OurWeek The Grant County Record in Grant County · Regular meeting · 2024-10-01 · full transcript https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gJUslv-siU Exported Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:38:24 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 0:18 all right we're going to go ahead and call the meeting to order Mary and common Council regular council meeting 0:24 today is October 1st 2024 700 p.m. in the council chambers at Maran City Hall and we're going to begin by inviting 0:33 Reverend Benny Powell from the uh greater Second Baptist Church to come to the microphone and open with prayer 0:40 thank you so much for coming tonight let us bow our heads de father 0:51 first of all we say thank you Lord thank you for this time that we're here but we ask that you open our minds and open our hearts to be receptive to what's going 0:59 to be said today Lord Lord let let us come with understanding and with determination to do the right thing dearly father Lord we ask for guidance 1:07 and all that will be said here today Lord touch these leaders as they go forth to do your will Lord endow them with knowledge from on high Lord and let 1:14 them know that you you're you're God and God all by yourself and like you there is no other Lord and when this is all over said and done Lord we can go in 1:22 peace with an understanding all these things we ask in Jesus name let all 1:27 God's people say amen amen much re 1:37 and States 1:47 indivisible andice for all right gooll 1:58 call here 2:10 herey here okay we're gonna move into tonight's Community Spotlight It's the 2:16 Grant County Sheriff's Girls Camp it was be Erica that was GNA make it but instead she has somebody else here 2:24 tonight to talk about that and you could just introduce yourself and and feel free I don't know 2:32 Council you want to say anything and then go ahead I'm 2:41 um this year the sheriff's department uh probably hosted its inaugural year at the girls camp and the camp was aimed to 2:49 empower young girls by providing insights into law enforcement while fostering personal growth and resilience 2:55 and overcoming certain barriers about this and my daughter was actually one of the ly participants this year and 3:04 so it's something to my heart and was excited to have come and share C and what they were 3:11 able to Dos year forward so my name is Venna lindall and 3:19 I was one of the organizers of the camp um Erica actually came to me and asked if I would help her and at first I 3:27 thought it was a crazy idea we've never done anything like that with the sheriff's department um but as she explained what she wanted to do and kind 3:35 of like the direction she wanted to go with girls especially uh I felt like it was something that we needed to do we 3:42 chose an age range of pre-teen girls 10 to 14 um and originally we we weren't 3:50 sure how many people we were going to be able to take we opened application process up made it public on Facebook asked for 3:58 applications within the the first day we had over a hundred applicants we were only able to take 4:05 20 um we spent four days showing them kind 4:11 of what we do like in law enforcement as women in law enforcement um I feel like 4:18 we play a vital role we uh we can offer a different insight to some of the different goals and things that you know 4:25 we go through um we did a lot of things with them like like we gave them firearm 4:32 safety every girl got CPR certified they all learned um CPR and first aid there 4:40 you go couldn't think um we also taught them some important life skills like they all know how to change a tire now 4:47 they can all um jump start a car not that you know at 10-year-old necessarily need to do that but they know how um we 4:56 focused a lot on teaching them just how to empower one another um the response that we had with these girls like their 5:04 reaction to the things that we did you I think you tend to see a lot with like younger girls they they tend 5:12 to gang up with one another and maybe like Bully each other in a way we never had any of that by the end of the week 5:21 we were watching them like just root each other on We did an obstacle course at the end where we kind of put 5:28 everything that we had taught them throughout the week um together and so they would go through one by one or like 5:36 against another person and instead of like racing each other and just trying to you know go one another they were standing on the sides cheering for each 5:44 other and it was just a a remarkable Journey with these children we were really proud that we got to have this experience with them um we're 5:53 hoping to continue to maybe expand next year we're hoping for more you know spots more more sponsors 6:01 we had a lot of people from the community that they were really like willing to help us and to kind of come forward and step up a lot of sponsors um 6:10 the sheriff obviously he was a little skeptical at first having come from Mary and police department and doing the uh the Youth Academy he questioned our 6:19 reason why we wanted to do just girls um he thought maybe we were being a little unfair but in the end it it 6:27 turned out great so that's all I have sorry that great thank you so much where 6:35 okay um quick what was your name thenna 6:41 lindall b n n a l i n d b a l 6:49 l and now are you with the sheriff department yes I've been with the sheriff's department for almost 12 years where in the sheriff's department do you 6:57 work um detention make no that's fine also we always get a 7:06 photo 7:17 whoever official photo taker Mr Marty Harper 7:58 go all right ready 8:10 one get it yeah we appreciate you coming tonight 8:18 you are free to leave always welcome to hang out and then we're going to move in 8:24 tonight's City employee Spotlight and I'm super excited for this one 8:31 um it was recomended she was recommended and I was more than happy to 8:38 accept and so tonight's City Spotlight is our very own first Deputy clerk Aisha 8:45 Richard and I want to share a few words that come on 8:51 [Applause] 8:56 here words de Goodman had recomended her and 9:03 reached out to me and she said Aisha has worked for the city of mar for many years but I started working closely with 9:10 her when she worked in the city's legal department as an assistant to the den City attorney Tom