OurWeek Marion city council, in their own words in Grant County · Regular meeting · 2026-06-02 · full transcript https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcpJy0mVKD0 Exported Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:25:13 GMT These transcripts are YouTube's automatic captions. They garble proper nouns badly — company and personal names especially. Watch the recording before repeating any name, number, or quotation. The video is the record. ============================================================================== Indexed at https://ourweek.in/grant-county/reports/marion-city-council-indexed 0:13 We're going to go ahead and get uh the meeting started tonight. 0:18 Uh first thing we'll do is uh we'll have the prayer. Mrs. Margaret Walker is going to do our prayer for us tonight. 0:26 And then after that, uh, Councilman Eric Marshall will lead us in the pledge. So, everybody please stand. 0:38 Our father, we come in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 0:44 We come with grateful hearts. We are thankful for the blessings that you have bestowed upon us. And Father God, we 0:51 come standing on your word that tell us to pray for those that are in authority that we might have peace. 0:59 Almighty God, you are sovereign. You are sustainer and you're in control. And we 1:05 ask that you would bless each member of the council. 1:11 Provide them, Father God, with the discerning spirit, the wisdom and the knowledge to fulfill 1:17 the job, the situation, circumstances, whatever comes on the agenda that will 1:25 make peace and comfort for us that live here in Marian, Indiana. 1:32 God, we ask in the name of Jesus that you would bless the mayor of this town, cover him. Father, we pray that you 1:40 would cover the police department, the sheriff department, discerning wisdom and knowledge in the area that they're 1:48 working in. Father God, first responders, uh we pray judges, lawyers, we pray for 1:55 a covering so that there is peace and harmony. And God, we pray for unity in this meeting every time they meet. 2:08 everything that's on the agenda. Let your kingdom come and your will be done in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. 2:20 To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, 2:30 indivisible with liberty and justice for all. 2:39 Thank you, Mrs. Walker. And uh thank you, Councilman Marshall. Okay. Uh roll call, please. 2:46 Kane here. 2:47 Reyes here. 2:48 Ford here. 2:50 Runner here. 2:51 Klein here. 2:52 Marshall here. 2:53 Whitten here. 2:54 Divine here. Calgill here. 2:58 Okay. Next thing on the agenda is our recognition spotlight. Um this meeting here we are spotlighting our 3:07 code enforcement officers. Um these guys' job is is not an easy job. Um I appreciate everything that they they do. 3:17 Um and their supervisor uh Justin Dickerson is here. And so Justin, if you and your guys would like to come on up. 3:30 No. Come on up up here. 3:35 [clears throat] 3:52 All right. My name is Justin Dickerson. I'm building commissioner. 3:58 I am missing one code enforcement officer, Matt Moore. Then I'll let you guys introduce yourselves. 4:05 Chief code enforcement officer Shannon F. 4:11 And like I said, we are missing one Matt Moore. Then I I got a little something to read. 4:20 It is my pleasure to be here to tell you about the amazing officers here in code enforcement. I've been overseeing them 4:27 for a few months now and that has given me the opportunity to see how hard they work to take care of the city. In truth, code enforcement is not an easy job. 4:38 It's extremely difficult these officers have to enforce a lot of rules that not everyone likes and they deal with tons of push back from the community. 4:47 [snorts] There are arguments between neighbors, trash, trash all over yards, houses that people are breaking into. 4:54 They get pulled in many directions and asked to do a lot and they don't always get a thank you. Code enforcement has 5:01 really stepped up recently in not only their own jobs but also in supporting the building and street departments under the Department of Public Works. 5:10 They have been vigilant in helping the building department address unsafe structures and permit compliance. They they help facilitate the citywide 5:19 cleanups each month. Code [snorts] enforcement has secured many open and unsafe structures and carried out multiple cleanups in the last few 5:27 months. Now, at the beginning of the mowing season, they're facing hundreds of parcels worth of work to do with the 5:34 summer temperatures still incoming, and they're prepared to do it. Although this job is difficult and a huge test of 5:42 patience, our off our officers have shown up every day to do the work. they choose to come into the office to step onto those streets and endure a lot of 5:51 flack just to ensure that our city stays clean and presentable. 