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The Grant County Record
in Grant County · Regular meeting · 2025-07-01 · full transcript
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Indexed at https://ourweek.in/grant-county/reports/grant-county-record

    1:53  Good evening and welcome to Marian City Hall. Tonight is July 1st, 2025 at 7
    2:00  p.m. for a regular Marian City Council meeting. Welcome everybody. We're going to begin the night calling the meeting
    2:08  to order and before we move on to any part of the agenda. Uh there is a request to add an item to the agenda and
    2:17  per our own rules we must do that at the beginning of the meeting. There is a request to add general ordinance number 17-2025.
    2:28  It's an ordinance that basically will convert a portion of Second Street to a two-way street. It's currently a
    2:36  one-way and that went to a committee a couple weeks back and we'll talk more about that when we get to it if we
    2:44  approve it for the agenda. But essentially, this is coming to the council. There was some unfortunate
    2:51  issues that came up that prevented it from getting to the agenda, but there are some safety concerns right now with traffic getting in and around um where
    3:00  the Riverox development is going. So, we're requesting the council members, I did email it ahead of time, hopefully had time to review it, to add this to
    3:09  the agenda. If it were to be added to the agenda, it would be at the very end of new business. So, do any council members have questions?
    3:20  If not, I would need a motion to add this to the agenda. Mr. President, I would You put your mic on.
    3:29  I would make a motion to add ordinance number 13. Is that the one? 1395. 17.
    3:36  17. We're amending it. This is Okay. 17 2025. Second. to add that to the agenda.
    3:44  I got a motion by Councilman Kane, a second by Councilman Calgill. Any discussion?
    3:51  Madame Deputy Clerk, roll call. Kain, I. Marshall, I. Forise, I. Brunner, I.
    3:58  Klene, yes. Divine. Yes. Whitten. Yes. Calgill. Hi. Mckenley. Yes. Thank you.
    4:05  It's been added to the agenda at the very end. Okay. Moving into the normal order of business. We're going to
    4:12  start with the prayer. Um, Pastor Jim Kaminsky from New Life Community Church.
    4:17  If you want to make your way up to the microphone over there and turn that microphone on. Appreciate you. Uh, he's done this before and has been happily
    4:25  volunteering to come in and give us another prayer. So, thank you. Yes. Thank you for the privilege.
    4:31  Dearly Father, we just thank you for the opportunity to come before you. We thank you God for the opportunity also uh to do business in the greatest nation on earth. Lord, thank you for our freedom.
    4:42  Thank you for our men and women who defend that freedom. God, we don't take it for granted, Lord. Uh we would uh would an appropriate time to bring that
    4:49  up being that July 4th coming and celebrating the uh the birth of our nation, Lord. Uh and tonight, God, we just pray that your wisdom would flow
    4:57  through the councilmen and council women, Lord, as they discuss the measures, Lord, at hand, God. We thank you for this city. We thank you for the city of Marion. We pray, Father, uh that
    5:05  your hand would be upon our city, upon our mayor, Lord, and all of our officials, Lord. I also want to lift up uh in this prayer, God, that you would
    5:13  keep our first responders safe, our our men and women in law enforcement, God.
    5:18  And we just pray your your blessing over uh the city again. So, Lord, uh tonight, we just pray, Holy Spirit, that you would give wisdom and counsel, God, as
    5:26  uh things are discussed. And we just thank you so much. We honor you tonight, which is why we want to start first off, God, to give you uh honor and your place
    5:34  here. And thank you again, Lord. And we just bless you in Jesus name. Amen.
    5:38  Amen. Thank you. Thank you so much. And pledge of allegiance by Councilman Eric Marshall.
    5:44  With extreme gratitude that I was born, raised, and live in this community, I the privilege to lead you in the pledge.
    5:53  I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
    6:03  under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
    6:10  Thank you so much, Madame Deputy Clerk. Roll call. Kane here. Marshall here. Ford here.
    6:18  Brunner present. Klein here. Divine here. Whitten here, Calgill here, Mckenley
    6:26  here. We're going to go right into tonight's community spotlight.
    6:31  And I have the pleasure of welcoming up to the front Joe Schroeder. Come on up, Joe.
    6:41  And as he's coming up here, I'll just say if uh if you've driven around Marin, come all the way. You have to come all the way up. You get the full spotlight.
    6:49  So, if you've driven around Marin or talked about real estate anywhere around Grant County or Marin, you probably know Joe Schroeder's name. Um, Joe is definitely a spotlight in the community.
    7:00  And I tell you what, he's a workhorse.
    7:03  And, um, you can't go anywhere without seeing his face or hearing about Joe.
    7:08  Um, I I'll just read kind of what I wrote. Uh, so born and raised in Marion, Joe Schroeder has built a legacy of
    7:15  excellence in real estate while staying true to his hometown roots. After graduating high school, Joe spent seven years in marketing at the Chronicle
    7:23  Tribune before launching his real estate career with ReMax in 2014. Specializing both residential and commercial sales,
    7:30  Joe's deep knowledge of the local market has earned him a trusted reputation across Grant County with nearly 80% of
    7:37  his business conducted in Marian and surrounding communities. His impact is both measurable and meaningful. Joe is currently the number one ranked real
    7:45  estate agent in Grant County for production and has held the title of top ranked ReMax agent in Indiana for the
    7:52  past seven years. That's incredible. uh ranking 46th nationally and he proudly represents ReMax which uh
    8:01  if you don't know it's a global brand founded in Denver by a Maran native and Marion High School alumni hall of fame
    8:07  inductee Dave Lininger. So Joe continues to lead with integrity results and hometown pride. Joe, we thank you for
    8:14  everything you do. You're always um out and about in the community. anywhere we go, we see you. And it's uh you know,
    8:22  it's a big deal for people to buy and sell houses. Uh I mean, it's your home.
    8:26  And um all I ever hear uh is rave reviews about how you've handled people with professionalism. You know what
    8:34  you're doing. Um I'm not sure I'm probably lately you probably can't hold on to a house more than 24 hours now, right? Um which is a good problem to
    8:42  have, right? I think that's the reputation you've earned is that Joe can sell it. I think your billboard even says a few that that a few times. So,
    8:51  uh, it's just incredible. I was going back through the history and just like your old advertisements, like your first couple years, like one year he said six
    8:58  million sold and and then now what are you up to like 33 million um in less than 10 years and um and that is an
    9:06  incredible feat. Um, so we just really appreciate all you do in the community and all the residents that you help and
    9:13  and uh helping our residents find a permanent home. And so yeah, would like to share anything, Joe? No, I thank
    9:21  everybody here at the Marian City Council for the recognition this evening. A lot of familiar faces, uh, folks that I've had the pleasure of
    9:29  helping in this room. And, um, you know, Marian, Indiana, born and raised. And, um, you know, a lot of people ask me in
    9:38  my travels across the country with ReMax, you know, why not anywhere else?
    9:42  And, you know, bang for the buck is right here, central Indiana, Marian, and um we've got an incredible opportunity
    9:50  here uh within our local market. And so, I'm I'm here to stay and and help and and thank everybody for your local support of me. Well, we appreciate it.
   10:01  And um just a question. So, you worked at the Chronicle. what made you get into real estate? Real estate had always been
   10:09  a passion of mine um from the very beginning and had a lot of people tell me, "Oh, you know, that should be a later in life, you know, thing. You
   10:17  know, that's difficult in a small town like Marian and u you know, go get your career somewhere else and then follow up
   10:25  on the hobby later." and I was just kind of in a in a rut that happens to a lot of us in, you know, certain positions in
   10:35  in life along the way. And uh back in fall of 2013, I decided, hey, change of
   10:42  scenery and there was no better time to take the plunge and u the rest was history.
   10:48  Well, we appreciate you doing it and um yeah, we wish you continued success and um hope you can keep selling and then I guess watch our billboards every year
   10:57  say 40, 50, 60 million. So, we'll bring Yeah, absolutely. And hopefully with everything we're doing in the city now
   11:05  and uh we can attract more housing and and and give you more of an inventory to sell. So, hopefully we can get supply and demand is a big issue right now.
   11:13  That's very true. So, it does play a big factor. All right. Any other council members want to share anything? If not, we'll get a photo. So, perfect. Well, let's get a picture.
   12:12  The mic's on. So you brought two people with you. My entourage. Your entourage.
   12:17  But I also understand that you you know some of them they help you out a lot.
   12:22  We have a little mini receptionist and office.
   12:36  [Applause]
   12:44  Okay, thank you so much, Joe, for coming in and moving into the city employee spotlight. It's a unique one tonight.
   12:53  Um, generally we just name one person and in all fairness, I've been asking Chief Gar for a while. Uh, you know, I sent out
   13:02  occasional emails to different department heads. And um, so I asked Chief Gar like two weeks ago, you know, hey, you got anyone in mind? And it was
   13:10  him hauling around. He could has all these names he could think of. He was supposed to get back with me. And then there was this the fire there on um was
   13:19  it Washington I think and I talked to him the day after and uh it was agreed upon. He had proposed it's the chief's
   13:27  idea but I thought it was fantastic to just recognize the entire Marian fire department because
   13:34  it's a it's a team effort. Um you know this not one firefighter just goes into a building by themselves. They're all depending on each other's lives and
   13:42  we're all depending on them as well. So, we are going to recognize the entire Maran Fire Department. I know we have quite a bit of them here tonight, and
   13:49  I'm going to open it up to the chief to share some remarks. Uh, thank you.
   13:58  Um, thank you to the council for this opportunity uh to feature the mayor and firefighters in tonight's meeting. When
   14:05  deputy chief over Meer and I started our administration in the beginning of 2024, we had a vision on improving the department. The department wasn't bad,
   14:14  but we knew it could be better. We wanted to elevate the equipment and stations, which in which in turn elevates the firefighter safety. Uh,
   14:24  thank you to Mayor Morel, this council, and the board of works for helping us get some new equipment.
   14:29  We wanted to elevate the training with the revolving door of retirements and new new employees. 60% of our department has less than five years of seniority.
   14:39  We know that those firefighters need the knowledge of an 8 to 10 year firefighter to adequately uh run our department.
   14:49  We wanted to elevate our PR presence both in person and through social media.
   14:54  We wanted the citizens of Marion to see who their firefighters are. We want to elevate the transparency between our administration and the firefighters.
   15:04  Finally, we want to elevate the pride in the department. It was already there, but we knew more was needed. We knew we can get a little more out of them.
   15:13  We felt if these were accomplished, things would boost morale and the department would take even higher.
   15:19  Over the course of this year alone, each member of this council has at least on one occasion came to me and said
   15:26  expressed how fine and how well the fire department is doing, how your how your constituents are telling you all how
   15:33  they appreciate how we're how we're doing.
   15:36  Each of you have given myself and chief chief o deputy chief overmmyer the credit. I know as chief it's common for me to get the accolades when things go well but I'm only half of the equation.
   15:47  The firefighters are the other half.
   15:52  They had to buy into my administration what to what my my what my administration was trying to accomplish.
   15:59  They understand that it takes time and money to get equipment and they greatly appreciate what you've gotten so far.
   16:06  The new firefighters understand that they have to learn. They have to learn uh and train and they're hungry for the knowledge as well as our senior firefighters are eager to teach them.
   16:17  Collectively, they've logged hundreds of hours of training in different locations throughout the city. Additional hundred of hundreds of hours training videos in
   16:26  the stations and even more hours studying independently.
   16:31  Because of our approach to transparency, lines of communication have never been more open in my 26-y year career.
   16:38  Morale has never been as high and widespread throughout the department.
   16:43  In addition to Got ahead of myself, one of our goals was to refurbish our station 3 on Lincoln Boulevard.
   16:53  It had been neglected and abused for decades. We wanted to wanted to be available for emergency situations.
   16:59  We asked the firefighters to go beyond the scope of their job to get this accomplished. Whenever we asked for tasks to be completed, we were often met
   17:07  with, "What do you need, Chief? How can we help? What else do you need?" The other projects were doing as well, and it met with the same reactions.
   17:18  Their willingness to step in and do the work has saved the city's thousand saved this city thousands of dollars.
   17:25  The firefighters have taken great pride in the stations, trucks, equipment, and the department as a whole. They fix
   17:32  minor things when they break and beautify the stations, sometimes using their own money without expectations or desires of reimbursement.