Hunt her hard work and attention to details what made me decide 9:19 to ask her to be my first Deputy when I was elected clerk she's always willing to do whatever I ask of her has been a great asset to my office these past n 9:27 months don't know without her and I definitely can concur with that um you know since getting elected on the city 9:36 council and being city council president we have to work together all the time almost every single day and uh she's 9:43 always so easy to work with and she puts up with all my midnight emails and and 9:51 all my requests and you know we've kind of both I guess learned our positions uh together this year being new in our our 9:59 and uh seriously you know she is a big part of what runs the city council me our city council we all parttime and we 10:08 rely on the clerk's office to really put this agenda together and take in information take phone calls collect our 10:17 mail and and they they all do a great job but Aisha especially I just can't think her enough 10:25 so I really appreciate her appreciate you very much the rest of the counc you as well um she's a big part of the daily 10:32 operations also for city court so the clerk's office doesn't just handle Council but anything City Court related 10:41 the cler's office handles and I knowa play a huge part of that does a fantastic job and really takes pride in 10:49 her work so thank you so much Aisha did you want to say anything just 11:02 [Applause] 11:14 there 11:25 we one two 11:33 [Applause] 11:41 of course normally I say whoever Spotlight free to leave but 11:50 I all love doing those spotlights and we're going to go and move into our consent agenda for the approval of 11:58 minutes consideration of pre claims consideration of claims anyone had particular goad discussion about it 12:19 now motion by vice president cill to approve agenda second by counil any 12:26 discussion Adam cler r i Marshall I hi 12:37 iine hi wh hi hickley 12:45 yes has passed and then we're move committee reports have reports 12:52 today oh yes councilman Whit yeah we had a uh good enforcement 12:59 meeting on Tuesday the 24th of September at 5:00 everybody from the enforcement 13:05 committee was present and weed the parking and aband 13:14 code Jerry F he is having the code updated to include commercial commercial 13:24 businesses and U before we bring that to the full counil going go 13:33 back issues all right thank you so much 13:45 appreciate that any other committee reports no nothing today 13:56 Council okay with no other committee reports we're going to go ahead and move into unfinished business beginning with 14:05 additional appropriation 36224 202 budg third reading mayor Morel is set to present 14:14 the2 city of mar Bud to city council the 14:22 up budget reflects the administration vision for Maran in 2025 14:29 road for the city imprs andal devel well thank you we made it to the 14:38 third reading and I'm uh so excited to be here to wrap this up appreciate um all of our team for working so hard on this appreciate each and every one of 14:45 you for submitting questions and um your email in person and all of our department heads and team until work 14:53 very hard on this and come to what I believe a very solid budget so um this time I've ever done a thir reading on 15:00 anything so I any questions I'll be happy to 15:08 answer thank you mayor any Council MERS questions follow 15:32 I have a motion by councilman to Second by vice president any other discussion mad cler 15:41 call I Marshall 15:53 yes yes congrats mayor and your first official question 15:57 [Applause] 16:04 process was very very and I appreciate the mayor being very open having discussions answering lots and lots of 16:11 questions and emails and so Kudos mayor first budget here it's easier I'm right all 16:20 right moving on to General ordinance 1424 Sal second reading public 16:29 ordinance fixing the maximum salaries for firefighters in the city of mar Indiana for the year 16:36 2025 mayor Morel will present the salary ordinance for the firefighters 2025 FIS year this ordinance is a critical 16:45 component of overall budg enabling the controll office to of wages the bud 16:53 speaking mayor Mor um so the next uh is are inary documents to the budget to 17:01 be able to allow us to be able to pay all the employees um these are all a second second reading and I I think I 17:08 spoke to all you but I had a request to be able to first time requesting this request to be able to consider 17:16 pass second so can up the entire all right thank you mayor before 17:26 I go to the public hearing members have questions in the okay we're going to go and open to 17:36 public hearing so if you have any statements make your way to the 17:46 microphone I'm not see anybody so I'm going to go ahead and assume nobody wants to speak on this and we'll close the public 17:55 hearing and at this point now I will say um I know I spoke with councilman fores 18:03 earlier about I did not get coun for just you know I did not get the response back yet from the dgf I just wanted to 18:11 make sure with legal that we are okay this is okay to rules and pass on a 18:20 seconding salaries just wanted to see some from 18:27 attorneys got it okay um so then I would entertain a motion if no one has any other 18:35 questions Mr President I move that we suspend the rules on General ordinance number 14 18:47 2024 I have a motion to the rules by Council I heard a second 18:53 by any other discussion i' like to ask ack question 19:01 mayor what's the latest on the downtown fire station 19:08 and time date on that U so we had a meeting on that today we are getting our um documents finalized to prepare for 19:17 design phase so hopefully we'll have something visual to everyone before the years out allow us to be a start the 19:24 plan and know what was how much cost I say give us the next three months or so to get all those 19:32 things thank you madam clerk roll call this is for 19:39 suspending the rules I Marshall I 19:47 no iine yes 19:54 yes yes rules have been suspended another motion Mr President I move that 20:01 we pass General ordinance number 14 2024 second motion by councilman Kane second 20:09 by Council any other discussion cler 20:16 Ro Marshall iine 20:23 yes yesy yes General ordinance 20:31 14224 has passed and moving into General ordinance 15-24 a lease salary