5:56 So, let's make sure, especially these next summer months, that we appreciate the work they're putting into the city and understand that these officers are 6:03 doing their best to support this community. Thank you. 6:08 [applause] 6:20 All right. 6:23 Yeah, they are. They're shy. Uh we got here on behalf of the council, we got certificates for you guys. Uh you know, 6:31 like like you know, you just said, Justin, it's this is a rough job. I mean, these guys work out in this heat. 6:37 They I'm surprised you don't get thanks when you hand out tickets, but anyway. 6:41 Um Oh, it's probably true. But, uh, we all appreciate what you guys do and the city 6:49 is is cleaning up good. You guys are doing a fantastic job and and I very much appreciate what you guys are doing. 7:02 Yeah, it's a free steak. Yeah, Justin will pay for him. So, yes. Thank you guys so much very much. 7:09 [applause] 7:17 No problem. All right. 7:35 Okay, next thing on the agenda is we have our consent agenda. Um, any discussion or if nothing, I will uh entertain a motion. 7:46 Mr. President, I move that we pass a consent agenda. Okay, I have a second. Second. 7:54 Okay, we have a motion by Councilman Kaine, a second by Councilman Marshall. Roll call. Kane. 8:02 Hi. Reyes. Hi. Forice. Hi. Brunner. Hi. Klene. Yes. Marshall. Hi. Whitten. Yes. 8:10 Divine. Yes. Calgill. I. 8:14 Okay. I'll take uh any committee reports at this time. [clears throat] Councilman Klein. Yes, please. Thank you, Mr. President. 8:23 Um we had a good meeting of the compliance committee a little bit earlier today and thanks to the committee members and council members 8:31 who showed up for the meeting. Um the big takeaways from the meeting the first first one I'm going to ask uh counselor 8:41 our attorney Mr. Harker to explain what we've asked him to do if you would please. 8:48 Sure. Um, I've been asked to put in writing a description of what the uh 8:55 council's role in reviewing the CF1 forms. Um, what the standard is uh in in 9:05 judging their compliance. Um, also how it affects what what the termination process looks 9:14 like if there is one. um what the notification process looks like um and 9:20 the impact on uh the tax revenue if anything I I if one of the forms would be rejected. 9:31 So uh also looking into when the start date for the abatement is. got a 9:38 dispute. Some of the forms uh predate that the start date of the project is 9:45 more than a couple years in advance of the actual completion date. So, we have to determine when does the abatement 9:51 actually start. So, I'll be putting all of that uh in writing uh to everyone. 10:00 Thank you. Appreciate that. Not just you explaining it, but you doing it as well. 10:05 And we had it was our annual look at the uh compliance forms for businesses and 10:14 homeowners for ver for personal property tax, homeowner property tax and personal 10:21 property tax abatement. Um got a lot of forms. Some came in late. Some came that 10:28 had that some came in incomplete. Some came in both late and incomplete 10:35 and uh what councelor Harker is working on will address those issues. In recent 10:42 years, we've asked the Grant County growth economic growth council to look at these reports and give us advice on 10:49 approval uh disapproval or problems to fix. And we're going to ask if they will do that again this year. another set of 10:58 eyes of of experienced uh eyes in looking at these things to look at it. They're not making the final 11:06 decision. We make the final decision, but once we hear back from them, we'll call another committee meeting to give 11:14 uh an approval, don't approve on the to the full council on the abatement forms. 11:22 Any of the council people or anybody else who was here have anything to add to that? hearing none. Thank you. 11:30 Thank you, Councilman Klein. Appreciate it. Any other committee reports at this time? 11:38 Go ahead, Jim. 11:40 We had a uh park board uh meeting uh earlier this week and just wanted to let people know that uh 11:49 tomorrow at 2 o'clock uh the dog park will officially open up. Uh kind of a 11:57 slice three iron away from our building here and that will be at 2 o'clock tomorrow. So, we're looking forward to 12:03 that. Also, uh we are moving forward with the skate park and hope to have that possibly uh uh ready to go in uh 12:12 the fall. So, I'll give you more information on that. at uh the the dog park for especially people who live in 12:20 apartments. It's it's kind of a a rough uh go to to try to get out and and walk your dog. And so that's what the dog 12:28 park's all about. So it'll be opening up at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon. Thank you. Good deal. 12:35 And and Mr. Brun, the renditions at our desks are of the skate park, I presume? 