funds
   49:04  um and allows the city to gain or P pull those funds back if it doesn't happen by the end of the year so and then truste
   49:11  can't was there any other updates from the county or anything yes I was at the commissioner's meeting today I'm not going to pull a pun on
   49:20  that um so they they did announce that they have um put my request they will
   49:29  put my request before the County Council for approval of the 300,000
   49:36  upon um my report that I'm moving continuing to move forward with the
   49:44  acquisition of the cemetery so hopefully in October and November I will know the positive and directive on that one all
   49:53  right thank you for that okay any council members with questions Council Force yeah on this can
   50:00  you your mic thank you on this appropriation it says that it's only to be used for the costs of the Estates of
   50:09  seren cemetery is that for purchasing it well for the cost of the states of
   50:19  Serenity the balance of the fund shall not be transferred upon uh shall be
   50:25  transferred upon proof of acquisition so I don't know what that is she would
   50:32  have to comment on that You' have to ask her that Gary I gave you the full um presentation earlier in which the cost
   50:42  would cover the care of the cemetery which would be the removal trash the
   50:50  extensive trash that's on the grounds the initial M taking care of the debt trees and and brush and also the um
   51:01  cleaning of the headstones along with um if I need some of that funding to help with accounting funding to rehabilitate
   51:09  the office and the other buildings that are falling down maans okay thanks for that Clarity so you're not going to use
   51:17  any of this money for the purchase of it just for the maintenance and upkeep of it well there will be some litig cost
   51:27  which is a cost which will not be um and here which will not be taken until after
   51:35  this money so we're g to the the 300,000 is to pay for litigation for an attorney
   51:42  for the center Township Trustee to purchase this or I don't know how much I'll need of that there's the litigation
   51:49  is not is just in its beginning and um that was part of part
   51:56  of the discussion with the County Council and with the city council both so you do have an attorney that's in the midst of litigation with his attorney
   52:05  yes or with the state with his attorney and the state so your two attorneys are going who's your attorney on
   52:13  this uh Ed Ed um mer yes thank you Ed
   52:20  Merchant okay and do you guys have a contract a tentative offer to buy it or purchase it or
   52:27  I'm not I'm not going to go in in the public I'm in the public I'm not going to answer those questions we're in litigation I I would
   52:36  be more than happy to answer those questions in private but I'm not going to put myself in in public with those answers while I'm
   52:45  since I'm in the middle of litigations thank you so we don't know exactly what this is going to go for I mean I I'm
   52:53  just asking if you've got an attorney through the center Township Trustee why should we pay for litigation out of
   53:01  it you just said that we're going to part of the cost of this 300,000 for litigation well I have I have legal fees
   53:09  in my budget but if I can if I need to add to that budget I I will need to be able to take some of this funding but that was discussed in the previous
   53:18  meetings okay and I'm not disagreeing with you the cemetery needs help it does it needs a lot of help and the owner
   53:25  knows that have you spoken with the owner multiple times sir you have you sat down and spoken multiple times I me
   53:34  yes there is no owner right now and he he is not an own he doesn't own the cemetery the Maring Cemetary corporation
   53:43  which is currently dissolved and I've not heard back from the Secretary State I inquired to see if they have resolve
   53:51  that I've not heard back so there he does not own it he is just um mowing okay well he's the owner of
   54:00  the corporation no he's not he's the president of the corporation and there's a secretary which controls the
   54:08  cemetery the corporation controls the cemetery right and he's the president of the corporation and there's the Secretary of Corporation there is no
   54:15  secretary anymore Craig Pinger is the secretary Craig resigned that is not been notified to me that is on the pap
   54:23  hold on one I'm just trying to we could go of rabbit holes that
   54:30  is should get into the legal aspect of paying for attorneys the cemetery may not may come out of there
   54:38  and multiple times this goic the cemetery it's for the care of the cemetery I'm talking I'm talking to Deb
   54:47  right now Brian well we're just we're we're a council we're all having a discussion about it so I think it's appropriate that we all have a
   54:54  discussion since this is now fourth hearing on this so we've had plenty of opportunities well let me finish we've
   55:02  had plenty oh no I'm talking right now Flor I have the floor I have the floor right now you interrup this is a
   55:10  discussion right now this is our fourth hearing we're not going into million rabbit holes you
   55:19  are the taxpayers and citizens of mar Indiana sure you're absolutely right you can ask questions yes order is I've got
   55:27  the floor sure and as president I was speaking as well you can do that you're right I can so go ahead and finish your
   55:35  point of order finish your questioning on our fourth hearing on this go ahead finish as you
   55:44  are so anyhow I'm just curious if you had contacted him and made him an offer because I had heard multiple times sir