ordinance second 20:39 reading in public an ordinance fixing the maximum salaries for police officers of the city 20:45 of Mary Indiana for the year 2025 mayor Morel will present the salary ordinance for the police officers 2025 20:55 fiscal year this ordinance is a critical of the overall budget enabling the contr office to ex pay of wages approved 21:04 within the bud speaking mayor um similar to the the first one I would ask the same consideration just 21:12 allow to play our thank you 21:18 mayor council members questions I would entertain a 21:26 motion I after the second reading public hearing so we will go ahead and open the 21:33 microphone up if anyone would like to 21:41 say Moon 703 strect I don't believe that people really have an honest view of 21:50 police uh what would we do without the police department somebody could come in and clean out your bank account 21:59 you're 401k and you wouldn't have anyone to defend you and help you to get that back 22:07 somebody could come along and break all the windows in your automobile and you wouldn't have anybody to call in order to take care of that and have them taken 22:16 care of you'd have to do it all yourself anything that we do in life I mean even 22:24 our traffic controls it would be like Walmart on Interstate 22:30 69 and you know what that would be like uh please have a high rate of 22:38 injury and death I had a friend when I was going to a church in uh in 22:47 Shelbyville his name was Gary Henderson Gary was just a boy when I was there and he grew up he went in the 22:55 police department spent 20 and a half years wanted to had every 23:02 um job in the in the police department except for chief he was out one day and he decided 23:10 he was going to go to a g and tell his wife he loved him and the kids was there and he wanted to give him a hug and he 23:17 did that and before he had his time up he got a notice that they were chasing an individual and they're trying to 23:25 apprehend him so Gary took off and went out and and by chance he was able to pull him 23:32 over and uh apprehend him and while he was taking care of that individual a semi came 23:39 by and a tandem wheel on the back of a trailer which had not been greased in literally years maybe even decades 23:48 disintegrated the bearings the wheels came off came along and hit Gary in the back 23:55 he never knew what hit him there were no more I love you there was no more going to ball games there was no more doing 24:03 anything with the children all the Christmas presence were going from that and that I was holding my sign one time 24:13 when at cice for C to around uh 18 in front of the uh restaurant and uh police officer came 24:22 along and said you know we're going to have to get you a bulletproof vest and I said saying we don't s we don't have to worry about that I said I don't think 24:30 anything's going to happen to me if it does that's where the old ball bounces I'm going to die sometime anyhow and I said son would you thank you sir I'm so 24:39 sorry three minutes is up three minutes are up yeah that was fast as three minutes I found you would you let me 24:47 just make this statement I'll give you all right I said would you uh take a bullet 24:55 for me and he said yes and I'll take one for you and if IID ask every single one of these police officers if they would 25:02 take a a bullet for each one of you they would say yes I would like for you to take a 25:10 bullet for them not a lead bullet but political bullet all right and support them as 25:17 much as you can and pay we had two officers leave because they got $330,000 a year raise from somebody else 25:26 app think of it thank you so much appreciate support for our police and I concur with your statements 25:36 and happy to support the police any way we can anybody else for public 25:46 hear not seeing anyone else make their way to the mic we're going to go ahead and close the public 25:52 hearing and there no questions for mayor I would entertain a motion 26:04 R I have a motion by vice president to suspend the rules set by councilman K any 26:12 discussion Madam cler for I Marshall I 26:19 no iine yes wh 26:26 yes yes 26:40 motion by vice president cill to pass by 26:59 yes yes yes I would probably venture to say 27:07 this might have been the largest raise for the police department in recent modern history or maybe ever 27:15 at one time so happy to be part of that decision and we're going to move into general or 16- 27:24 2024 appointed officials and employees salary or meeting and public hearing an ordinance fixing the maximum 27:32 salary of appointed officers and employees and annual payment of flex dollar250 to non-contractual full-time 27:41 employees of the city of maring Indiana for the year of 2025 mayor Morel will present the salary 27:49 ordinance for the 2025 fiscal year this ordinance is a critical component of the overall budget enabling the controller 27:57 office execute the payment of wages approved within the budget speaking mayor ronal Mor J similar to the other 28:06 two um this is allowing us toay our um employ employees and non Contra employes 28:15 I'll ask for the same consideration thank you mayor any council with questions before 28:23 we go to public hearing all right we're going to go and open up the public hearing would like to 28:31 speak make your way to the microphone do not see anyone moving 28:41 towards the 28:42 [Music] 28:45 microphone so we will close the public hearing any other council members with questions go ahead if not I would 28:53 entertain motion Mr President Ive we suspend the rules on General ordinance number 16 29:02 2024 second motion to suspend the rules by councilman K second by councilman Runner any 29:11 discussion M cler roll call Marshall 29:20 noine yes yes M yes 29:28 president I move that we pass General ordinance number 16 2024 second motion to pass 29:37 1624 by counil byoun any 29:48 discussion Marshall hi iine yes wh yes 29:59 I yes General 16-24 has passed moving on to General 30:08 17224 the elected official salary second reading and public hearing an ordinance fixing maximum 30:16 salaries of elected officials of the city of maring Indiana for the year 2025 mayor morale will present the 30:23 salary ordinance for the elected officials 2025 year this ordinance is a critical component 30:31 of the overall budg enabling Controllers