12:41 Yes, that is the skate park. We got some bids on that and we hope possibly to 12:48 have that ready to go before winter gets here. 12:54 Thank you, Jim. Have to walk my dog Matt there tomorrow. Anybody else? 13:06 Nope. Okay. All righty. Thank you guys for that. I appreciate it. Uh we're going to go ahead and move on to unfinished business. Uh additional appropriation 9 2026. 13:19 Appropriation for opioid settlement unrestricted. Second reading public hearing. An additional appropriation appropriating $150,000 for opioid 13:27 settlement unrestricted. Speaking city administration. 13:31 Mr. President, Mr. [clears throat] President, members of the council, thank you for uh hearing us again today. We made our pitch in the first meeting. And 13:39 I won't uh put you through all that again except to tell you that I I appreciate you listening to what I think is probably probably some of the most meaningful legislation that you're going 13:47 to consider in your careers. I know it's very important in my 40 years. So, we got some special guests here. Of course, 13:55 Dr. Montero is here to talk about the nuts and bolts. I think uh I see the fire chief in the back of the room and Tim Harris is here with a couple of very special guests. I hope you'll let him 14:04 absolutely uh come forward with those people. They deserve to be heard. So, I'll yield to any questions you may have and of course the uh citizens as well. 14:12 And uh I'll hand the mic over to Dr. Montero. 14:20 Good evening. Um thank you for um hearing me again. Um we are again requesting currently $150,000 to be 14:29 appropriated from the or opioid settlement fund restricted um to cover wellness um activities for our first 14:36 responder um personnel. Um this um these funds will fulfill a current RFP or 14:44 request for proposals that is out. It is called the public safety mental health initiative. Um at this time we've not received any proposals to fulfill that 14:52 but my understanding is that there is interest from at least three different agencies for that. Um so at the t at that time we will receive we'll review 15:01 um we will communicate with the heads of our departments and our mayor to obviously make a decision that's in the best interest of getting all of our 15:08 first responders um the services that they request and that they need. Okay. Um that's it. Any questions for me? 15:16 Good. Yeah. Uh Jade, thank you. I appreciate you being here and explaining that. I just want to clarify one thing 15:23 because on the uh on the agenda it says from the unrestricted. Yes. 15:28 You're saying it's for the restricted fund. No, unrestricted. Okay. You just said restricted. 15:33 Oh, sorry. No, sorry. It is unrestricted. It's coming from the unrestricted. 15:36 It is coming from unrestricted. It cannot come from the restricted fund as it's not directly related to prevention, treatment or recovery of opioid epidemic. 15:45 Okay. I just want to clarify. Thank you. Yes. Anybody else? 15:55 Did you want the guest to speak before I think that they ought to speak before we go to the public? 16:01 Regarding the point of order, I'll I'll leave it to the council's pleasure. I'd like for them to have the time they need. I think maybe the other section 16:09 may have some restrictions on that. I think it'd be worth your time. 16:12 Yeah, I agree. Let's go ahead and have Tim, you wanna 16:22 Thank you, Mr. President, members of the council. Um, I addressed quite a bit the last time. I know a couple of you weren't here. Um, so I won't take a lot 16:29 of time. Um, but I did um got a couple guests here tonight. One, Susan Sher 16:36 Vincent, who is the owner of Frontline Counseling, uh, who will be part of our, uh, proposal, the F, uh, the RFP. um her 16:46 um counseling group is the one that we work with in Hamilton County um and she'll tell you a little about that, but she's the one that really put the 16:54 program together in Hamilton County and then invited us to be a part. And what we found is that what we do along with what the therapies they do really um 17:04 improves the progress and sometimes even speeds up the healing. So, I'm excited that she's here and appreciative. And then um um a couple of you had asked um 17:13 I know Councilman Marshall had a great question which was um success stories. 17:17 Well, we have one here, one of our officers from Noblesville who was gracious and said he would come uh Dennis Coffee. So, if it's okay, unless 17:25 you have questions for me, I'm I'm happy just to shut up and uh introduce uh the officer and then Susan. I I will say um 17:34 and he asked me to mention this um your your deputy chief uh Mark Stephanotus is here um and he asked me to mention that 17:44 he is one that we're working with currently. So if you have any questions you're welcome to ask him um having some coughing issues so doesn't feel like 17:52 getting up and speaking but he's happy to happy to speak with you if if you would like and he asked me to do that. 17:57 Normally we would not do that in a in a public hearing. questions. 