   55:52  what so what was the offer because he's not of it he declined it I talked to him I'm in litigation I'm not going to give
   55:59  you that in public I talked to him today and he says there's no offer on the table I'm just asking what which way we're going on this whether you're going
   56:08  to try to take it through the state and it's going to be a legal battle you're trying to purchase it I'm not going to answer those because I'm in litigation
   56:16  with my lawyer and I can once he approves that I can give that information I will give that to you because he is valid with his LLC with
   56:25  the state I have not heard that confirmation and I I inquired of that well I've got a copy
   56:32  of the certificate for the LLC that is up to date and he's current so I'm just saying this says
   56:40  that he is the president of the LLC for the cemetery and it's by Diego Morales
   56:48  Secretary of State thank you I'm going to add to this so I just want to add real quick this ordinance is written hold on one second
   56:57  this ordinance is written so that money is not transferred until there's proof of acquisition what happens between now and that acquisition through this legal
   57:06  process is the trustees office and how they handled it if you're not for it vote against it if you're for it vote
   57:13  for it but we are not here as a council to interject in between litigation between the trustees office in the
   57:21  corporation that is not our role our role is to approve funding based on on proof of acquisition we will not
   57:28  transfer this money until proof has been shown that she as the trusty has acquired this Cemetery that's it this is
   57:37  this is why I added this wording to it so it gave us as a city more teeth to protect ourselves so if it doesn't go
   57:45  through whatever happens if the ligation fails great money reverts back at the end of the year and they got to come back and give another update ask for
   57:53  another funding for this is exactly why I of this councilman force is for your points to say hey if this doesn't go
   58:01  through if it gets all nasty and disgusting whatever okay the end of the year it falls off and you got to come back and give us an update and ask for it again
   58:10  so I I just don't want us to keep getting in between the legal stuff that that's not our role as a
   58:18  council well you're contacting the cemetery and getting yeah purpose of this whole thing is to find out what's going on with the
   58:27  cemetery the purpose of this is to proove funding or not based on acquisition ongoing business and we're trying to buy it out or we're trying to
   58:35  take it over on a hostile takeover through the state we aren't trying to do anything as a council the trustees offices fund it then we're going to be a
   58:43  part of it we're GNA fund money if it's acquired I'm not sure I mean I mean it's written right here proof of acquisition
   58:52  we as a council in the city are not hold on we're not acquiring anything we're not part of this legal
   58:59  process that's it why if you're not if you're not for it then vote against it point of order president I have got the right to ask
   59:08  these questions on the appropriation for the amount of money and and the right for the taxpayers to know what we're going to do with their money and if
   59:16  we're going to buy it and if the city's going to be involved in buying it because I don't think the taxpayers of the city of Maran want to purchase the
   59:24  cemetery will be involved in purchasing the cemetery and have an ongoing maintenance on it that's my purpose of
   59:31  the questions and inquiring about it and I think the best way to do it is to talk to the owner and talk to Deb and see
   59:39  what's going on I understand her position I did not say that the cemetery did not need help and work and service I
   59:47  understand that may I ask you a question families need respect on their death burial gravestones and their their burial cemeteries Lots I understand that
   59:56  Gary may I ask you a question now I'm getting interrupted all the way around and I have you come to me
 1:00:04  and ask me any questions I was asking you the question did you come to me personally and ask me any questions like you did all these other people have you
 1:00:12  come to me personally all all what other people you've came up and proposed something for the cemetery I'm just checking on the
 1:00:19  owner and get his part of VI and his side of story to see what's going on and then I to see if we
 1:00:27  okay hold on one second trusty K hold on me count hold on one second trusty hold on one councilman for I if you have any
 1:00:36  remaining questions you have the floor and go ahead and finish your questions well thank you I appreciate
 1:00:44  that so anyhow um that was my point whether we were made an offer we're trying to buy it we're going through the
 1:00:52  state you're trying to take it over as a hostile takeover through a lawsuit through the state or how how are we
 1:01:00  going to acquire all the above may be a possibility but the 300,000 as as in the presentation that I gave to you last
 1:01:08  month 200,000 is blight elimination removal falling down buildings semi-trailer remove dead trees large
 1:01:15  weeds Bush trash fence removal remodel Cemetery office building $100,000 headstone cleaning wet and
 1:01:23  forget 3797 at at half a gallon is 375
 1:01:30  to 1,125 square feet bios Shield $99 at
 1:01:37  27.5 gallons it's 3,390 to 9,41 square
 1:01:51  ft okay so still you're going through a legal process with him which he's unaware of his attorney that's a