Office to exay of wages 30:40 mayor um similar to the uh first three allows us to all the elected officials um I would ask for the same consideration as the 30:49 first thank you mayor any council members and questions before go to public hear 30:59 all right we're going to go ahead and open up the public hearing who would like to speak please make your way to the microphone 31:11 now not seeing anybody move moment okay not seeing anyone Advance 31:20 towards the microphone we're going to go ahead and close the public hearing and if any counts members have further question go ahead if not I would 31:28 entertain a motion rules 31:37 1 second motion to suspend the rules by vice president Cil second by councilman 31:44 K any discussion mad cler roll 31:50 call I Marshall I no I 31:58 yes wh yes yes rent suspended and I would 32:06 entertain another motion motion to pass General 32:16 1724 by vice president C second by councilman Kane any other 32:24 discussion mad cler 32:28 Kan I Marshall hi hi r hi Divine yes wh 32:38 yes yes General 17224 has pass moving into new 32:47 business General ordinance 18224 River Rock bond series A and B 32:56 first Council of the city of Maran Indiana authorizing issu of the city of Maran Indiana taxable Economic 33:05 Development Rue bonds series a river rock project the issu of the city of 33:14 Maran Indiana tax Economic Development Revenue bond series 2024 River Rock L project and 33:23 authorizing and approving other actions in respect there to mayor Morel is set to present for 33:33 River marking the final step in securing the necessary Financial backing to 33:42 project speaking um um attorney um gr is gon to speak on my behalf he knows more about 33:51 this welc chis yeah we're gonna get that in 33:59 there thank you President McKinley members of the council uh it's good to be back in front of you for the record Chris gril attorney from Barnes and 34:07 thornberg and uh attorney for the mar and Redevelopment commission so as you all recall on August 6th um this body 34:14 approved a project agreement with rear development for the River Rocks development which is an approximately 10.8 million dollar mix H Hill in here 34:24 um and as you may may recall during our last meeting uh you all took the step to approve the allocation area for the 34:31 River Rocks area which was a separate allocation area to support the project as part of the incentive in the project 34:39 agreement and that process will conclude on Friday at the Redevelopment commission will hold a confirmatory 34:46 resolution and public hearing on that process so thank you for your support on that so now as uh the description read 34:54 this is really the final piece of the puzzle we're before you tonight uh to start the bond approval process as you may recall the project agreement 35:02 provides in part that the city's obligated to issue one and more series of Economic Development revenue bonds and the maximum par amount that the 35:10 party's jointly determined guarantees that 100% of all tax increment revenue generated in that allocation area is 35:17 utilized to pay debt service on the bond so before you tonight we have first reading on the bond ordinance and I 35:24 distributed several ancillary financing agreements that kind of coincide with this ordinance so I'll kind of briefly outline those for your attention first 35:32 let's um let's start with the bond ordinance and a review of the of the bonds the parties have agreed that we're going to issue two series of bonds which 35:41 we're referring to as the 2024a and the 2024 B Bond the 2024a bonds are being 35:48 issued in a maximum principal amount not to exceed $1,650,000 those bonds are payable solely from 35:56 payments by the developer Vel ER which is memorialized by a note in the loan agreement and these developer payments may be offset by tax increment revenues 36:05 generated in the allocation area and also payments made by the developer pursuant to a minimum taxpayer agreement you may recall that the developer 36:14 committed to making a minimum taxpayer agreement of approximately $124,000 on the site the 2024 B bonds series B bonds are 36:24 going to be issued in a maximum principal amount not to exceed $ 2,850,000 they're payable solely from payments by 36:32 the developer as well again memorialized by a note and a separate loan agreement and these developer uh payments may be 36:39 offset by both tax increment revenues generated within the mar and Consolidated uh Economic Development 36:47 Area um under no circumstances again as a reminder will payment of debt service on either the series a or series B bonds 36:55 be required from any other sources of City funds both developer purchase and it's not an event of default on the 37:02 city's part if Debt Service on the bond isn't repaid so with respect to some of the ancillary financing agreements that 37:09 go as part of this Bond packet um each series of bonds has a trust IND denture establishing and directing the 37:17 management of funds and accounts of the bonds and then each series of bonds has a loan agreement which I've mentioned before which provides the terms under 37:26 which the developer has aged to make payments to offset any shortfalls so tonight we're conducting first reading 37:33 on Friday the Marian uh Economic Development commission is meeting to consider a project report and conduct a 37:40 public hearing on both series of the bonds also on Friday as I mentioned the mar and Redevelopment commission will confirm the creation of the allocation 37:48 area and then they will make a pledge resolution for both series of bonds to confirm the pledge of the Tiff that I 37:56 just referenced for you all so after all those actions are complete we'll come back to this body later this month and conduct a final reading on the bond 38:03 approval process which keeps us on track for a November closing which we've all been targeting so with that I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have 38:12 Andy ma big is here as well and between the two of us we happy to answer any questions you may have on this right thank you so much Chris thank 38:21 you Andy coming tonight council members with questions 38:45 may love it well thanks for your support and if you have any questions between now and 38:53 final reading you know we'll be happy to answer those for you as well so we