18:06 All right, Dennis, if you'd like to come up and appreciate it. 18:12 Thanks. Good evening. Uh, my name is Dennis Coffee. Uh, I'm with the Noblesville Police Department. I've been there 19 years. Um, I had the 18:20 opportunity a couple years ago to get introduced to Tim through Susan and Frontline, um, who I was a patient with 18:27 and still am, uh, currently. And I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Tim and go over what he does 18:34 exactly and to get a good understanding of that and the benefit that I had over it was probably a year um with seeing 18:42 him and going through the brain training and stuff that he does and still continuing to see uh Susan at Frontline. 18:49 Um the experience for me was absolutely head over heels. Um I know my wife 18:56 thanked me and thanked him and Susan. uh my daughter thank them both as well is that there's a lot of things behind the 19:03 scenes that people don't get to see from first responders that we deal with on a daily basis that will keep locked up and 19:10 deal with it in certain ways that aren't healthy. 19:14 They gave me the opportunity to work through those and to figure out what would be best for me and the training and the program that they had that they 19:22 came up with along with Susan was again very very beneficial and I'm very thankful to both of them for the 19:29 opportunity for that. So that's all I have. Any questions I can answer for you guys? 19:37 All right. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming. Absolutely. You're welcome. Thank you. 19:48 Hello. Hi, Brian. 19:50 Nice to see you. Brian came down to an open house we did, gosh, what, a year ago now? Probably was. Um, I'm Susan and 20:00 I own Frontline Counseling in Noblesville. I've been doing counseling for about 45 years and have been working with first responders for over 20 years. 20:10 Um, we solely work with first responders in our practice, fire, law enforcement, 20:16 dispatch, EMS, veterans. And, um, gosh, it's really a blessing, you know, to 20:24 serve this population. And when I started serving this population 20 years ago, um, no, really there weren't many 20:33 people doing it. and departments weren't they they really were kind of scared and really didn't understand it, you know, 20:40 back in the day. Now it's so different and officers, firefighters, they welcome it. About two months ago, and I'll tell 20:49 you this story. We were at a um SWAT conference in um Indianapolis and an 20:56 officer from your department was at that conference. Long story short, was talking to one of my counselors, invited 21:04 us, Chief Gilbert invited us up and we did what you call a critical incident debriefing. And what a critical incident 21:11 debriefing is when there's been a really bad incident um we form a team. It's a mental health counselor, peers um from 21:21 your peer support. And there's a protocol you do um that if you do that right after a critical incident, it 21:29 statistically helps people process through and not have the trauma build up and build up and build up. Now, sometimes you need more, but that's a 21:38 really good start. And when we came, we had an officer from Hamilton County Sheriff's Department and an officer from 21:45 Noblesville that came with us, Emily and I. And your officers were so welcoming. 21:52 um so welcoming and I remember the day when I would walk into a room and everyone would kind of be afraid of you and they'd act like you weren't there. 22:00 Not to be rude, they just didn't know what to do. [snorts] Um so anyway, that was a couple of months ago. So what we 22:06 do is um we like to what we call embed ourselves in the department a little bit, meaning that we will ride along in 22:15 the cars. um you know we'll go to the fire station, we'll go to dispatch, whatever the different departments are, we will go to different trainings, we 22:23 will do trainings um and then of course officers come to our office to talk about their trauma and we do different 22:31 modalities. We do um EMDR which is called eye movement desensitization reprocessing. It's basically a way to 22:39 work with trauma. The brain has a lot of neuroplasticity. 