   17:42  In addition of all they've of all the added task they've accomplished the added PR the added training the
   17:51  evaluating of applicant right alongs this past June they still perform their job at the highest level
   17:58  rather it's setting up a impromptu landing zone for a medical helicopter performing CPR cutting a person out of a
   18:05  mangled vehicle performing business inspections containing a hazmat spill setting a safe perimeter for broken
   18:12  natural gas line or battling a three building fire in 90 degree weather with 90% humidity.
   18:19  When it's time to work, they just get the job done. So, when council President McKinley asked me for a person to
   18:26  highlight, I couldn't pick just one. I'm extremely proud of the firefighters and I felt they all needed the recognition.
   18:34  So, gentlemen, I appreciate you. Thank you.
   18:38  [Applause]
   18:55  Thank you so much, Chief. Um, if you don't mind if I add a few words.
   19:01  Um, so, you know, this department, the fire department deserves high praise.
   19:07  Uh, there's a lot of unwavering dedication, professionalism, courage, and serving this community. Um, I've just heard
   19:16  feedback from people all over the city about how the firefighters show up and are just very professional. They know
   19:23  what they're doing. They're well trained. Um, and that just doesn't happen by chance. That happens through dedication. Um, we are honored to have a
   19:32  professional fire department here in Marian. And, um, I'm excited. I know you said 60% has less than five years, but
   19:40  that's exciting as well. Um uh you know sometimes a little bit of young energy is good uh to mix in with with the crew
   19:50  and um you know I always feel good that if there's an emergency that I'm well taken care of and I'm sure our other council members and and residents feel
   19:58  that as well. So I just appreciate all the dedication all the fire fire fighters have been putting in and then chief you've done a fantastic job uh
   20:07  leading them and also just communicating with the rest of the council. So, thank you very much. Do any other council members want to share anything?
   20:14  Councilman Calgo, there's no way I could not say something. Being a former Marian firefighter, uh, Chief, start with you.
   20:22  Over 30 years of experience with the Marian Fire Department, I've never heard a chief give his men accolades like you just did. Real proud of you for that.
   20:31  And it shows your leadership and the way you are running this department. Um, man, these guys, I'm telling you,
   20:38  pound-for-pound, I don't care if it's New York, LA, there ain't you guys in Marion are the luckiest people in the world. You got the best firefighters
   20:47  doing the job. I don't care what the situation is. Um, you know, whether Swift Water Rescue is another one. And
   20:54  you got they run like over 3,000 aimless assist. Is that right or no? Okay. So, I mean, it's there's just nothing they
   21:02  don't do. And our thing we always said was, you know, if they can't handle it, we're in trouble because if if the fire
   21:11  department don't do it, it ain't going to be done. So, I I could not be any more proud of every single one of you guys. Um, a lot of you, you know, I I
   21:20  know I spent my career working with a lot of you. Um, Tony, you know, you're what, like 75, so he's been on there a
   21:27  long time. But, um, you guys, I I don't know. There's just I can't say enough. I will do anything and everything I can for you guys and your safety always.
   21:39  Thank you, Council Meccal. Any other council members?
   21:43  All right. Um well, we'd like to get a photo. Uh I think we could fit everyone.
   21:48  If all the firefighters please come up, we'll just get back. We I don't know.
   21:57  I think we can get them up here. Yeah, we did the volleyball team. Yeah. Come on. All of you in the those be you put those beautiful uniforms on. I don't
   22:06  know if you call them class A's or not, but or B's. I don't know. I was police officer. Oh, okay. Come on up. Just get behind us. Spread around.
   22:17  We'll zoom out if we have to.
   24:06  All right. Okay.
   24:09  Thank you, Chief, so much. Uh we're moving into the consent agenda for the approval of minutes from June 17th, consideration of pre-approved claims and consideration of claims. Any discussion?
   24:20  If not, I'd entertain a motion. Move that we pass the consent agenda. Second.
   24:26  Motion by Councilman Brunner, a second by Councilman Kaine. Any discussion? Madam Deputy Clerk, roll call. Kane, I.
   24:35  Marshall, I. Forice. I. Brunner. I. Klene. Yes. Divine. Yes. Whitten. Yes.
   24:41  Calgill. I McKenley. Yes. And moving into committee reports. Do we have any committee reports?
   24:53  Oh, okay.
   24:55  I do have a question on update for the public works committee on scheduling the alley ordinance committee meeting. Any updates on that yet?
   25:05  Uh, apparently we had miscommunication trying to get a date scheduled and the confusion over the public hearing. So, we will get that scheduled hopefully next week. Okay, sounds great.
   25:18  No other committee reports. All right, we'll move into unfinished business and general ordinance 13-2025
   25:26  amending salary ordinance 11-2025, second reading of public hearing.
   25:32  An ordinance fixing the maximum salary of appointed officers and employees and annual payment of flex dollars $250 to
   25:40  non-c non-contractual full-time employees of the city of Marian Indiana for the year 2025 adding two part-time
   25:47  park security positions. This is to inform you about a joint initiative between the Maran Parks Department and the Maran Police Department to improve
   25:54  the safety and security of our city parks and their visitors. As part of this commitment, the parks department is in the process of hiring two part-time
   26:02  security personnel who will provide coverage for our parks at least 42 hours a week, seven days a week. Speaking Rose
   26:09  Kadina and Police Chief Dave Gilbert, welcome.
   26:20  If you could turn the mic on. Good evening. I'd be willing to answer any questions.
   26:32  Absolutely.
   26:35  Any council members with questions before we go to public hearing? Okay.
   26:42  Oh, thank you, Rose. Uh, at this time, we're going to go ahead and open it up to the public hearing portion. Again, this is to add some park security.
   26:53  If you'd like to speak, please make your way to the microphone.
   27:00  If you could just state your name, address, and you have three minutes if you can turn the microphone on.
   27:06  Hello, this is Ryan Howell. Uh uh my name's Ryan Howell. I live at 2909 South
   27:14  Branson Street, Marian, Indiana. And uh I was just wanting to put in my two cents to where I don't think we need any more
   27:23  government employees. I think we have a police department that can handle this kind of stuff. That's just as a taxpayer. That's just my two cents.
   27:35  Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
   27:42  Public hearing still open if you'd like to express your opinion for or against.
   28:00  Welcome. State your name, address, and you got three minutes. Randy Hyatt, 807 East 29th Street.
   28:08  Obviously, I work for the city of Marion. So, all the repairs that are done for all the vandalism is done by us. So, these these spots are needed. We
   28:17  spend more money in repairs, whether it's broken toilets, shattered glass, you name it. It happens out there.
   28:24  You'll spend more money on repairs than you will on these two positions. I guarantee you that. Thank you. Thank you.
   28:38  Public hearing still open.
   28:44  Not seeing anyone make their way to the microphone. So, we'll close the public hearing.
   28:51  All right. Any council members have any other questions, discussion?
   28:57  If not, I would entertain a motion. Have one.
   29:00  Yep. Councilman Divine. Councilwoman Divine. Sorry. Real quick, uh, Rose Chief, um, were these positions going to patrol just Matter Park or are they
   29:09  going to be patrolling all of the city parks? Don't we have 12 or 13 of them?
   29:14  No, they'll they'll, my understand, they'll patrol the whole any of the park property yet. All 13 parks. All 13. Okay.
   29:27  Any other council members? All right.
   29:35  Go ahead. You ready for Mr. President? I'd like to uh make a motion that we suspend the rules on general ordinance. What is that? 112025.
   29:45  It would be 13 2025. That's why I don't have my glasses. Okay. 13. We're amending 1120. Oh, okay. That's right. Sorry. 13.
   29:54  Second.
   29:57  I've got a motion to suspend the rules for general ordinance 13-2025 by Councilman Calgill, a second by Councilman Kaine. Any discussion?
   30:10  Madame Deputy Clerk, roll call. Kain, I. Marshall, I. Forice, I. Runner, I.
   30:17  Klein, yes. Divine. Yes. Whitten. Yes. Calgill. I. McKinley.
   30:23  Yes. Rules have been suspended for general ordinance 13-2025. I would entertain another motion. Mr.
   30:29  President, like to now make a motion that we pass general ordinance 132025.
   30:34  Second. Motion to pass by Councilman Calgill. Second by Councilman Kaine. Any discussion?
   30:42  Madame Deputy Clerk, roll call. Kane, I.
   30:46  Marshall, I. Forice. I. Ruer. I. Klene, yes. Divine. Yes. Whitten. Yes. Calgill.
   30:53  I McKinley. Yes. Gender ordinance 13-2025 is passed. Moving into Grant
   31:00  County Visitors Bureau Maring Common Council appointment. Um the deadline has passed for resumeéumés. Um and we
   31:08  actually received two resumeumés, two interested parties for the appointment.
   31:15  And just as a reminder, this appointment actually will be effective today and last through June 30th of 2027. That's a
   31:22  two-year appointment. And at the end of that two years, there's no term limit.
   31:26  So, at the end of the two years, uh, whoever may be in that spot can reapply, but we will reopen it again to the public every two years per the visitors
   31:36  bureau u rules. So, we've got um two applicants. I'm just going to go in the
   31:43  order that they were submitted. And the first one I had received or the clerk's office received is Sea. Is that Seia?
   31:51  come on up. See you.
   31:55  And we welcome you. And if you could just turn the microphone on. Is it already on? Yes. And just how do you say
   32:01  your last name? It's bio. That's uh didn't want to mess that up. So, we appreciate you coming. Um thank you so
   32:09  much for your interest. So, the way this is going to go is each candidate is going to get three minutes um just to share anything you would like. You don't
   32:17  have to go the full three minutes. Um, and then after each candidate goes, council members will be able to ask you questions. When we're completed, then
   32:25  um, what we'll do is basically take a vote with names. So, we won't need a nomination necessarily. It's just we're going to go around and you state the
   32:33  name of the candidate you'd like to select. So, um, see you, if you want to go ahead and start. You've got three
   32:40  minutes. Just tell us why you want this appointment. Okay. Well, thank you and good evening. Thank you for allowing me to be here to be able to speak tonight.
   32:50  Again, my name is CIA Mio and I am a passionate community builder, ministry leader, and business consultant with
   32:58  deep roots here in Grant County. This is where I was born and raised. This is where I live. To me, this is home. I'm
   33:07  applying for the visitors bureau council because I believe in a transformative power of storytelling, hospitality, and
   33:15  collaboration to strengthen both our economy and our community identity. For the past two decades, I've served in
   33:23  multiple roles that unite voices for the common good by developing community-based programs ranging from
   33:30  pastoral care and engagement to administrative support, leadership training, and strategic consulting.
   33:40  I walked alongside families, seniors, students, and stakeholders, helping them feel seen, supported, and connected to
   33:49  the richness of Grant County. It was evident that I excelled in these unique areas when selected for the Tony Manningberg Award for Community Service.
   34:01  It's one of Indiana Wesleyan University's top award in this area. and I've had the honor to serve on several
   34:08  boards in our community. These roles has given me firsthand insight into the heartbeat of our city and uh its
   34:16  challenges, its beauty, and its untapped potential. As a council member, I will bring a blend of community rooted
   34:24  experience, faith- centered values, and strategic insight. My background in consulting and outreach means I not only
   34:33  see problems, but I help create scalable solution that serve real people. As I
   34:40  mentioned, I've served on multiple boards and know how to work across different perspectives with humility,
   34:47  clarity, and commitment to the mission at hand.
   34:51  If selected for the visitors bureau council, I want to help amplify what's already beautiful about Grant County
   34:59  from its hidden gems to historical riches richness into its potential.
   35:06  Because I believe when we elevate visibility, creativity and collaboration, we don't just increase tourism, we strengthen identity.
   35:17  We remind our residents and visitors alike that Grant County is not just a place to pass through, but a place to pause, to invest, and to belong.
   35:29  I also believe that data-driven storytelling by using both numbers and narratives to shape policy, attract visitors, and support small businesses.
   35:40  What I hope to accomplish if selected is one to change the perspective that tourism is just calendar events. Your
   35:48  time is up. You have three minutes. So, okay. Thank you so much.