look forward to being back 39:00 without any further questions then I would entertain a motion Mr President I move that we pass 39:07 General ordinance number 18 2024 to a second 39:15 reading by vice president Keo any other 39:25 discussion madam roll call hi Marshall hi hi hi Divine 39:39 yes yes24 we'll move on second reading 39:46 public hearing at the next council meeting and moving into General's 19224 petition to vacate a por of public 39:55 way first reading an ordinance petitioning the Maran common Council in accordance with 40:02 provision of IC 36 732 to vacate a portion of a public way 40:10 in the city of mar Indiana Indiana Wesleyan University would like to vacate a portion of a public way of South John 40:18 Street from 41st Street to the south side of 3906 South John Street and 40:28 4 street street nebras 40:35 attorney thank you very much Phil appreciate before you say I just want counil know that Phil and I did talk 40:42 earlier today um and he's going to go ahead and present on this but when he's done ask questions but I'm going we're 40:50 going to request to table this so they can go to the traffic commission first and then come back to the council but Phil to present information he won't be 40:59 able to at the next council meeting so welcome Phil I just coun thank you and I appreciate your willingness to let me 41:07 present this tonight uh what I gave each of you ahead of time another pamphlet which has some nice nice pictures and 41:16 drawings which I thought you might like to see as well it's a little bit better information essentially what this involves is that Indiana Western 41:24 University is wanting to close course of John Street and if you look in the back of the pamphlet I gave you it shows you 41:33 uh what those are but essentially it's uh it 41:42 myself screen oh you do very nice thank you it's essentially uh closing John 41:51 Street from 3906 South John Street all the way down to 41st Street 41:58 then 41st Street from uh Nebraska street over to felt street now everything within that area is already owned by 42:07 Indiana Western University the only property in any of this which is not owned is at the 3906 South John and one 42:16 of the things I gave you tonight in that pamphlet is a consent signed by Nancy 42:22 Rosen thank you sir who is uh who own owns that property and she's consented she's the only one involved all the rest 42:31 of the properties are owned completely way Indiana West University now the purpose of this closing is also within 42:38 this pamphlet and that is essentially to build a new basketball arena as well as some 42:44 ancillary uh athletic areas and it would essentially be a new Arena which would seat 42:52 1700 but with that in the area at the top would actually be able to hold easily two 2000 uh for their basketball games and I 43:00 know all of you especially Mr Brun are aware you know what how well this basketball team for Indiana Wesson has 43:07 done in the last few years so I think this is going to be just a substantial addition not only to the campus but also 43:15 to the city and as the explanation also talks about you know they're looking at this to be not just for the University 43:23 but can be community in terms of camps that may be operated during the summer uh and a lot of other functional uses 43:31 that the arena can be made of so we hope it's going to be just a really great addition to the city uh we've already 43:40 made contact with Mr Pinkerton because we think they're probably are some water lines there which will have to be relocated which the university will 43:47 obviously take care of but they're going to meet with Mr picker and to work those out before the next meeting so we all to find out about that too uh so this is 43:56 really we think going to be just a really great addition to both that campus as well as to the community and 44:04 again it's not going to deny anyone there any access because it doesn't really involve anyone else in this area 44:11 will be cut off from any type of effect the only one that's probably affected is Miss Rosen who has to go just one direction to get out but fortunately 44:19 she's fine with that also she's been through the years a really great supporter of Indiana W University 44:27 so are there any question that I can answer tonight about this project which might be helpful to you to think about 44:34 between now and the next meeting what is the current well the current as I understand 44:42 will actually seat 1,700 also but one it's a little more cramped then this is 44:49 the arena will be better and secondly all because of the space of the top you can then actually get in there another 300 people easily 44:58 so it'll be up to 2,000 appreciate that and just for 45:06 reference for everyone IW owns all of these houses all these 45:14 houses and then the arena will go right here this building will stay ARA to fit 45:23 right here 45:43 way she will the only thing is she will have to to K out she's got to go only North she won't be to go south she could 45:50 right now that's the only difference which is why we wanted to present this to her so that she would understand it giving her an opportunity to object if 45:58 she wanted to and she was fine so that's why she signed the consent in advance to let you know that that's not a problem 46:06 with and I know n before it comes 46:16 back if you look at the back of the petition also it does show you the area of which the new building is going to go 46:23 uh which gives you a better idea of what going to entail it will also be tied into that existing building which is 46:31 there and that building will be converted to uses which are also related to this 46:41 Arena like I said goe what plans does Indiana Westland 46:49 have for the current Arena well Mr Ry ry's here he can come up and tell you better than I can I don't know that answer 46:58 this is Don righ who works for Indiana Western University Welcome yeah so um luy will be transer formed into just 47:07 volleyball and the hope is to build a men's volleyball program as well as uh a 47:15 JV um basketball men's and women's programs or Club men's and women we want to expand our offerings to the to the 47:24 the student body thank you thank you 47:33 Council and like I said questions we want go to the traffic commission so they can work with Police 47:41 Department fire