22:43 So trauma gets stored in the brain in a maladaptive way. So when that happens, there are ways, different modalities 22:52 that we work to create kind of a new tunnel, a a new network where it goes to an adaptable place in the brain. And 23:00 what we've learned by working with Tim, which has been such a blessing, is that um you know when we do the brain 23:09 training along with um the therapy, the combination just works together so well. 23:15 And so often it will increase the efficacy of the EMDR or the brain spotting. Those are other terms. And 23:23 gosh, I don't have an hour so I know I can't go into all of them what they mean. and art acceleration art resolution therapy. Um so we found that 23:32 working together has just been really really helpful. And so in um Noblesville with the sheriff's department and 23:40 Noblesville Police Department, we were able to um actually get some of that in the budget and have officers go see Tim. 23:48 And we've been working together for about really about two and a half years now. Um Tim's been driving down. So, um, 23:56 think about it. 180 critical incidents is an average number of what, um, a first responder will see a year. 180. 24:04 That is huge. That is huge. And so, um, and I'm so glad that, you know, um, Captain Coffee came tonight because I 24:12 heard this quote, and it was a couple of years ago, and it's a quote. I I don't think it's an original, um, but it said, 24:19 "If I recover um, loudly, I keep others from dying silently." And that is what I have found with my first responders that 24:28 they're speaking out. Um, you know, they're not I think gosh, Brian, when you came, could you believe all the first responders in one room? 24:35 No, I I was shocked that day. I really was. 24:38 Right. You know, they're that open. 20 years ago, they would not have been. No. 24:42 Um, you know, they'd come in the back door. Yep. 24:44 You know, but it's different now. So anyway, um, thank you for letting us come and gosh, thank Ke Chief Gilbert for us coming and doing the debriefing a 24:53 couple of months ago and listening and and caring enough about your first responders, you know. Thank you. 25:01 Thank you so much. Good to see you again. I Yeah. Um, yeah. Go ahead, Tim. You want to say something? 25:07 Yeah. I I I was just going to say how much I appreciate them coming. um the the teamwork that we have with people 25:14 that are um culturally competent to get first responders. Um and you guys know 25:21 first responders are a rare breed and we love you guys and uh and we love working with you and Susan's been doing it for 25:29 you know more than 20 years. It's really remarkable the trust that they have. So anyway, any of them would be happy to answer questions. I'm happy to answer 25:36 questions but other than that we just appreciate the opportunity. Thanks. 25:41 I just want to just say a little something. Um, like like you just said, the average 25:50 person will deal with maybe two to three critical incidents in their lifetime. At 180 a 25:59 year, if you do a 20-year career, we deal with 3600. 26:05 I mean, think about that. And you know, the average person They haven't zipped up a body bag. They 26:14 haven't done CPR on somebody that doesn't make it. 26:19 And you know, you don't uh you don't forget the screams of the parents when a child doesn't make it. 26:28 It's it's it's rough. And uh you know, we've always been taught just to push it down. And that's what a lot of us do. 26:34 But 3,600 incidents, there's only so much room to push down. 26:39 So, I I'm very thankful, Tim, for you and and for everyone. Mr. Coffee, thank you for coming tonight and sharing as 26:47 well. Um, we got to take care of our first responders, guys. I mean, you know, when 26:55 we need help, they're the ones we're calling. So, by God, we need to take care of them. 27:02 Okay. Anybody else? Only police officers can speak tonight. 27:12 No, go ahead. [laughter] Good evening, council. Uh, apologies. I missed the first uh meeting, but I was on a much needed vacation. 27:23 Um, as president council, uh, President Ko said, you know, I started my career in 1999. You didn't utter the words 27:30 mental health. That was wordy dirt. That was you were weak. you were not worthy of the profession and all the nasty 27:38 things they can say that I can't say right now. Um, over the years we've been taught to just put things in a box and forget it. 27:48 Don't worry about it. Just putting it in put it in that box. So, we all have that box. 27:54 Eventually, that box gets full and you keep trying to put stuff in it. And it's just like any other box. [clears throat] It's not indestructible. That box burst 28:01 and then that's when the crazy things happen for us. 28:05 So, I'm in full support of of having our mental health evaluated, helped us 28:12 mentally. Um, we need it. Most of us won't ask for it. Um, because again, we've been taught it's a sign of 28:19 weakness. Um, but I just wanted to be here and I again apologize at the first one, but I wanted to support Chief Gilbert and everything that we're doing 28:27 trying to help with mental health for our first responders. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. 