   35:53  So, if you want to stay up there, um, council members, any questions for her?
   36:02  Uh, I do have a question for you. If you had $50,000 to spend on a new tourism initiative, what would it be?
   36:09  That is good. Um I would say branding.
   36:13  Branding um I think is so vital because again the storytelling the narrative that is a place that I believe we're
   36:22  doing but we can do it a little bit better. Um, I would also spend that time
   36:28  talking to um, nonprofits, other local businesses, being able to see how we can
   36:35  partner into uh, initiatives that, you know, create unity and something that we believe as the tourism um, council will
   36:44  be able to elevate. So, whatever we need to do to partnership with that, so don't feel like they're alone, but again, it's
   36:51  being able to amplify and raise up our community. Thank you.
   36:57  Any other council members? Okay, thank you so much. Thank you.
   37:04  And we're going to welcome up Shelly Shelley Jones. Welcome.
   37:12  um she's our second applicant and we appreciate your interest and we're going to give you three minutes. Yeah. Thank
   37:19  you so much. And can I just say, wow, what a dilemma you all have here today.
   37:26  Um two candidates with deep love for Grant County and the city of Marian and a desire to serve. And um when I heard
   37:35  back from uh Councilman McKinley that um the other candidate was CIA in bio, I was so thrilled and delighted. If you
   37:44  don't know her, I hope you'll introduce yourself to her. She's an amazing person to know and um I just really appreciate
   37:51  her heart and her dedication. She's just a beautiful person. So truly inspiring and um you certainly have a tough
   37:59  decision ahead of you with this. Um so let me share first why I decided to
   38:06  apply. Um really having someone from the community foundation in this role feels like a na natural extension of the
   38:14  collaborative work already happening through Calabra. Um if you don't know I think you all were invited to the Calabra open house back in April but um
   38:22  it's a unique initiative a collection of six uh grant county focused nonprofit organizations working together to
   38:29  intentionally and strategically serve the needs of our community. So, of course, that includes the Community Foundation of Grant County, the uh Grant
   38:37  County Economic Growth Council, the Grant County Visitors Bureau, uh the Greater Grant County Chamber Leader Project Leadership, and United Way of
   38:46  Grant County. Um and six fantastic organizations really, if I do say so myself, right? And um together we're creating something that's unprecedented.
   38:56  A shared space um designed to foster innovation, unreasonable hospitality and communitydriven solutions all working
   39:04  together under one roof. It really is a unique situation and appointing someone who is already uh embedded in the work
   39:11  happening through collaborates a seamless bridge between the visitors bureau and its collabor partners. Uh it
   39:18  en ensures consistent communication, aligned goals, and unified messaging as we um invite visitors, investors, and
   39:26  residents alike uh to continue falling in love with Grant County and the city of Marian.
   39:32  my experience in relationship building, storytelling, and strategic development um would directly support the visitors
   39:40  bureau mission and um which is as a community asset responsible for promoting Grant County as an attractive
   39:47  travel destination and enhancing its public image as a dynamic place to live, work, and play, which really strengthens
   39:55  the community's economic position and vitality. Together, these efforts are enhancing tourism and promote our
   40:02  community assets and help shape a welcoming, coordinated experience for all who engage our community. As someone who has proudly called Grant County and
   40:11  the city of Marion home for years, I believe in the power of place and the magic that happens when we come together to make it even better. In my current
   40:19  role at the community foundation, I've seen firsthand minutes goes fast. I know that's okay.
   40:26  That's okay. At least you both uh ran over. That's okay. We'd rather you have too much to say than not enough. So, thank you. Um are you going to go and
   40:34  have a seat if you'd like? Um Oh, actually, I'm sorry. Stay up the mic.
   40:37  Open it up for questions because I know I have one or two, but sure. Any other council members questions for Shelley?
   40:44  So, I'm going ask you the same question.
   40:46  What would you do with $50,000 for tourism? Yeah, I thought that was a great question and I, you know, there are several communities that are just
   40:55  like Grant County and the city of Marian, right? And they're all doing things really well and I really see
   41:02  nothing wrong with going to those cities, asking them what's working for them and, you know, identifying a few
   41:10  things, a few ideas that we can borrow there. There's no reason for us to recreate the wheel on some of these things. we can borrow what's working in
   41:18  other communities um and that has really helped them improve their you know their their infrastructure, their tourism, you
   41:27  know, whatever it might be that would really just hit the mark for for their community. Um and I think we could
   41:33  definitely um borrow a couple of ideas and really maximize our dollars without having to, you know, recreate that
   41:42  wheel. Yeah. One other question is what do you think or are there any gaps or
   41:49  underutilized assets in our current tourism strategy you think should be addressed? You know, I was thinking about that today actually. We had a
   41:58  visitor at the community foundation office who um you know came to tour the Garfield Trail and um I know it's something that we've all driven by.
   42:09  We've seen those big statues all over, you know. Um there are people who come here from all over the world uh to to
   42:16  tour the Scarfield Trail. And I think we could really capitalize on um you know,
   42:23  some of the things that are located close by those different structures, those different, you know, uh you know,
   42:32  and those different Garfields. And just to capitalize on that marketing that's already here, already existing, you know, are there other things? Are there,
   42:40  you know, little marketing pieces that we could use and provide that people could buy or whatever it might be so that they could, you know, spread that
   42:48  joy of Garfield, uh, back home or wherever it might be. So, yeah.
   42:54  Thank you. Any other council members? All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah.
   43:02  Okay. open up for any discussion. Any council members want to discuss?
   43:07  Um if not, yep, Councilman Klein, I think the CVB is going to be in good
   43:14  shape. Whoever um gets the the vote.
   43:21  I had three terms on the community foundation board and got to see Shellyley
   43:28  working and got to work with her and um
   43:38  I lost my train of thought. I lost the word I was going to use anyway. But from working with her and seeing her energy, I think I think they both would be fine.
   43:49  I'm gonna plug Shelley.
   43:53  Thank you. Based on having watched her and worked with her.
   43:57  Appreciate your input. Other council members, I think Shelley, you're correct. This is
   44:05  a very difficult decision. Um, but I'm I'm just so glad that we found out we have this position open and that both of
   44:14  you applied. Um, I will say before any votes taken, I would say, you know, whoever does get it, please represent
   44:21  the council well, but whoever doesn't, um, you know, obviously there's plenty of ways, as you both know, to plug in to
   44:28  tourism and all that, even without being on the board. And so, um, we just really appreciate both of you applying. And,
   44:36  um, it's I came in the meeting tonight still not knowing who I'm picking. So, this is very difficult. So, anyways, If
   44:45  the council doesn't have anything else, then what we'll do is uh we'll just go around the room starting with Councilman
   44:52  U Kaine and just state the your your person that you would like to select and whoever gets the most votes will be the one.
   45:03  So go I don't think we need anything official, so just go ahead. Shelley Jones.
   45:10  Well, I want to vote for my person, but uh I I think highly of both these ladies. Uh they're both incredible
   45:18  community members and it's a shame to have to choose between the two.
   45:23  Hopefully the person that doesn't get it will reapply in two years. Um I've been on the community foundation board for
   45:30  going into my third term and I too have had an opportunity to work with Shelley and get to know her uh very well and see how she operates and thinks and I think
   45:39  she is my choice. So that I'm choosing Shelly. Unfortunately, I have to make a choice.
   45:47  I would echo uh uh the president's comments um on this, Nick Kinley's
   45:53  comments. Uh this is a tossup. I mean, I wrote I wrote Rick both your essays and
   46:00  and they are just impeccable, both of them. and but uh I think I'm going to go
   46:07  with CM by Thank you both very well. I'd like to thank both these young ladies for applying and I would vote for Shelley Jones.
   46:19  I'm going to echo that. Thank you guys for Thank you for giving a rip about where we are. And I'm going to vote for Shelley.
   46:33  very difficult decision. Thank you guys both for applying. I'll I'll echo the same that everybody else is. And um
   46:43  I would say I'm I'm going to agree and do um and say CIA and Maya as well.
   46:52  And I'm gonna mimic what Erica is doing there and vote for CIA and bio also.
   46:59  Thank you both. It's nice to see people get involved and want to be involved in the community. So, I'm more excited about that. Both your guys' resumes are
   47:07  impressive. Um, you know, I I've known Shelly. I've worked she's she's a great person. Um,
   47:15  I've seen her work before. So, just bas I'm going to go with Shelley.
   47:23  Well, I guess it really doesn't matter with my vote now, huh? I'm useless at this point. So, um I get I guess I should probably vote, but I don't know.
   47:32  Do I really have to? Can I remain anonymous?
   47:35  I don't think I have to. There's no rules against it. Um we'll just I mean, Shelley got five votes. Um and so it doesn't matter how I
   47:45  vote at this point. Um Um I really couldn't even tell you. I mean, uh do I have to vote? Gosh. All right.
   47:56  Well, I'll vote for CIA. Um 54 vote. I think it's a welldeserved split vote. Um but so thank you so much.
   48:04  Congratulations to Shelley. See youa. Um we really hope you continue to stay engaged and yeah, you know, plenty of
   48:12  opportunity and we're just so blessed to have both of you in our community. So um Shelley, I will relay this over to the
   48:19  visitors bureau board. Obviously, you know a few people there, too. And we'll get if they need anything proper sent over, we'll get that sent over and
   48:27  they'll get you up to speed on board meetings and all that. So, thank you so much for both of you coming in tonight and spending your evening with us. So,
   48:36  thank you. All right. Um, moving on to
   48:43  new business. The just this is an announcement. So, Marian Utility Board opening. Um, I'll just go ahead and read
   48:51  this one. So, this is an opening for the utility board that um just coming open that's not from a resignation. It's just
   48:59  the end of a four-year term. Um, so we are accepting um applications and resumeumés. There is an actual
   49:08  application that you can get from the clerk's office that you need to fill out and um submit also with a resume. So,
   49:16  this position is a four-year term that'll run from August 1st, 2025 to July 31st, 2029. It's a four-year term.
   49:25  Um, you must be receiving at least one um service from the American Utilities,
   49:32  be it water, sewer, trash. Um, so you have to be an actual customer somehow someway. You don't have to have all of them, you just need one of them. Uh so
   49:41  the deadline to submit resumes is July 11th uh 2025 at noon and resumes can be turned into the city clerk's office or
   49:49  you can get the applications from them as well or you can email everything to council president at city of marian.in.gov. So um just encourage
   49:59  applicants to apply. This is an important position. There's a board member or board meeting I think every month sometimes executive board
   50:07  meetings. I'm not sure where you would land in all that, but this is a an actual commitment and it is an actual paid position as well. So, there is an
   50:16  expectation that um you know, whoever applies and gets selected that they're in and showing up to every board meeting
   50:24  because it is a paid position. It's not one just show up whenever you um get free time. So, it's a this is a very
   50:31  very serious position because the utilities there's a lot of decisions be made um that affect every single
   50:38  resident of this city. So, look forward to seeing those applicants.
   50:43  Uh we'll move on to general ordinance 14-2025 food and beverage tax first reading.
   50:50  An ordinance of the city of Marian adopting a food and beverage tax on or around May 6, 2025. Governor Brun signed
   50:59  house Act 1427, which among other items amended Indiana code 6961 allowing the fiscal body of the city of
   51:08  Marian to impose an excise tax known as the city food and beverage tax. The food and beverage tax applies to a transaction in which food or beverage is
   51:16  furnished, prepared, or served for consumption at a location or on equipment provided by a retail merchant
   51:22  in the city and by a retail merchant for consideration.
   51:30  The food and beverage tax rate may not exceed 1% of the gross retail income received by the merchant from a qualifying food or beverage transaction.
   51:38  Money received by the city shall be distributed to the city's food and beverage fund and only utilized for economic development, parks and
   51:45  recreation andor pledging of money for bonds, leases, or other obligations for those purposes. Speaking mayor Ronald Morel Jr.
   51:53  Good evening, council. What a privilege to be before you all um this evening. Um and this is something that is challenging, but I'm pretty excited
   52:02  about. Um Councilman, do you have it on your end?
   52:06  I do, but I'm gonna let you go in because it seems like anytime I have a council meeting is when everything wants to change passwords and uh
   52:13  reauthenticate. So, I'm going to connect or disconnect. Okay.