department make saf onard 47:47 all we just shut down so what we'll do is after this 47:57 take a vote to table it and then send it off traffic commission but any other council members with questions right now 48:04 this will come back a First Council so is this just John Street or 48:12 is 41 because the initial included yeah it is it's 41st Street from Nebraska 48:20 over to phel and again Indiana Westland owns all of that property on both sides of 41 Street 48:27 so will there not will those houses noer be there or part of them are going to come down now obviously because of building the arena I don't know that 48:35 there's any plans that necessarily take down all the rest is it uning yeah yeah currently the university 48:44 owns all the houses except for Mrs Rosen uh the only house that is scheduled to be raised is one right on the corner 48:51 there 41st in John Street um we're going to attempt to save the rest of those houses on John Street none of the houses 48:59 on 41st Street will be raised the purpose for closing 41st 49:07 Street is uh because of the pedestrian traffic just south of where the arena is going to go there's going to be a significant amount of pedestrian traffic 49:16 because ofen oh yeah 49:22 wasas correct those houses will 49:38 stay we're not we want to vacate the street we don't we're not going to close the 49:49 access exp I mean I I guess it would be 49:57 considered private access we would maintain the road roadway we maintain utilities underneath 50:03 um yeah okay good things for the traffic commission to look at I guess traffic commission is going have to go through 50:12 all this as well heads up any other council 50:23 members okay thank you so much for coming tonight bill I'm sure we'll probably see you back in the future at some point and yeah so I would entertain 50:32 a motion to table this thank you very much 50:39 [Music] 50:42 Mr Mr President I move that we table General ordinance number 19 50:53 2024 motion to table by Council second by vice president any other 51:04 discussion Marshall hi hi hi Divine yes 51:14 yes yes general or 19 2024 table and we'll go to traffic commission before it 51:23 comes back to the council and moving on resolution 12224 Maran Police Department Mar system 51:31 a resolution of the common Council of the city of Maran Indiana rejecting the establishment of a merit system for the 51:39 Maran Police Department puru to Indiana code section 368 51:47 3.5 5.5 Indiana Law now requires police and fire departments to adopt a merit system 51:55 for promotion January 202 unless the city council passes 52:01 resolution all resp Department speaking C 52:11 adist Chief thank you thank you mayor Mr President members of the council uh before we go any further I want to point 52:18 out my twin granddaughters are back for their Civics uh training one is going to be the first female mayor of the city of Maran and 52:27 the other one will be the second stand up 52:33 [Applause] 52:40 ladies we'll do the next one easy okay uh and I'm happen to be first 52:48 but I I almost wish the fire department to come for sheep gar has led the way on this as staff have done a wonderful job of uh making me and my staff informed 52:58 about this so he'll he'll probably be more informative uh up next but I can tell you that as a summary suggested that for 53:05 some reason the legislature has passed a statute that's in effect right now that requires you and us the body of the 53:13 police department and in turn the fire department to proactively reject something that 53:22 they're uh putting upon us will take effect if we don't do this if we don't say no it will 53:31 happen which I think is an odd piece of leg legislative work um I can tell you this I'm I'm I'll be right in front with 53:40 you I'm not in favor of this we studied it a little bit and chief gar has in great detail I think it's a solution in 53:48 search of the problem I think it creates bureaucracy that's unnecessary I think it is uh uh attempting to fix something 53:56 that's not broken we are currently under the authority of the Board of Public Works and safety a lot of people think 54:04 the chief of the fire department the Police Department fire and hire people we don't do that the technically public uh Board of Public Works does that I 54:13 think they've done a fine job in my uh this is my 13 years 13th years's Chief and 38th year on the police department 54:21 and I've seen the M Works in action in in terms of things that would be Co-op Ed by this new entity this 54:29 bureaucratic entity uh they've been efficient they've dealt with uh hiring in terms of approving what we suggest 54:38 most of the time discipline promotions and even termination of employment sometimes in rare occasions 54:45 in my personal experience without taking too much of your time they've been Fair uh they've handled they've different iterations of the board they've listened 54:54 to the facts and made decisions based on good faith sometimes they've gone against whoever the chief may have been in the recommendation sometimes they've 55:01 reduced uh in terms of discipline produced and sometimes they've approved what's been recommended but they've always been Fair uh I I just think that 55:11 this creates a situation I'll give you I could give you a dozen but I I don't want to make the meeting last for a long time but I I'll I'll pick one problem 55:19 that I see right off the top uh we we made a concertive effort to streamline the hiring process because we're uh so 55:28 uh critically under staffed that we don't have time to take months and months and months to vet and hire people we we are hiring we have no waiting list 55:37 we have no list that that this legislation would have we a waiting list and the chief would pick from three people that the board would suggest and 55:46 all of this stuff uh we're we've created a situation where we can identify a good candidate 55:53 interview and do all of the things that we have control of board interview by the way that includes peer police officer group a civilian employee 56:02 sometimes a citizen as opposed to a merit board who may or may not be informed about the what what police work 56:10 requires U and we can have that interview board together within an hour as opposed to trying to get 56:18 five citizens on a merit board to pick five people to pick a date