28:37 This is our second reading public hearing. So, at this time, I will open it up to anybody in the public that wants to speak for or against this. Um, 28:46 state your name, uh, your address, and you'll have three minutes. Go ahead. 28:52 Linda Wilk, 1016 West Fifth Street, but I'm also here as a Hands of Hope director. I've been doing this work for 32 years and Dave knows very well when I 29:01 tarted it and it still is a very macho field and profession. So I am so pleased 29:08 and I feel so excited that Dave and all of you are supporting this because from a hands of hope perspective when you're 29:17 talking about domestic violence and we know how machoism plays into domestic violence. If we're going to change 29:24 culture norms, if we're going to let men have emotions, we have to let them address their mental health. This is so 29:33 critically important. I'm not just talking about law enforcement. I'm talking about anyone, you know, addressing their mental health. But to 29:40 let law enforcement and firefighters be the the poster boys, the poster men to 29:48 say to other men, it's okay to address your mental health. And yes, law enforcement, firefighters see far more than anybody else does, but they're also 29:56 the ones that are out there and they can be that bold, strong role model for everyone else in the community to again 30:04 say, I'm going to stand up and I'm going to say, I have challenges. I want to address them. I want to be the best man I can be for my spouse, for my children, 30:13 and be that public support that we need to stop domestic violence. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart so much. 30:22 Thank you very much, Linda. Anybody else? There we go. 30:41 Oh, okay. Sorry, never done this before. 30:44 Um, Chris Stephanis from Converse, Indiana. I am the wife of Mark. Um I also have um two sons in law enforcement, one on the police 30:52 department, one on the sheriff's department. Um one of the things that I started volunteering with Tim um 31:00 probably almost a year ago just kind of out of curiosity to see what it was all about. Um developed a passion for it. Um 31:08 and one of the things I saw as a mother and as a wife, um I've been doing this 31:14 for 30 years now. um as a wife and uh I want my sons thinking of the younger 31:22 police officers. I want my sons and fire um as they I want them to start their lives. Um I want them to be the best 31:31 husbands they can be. I want them to be the best fathers they can be. Um and I think this helps with that. Um, and I 31:38 also want my husband, who is maybe close to retiring one day, um, to be able to retire 31:46 as complete as the as he can um because of just 30 years in the business. That's kind of what comes with it. So, as a 31:54 wife and a mother, um, there is a lot of benefit to what they do. um to just let these men and women be the best people 32:03 they can be as they're young and as they get ready to go be retired and old and 32:11 you know just enjoy life the best they can. Thank you. Thank you. 32:20 Anybody Mr. East Street. 32:31 People ask me why do I support the police? 32:36 My answer is it's the only civilian occupation that has a target on the back. 32:44 People, believe it or not, hate police. 32:48 I think one of the best examples we find is the incident here a week or so ago where they subdued an individual. They 32:57 had to fight him to get the handcuffs on. And everybody was saying the mean the cops were mean. They were horrible. 33:05 They were beating that guy. Well, if he would have complied, it'd been all right. 33:13 The daybyday life of a police officer has stress. 33:20 There are crises experiences. Crew, but every day they put that badge on, they're going to look at people, people 33:27 going to look at them and some are going to have hate. They have to live with that. Just sitting on a corner with a 33:35 sign supporting police, I get all kinds of comments. 33:41 I've been threatened my life two times by the same individual. 33:50 Now think what if our police officers go through the constant day by day by day 33:59 hate and harassment and comments that they receive and re Now now I will say there is a lot of 34:07 support for police. I have a lot of horn talking. I have a lot of w hands waved, 34:13 thumbs up, support much, but that doesn't take away the stress, the 34:20 pressure that our police live every single day. And then the wife, 34:29 the companions, the children, he's carrying the weight of the hatred that people have toward his children. 34:40 He's carrying the weight of the attitude that people have toward his children because he's a police officer. 34:50 We can't categorize too much or find out how much 34:59 I'm trying to think of a word. I can't think of uh the pressure that they go through every single day mentally, emotionally. 35:11 What's going to happen next? 35:14 Who's going to be the next one that has a bullet in their back or the chest? 