 1:01:58  Township's legal process thank you okay well I'm just saying I was just inquiring that what what which direction we were going on this that's my process
 1:02:08  and I'm not going to speak on that in public when I'm in litigations with the lawyer I do not appreciate that laugh
 1:02:17  well I I you know I have to because it's a city's money and the taxpayers money and I think they've got the right to know what which way we're going if it's
 1:02:26  going to be an extended litigation you you just said that we're going to have legal cost I don't have time to do extended litigation I have to have this
 1:02:34  done by December well I that's why I was asking I mean you could eat up $300,000
 1:02:41  in litigation real quick so I I didn't know if you had an offer on the table to him or you were
 1:02:49  taking it a death answered that I'm sorry Mr President I'm not I cannot continue
 1:02:58  to try and answer questions I can't answer because I'm in litigation with the lawyer right now that's all the
 1:03:05  questions I have on there any other council members with questions vice president calill not so much a question
 1:03:12  just try to clarify things the city is not buying this the city is not doing anything other than
 1:03:21  giving money to the Center township trustees office so that they can hand that's all there's nothing else legal
 1:03:28  the city I mean we've talked about these things and discussed these things over and over I don't know why everybody else
 1:03:36  understands it but anyway and the litigation part it may not be hardly anything um there's been two offers to
 1:03:45  him he rejected both offers um he his counter offer is ridiculous it's not even where close to where he should be
 1:03:54  getting it so that's why we're in that process um everything that she's doing is
 1:04:00  completely legal up to date I mean some of these questions are just repetitive questions over and over that we keep
 1:04:07  answering it originally you know it was because it's guarantee you it's not the city limits well we showed yes it is the city limits then it was well you can't
 1:04:16  take it from a privately owned places yes you can take it from priv I mean question after question of why you've been against it has been answered over
 1:04:24  and over and I and I agree with you either votee no or vote Yes but it's ridiculous well I would hope that you
 1:04:33  and and councilman Kane would abstain on this since you're involved in it and you and you personally work for the Township
 1:04:42  Trustee I think ethically why does that have to do anything well I would just think
 1:04:48  ethically since you work for her okay all right all right no now we're now it's too much this is too much
 1:04:57  we're either going to vote for this or we're not this is our fourth hearing we added teeth to this
 1:05:05  ordinance started all over again to protect the city this is pretty cut and dry and I'm
 1:05:14  going to go out and say if we would pull every single person in this city find me one person other than the owner of the
 1:05:21  cemetery that would say this is a horrible idea uh I there's hardly anybody that would be
 1:05:30  probably against this we saw all these people speak everybody I've ran into public this is my opinion I'm just
 1:05:38  saying that pull your pull your constituents find out but this is now our fourth hearing and and
 1:05:46  essentially I mean this might have already been done if we hadn't added some teeth to this corrected where the
 1:05:53  money was going and protected the city if nothing gets done with us by the end of the year it all hits a reset button
 1:06:01  it's that plain and simple so you know we're not getting involved in litigation we're not going to rehash that this is
 1:06:10  not our process we are just simply stating as a city as council members and as a
 1:06:17  mayor do we or do we not support turning this one of the most blighted properties in the city around
 1:06:26  we talk about blight all year and all of us have approved millions of dollars in blight removal but this is one of the
 1:06:34  most disrespectful pieces of blight the city actually takes over private property and tears down houses and puts
 1:06:41  a lean against it not much different in my eyes if somebody isn't maintaining their
 1:06:49  house and it's falling apart we go through a legal process we're going through right now and we tear that house
 1:06:57  down well how's this any different this is the nastiest quote house in the city this is a house to
 1:07:06  38,000 dead citizens in this city and this house has been burning down for way too long I have zero relatives there but
 1:07:15  I get angry about it because I can only imagine how I'd feel when I drive I drove by there today and just couldn't I mean I just
 1:07:23  got angry this is a blighted property we are simply as a council and as a city saying we support restoring this
 1:07:31  blighted property if the trustees office is able to acquire it that's it that's the bottom line any other council
 1:07:39  members with questions Mr President I would like to
 1:07:48  move this Mr President I would like to move this item on to a second reading of
 1:07:57  public here got a motion on the floor by
 1:08:06  councilman Bruner to pass this to a second reading public area second I have a second by
 1:08:15  councilwoman Divine any other discussion Madame clerk roll call K hi
 1:08:25  Marshall I bise no runer hi Klein no Divine yes
 1:08:34  Wht yes cgill I McKinley yes appropr additional appropriation 34 2024 we'll
 1:08:43  move to a second reading public hearing at the next council meeting moving on to additional appropriation 35 2024 first
 1:08:52  reading an ordinance of the city of May Maran appropriating the amount of $35,000 from the edit fund to the parks