somewhere in the future where we might be able to get together uh or three four weeks a month 56:27 two months down the road we need to move quickly to hire people that's how desperate we are this would create a bureaucracy it would make it very difficult to do that just layers and 56:36 layers of that we can't afford that um I feel like I know my guys I know what their strengths and weaknesses are I 56:43 feel like we've done a good job of identifying talent and uh pursuing it bringing it on uh bringing that Talent 56:50 on board and uh sometimes um sometimes if we miss the Mark we're not to say listen you can't work here anymore but 56:59 will help you find another job uh when a person doesn't cut out to do the job and we miss the Mark we identify that pretty 57:06 pretty well and some sometimes the board of Works will have to help us help someone move along but all told uh in 57:14 summary I think this is not a good idea it's not a good fit for us in Maring maybe for a larger City maybe this is what is needed but for me and my 57:23 department my guys I think it's uh ill fit and I don't recommend it so my recommendation to you is to pass pass 57:32 this resolution to not Implement a merit system and I'll entertain your questions thank you so 57:40 much Chief council members 57:45 [Music] 57:48 iief Chief you know this the Merit system is good for Chicago la have thousands of 57:57 officers and firefighters that does that but this it would tie his hands it would 58:06 try on way they have to do their job I'm 58:12 100% passing passing to reject what we're doing but it's it just 58:24 not essentially written is that we are If This Were to pass we are allowing them to choose not to have it 58:33 so essentially work if we voted to pass this resolution the way I read the wording of 58:40 it it opens up the opportunity for I think it's the union think the union has to vote on it or is it the department 58:48 it's the body it's it's we're involving our unions uh I don't procedurally I don't know if the chief would want to is a SE a separate uh pce of legislation 58:56 here but it's the same it's part and partiel um but you're pretty much on board it's not the labor unions although 59:04 we involve our our unions out of respect for their role at the police department but it's the body and if it involves a union for say contract FES I don't I 59:12 don't get to vote as part of the administration on this I would get to vote I'd have a vote it's the body it's the rank and file and all the sworn members of our department that's who 59:21 would vote on it and they're going to vote on it whether we whether you pass this or not uh that's that's built into 59:28 the statute which to me is a red flag that this is so I've never read a statute like this before there's so many red flags here that I wonder how this 59:36 was crafted but uh our body is going to vote regardless of what you do here today uh I've talked to some of my staff 59:46 and I I feel like they understand that it's probably not a good fit but I can't speak for them the vote will speak for itself but the first step in not doing 59:54 this is your vote today to pass this resolution is it procedurally wrong to have the chief speak even though it's not 1:00:02 is exactly the same language just so I'm just trying to I mean I know 1:00:11 where I stand on this already try to make the procedure we all understand so so the rest of the council 1:00:19 knows if we pass this resolution uh then that so then you 1:00:26 would vote each department would vote and of course vote up or down but if we did not pass this resolution essentially 1:00:36 it doesn't matter how you vote mer system in place correct we are the council is G allow the Departments to 1:00:45 choose that yes or no if we voted down then it doesn't 1:00:52 matter correct so if you vote Yes to reject it then it goes off to the body of both the pr fire department and the 1:01:00 police department but if you vote no to let to allow it it doesn't matter what we vote or not and if we vote to 1:01:09 reject it and then say the body votes 1:01:19 yes corre 1:01:30 I just and I don't know if I'm just to I 1:01:38 guess to clarify a little bit um the mayor board will be uh responsible for not just promotions it'll be hiring 1:01:47 firing promotions demotions and uh any type of hiring procedure all that will be done by the 1:01:56 Merit board and taken away from the Board of Public Work and safety the only thing the public virtual safety be available for Poli and fire is anything 1:02:05 monetary everything else be stripped away from them and placed into the Mir Bo's hands and I Echo Everything Chief 1:02:13 Gilbert has said that this is absolutely something for a larger department and not necessarily for our siiz 1:02:20 department thank you so much any council members have questions 1:02:33 think new legislation is that the unions are the ones that push this to become a 1:02:41 law well the the word I got is that was the the police fop that pushed for it strongly 1:02:49 um I will say the firefighters contract has always had this clause in it it's always had an its tarle at any given 1:02:57 time in the last 25 years I've been on they could have said they could have taken a vote and said we want a merit board and they have not come close to 1:03:06 even wanting to approach that decision so it's it's not it's done it's not for 1:03:12 us right so and are all the firefighters and all the police officers is there a 1:03:19 year does it take a year before probation period they join the 1:03:26 all police officers join the union or do they have the option they have the option to join a union within their first year I'm not sure about the fop 1:03:35 speaking specifically for the C department they have an option to join the union in their first year the stipulation is that the union cannot 1:03:44 represent them in a disciplinary matter only after they are first year and they are certified by the board of works then there are I guess for a lack of better 1:03:53 terms a full-fledged member of the department and they can be represented by the unit but not after not until after their first 1:04:00 year I appreciate that thank thank you Council for any other 1:04:07 questions Council Divine just one out of curiosity 1:04:20 how well they've made it as difficult as I think they could possibly have made it 1:04:26 