35:23 We've had it happen. It'll happen again. 35:28 And these men and women live that every single day. Thank you. 35:37 Thank you, Mr. Moon. Anybody else? 35:47 Seeing nobody else come up, I'll go ahead and close this part of the public hearing. Uh, council, anybody else have any comments or questions or anything? 35:57 If not, I will go ahead, Mr. 36:00 Why I'm buzzing tonight. Um, I have a questions. I I I like to start by saying I'm 100% supportive. 36:06 Eric, you used Yeah. 36:10 100% supportive of this initiative. I'm just curious as to the mechanics of how it is going to be administered, who will 36:18 be in charge of 150,000, how we arrived at 150,000. Um, and do will there be some kind of report at the end of it? 36:28 Um, this is not going to be the end. I don't I imagine $150,000 is not going to go but such a period of time. So, I would like I wonder if you could speak to some of those types of issues. 36:40 Yeah, thank you, Councilman Marshall. 36:41 Um, and that was our reason for the RFP um was because it provides some guidelines around the scope of what we're looking for. Um, it spells out the 36:49 price for us. It lets us know what sustainability looks like. Um, one of the things that the chief and I talked 36:56 about was if we are going, the city is going to make available this type of programming, I would love for our first 37:03 responders not to have to pay anything out of pocket. So, does that mean that I need to seek more grants? Will we be coming back for additional 37:11 appropriation? That is what the RFP will allow us to really find find out, right? 37:17 Um, I think the other piece is what will recordeping look like? Um, what does liability look like? Um, it's not every 37:24 day that a city um makes this type of programming available. So, yes, as therapists, we have liability insurance. 37:32 As businesses, we have liability insurance. Um, but what about the city? 37:37 Do we need more? Um so that is why um we we decided to go the RFP route to get all of those questions answered um 37:45 before we would look at funding. Um I am the coordinator for the opioid settlement fund. Um so I will be asking 37:52 for those funds to be released from the controllers's office um in whatever um format we find that is most steamable 38:01 whether that's like monthly billing um whether we need to award on a quarterly basis I will do that um until we until we decide a different structure is necessary. 38:12 Yeah. 38:14 So the answer to the question is you will be administering the funds. Yes. 38:17 Okay. and and uh how many uh employees are we hoping to cover with this? We have how many uh police officers and how 38:25 many firemen? And are there any other first responders that aren't firemen or policemen? 38:30 Yeah, my my understanding is it my understanding is that we have about 120 firemen and police. Yes. Around 120 38:40 firemen and police. Um and then that does not include dispatch and EMS that also serve um within our city. Um, so 38:49 that's one portion of it. We also don't know how does insurance factor into this? Can we bill insurance? How would we then cover a deductible or a co-pay? 38:59 So, there's just a lot of questions that need to be answered to make sure that this is sustainable um for our first responders and for the city, right? This 39:07 isn't something that we want to administer for a 12-month period. we we want to be um having success stories 39:14 two, three, five, 10 years down the road. Um so yeah, we we still have some figuring out to do. Um the initial 39:23 numbers that I received um would only serve um about 40 officers and that's 39:31 about um that's only one part of the of the service that I received. So um with 39:38 the numbers the cost proposal I received it was about $8,900 for 40 sessions of 39:46 brain training and 40 therapy sessions and that is per person. So that's only serving 17 individuals. So we've got 39:55 some work to do to figure out the numbers. Um hence why we came with an initial ask. Um and I will be doing a lot of planning. 40:05 Yes. Maybe I'm getting ahead then, but if we have ballpark 120 people, 40:12 the money so far, you you you said 17. 40:17 Y how's that prioritized then on who gets it? 40:22 Um well, I I think the purpose would be I don't know that we would consider priority. That's something that we would still consider with the 40:29 Yeah, that's an open. I didn't know how other to phrase it. You got 120 people. 40:34 How many thousand hundreds incidents a year, right? 40:38 And finite number of dollars. Yeah. 40:45 Yeah. I think just curious. 40:46 Well, and I think that's why the proposals are so necessary, right? 