   52:19  So, you can let me see here.
   52:24  Trying to give me the Well, you're on the same Wi-Fi. Yeah. Well, CCAP. Yeah.
   52:31  I'll talk at the same time as I'm trying to pull this up for the um Oh, you got a different Wi-Fi. I'm out on the same Wi-Fi.
   52:41  I don't want I don't want to delay the delay it trying to get to my um um presentation. If I knew the password
   52:50  for this one, I could put it on there. I can pull it up, too. Just give me a second to type my code here. As we're working through the technical difficulties, I don't want to delay
   52:57  that. So what a um what the food and beverage tax is
   53:03  um it is a 1% tax of the gross retail income received by the merchant from qualifying food or beverage
   53:11  transactions. Um this is 1% in addition to the standard sales tax of 7% for the state of Indiana. So, if you were to go
   53:20  out to um McDonald's and spend um $20, your bill would then, if this
   53:27  passes, your bill then Okay, there we go. Your bill then becomes um $20.20.
   53:33  Um great. So, take me to the slide, second slide.
   53:40  Okay. So, that's information there. So, um I won't read it word for word.
   53:44  Anybody who wants this presentation, I can send it over to you, but this kind of give you overall um hierarchy view of how everything works. So, um the food
   53:52  and beverage tax and our um intent for use can be used for parks maintenance, development, economic development, and
   53:59  um land acquisition. So, if you would go to the next slide for me, um how is this implemented? So, we have
   54:08  to we um worked with the lobbyists to get it passed through the um state legislature this last past session. So, it was passed and then now the next step
   54:16  for us is to be able to pass it here locally. Um and then if it passes according to the timeline this week, we
   54:23  it will be uh implemented starting September 1st and then the city will receive our first dispersement checks in October.
   54:32  You go to the next one.
   54:36  what is subject to the food and beverage tax. So, um, this gives you a a clear-cut definition of all the things that this would apply to, but I think
   54:45  the easiest way to sum it up without reading every single bullet point is if you go out and you purchase um food that takes two or more
   54:52  ingredients to make and so sold to you, um, then that's where the 1% would apply. So, we've talked about the the
   55:00  obvious ones like restaurants, um, things like that. But if you go to Walmart and you buy their already prepared like chicken, then that will
   55:08  that or meer as well that would apply to that. Um, so that's what it can be used for. Um, okay. If you go to the next
   55:16  slide, this kind of outlines our um our timeline that I kind of alluded to earlier. So, today we're we're here on
   55:23  July 1st for the first reading. um this timeline is under the assumption um that it passes tonight. So um it's kind of
   55:32  presumptuous, but I want to at least give you the the idea of how it would work. So the first reading is tonight, July 1st. Then we would have if it's
   55:39  successful through tonight, I would hold my own public information session. um myself um Baron Thornberg and Joe um
   55:48  from our economic development team and the Indiana Department of Revenue is will be here on July 7th for a public information session to explain um in in
   55:57  detail to concerned citizens um concerned restauranters or whatever it is how everything works and how it could be implemented for the restaurant. Um
   56:04  then after that the the public hearing from a a council perspective would be July 8th and if it's if it's successful through that then it would go to um the
   56:13  third and final reading on July 15th making September 1st the actual um day that the um the tax goes into effect.
   56:22  Um these next you can skip this one. The this next slide goes over our um projected revenue from passing this at
   56:30  1%. So uh I'll use I'll use some round numbers. So according to um this 1% Marian spends about $100 million a year
   56:37  on food going out to eat. That's what we spend. So that's going to generate us um it's 1% and that's about $1,57,000
   56:47  that will be generated every year for the next 20 years if this passes.
   56:56  And then this slide is just just a representation of if we were to bond for some of the money, how much bonding capacity we would have and be able to
   57:04  move forward from there. But we that's something that we will and so if and when this passes, we have to then I have to then come back to the city council for an additional appropriation or a spin plan for the food and beverage tax.
   57:14  So what we're doing, what the process we're starting now is just the the idea for the the tax to be allowed for. And
   57:22  if you guys find this favorable, then we have to start another process again and where you guys will be intimately involved on how we can spend the money.
   57:31  Um, so you can skip that next one too.
   57:33  So now here, if you go to the next about three slides down, you'll see some of the projects that we're looking to hopefully um tackle with this. So one being the the um Ballot Field project.
   57:45  So, long story short, we have about 20 acres downtown at Ballard Field and um through to spare you all the history, it
   57:53  can't be used for anything other than um fields and or parks. So, what we're looking to do is tap into the multi-billion dollar um youth sports
   58:01  industry and capitalize specifically in this location on soccer. So, um we've been working with a few different consultants and a few different teams
   58:09  putting together um some numbers and how impactful this can be on a city. And we were just talking about the conventions and visitors bureau. This um the
   58:19  development of this will benefit them, will benefit all our other local restaurants and other businesses. Um if anybody's had a chance or have any kids
   58:26  or grandkids that are involved in youth sports, you'll understand how um um how lucrative of an industry this can be and how beneficial it can be for our city.
   58:35  Not just from a a onetoone financial contribution, but also all the ancillary investments that go around um this type of development. And you don't have to
   58:44  look too far. I mean, Cookamo has done one called Championship Park that's specifically focused just on baseball and they generate millions of dollars a
   58:52  year for the city. So, you can you can check this out from cities that are double our size, same size as us and humongous cities where this kind of
   59:00  where this model and this development is a um a huge attractor for the city. Um
   59:07  the next project is our um and just kind of highlight all the things that we're doing in our riverfront district and explaining um
   59:16  why this investment into the ballot field is so is a key to um the success.
   59:23  So I mean I I don't have to go through all the projects because you'll be talking about another one today with with the Jones Heritage. But if you look at this this map, it shows you the the
   59:31  the hyperfocus and the density that we're pursuing by um focusing on this area. So, um this ballot field project
   59:40  will be a uh the key to h making sure all this really functions because what we're doing is obviously building housing and some some entertainment.
   59:49  We've uh since then struck some new deals that are not on this map, but the um the old go-kart location will be open again with the new business. you finish
   59:57  that off. So, what this will do is be the key to activating this space where we'll be able to attract thousands of people that come in to the city of
 1:00:05  Marian into our entry corridor right there.
 1:00:08  Um the next slide, this is talking about more projects that are currently already happening that would be um really
 1:00:17  beneficial to the area, specifically folks around the riverfront.
 1:00:23  Um next, we're going to go to the um the south side. So this is the lot that the city owns about four acres and we bought another I think six acres right next to
 1:00:31  it to try to couple together a really nice project. So u was brought to my attention even back when I was um campaigning for Mary and people brought
 1:00:39  up again the south side of Marian from 33rd over there is no parks.
 1:00:45  So you think about if you think about going but from 33rd Street to the end of Marion 50th there's no parks for anybody else to um anything to do. So you you
 1:00:54  have it bleeds a few it bleeds in a few different districts, right? So four, five, and six all are um start kind of like meshed together right in that area.
 1:01:03  So what this is is kind of a um a modern design of a park and it's called a food truck park. So, what this will do is
 1:01:10  allow for um a performance venue from a stage and about I think it's slotted for 10 parking spots for uh food trucks that
 1:01:19  will be able to use as a a monthly month month-to-month leasing option to also generate more income for the city. Um
 1:01:27  that's another project there. And then um next we're going to go to our um skate park. So, um, when Councilman
 1:01:34  President McKinley brought this to me, I think last year sometime, and so I was very ignorant to how impactful it can be
 1:01:40  because I don't skate. Um, and but after doing further research and seeing how
 1:01:48  much of a uh how much people actually travel for skating and how much it brings into each
 1:01:56  city that builds one of these specific style skate um skate parks with this specific company is attracting people from I mean people are making it like a
 1:02:04  um a travel destination stop that they're visiting each each city for. So us being able to double down on this kind of investment again will benefit
 1:02:13  all of the um the the travel that this food and beverage tax is going to bring in. So when we bring when we build something like this will will attract
 1:02:22  more people to come into the city. And you know this food and beverage tax is a moving target. It could it could go way up. This is just estimated off of 2023's
 1:02:30  performance. And um so we're adding uh other options that are going to obviously increase our um revenue from
 1:02:37  that standpoint as well. And then lastly, this is one thing I'm um interested in from an economic development standpoint. Wing is our our airport is one of the greatest assets
 1:02:46  that we have in the city of Maro from hosting the obvious things that that they do which is flights and airport
 1:02:54  hangers. But there's so many other things that are happening out there that I don't know if we're all aware of. So I'll just take a second to highlight it.
 1:03:00  But between Marian Community Schools, Indiana Wesley, we have a great um program out there where they're learning. We're putting out like top
 1:03:08  tier pilots, which is I mean I don't think people know how many amazing things are going on in the education realm out there. And then um next um
 1:03:16  this one of my favorite events is the um airirstrip attack. So uh airirstrip attack along with the um flyin cruise
 1:03:24  in. So the Mar all that to say Marion airport um is a a crown is a jewel for us and what we want to do is put
 1:03:31  ourselves in a position for for continued growth and be able to host bigger and better more events, more hangers etc. So, the airport has um been
 1:03:40  on a long many year quest. I think they told me almost 25 years of trying to get utilities out to the location and we um
 1:03:48  we we paid for in partnership to have a study done to view all the different options and the option to get the utilities out there in the method that
 1:03:56  we wanted to uh that was necessary for growth was like above $9 million. So, that I didn't think that was the the best use for us. So then we had them run
 1:04:05  another analysis on what it would look like to double their capacity while just improving the um septic system. So that's what you that's what um we would
 1:04:13  like to do um as a part of our economic development uh wing for this food and beverage tax because our airport is a
 1:04:21  huge economic driver for us when people drive when people Councilman Klein brought this up to me when we met when people fly in um we're the nicest
 1:04:28  airport before you get to a bigger a bigger like a big city in this area. So, we have we're a destination for that and we want to make sure we do everything we
 1:04:36  can to invest um and in that and continue to help it grow. So, um that that is all of the um the the projects
 1:04:44  aspect of the um food and beverage tax, but um I don't want to get too heavy into that because we still have to do another um two months with the council beans
 1:04:52  about how that money is going to be spent. So, I kind of just want to get the um the overall idea out there and entertain any questions from there.
 1:05:01  Thank you, mayor.
 1:05:03  Council members, Councilman Klein. Thank you, Mr. President. Good presentation, Mayor. Thank you. Um,
 1:05:12  however, food and beverage tax is a tax I think we honestly don't need. And let me let me share why I think that. As
 1:05:21  we've heard, it can only be used in general terms for economic development, parks and recreation, and related
 1:05:28  bonding. We already have an economic development tax that brings, if memory serves, more than a million dollars a
 1:05:35  year, and we have other sources that can be used for bonding if we need to.
 1:05:42  And given what the general assembly and the governor have done and will do to us through what was Senate Bill One and
 1:05:51  other assorted mischief, local government's likely within a year or two going to take serious looks at relying
 1:06:00  on taxes other than property taxes to fund the services that are expected of
 1:06:07  them. government pays for what it does generally through property tax and income taxes. And property taxes, at
 1:06:16  least for homeowners, it's going to be nice, but for governments, it's going to be a hit. And so, they're going to look at income taxes. Some already are.
 1:06:29  And if we're going to be in a position to look at increasing taxes
 1:06:36  for needs down the road, I think it's very close to folly to create a tax for once.
 1:06:44  Now, mayor, you mentioned going out to eat. So, we go out to eat a local restaurant, and we got a bunch of them.
 1:06:51  We enjoy a good meal, and it's time to pay. We have the cost of the food and drink, the stuff we've actually
 1:06:59  consumed. And on top of that, we have the state's 7% sales tax. And if you've
 1:07:06  been out to eat at local establishments, not all of them, but more and more of them, will charge a transaction fee of three or 4% if you're PL paying with plastic.
 1:07:19  And so now we want to add another percent on top of that.
 1:07:24  We're going to invite people to come to our restaurants and we have good ones and we're going to invite people to come to our restaurants and such and then
 1:07:32  charge them another tax for the privilege and all of that. Those are my reasons I don't think this tax is a good idea. Thank you.
 1:07:43  Thank you, Councilman. Any other council members?