it'll be if if things go that way as of January 1 then the mayor will have to 1:04:36 appoint uh two members to that uh five person board but they have to be separate political party members you 1:04:45 have to go back you have to search their voting history of the last three years of their uh primary votes and then the 1:04:51 fire department gets two more votes or two more members with the same political party stipulations and then you all as a 1:05:00 council get to pick one but it doesn't matter what political party they are and so those five members and that you have 1:05:07 90 days to do that I believe it's 90 days and then after that they have an additional 30 to 90 days to gather up 1:05:15 all their rules and regulations that they're going to have and so in the meantime if I had a promotion or spot to 1:05:22 hire I can't do anything until they've gotten thing 1:05:31 situated any other 1:05:39 questions yes V rejecting it yes yes to 1:05:48 reject I made it up myself just so if you want to allow the Departments to vote then you V V this as a yes if you 1:05:58 want the department absolutely have a Bo then it would be a no 1:06:05 correct everybody is clear questions thank you so 1:06:13 much there questions I would entertain a motion Mr President I'm move that we 1:06:20 pass re resolution number 12 2024 1:06:27 motion from councilman Kane to pass resolution 12224 second by vice president cgil any other 1:06:36 discussion Madame clerk roll call Kane I Marshall I cise I Runner I Divine yes 1:06:47 Whitten yes calill I McKinley yes resolution 12-20 24 has passed moving on 1:06:56 to resolution 13- 2024 Maran fire department Merit system this is exactly like the last resolution of for the fire 1:07:04 department go ahead a resolution of the common Council of the city of Maran Indiana rejecting the establishment of a 1:07:12 merit system for the Maran fire department pursuant to Indiana code section 36-8 d3.5 1:07:22 d5.5 Indiana Law now requires police and fire departments to adopt a merit system for promotions effective January 1 1:07:30 2025 unless the city council passes a resolution allowing the respective departments SL unions to opt out of the 1:07:38 Merit system if you would like to speak again go ahead but if not I think we've asked all the questions any council members 1:07:47 have any other questions great I would entertain a motion Mr President I move that we pass 1:07:54 resolution number 13 2024 second motion by councilman K to 1:08:01 pass resolution 13-22 24 second by councilman Bruner any other discussion 1:08:08 Adam clerk roll call okay I Marshall I for I hi Brunner hi Divine yes Whitten 1:08:18 yes calill I McKinley yes resolution 13-22 for is 1:08:26 passed and one last thing so pursuant to the council rules um anything we ever 1:08:33 would want to add to the agenda that wasn't already included would have to be brought up at the end of the meeting and so every council member has a copy of 1:08:43 the minutes of executive session we did hold an executive session um it was September 17 2024 6 1:08:52 pm. in the council chambers um we did not get a chance to get it on the agenda we were still needing one more name of 1:09:00 somebody that was present that we were able to finally get but it was after we had put the agenda together and just for transparency for the public just going 1:09:08 to read through it real quick since it wasn't part of the original packet just says the common Council for the city of maring met an executive session on 1:09:16 September 17 2024 at 6 p.m. in the council chamber City Hall pursuant to IC 1:09:23 514 1.56 .1 B2 comma 4 to discuss a commercial real estate Prospect members 1:09:31 present Nick McKinley David K Gary Force Jim Bruner Brian Kegel Andy Whitten Erica Divine Mike kleene members absent 1:09:38 Eric Marshall others present Zeke Turner uh Devin Murley mayor Ronald Morell Jr Chief of Staff Robin F Chris grizel 1:09:47 Andrew Mouser Martin a Harker pursuant to IC 514 1.5 6.1d the common Council 1:09:55 for the city of Marion certifies that no subject matter is discussed in the executive session other than the subject matter specified in the public notice 1:10:03 the meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m. I just wanted to read that for transparency and since it was not on and 1:10:09 I would request that uh we take a vote or get a motion to add this to the 1:10:16 agenda um and then another motion hopefully after that to pass the minutes so I would entertain a motion to add 1:10:24 this to the agenda currently Mr President I move that we add to the agenda minutes of our 1:10:31 executive session second uh motion by councilman Kane second by vice president cgill any 1:10:42 discussion Madam clerk roll call Kane I Marshall I vote on this or not was 1:10:53 AB for I hi Bronner hi Divine yes Whitten yes cgill 1:11:01 hi McKinley yes so it's been added to the agenda now would entertain a motion to approve the minutes I so 1:11:11 Move Motion by councilman Kane second by vice president calill any discussion Adam clerk roll call Kane I 1:11:20 Marshall obate Force I Brunner I divine yes Whitten yes calill hi McKinley yes 1:11:30 minutes have been passed I really appreciate you guys uh entertaining that two last final announcements one's on the agenda the final Citywide cleanup is 1:11:39 October 5th uh that is this Saturday from 9:00 am to 2 PM check social media 1:11:45 you'll find out where it's located and lastly I've been waiting to make this announcement for a I don't know eight 1:11:53 months now but our video streaming in is finally getting installed next week in the council chambers hopefully this is the last week I have to stream through 1:12:01 the iPad um our contractor will be in a couple days next week to get the new system installed and hopefully the next council 1:12:09 meeting will be um totally set up and ready to go but I'm just excited and it's been a long 1:12:19 journey seven eight months to get this thing installed so that's the only announcements I have any other council members 1:12:26 announcements sir okay I would entertain a motion to adjourn so Move Motion by vice president calill second by 1:12:34 councilman Kane any discussion Madam clerk roll call Kane I Marshall I for I 1:12:41 hi Runner hi Divine yes Whitten yes calill hi McKinley 1:12:49 yes meeting's adjourned thank you everybody 1:12:58 C