 1:09:01  department for the city of Maran Parks game time grant for matter park playground equipment there is a need for
 1:09:09  new playground equipment for the two to five year olds playground down the hill from shelter 2 at matter Park the
 1:09:17  current one will not pass inspection and is over 30 years old this request is to meet the matching funds requirement for
 1:09:26  the game time Grant speaking city Administration
 1:09:32  welcome good evening so we come before you asking for um I'm sorry I thought I
 1:09:39  pushed it um so $35,000 to match some funds that the parks um has put away um
 1:09:46  over at Community Foundation we have $40,000 of the $75,000 that it requires for 100%
 1:09:54  matching Grant um this will be the third time that we have applied um for this grant since
 1:10:01  2017 um when blinda husong was our Park director then and we got $20,000 Grant from them then I applied for it in
 1:10:10  2020 and we were able to get $100,000 worth of new playground equipment um and then we have applied for it again I
 1:10:18  supplied all of you the packet and the first page is the approval letter where we've been approved for the grant um so
 1:10:27  we would um have $75,000 of City money um and they would match the
 1:10:35  $75,000 I've also included pictures of the playground as it sets right now on the playground structor there as you can
 1:10:41  see caution tape and things around it um it's over 30 years old and we're unable to get repair parts um for um this
 1:10:52  playground and then we've attached some pict pictures um renderings um of what a new possible playground um could
 1:11:01  possibly look like um with the funds from the
 1:11:14  Grant and then Jeff has some figures he'd like to share with you welcome Dr Reyes thank you for having me good
 1:11:23  evening everybody would I'd like so you have a grants paper number that looks similar to this with some numbers on it
 1:11:31  just ran some basic numbers for everybody to see kind of where we will be at with the money requested so we'll
 1:11:41  start with the the second line if you see Parks already has $40,000 set aside in their Community
 1:11:48  Foundation account that they plan on putting towards this if we use just the the $40,000 that they
 1:11:57  have uh Sinclair will match us up to 72,000 so we would receive
 1:12:03  $72,000 for this potential playground uh that's a that's a 60%
 1:12:10  match that they do with cash that we have up front now if we if we get an additional we're asking for
 1:12:18  $35,000 because they will match up 200% of $75,000 so if we get the
 1:12:28  $35,000 we'll get the 150,000 that we'll be able to put towards this these new two to five year old playgrounds if we
 1:12:36  don't get the money appropriated of 35,000 we'll potentially lose what's in red there
 1:12:43  $78,000 worth of playground equipment from them based on the match so it's a 40%
 1:12:50  increase with a 35,000 so just questioned
 1:12:59  150,000 is that it's covering all of this curve yes I mean that's just a rendering they put together for up to
 1:13:08  the $150,000 of kind of pieces that could go in there we have the opportunity to pick our pieces so um I wouldn't say the
 1:13:17  rendering would be exactly that but so can you break down like how much of it's equipment versus like excavation and
 1:13:25  it's all structur okay yeah we would have to play pay for the um the mulch that would go down
 1:13:34  afterwards um separately okay and and knowing kind of time frames of
 1:13:43  this The Mulch was planned to be put down next year after all the structures were in and the snow was gone so it'd be
 1:13:50  a fresh playground uh fresh playground mulch next year as we go into uh Peak
 1:13:58  seasons and then according to the grant itself um we have to place our orders by
 1:14:04  October 25th for the matching funds um so we we would be requesting those funds
 1:14:12  by then great thank you so much any council
 1:14:23  members with questions is that mulch in the budget for next
 1:14:28  year um not really built in but I mean we'll make
 1:14:37  do and this is the playground that's next to the shelter next to the at the bottom of the hill of shelter 2 next to
 1:14:44  the T maybe it's not really Associated to this grant but as far as mulch goes do
 1:14:51  we use just like bark mulch or like rubber mulch it has to be um a certain kind of mulge to make it ADA Compliant
 1:14:59  with playground structure so it's more expensive than regular mulge um so I'm not really sure what the cost would do for
 1:15:06  that okay any other council
 1:15:14  members thank you so much thank you I would entertain a
 1:15:20  motion Mr chairman I move that we pass appropriation ordinance number
 1:15:27  35 2024 to a second reading and public hearing motion by councilman Kane the
 1:15:36  second by councilman kleene any other discussion Madame clerk
 1:15:45  rall Kane hi Marshall hi Force I Runner
 1:15:52  I Klein yes Devon yes Wht yes cill I McKinley yes
 1:16:02  additional appropriation 35 2024 will go to a second reading public hearing and moving into the new category
 1:16:09  announcements do any council members have any announcements for the community or the mayor would you like to share any
 1:16:16  announcements and could you actually the next city cleanup do you remember that you have that date October 5th October
 1:16:24  5th is is the next city cleanup so everyone just keep an eye on for that okay I would entertain a motion for
 1:16:32  adjourn motion by councilman Kane second by vice president cgill any discussion Madam clerk roll call Kane hi
 1:16:41  Marshall hi FL Runner hi Klein Divine
 1:16:48  yes whon yes calill hi mckenley yes meeting's adjourned thank you
 1:17:04  Sur