 1:07:55  I'll share uh obviously have a little bit of um input on this with the skate park.
 1:08:03  It's kind of been a project that I've been trying to help push and find funding for and we're still looking at other options for funding as well. Um,
 1:08:12  so you know, we're hoping we don't hoping we can subsidize some of the investment for the skate park and other
 1:08:19  areas other than a food and beverage tax, but um, you know, it's unfortunate that
 1:08:30  well, how do I say this carefully? Um, I'm all about low taxes.
 1:08:35  And in the country we live in,
 1:08:42  taxes are kind of a requirement to have nice things. Um, our country has been
 1:08:49  built with capitalism and the entrepreneurial spirit, but we
 1:08:57  have to support our capitalist adventures and entrepreneurial spirit with a strong
 1:09:04  healthy government. Um, and so taxes are a necessary evil. Um,
 1:09:12  if we want a strong military, if we want to defend ourselves, well, how do we pay for our ships? How do we take care of these things? How do we pay our
 1:09:20  military? How do we pay our firefighters? Taxes are required. Um, and so, while I want low taxes, um, I know they're a requirement.
 1:09:31  The way I view this food beverage tax, um, kind of like a user fee. I hate to say that, but it is kind of a user fee.
 1:09:39  It is an optional tax if you, you know, you don't have to go out to eat to survive. Um, this does
 1:09:47  not affect your groceries. In fact, your groceries, if you don't aren't aware, are not actually there's no sales tax on groceries. Uh, if you go to Walmart or
 1:09:56  or um Needlers or wherever. So, this doesn't impact your ability to buy groceries um or add to any of that expense.
 1:10:09  We have a lot We have five highways that either come through Marian or stop at Marian. Five. So there's a lot of people passing through including at 18 and 69.
 1:10:21  So the truck stops out there are all in the city limits and this this food and beverage tax is an opportunity to capture some of that.
 1:10:32  Also, we want people to come to Marian, and we do get a lot of people that come to Marian. July 3rd, our Independence Day
 1:10:41  fireworks. We have a lot of people that come in and use our parks, use our amenities that don't live in the city of Marian, and therefore do not contribute
 1:10:49  to the tax base in Marian and um and then they go out to eat. And so this is an opportunity to capture some of that
 1:10:58  for people that come into town that that visit Marian and kind of contribute to the parks and the tourism that our local
 1:11:07  city is able to provide. Um, you know, these potential investments the mayor's
 1:11:16  talking about uh have a potential to draw in lots of people from out of town and
 1:11:24  let's just say there's all those soccer fields and we pull in a large tournament.
 1:11:30  Um, essentially we're not really charging people to use the fields, but yet we have to maintain them. We have to build them. And so when they go out to
 1:11:39  eat, because that's probably what they're going to do, most of them, that allows us to capture some of that and reinvest it back into those fields that
 1:11:47  they are using generally at little to no cost. So, I'm in favor of this um not because I want just want another tax,
 1:11:56  but I'm in favor of this because I don't think this has a detrimental impact to um somebody's ability to survive if
 1:12:04  somebody's, you know, down to the luck and maybe low income and and living paycheck to paycheck. Um you know, they
 1:12:13  don't have to go out to eat. Now, they do have to buy groceries, but again, this does not impact your ability to buy groceries. Um, we've had a lot of
 1:12:21  investment with food in this city as you've all seen over the years and more restaurants coming. Um, I think because
 1:12:28  we have a lot of people that travel through Marian and come to Marian to eat. Um, not because it's every resident in our city that's supporting this. So,
 1:12:38  um, I'll stop there. We have plenty of other opportunities to speak on this, but I am in favor of it. Um, because I do want to see Marian provide a lot of
 1:12:46  great assets and and resources. I will one last thing say um there is a tax on
 1:12:54  hotels. So if somebody says a hotel is a tax but the city of Maring doesn't see any of that. That goes actually to the visitors bureau. That's what funds the
 1:13:02  visitors bureau. So if anyone says well what about all the taxes at the hotels we don't see it goes to the visitors
 1:13:09  bureau. And uh this is a sense in uh in a sense kind of our own way to capture that and bring it back into the city limits of Mary.
 1:13:19  Any other council members? Councilman Calgo. Yeah, I uh I I I agree with both
 1:13:25  of you on a certain extent. Um Councilman Klein is right on Senate Bill one. I don't know, you know, how much
 1:13:33  the residents know about it and everything. um that is going to kill cities and ours is going to take a big
 1:13:39  hit in the multi-millions at times. So, we have to make this money up somehow.
 1:13:46  We have to keep attracting people to come to Marian. Um you know, to keep moving forward, it
 1:13:54  takes money. And if the government's going to take money away from us, we have got to Nobody wants to do more taxes. I mean, let's face it, we we
 1:14:01  don't. But you're that's why I agree with you, Nick. It's it's a necessary evil to keep going. Um I'm in favor of this as well
 1:14:10  because uh you know, property tax, we used to know exactly how much we're going to get every year, you know, and it was a set amount. It was easy. And
 1:14:18  now they're looking at doing away with giving that money to us and doing an income tax. Well, that changes all the time. People move in, people move out,
 1:14:26  their salaries change it. Um, yeah. I I hate to do it, but I I just I
 1:14:33  think we we need this. I for this Marian, for our citizens, for our community, for the kids to want. You
 1:14:41  know, we talk about wanting to keep our kids here. Well, we got to keep building. We got to keep making Marian a place that people want to stay, not just, well, we're not going to do it.
 1:14:51  We're losing this. We're not doing that.
 1:14:52  So, it's just the way it is. Well, then we're going to keep going the same direction we have been for the last 25 years, guys. So, as a councilman, do I
 1:15:00  hate it? Yeah. As a councilman, I also took a note to do what I think is best for everybody in this town, and I just
 1:15:07  think this is one of them. I would like to add real quick, I did recently meet with Chuck Binkard, who's the executive director of the growth council. Uh I do
 1:15:17  serve as like the council's liaison or or whatever to the growth council. And one of the questions I asked them is,
 1:15:25  you know, when when corporations and businesses that are interested in bringing goodaying jobs, what are what's one of
 1:15:34  the first questions they ask? And one of the first questions, not necessarily the, but one of the first questions they ask is what is there for our employees to do?
 1:15:45  And so he has to give them what we have to offer. Um, and that can be a make or break. And when we talk about bringing
 1:15:53  jobs to this community, uh that's what these employers are asking. What is there for our employees to do? Where can
 1:16:00  they go? They also ask about schools as well. Indiana pass school choice so they can choose whatever school they want in the county. Um but we want them to come
 1:16:09  to the city of Marian. We want jobs to come to the city of Marion because we want to attract and become a more attractive city and provide um things
 1:16:19  for them to do. I think this ball field or these soccer fields, the skate park attracting more youth to our community because if parents are looking to move here, what is there for my kids to do?
 1:16:30  And so I think um I think if this were to happen and we can get some of these things built that
 1:16:37  would add to uh Marian's resume when these corporations come to the growth council and ask what is there to do for my family? Any other council members?
 1:16:48  Go ahead. Yes, Mr. President. Thank you for your comments, Mr. Calgill, and yours. Michael, your yours also. Um, I
 1:16:55  am agreement with moving forward with this uh ordinance and at least to the second reading and
 1:17:03  public hearing to see what the the input is. But as my wife and I travel, you know, AC across the state,
 1:17:13  my decision to stop at a town or go to a different county or go down and watch
 1:17:20  the Pacers play is not based on, wow, I wonder what taxes are they're going to charge me.
 1:17:30  You know, if I see a restaurant I want to want to stop and eat at, I stop and eat.
 1:17:36  and and uh if I want to go see the Colts play or the Pacers play, I don't worry about the three taxes that they've
 1:17:45  implemented down there at the dome. I don't worry about that. I just go and uh I I you
 1:17:53  know, people may push back on this, but all of a sudden, it's it's a no-brainer. I don't think
 1:18:02  that people are going to at some point in time even notice
 1:18:09  the additional small added fee uh to your bill. Uh
 1:18:18  so I yeah I I'd like to push this forward and and see how it plays out. So I am in agreement to passing this on to second reading and public hearing.
 1:18:30  Thank you. Councilman Any other council members?
 1:18:35  I will add that if you drive between here and Fort Wayne and here in Indianapolis, pretty much all the counties except the
 1:18:43  very rural ones already have a food and beverage tax. Um, I could point to
 1:18:49  Delaware County. They use that. I can't never I can never pronounce the name of that building, but it's their big convention center. for the ministrone minatrista.
 1:19:00  Yeah, minista center. Hey, that's just what you said. They uh they use that food and beverage tax for that and that
 1:19:07  I mean I've gone to events there because they have that and then spent money at a restaurant because I've been there for
 1:19:14  that event. So, they use it for that and some other things, but primarily their basically their big convention center
 1:19:23  that attracts people to come to Delaware County. Um, of course, Hamilton County, um, you're almost paying 2% because every governmental entity can do a 1%.
 1:19:34  So, not only does Hamilton County have one, but then every city within Hamilton County has a one. So, most of the places you go into Hamilton County are actually
 1:19:42  paying 2%. Um, and but yeah, I mean, you go to Fort Wayne. I know those are much bigger cities, but I, you know, you can go on
 1:19:51  to the Indian Department of Revenues website, tells you all the other municipalities that have it. Um, Columbia City, lots of communities our
 1:19:58  size or even smaller that have it, and you can call or visit those destinations, and you can see what they're doing with that food and
 1:20:06  beverage revenue. and they're they're reinvesting it back into their communities to make them attractive and
 1:20:13  bring businesses. Um, and so this isn't some new concept that's been around for
 1:20:20  20 to 30 years, this food and beverage tax. Um, and some communities have had it for a very long time. So, um I spoke
 1:20:28  to a council president and a community um a county just outside of Indianapolis and said, "Well, what are you doing with
 1:20:37  this food and beverage tax or how has it impacted?" And this council president said it's it's a it's been a gamecher. Um they've been able to reinvest.
 1:20:45  They're they're providing um more more tourism, more assets, more resources, not just to attract people,
 1:20:54  but also to make the people living there happier and feel like they have more more to do. So, um in favor of moving this to a second reading.
 1:21:07  One one more thing that I might add as as we campaigned and we all walked the city. Um, some of the the biggest
 1:21:17  complaints is and even on Facebook directed at the mayor, there's nothing to do in this city. We've got to have
 1:21:25  something for our children to do to keep them out of trouble. Well, here we go.
 1:21:32  We're laying it on your lap. So, I think we move forward with this. I think we
 1:21:38  can glean the benefits of this tax, invest it wisely.
 1:21:44  We are investing in our children with this tax, in families, and that's important, and I'd like to
 1:21:53  see this pass. Thank you. Thank you. Any other council members?
 1:22:03  All right. Nothing else. I would entertain a motion.
 1:22:07  Mr. President, I would move that we pass general ordinance number 14, 2025 to a second reading and public hearing.
 1:22:19  Second motion to pass general ordinance 14 2025 by Councilman Kaine, a second by Councilman Calgill. As a reminder, if
 1:22:28  this does pass, it will go to a second reading public hearing on a special meeting July 8th. That's next Tuesday, 6 pm in here. I just want to make sure
 1:22:35  everyone knows that this will not go to the next council meeting because one of the requirements is that a second reading public hearing has to have a
 1:22:44  standalone meeting. That's why it's not to try and evade anything. That is a state law. You have to have it's can't has to be the only thing on the agenda.
 1:22:52  So that's why this would go to next Tuesday at July 8th at 6 PM in here. So anyways, we have the second um madame
 1:23:00  deputy clerk roll call. Kane I. Marshall I Fordise I Brunner I Klein no Divine
 1:23:10  yes Whitten yes Calgill I McKinley yes general ordinance 14-2025
 1:23:18  will go to a second reading public hearing next Tuesday July 8th 6:00 pm here in the uh council chambers
 1:23:27  and again it's open to the public and moving on to resolution 10-2025 the Jones Heritage Project Agreements.
 1:23:36  A resolution requesting the approval of the agreement for the Joan Heritage Product Project. Vita Investment
 1:23:42  Holdings LLC, Jones Heritage LLC, and Built Marion LLC have submitted a proposal to develop the Jones Middle
 1:23:50  School building into approximately 80 apartment units, construct approximately 56 cottage units, develop and construct
 1:23:58  approximately 36 flex industrial units, and 146 self- storage units, all on the project site. The company expects that
 1:24:06  its total investment in the project will be approximately $40 million. As a result, the city has agreed to provide certain incentives to assist the company
 1:24:14  in the construction of the project pursuant to certain project agreements. Speaking Chris Gryel, welcome.
 1:24:22  Thank you. Good evening, President McKinley, members of the council. For the record, Chris Gryel, Barnes & Thornberg, Council for the Redevelopment Commission. It's nice to be with you
 1:24:30  here tonight to be talking again about the Jones Heritage Project. I have the next three items on your agenda. Uh they're all related. We're going to
 1:24:38  start with the project agreements and then we're going to work our way through to the bond ordinance and the associated pilot ordinance. So, uh, Vita Investment
 1:24:45  Holdings, Jones Heritage, and Built Marian LLC have submitted their proposal, uh, as was referenced to you, to redevelop the Jones Middle School
 1:24:54  site into approximately 80 apartment units, construct approximately 56 cottage units on that site as well. And
 1:25:03  then immediately adjacent to that site, develop and construct approximately 36 industrial flex units and 146 stealth
 1:25:12  storage units. And that's all together on that project site. The company is expecting its total investment uh for
 1:25:19  this project to be just north of $40 million altogether.
 1:25:24  The company's requested that the city issues one or more series of economic development revenue bonds in a maximum par amount that the parties determine
 1:25:33  will ensure that 100% of the tax increment revenue generated within this new allocation area is utilized to pay
 1:25:40  debt service on the bonds. Uh they've also requested a commercial property grant in the amount of $650,000 to help assist in the initial
 1:25:49  development and construction of the multifamily site. Uh through that work and through that project, we're proposing to issue two series of bonds.
 1:25:58  Um series A is going to be for the multifamily portion of the project. Uh and series B is going to be for the self
 1:26:06  storage portion of the project. These are both developer purchase bonds. So the city's not responsible for paying any of the shortfall and the company has
 1:26:14  a third-party bond purchaser who's already been identified and is going to be purchasing those bonds so that the developer can monetize that tiff stream
 1:26:23  for purposes of their construction and development of the project. The bonds and the total aggregate amount and we'll get into this in the bond ordinance will
 1:26:30  not exceed $7.5 million. And that's both series A and series B combined.
 1:26:37  uh both series of bonds are going to be secured by minimum taxpayer agreements on the site uh which will be uh recorded
 1:26:44  and require that the developer make those annual payments which have been sized uh to the annual debt service payments. So uh the debt service payment
 1:26:53  amounts are going to be uh reciprocal to the taxpayer agreements. Additionally uh on the series A bond which is the
 1:27:01  multifamily parcel uh the company as you all know is the owner of Vita and Marian which is another development here uh
 1:27:08  within the city and under Indiana law uh Vita in the city can enter into a certain pilot payment uh whereby and
 1:27:17  pilot meaning a payment in lie of taxes whereby uh those pilots are then transferred to the city uh in an
 1:27:24  established housing fund and VA has agreed to make annual payments uh to the city in an amount starting at $60,000
 1:27:32  and then growing at 2% every year. Those payments will then be receded by the city and sent to the trustee uh for
 1:27:40  these bond uh payments and will be applied directly against the debt service. So uh series A bond secured by
 1:27:48  the taxpayer payment and these pilot payments, series Bond secured by the taxpayer agreements, all set at a onetoone rate of the debt service.
 1:27:57  uh as a condition of utilizing these uh pilot payments under Indiana law, uh the company is going to require that 16 of
 1:28:04  its units are forever going to be held at 80% AMI, which is the average median
 1:28:10  income uh of this area. Last Friday, the redevelopment commission approved these project agreements with the company. Uh
 1:28:19  assuming your approval of the same tonight uh and consideration of first reading on the ordinance and first reading on the uh pilot ordinance. Uh we
 1:28:28  are tenatively set to close on August 21st. Uh the developer um has already started uh demoing and has almost
 1:28:36  completed demolition within the Jones building. You may have noticed there's been a lot of work going on there. Uh that building's almost completely fully
 1:28:44  de uh demolished on the interior uh setting it up for its redevelopment efforts and uh both phase one and phase
 1:28:51  two or the multifamily site and the self- storage site are now set to be complete uh by 2026. So all of this was
 1:28:59  originally going to be phased. The developer is now going forward and going to complete both the multifamily portion and the self- storage portion uh by or
 1:29:06  before 2026. So, with that, I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have on on the project agreements. And I'll
 1:29:13  just note to um I know I've referenced this to you all before, but um the multifamily portion of this project is
 1:29:22  being underwritten uh by Freddy Mack and due to their underwriting and they're not underwriting the self- storage portion
 1:29:29  of the project. That's the reason and the rationale why you have two project agreements in front of you, why we're going to have two sets of bond
 1:29:36  documents. We are simply just separating for simplicity the underwriting on the series A versus the series B. So with
 1:29:44  that, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Chris. Great job explaining it all. Any council members with questions?
 1:29:53  Vice President Ford Ice. Chris, can you give us an idea of what the total assessed value of the complete project's
 1:30:00  going to be when it's done? Do they have any idea on that? that I'm going to turn to Greg Valsano of Baker Tilly on that one.
 1:30:10  That'll kind of help us on the Sure. on the tiff revenues that are going to be generated for that. Yeah. Have that here for you.
 1:30:23  Yeah.
 1:30:28  So, this this is Jones project. So, we've we've made estimates on what what kind of um monies this could provide with the self- storage facility as Chris
 1:30:38  mentioned as well as the apartment complex. And we've estimated that the incremental assessed value from this could be about 14.5 million which is
 1:30:46  tiff revenues of around450 or so 430 to $450,000 a year. Um, I would say that, you know, with the bond payments, as far
 1:30:54  as those go, if they do exceed, you know, that total assessed value split out between those two series, I think Chris mentioned that the the difference
 1:31:02  would be made up by those minimum taxpayer agreements. So, the developer would make up any shortfall that exists beyond the tiff and those pilot payments.
 1:31:13  Did you say 14,500?
 1:31:15  Yep. 14 mill 14.5 million roughly of assessed value. Now, I will say that that could be a bit aggressive as that kind of assumes a new build. It's it's
 1:31:22  it's hard to determine what we'll assess because this is an existing facility um that's being completely remodeled as I understand it. So, um that might be a
 1:31:31  little bit aggressive, but you know, if it was a new bill apartment, that's what we've looked at comparable properties around the area. Um it could assess that. Is it aggressive or conservative?
 1:31:41  overly aggressive or well um it might be a bit aggressive because it is a like I said that would assume a new build but at the same time um the the pledge is
 1:31:49  for 100% of the tiff revenues and so whatever the tiff revenues come in at even if they were significantly less there's the city is not making up any of
 1:31:58  the difference from its existing funds or tiff funds. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Absolutely.
 1:32:07  Any other council members?
 1:32:13  just question just for more public information. People might be listening, watching.
 1:32:19  Um, I fully believe this project will be successful and and I'm super excited to see it be completed, but for anyone that
 1:32:28  might be wondering, well, what happens if this project goes belly up and say it's abandoned in the middle of it?
 1:32:36  What's the worstc case scenario for the city and the taxpayers?
 1:32:44  And uh it's a pretty loaded question, council president. Um is your question getting at after a
 1:32:52  project's completion, during the project, etc. So, so from the whole gamut, just like we've done in in similar project agreements before you,
 1:33:01  we've put in a lot of protections for the city um and making sure that there are target dates for the developer to complete the project to hit substantial
 1:33:10  completion for closing on our financial obligations as well. So, those will all be there throughout the course of construction. uh after construction is
 1:33:18  complete and the incentive has been utilized um we'll still be there uh monitoring the development as it comes
 1:33:27  on board for the city. Um with respect to some of the proceeds and the uh tiff incentive that is going to be applied.
 1:33:34  There are certainly defaults that could happen just like any other project and we have control of those uh through the course of the project agreement. So if
 1:33:42  those breaches were to occur, um there are underwriters and third parties who are involved that would hopefully get involved and rectify those errors. If
 1:33:51  not, we certainly will have the ability to do the same. Uh but but our commitment um could be pulled back at
 1:33:59  any time during those those issues. So, if that's what you were getting at, Council President McKinley, then we certainly have levers uh to occur for
 1:34:09  those defaults and breach scenarios, but hopefully we never get to those things.
 1:34:12  Those are items that scary attorneys think about, right? You answered it like a well polished attorney. Good job. Um,
 1:34:20  well, I guess really where I'm going at is is just for simplicity sake, anyone that might be listening,
 1:34:28  is there any liability at all on the city or the taxpayer at all? No. Okay.
 1:34:36  Just want people to understand that. So, if this project were to fail, it would stop taxpayer dollars from the city of Marian
 1:34:44  and the residents would not would not be in jeopardy. Not being in jeopardy.
 1:34:48  Correct. These are developer purchase bonds where the city's not making up any of the shortfall. They're all backed by minimum taxpayer agreements. I appreciate that. And I just say it
 1:34:57  because not everyone understands bonds, tiffs, and all that and hear all these acronyms. I just I wanted to plain English for people to hear that. So, I appreciate you as um for answering that.
 1:35:07  Any other Yes. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr.
 1:35:10  President. Um I appreciate those questions and and your answer, Chris.
 1:35:14  Um, I think that brings comfort to uh the taxpayers of Marian. But I think we can we can look at the record of Mr.
 1:35:23  Zeke Turner and what he's brought to Marian and his his track record is
 1:35:33  wonderful. So I think we can feel very comfortable that this project will will will move forward without glitches and
 1:35:41  it will be when completed will be a great asset and
 1:35:49  uh we'll be gaining a lot of tax res revenue from that project over many many
 1:35:56  years. So here again um let's move forward with this. Thank you.
 1:36:03  Thank you. Appreciate that.
 1:36:07  I did want to clarify I brought I' asked this question in the redevelopment commission meeting, but um just for
 1:36:14  again simplicity sakes, this is we'll say fair market housing. Um this is not a HUD
 1:36:23  development. This is not, you know, any subsidized housing whatsoever. This is all um just fair market value. the whole
 1:36:31  thing about the 80% um it's it's not subsidized whatsoever.
 1:36:36  I did ask that question in the redevelopment commission meeting. Um this is all just regular apartments, regular housing.
 1:36:44  Vice President Ford Ice, did you have a question? No, I I was under the impression that 16
 1:36:51  units were on the 80% which is subsidized for 62 and older. So is that correct? There is an Yes. So the 16
 1:37:00  units from the pilot payments are going to be reserved. Maybe what council uh president McKenley was getting at is the
 1:37:07  city's not making up those payments though in terms of the proforma. Um I believe the developer and their and we can hear from Zeke and his team later
 1:37:16  down the road, but I think their initial marketing of most of these apartment units are are around 80% AMI to begin
 1:37:23  with. If in five, six years with all your continued investments in the city, market rates go up, 16 of his units will
 1:37:32  have to remain at 80% AMI no matter what. So as the other market rates go up, potentially 16 of those units through your pilot payments will remain
 1:37:41  at that 80%. That's correct. Thank you.
 1:37:47  Go ahead. Um Chris, what is the expectation date when people would actually be moving in?
 1:37:57  It's a great question. I would defer to the developer on that. We've been told completion by the end of 2026. I know that since demolition is done, I don't
 1:38:05  know, mayor, if you've gotten any further completion on the multifamily. I know, Councilman Brunner, the multif family is going to be finished first, I
 1:38:13  believe, followed by the self- storage site. So, um, don't hold me to this, but
 1:38:19  I think a spring summer target of 2026 is probably a reasonable expectation, but I'll get further clarification for you. Thank you.
 1:38:31  Any other council? Councilwoman Devon, just real quick, what is an industrial flex unit?
 1:38:38  Yeah, great question. Um it's spec space for um light commercial development that
 1:38:45  companies can move into site ready. It it's called light industrial flex because I think it assumes that it's not just office space. You can put in a
 1:38:54  little bit of a more light industrial use in there, but it's it's it's spec development that's going to be built
 1:39:02  with the prospect of having small businesses locate in and around the area. and what would be considered light
 1:39:10  industrial. Um I mean I understand that they had one time had talked you know possibly a
 1:39:17  little bit of retail space some um restaurants or grocery store something along those lines and I think those amenities are still present in the
 1:39:25  multif family portion of the project. I think when you move into the self- storage flex space, we're now moving
 1:39:32  into more of a um business ready flex space development area that whatever is appropriate for the zoning in that area.
 1:39:40  Okay. And then I assume this also doesn't change some of the other plans they talked to us about about green space and recreation space and walking trails and things like that. You got it.
 1:39:50  All that to my knowledge is still part of the multifamily portion of the project.
 1:39:57  Thank you. Any other council members? Thank you so much, Chris.
 1:40:05  Um, if no one has anything else, I'd entertain a motion. Mr. President, like to make a motion that we pass resolution
 1:40:13  10 2025. Second. Motion to pass resolution 10 2022 by Councilman Calgill, second by Councilman Kaine. Any discussion?
 1:40:23  Madame Deputy Clerk, roll call.
 1:40:26  Kane I Marshall I Fordise I Runner I Klene yes Divine yes Whitten yes Calgill
 1:40:35  I McKinley yes resolution 10 20225 is passed moving on to general ordinance 15-2025
 1:40:43  payment in le of taxes first reading an ordinance authorizing payments in lie of taxes for Vita of Marian VA of Marian
 1:40:52  LLC has developed construction constructed and currently operates an affordable housing development providing assisted living services to lowincome
 1:41:00  seniors ages 62 and older. The project is subject to an extended use agreement as administered by the Indiana Housing
 1:41:08  and Community Development Authority for a period of at least 30 years. Pursuant to the extended use agreement, the project is limited to charging rents as
 1:41:16  determined in accordance with the extended use agreement and from time time to time by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. The owner has agreed to
 1:41:25  make certain payments in lie of taxes and the city and owner desire to document that agreement in a written agreement. Speaking Chris Chrysel.
 1:41:34  Thank you uh council president McKinley.
 1:41:36  Members of the council for the record Chris Chrysell Barnes and Thornberg. Uh the pilot ordinance and the pilot agreement um just goes into further
 1:41:44  detail of what we discussed with respect to the Jones Heritage Project. Um, as mentioned, uh, Vita of Marian, uh, which
 1:41:51  is on 41211 South Adams Street, uh, is able to enter into this, um, pilot structure under both federal and and
 1:42:00  state law, uh, that allows them to make these commitments to the city, which the city is then going to pledge uh, to the
 1:42:08  debt service on the Jones Heritage project. One thing I would draw your attention to um the pilot agreement
 1:42:15  that's attached to the ordinance has the schedule on the very back of it that just shows you what those bianual uh pilot payments will look like. Uh again,
 1:42:24  they start at $60,000, but they ramp up at 2% every year. And so the final year's payment um
 1:42:33  is uh roughly $106,000 uh on an annualized basis. So, uh, those
 1:42:40  do, uh, move considerably and grow, uh, over time to meet the the debt service needs, uh, for the project as well. Uh,
 1:42:48  so with that, I'm happy to answer any specific questions about the pilot ordinance or pilot agreement.
 1:42:54  Any council members on this one? If nothing, I would entertain a motion.
 1:43:02  Mr. President, like to make a motion that we pass general ordinance 15, 2022 onto second reading, public hearing.
 1:43:09  Second motion by Councilman Calgill to pass general ordinance 15205.
 1:43:15  Second by Councilman Brunner. Any discussion?
 1:43:20  Madame Deputy Clerk, roll call. Kane, I Marshall. Hi. Forice. Hi. Brunner. I.
 1:43:27  Klene. Yes. Divine. Yes. Whitten. Yes.
 1:43:30  Calgill. Hi. McKenley. Yes. General ordinance 15 2025. We'll move on to second reading public hearing at our
 1:43:38  next regular council meeting. And moving into general ordinance 16-2025, issuance of taxable economic revenue
 1:43:46  bonds, first reading, an ordinance authorizing the issuance of one or more series of taxable economic development revenue bonds, series 25.
 1:43:56  Via Investment Holdings LLC, Jones Heritage LLC, and Built Marion LLC have submitted a proposal to redevelop the
 1:44:04  Jones Middle School into approximately 80 apartment units, construct approximately 56 cottage units, and
 1:44:11  develop and construct approximately 36 flex industrial units and 146 self- storage units, all on the project site.
 1:44:19  The company expects that its total investment in the project will be approximately $40 million. As a result, the city has agreed to provide certain
 1:44:27  incentives to assist the company in the construction of the project pursuant to certain project agreements. The city proposes to issue two or more series of
 1:44:35  economic development revenue bonds in the aggregate principal amount of $7,500. Speaking Chris Chrysel.
 1:44:44  Thank you, uh, Council President McKinley, members of the council. For the record, Chris Gry, Barnes & Thornberg. Uh, as was just mentioned,
 1:44:52  this just goes more into detail of the bond ordinance that we're proposing to support the uh, Jones Heritage project.
 1:44:58  As we mentioned, these are total aggregate amount not to exceed 7.5 million. These are developer purchase bonds. The developer has a third party
 1:45:06  purchaser that's lined up ready to purchase these bonds and the city's not responsible for any of the shortfall
 1:45:12  payments. uh the increment uh generated on the multif family parcel is going to be pledged to the series A bond. The
 1:45:20  increment generated on the self- storage site will be pledged to the series B bond. And as previously discussed, uh both bonds are being secured by taxpayer
 1:45:28  agreements. And additionally, the series A bond has the security of the pilot payments. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions that you all have.
 1:45:39  Council members, any question? If not, I'd entertain a motion. Mr.
 1:45:45  President, like to make a motion that we pass general ordinance 16205 onto second reading, public hearing. Second.
 1:45:54  Motion to pass by Councilman Calgill, a second by Councilman Kaine. Any other discussion?
 1:46:01  Madame Deputy Clerk, roll call.
 1:46:04  Kain, I. Marshall, I Runner. I. Klein, yes. Divine. Yes.
 1:46:11  Whitten. Yes. Calgill. Hi. McKenley.
 1:46:14  Yes. General ordinance 16205. We'll move on to second reading public hearing at our next regular council meeting. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chris.
 1:46:22  Appreciate you and excellent job. Very lucky to have you and advise. It's very complicated stuff that you're dumbing
 1:46:31  down for us. So, thank you. And moving on to additional appropriation 10-2025 aviation equipment first reading.
 1:46:41  an appropriation appropriating funds in the amount of $83,14786 for aviation. Aviation formally requests
 1:46:50  an additional appropriation for funds of funds for the necessary replacement of our underground storage tanks. Speaking um representative from the Maran airport.
 1:47:00  Good evening. U thank you council president and coastal members. Uh Ray Dash, president of the board of aviation commissioners. I have present with me
 1:47:09  here our manager Andy Darlington and our engineer Ryan McCroski from Walpern Engineering. Uh before I begin the
 1:47:18  presentation I you have before you the our total project cost summary for the two portions of the project.
 1:47:27  And I will note that we've been working on this the airport has for the past three years preparing to do this
 1:47:35  project. Uh the board of aviation is respect respectfully requesting an additional appropriation of $83,14786
 1:47:45  to fund the replacement of our underground fuel storage tanks. The existing underground storage tanks, both
 1:47:52  100 lowled a gas and jet A are 30-year double 30-year rated double wall 10,000gallon tanks that have been in the
 1:48:01  ground for 38 years. Eight years past their useful life. Planning and design of this project, the design, I should
 1:48:10  say, was initiated in 2024. At that time, the Marian Common Council graciously provided an additional
 1:48:17  appropriation of $400,000 for this purpose. At that time, it was believed that the balance in our capital improvement project funds, including
 1:48:26  that additional appropriation, would be adequate to fund the local share of the project.
 1:48:32  However, costs for this project have roughly doubled in the past year, and that includes what I believe was a roughly 5% increase over our engineers
 1:48:40  recent estimates due largely due to tariffs.
 1:48:44  Any failure of either system would result in an unavailability of that particular fuel except for what is in
 1:48:51  the respective fuel truck. Air Marion, excuse me, Air Marion maintains uh dispensing equipment besides the
 1:48:58  stationary tanks uh in fuel trucks. Uh and then there's one for each type.
 1:49:08  We can they can move our fuel airplanes without having to uh tow or taxi them to the fuel farm. The our 100 lowled truck
 1:49:18  has only 700 gallons capacity. Our jet A has 2100 gallons. So any uh loss of
 1:49:26  tanks would require frequent deliveries and delivery fees to maintain supply.
 1:49:31  Lack of supply has the potential to create a hazard for a pilot who fails to check the FAA notices to air missions.
 1:49:39  No TAMs where such publish notices are public excuse me published. Any fuel tank failure of the 38-year-old system
 1:49:48  could result in a potential need for soil remediation.
 1:49:53  Underground tanks represent extreme risk where an above ground tank sits on a over a concrete pit to catch any leakage
 1:50:00  preventing ground contamination. The best design available for a new system which is comprised of 12,000
 1:50:09  uh this design is 12,000galon above ground tanks requires removal of our 100
 1:50:16  100 lowled a gas underground storage tank prior to construction. The existing jet A underground storage tank can be
 1:50:24  removed at a later date. To proceed with the federally funded Jet A system project without doing the 100 lowled AG
 1:50:32  gas system would require that the Jet A system be redesigned such that the AG gas tank could be removed at a later date. This would result in a greater cost and a less optimal system.
 1:50:44  While 100 lowled a gas demand does not satisfy the requirements for federal participation, our airport has increased
 1:50:52  demand due to the ongoing success of the high school aviation commat academy during the school year and the air force
 1:51:00  cadet training in the summer such as is taking place right now. I would uh point out again that the jet A system is
 1:51:08  fedally funded except for our 2 and a half% local match. the 100 lowled a gas is fully locally funded and that's what
 1:51:16  we're hoping to uh to be able to do at the same time as the Jeda project. Thank you.
 1:51:24  Thank you so much. That's a lot of information. Um I'm going open up to any council members with questions.
 1:51:36  I guess I'll ask a couple. Um, have you asked the county for any assistance?
 1:51:41  Over the years, we've tried uh, not myself, but uh, only just being recent to the uh, appointed to the board of
 1:51:50  aviation, but my predecessor, Mr. Jim McKenna, tried many times over the years to get uh, uh, county support for the
 1:51:59  airport. and uh although they benefit from it uh very definitely
 1:52:06  they've always been very difficult to get anything from them. So we have not recently made any attempt. We did
 1:52:14  approach the uh county, you know, the previous uh president did over the issue
 1:52:22  of the uh trying to get septic and water service to the airport and we could get nothing from them.
 1:52:32  How about Gas City?
 1:52:35  I don't know that they've been approached, but I'm I'm not aware that they have. So, I
 1:52:42  just ask because I know this airport and by the way, thank you so much for coming to us. Um, I know this airport says
 1:52:50  Marion on it, but it really should be called the Grant County. Yes. Airport because it services
 1:52:58  businesses all over the county, including Gas City, some of the larger corporations there, Walmart, all those
 1:53:06  others. Um, does the airport receive any funding whatsoever from the county or gas city?
 1:53:17  None whatsoever.
 1:53:22  Okay. Answers my question. So, um, and you're coming to the city of Marion for this $83,000.
 1:53:31  What would happen if you did not get this 83,000? We would likely have to redesign the uh the federal the jet A
 1:53:38  system such that uh it would not be located over the uh 100 lowled AG gas
 1:53:46  underground storage tank. uh it would be a less ideal and I don't know if I could
 1:53:54  state just it would have to be relocated so that we could get that tank out of the ground at a later date when we would take on that project and to have the
 1:54:03  funds for it. Uh it would be less ideal and we we don't know when we would be able to do that.
 1:54:15  Thank you for that council. Yeah, you asked. Your last question was one I was going to ask. Tell us who in particular
 1:54:24  uses our airport and if this doesn't happen, where do they go? Do they still
 1:54:31  come here? What happens? Well, the unavailability of any fuel would would be an impact, but uh and certainly would
 1:54:40  impact uh you know, if we lost, you know, had a problem with a
 1:54:47  one of these underground storage tanks, particularly the jet A would be a disaster for us. But uh if
 1:54:54  losing the uh 100 load, I'd have gas would not be as big an impact. But it is
 1:55:01  a difficulty in where our our pilots would have to fly
 1:55:08  out elsewhere to get fuel and and I know other parts they have to do that. uh not very commonly but to
 1:55:18  really to answer your question there are many uh we have most of the uh business aircraft that arrive at the airport are
 1:55:25  turbine aircraft using the jet a system uh poet uh and CIE
 1:55:35  and I don't know that Walmart uses it to any large degree but occasionally and I'm sorry yeah staff Right. Which Okay.
 1:55:46  So, if you're the AG gas doesn't happen and you're talking about folks having to go elsewhere,
 1:55:54  does that risk losing people at our airport and risk our regional designation? Absolutely. Which is a big financial hit. Yes. Right. Very much so.
 1:56:08  if we were unable to if we had no agas. Yeah, I apologize.
 1:56:14  Can you say your name as well for the I apologize. Andy Darlington, airport manager uh um at the Marin airport. Um
 1:56:21  if we were unable to have a gas right this second, uh our tanks are fine.
 1:56:26  We're meeting all requirements, but we're 38 years into 30-year lifespan. If we were to lose uh the ability to pump
 1:56:34  AB gas, um we have we need 50 planes based on the field. Um if we have no
 1:56:42  fuel to give, uh that's going to give incentive for a lot of these a lot of our customers to either look for a hanger to base their plane out at W
 1:56:51  Bash, Cooko, Muny, Anderson. um uh because no one wants to go out to their
 1:56:58  plane and have to fly to a different airport to get fuel every time. Um so we would definitely risk losing customers.
 1:57:07  Um it would be it would be much easier for them to drive, you know, 20 miles, 30 miles and and to a place where they
 1:57:14  were able to get service. And if we lose our regional standing, I mean, that's just not a fancy label that we like.
 1:57:21  What happens if the airport loses its regional status? Um, so money, non- primary entitlement money that we end up
 1:57:30  getting from um because we are regional status would be cut in half.
 1:57:35  Is that Ryan McCrosky with Walpert? Um, yeah.
 1:57:41  Recently we received bill money from the federal government and that was based on your regional status. So, um, back in
 1:57:50  2022, we weren't regional status and we only got 159,000 a year. In 2023, we we
 1:57:57  went back up because of the based aircraft. Uh, and with that being said, they bumped up our funding from 150 to
 1:58:05  295 a year for that bill funding. So, it it really does affect the federal funding when it comes to your regional status.
 1:58:14  Another question I have is, you know, as far as the revenue that the airport brings in,
 1:58:23  um, was there any potential that your revenue, I mean, people are paying for this gas could cover some or all of this 83,000.
 1:58:34  That being, you know, future revenue, it would be difficult to come up with the funds to fund the project. uh this this
 1:58:44  year as we hope to do, excuse me. But uh
 1:58:50  I I think the income from the fuel sales would be a little too slow coming in
 1:58:56  just to to manage the project. U I I just don't see how we would do it really. I mean, we'd have other funds
 1:59:05  that will be available in the future, but it would be very best if we could do this project at the same time as the Jed A system.
 1:59:15  All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. Any other council members? Council member Runner, I guess I'm maybe not hearing you correctly. Uh, have you been to Gas
 1:59:24  City? Have you talked to Bill Rock, the mayor? Are they doing absolutely nothing and yet benefiting from your airport?
 1:59:33  Same as the county. Yes. We have not been to them to my knowledge. Again, I just joined the the uh commission or the
 1:59:41  the board this year. Uh but I've been around Marian for a long time. I'm not aware that they if they have been
 1:59:49  approached in the past. Uh but no, we don't know that they have. Thank you.
 1:59:58  Thank you. As a followup to Mr.
 2:00:01  Brunner's question, I would I would love to see you guys approach Gas City and the
 2:00:10  county formally so they can formally publicly deny funds to you.
 2:00:19  I think that would be a great idea.
 2:00:23  The only thing I would add is that we have already accepted a uh the bid for
 2:00:29  the Jet A system and applied for federal grant.
 2:00:36  We uh are asking the contractor to hold off until after the flyin crews in to
 2:00:44  begin their work on the system and they're probably not going to be able to start that quite that soon anyway. But, uh,
 2:00:51  that project will be going ahead this fall. And for them to do this
 2:00:58  ag project at the same time, uh, we need to get them ordering tanks and such here within the next couple months, probably by August.
 2:01:09  And so, we do have a time issue. All right. Any other council members?
 2:01:22  I will say I mean appreciate you sharing the time issue but I don't I don't necessarily want to vote under pressure.
 2:01:30  Um I I just I I personally feel that I
 2:01:36  don't think the residents of Mary should bear the burden of all of this expense.
 2:01:45  And um I did speak to a member of the county council today. They said they're just not interested in taking this on. Um so
 2:01:55  at least got an answer. I've not talking to anyone from Gas City. Um, but I think this airport should be there should be
 2:02:02  some spread as far as accepting some of the expense especially or if we just
 2:02:09  split this $83,000 in thirds that would be $27,715.95
 2:02:16  and I'm sure all the other two governmental entities probably could find $27,000 in their budget to maybe
 2:02:24  share some of this burden expense. Um, so I'm just going to say I'm going to vote for it today to move on. Um,
 2:02:33  however, I think between now and the the next reading, I think maybe those conversations formally should be had or
 2:02:40  formally requested um just so we can see if some of them can help with this expense. Sure. So,
 2:02:49  and I'm not trying to be difficult for you guys. I know it's not you.
 2:02:53  Appreciate you coming to us. We're just trying to be fair and I and I appreciate you guys being patient with us. So, any other council members?
 2:03:03  Entertain a motion. Mr. President, like to um ask that we approve uh
 2:03:11  appropriation 10 2025 and pass it on to second reading public hearing. Second.
 2:03:18  Motion by Councilman Calgill, second by Councilman Klene. Any other discussion?
 2:03:25  Madame Deputy Clerk, roll call. Kain, I. Marshall, I forise. I. Bruer.
 2:03:33  I. Klene, yes. Divine. Yes. Whitten. Yes. Calgill. Hi. McKinley. Yes.
 2:03:40  Additional appropriation 102025. We'll go to second reading public hearing at the next regular council meeting. Thank you so much for hanging out to the end
 2:03:48  with us. Uh we're going to move into the additional agenda item that we did add at the beginning. It's general ordinance 17-2025.
 2:03:58  [Music]
 2:04:00  And I'll go ahead and read this uh just a basically it's to change a portion of
 2:04:08  Second Street um from Adams to Branson to a two-way. It is
 2:04:17  currently a one-way. We as a city vacated portion of First Street to allow for the River Rocks development and um we did have a committee meeting on that.
 2:04:28  So I don't know if Councilman Calgo you want to kind of recap that committee meeting.
 2:04:33  Yeah, we did. We uh we had uh we also had a special uh public meeting with that and um the business owners
 2:04:42  discussed it and this was the best solution that we could come up with because First Street, our emergency
 2:04:50  services use that route a lot to and from the hospital. And so since we done away with that, we needed to get them
 2:04:56  still a good route in that area to and from the hospital. And um this is our best one we had. and we come up with a
 2:05:05  favorable recommendation onto the council.
 2:05:09  Thank you for that. So again, it's to convert Second Street from Branson and Adams to a from a one-way to a two-way street.
 2:05:18  It's also important for public safety, pedestrian accessibility, and overall traffic and uh management of the city.
 2:05:25  So um yeah, I don't think there's any other details on this one other than it's that simple. converting it two-way. And I
 2:05:35  know there's a lot of construction downtown and um we're the reason we wanted to add it to the agenda today is just to kind of get this moving because
 2:05:43  it is there's some traffic issues downtown right now with all the construction and um continued road construction and continued development
 2:05:52  at the River Rock site that we want to get this um converted as soon as possible. So, any other council members with questions?
 2:06:07  If not, I would entertain a motion.
 2:06:10  Mr. President, like to ask that we pass uh general ordinance 17205 onto second reading public hearing and we had a I
 2:06:19  don't know if Mike left. I had a lot of work from Mike Graph. I appreciated Mike's help, but Oh, there he is. Okay. Thank you, Mike, on that.
 2:06:28  Second motion by Councilman Calgo, second by Councilman Kaine. Any other discussion?
 2:06:36  Madame Deputy Clerk, roll call. Kane, I. Marshall, I. Forice, I.
 2:06:42  Brunner, I. Klene, yes. Divine. Yes. Whitten. Yes. Calgill. I. McKinley. Yes.
 2:06:49  General ordinance 17 2025. We'll move to a second reading public hearing of the next regular council meeting. Again, thank you Mike Graph um for all your
 2:06:57  work in this and uh we're coming to a good resolution and a compromise for those local businesses over there.
 2:07:06  Moving on to just announcements. Uh the next citywide cleanup is in District 4 and that's July 19th, 2025. Same thing,
 2:07:14  9:00 am to 2 PM. If you're District 4, place your items out on the curb, not in the alley for pickup. And of course, no
 2:07:22  tires, TVs, um refrigerators, those types of things.
 2:07:28  And uh we'll make that announcement again the next council meeting. And of course, as always, you can take your items down to the um city maintenance
 2:07:37  building there behind the old armory from 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. and drop things off as long as you have an ID showing you live in the city limits. And excited
 2:07:46  to have the Independence Day celebration. Um, Mayor Morurell is saying it's going to be bigger than ever, right? Bigger than gas cities,
 2:07:55  correct? Way bigger. So, um, yes. So, we're we're doing on July 3rd and, um, I
 2:08:03  think I like that. Allows people to enjoy fireworks, not only here, but in other places. Um, but, uh, yeah, it
 2:08:10  begins at 5:00 pm at Mod Park. And I did see, you know, there's going to be a lot of traffic. it's not going to be enough.
 2:08:19  Um, so you can park at the mall and take is it city buses that will transport you down to the park as well to make it less
 2:08:28  congested. So, um, just looking forward to that. So, I appreciate you doing that, mayor, and making it bigger than ever. Will the traffic be worse than Seven Brew?
 2:08:39  Probably. Uh, yeah, just asking.
 2:08:46  Yes. said, you know, big compliment to the police department. I know every year they have to like, you know, direct traffic and it's just it's a lot and um
 2:08:53  again goes back to the food and beverage tax of all these people coming and enjoy all of our amenities and we can capture some of that. So, I had to throw that in
 2:09:01  there. Any other announcements from the council members?
 2:09:04  I have not an announcement but a question. Mayor, do you have our budget uh idea of when we're going to have our
 2:09:12  meetings or anything yet? Any projections?
 2:09:16  trying to get my calendar going. The the controllers office is finalizing um through that, but you I'm expecting to
 2:09:22  have our a version to you I think by the um end of August and then that's still I
 2:09:29  think our deadline uh because the rules has changed today. I need to let me double check on what the deadline is now to get it approved.
 2:09:38  I also I will say this um for all the council members if you haven't got the letter or seen it or known the law change but um if you are an elected
 2:09:46  official that makes more than $5,000 a year which as all of us you're now required to file a CFA1
 2:09:53  campaign form got questions go down to the county building and andor talk to your local legislators about it. So now
 2:10:02  you have to keep a campaign committee active if you're making more than 5,000 a year as an elected official. So and you got until July 11th. So you got
 2:10:11  10 days. Uh I don't know what the repercussion is or or whatever it is, but I'm just letting you all know.
 2:10:19  What's that? They'll find you. Just take it out of our wages. We got Marty will defend us. No, just kidding.
 2:10:27  All right. Any other announcements?
 2:10:29  Great. I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. I move that we adjurnn.
 2:10:36  Motion by Councilman Kaine, second by Councilman Calgill to adjurnn. Any discussion? Madame Deputy Clerk, roll call. Kane, I. Marshall, I. For ice, I.
 2:10:46  Brunner, I. Klein, yes. Divine. Yes. Whitten. Yes. Calgill.
 2:10:52  I. McKenley. Uh, yes. We are journed. Thank you for coming.