40:50 Because yeah, our cost proposal that we were presented were for $120 per therapy session, but what if our insurance is 40:58 going to cover $80 of that, right? like it's so important for us to have everything laid out for us for us to 41:06 really plan to have true numbers. Um, and then I know what else do I need to do I need to appropriate. There are still funds in the unrestricted fund. 41:15 Um, also what grants do I need to seek out to make sure that that all all expenses are covered for every first responder that requests these services? 41:27 Yes. 41:28 What's the uh anticipated start date of this program? 41:33 Um so our RFP has an anticipated start date of September. Um if we are if we 41:41 are able to choose a provider and have an executed funding agreement contract earlier obviously we would love to see 41:49 that happen. Um but I do have an anticipated of September. And then so the RFP has been open for how first 41:58 question. The RFP has been open for how long? And we haven't had any one interested up to this point. Have you gotten feedback of why that may be? 42:08 Um, uh, the RFP has been open since May 15th. I've received three emails indicating that there will be a 42:15 submission of a proposal from three different organizations, including Mr. 42:19 Harris's. Um, it closes on June 15th, so there's still some time for people to to figure some things out. 42:27 Yes. 42:28 And I will say that a lot of times, unfortunately, it's the nature of the beast, that it takes one or two or three 42:36 guys to have the courage to step up. And once that happens, you might be surprised how many follow after that. 42:44 Yeah. 42:46 Anybody else? Any other questions? 42:53 Thank you, Dr. Mar. I appreciate you coming here. Absolutely. 42:56 Um, I'll entertain a motion at this time. Then, Mr. President, I move that we suspend the rules on additional appropriation number 9, 2026. 43:08 Second. Second. 43:10 Okay. We have a motion by Councilman Kaine uh to suspend rules. We have a second by Councilman. Was it Klein? Was that you, Mike? 43:18 Okay. Councilman Clen Whitten. You You pick. You pick. [laughter] Councilman Klene. And uh roll call, please. 43:28 Kain. I. Reyes. I. Forice. Hi. Brunner. I. Klene. Yes. Marshall. I. 43:36 Whitten. Yes. Divine. Yes. Calgill. 43:39 I. At this time, I will take a motion to pass. 43:44 Mr. President, I move that we pass additional appropriation number nine, 2026. 43:52 Okay, now neither one of you want to say anything. Second. Second. 43:57 There you go. You waited too long. All right. Got a motion by Councilman Kane, second by Councilman Fordise. Roll call. Kane. 44:05 I. Reyes. I. Forice. Hi. Runner. I. 44:09 Klene. Yes, Marshall. 44:11 Hi, Whitten. 44:12 Yes, Divine. 44:14 Yes, Calgill. I thank you guys. Um, this is important. 44:19 I appreciate this. Go ahead, Chief. I echo that. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. 44:27 Thank you, Chief. Appreciate it. 44:34 Okay, we'll go into new bit new business now. Resolution 82026, a request to approve an economic 44:43 development agreement. A resolution of the common council for Marian, Indiana, approving an economic development agreement. Speaking Joe Murphy, econ economic development director. 44:56 You're fine. You're fine. 45:11 standing in the building. 45:15 Here we go. All right. There we go. We got it now. There we go. 45:30 Good evening, members of the council. Uh Joe Murphy, economic development director for the city Marian speaking. 45:36 Um I do have the pleasure of uh introducing to you our plant manager for the Prismian Marian plant uh Justin. He 45:46 is going to give a brief overview of Prismian as a company, their history in Marian, and then dive a little bit into the specifics of what this investment is 45:54 going to yield for the community as well as the company. And then we'll get into the particulars of the EDA and the the abatement process. Uh but first I want 46:01 to introduce Justin and give him a moment to uh speak to you all. Thank you. 46:07 Good evening. I am Justin Pangmer, the plant director of the Prismian plant here in Marian. Um I'm here to give kind 46:14 of an overview of the company um our footprint and the plant. 46:20 So Prism has a very large footprint um not only in North America but globally. 46:25 In North America, we have 25 manufacturing plants with seven distribution centers. 46:33 Our headquarters is located in North America for Highland Heights, Kentucky. 46:38 Our overall headquarters is Milan, Italy. 46:43 Globally, Prism has over 107 manufacturing plants and distribution centers worldwide. 46:53 So this is an overview of the Marian facility. Um you can see the largest part of the facility is all manufacturing at the moment. Um the 47:01 building to the north there is warehousing for finished goods product. 47:08 So the Marion plant was built back in 1910 and it has been making wire and cable since 1911. 47:18 The facility is 850,000 square feet currently. Um, currently we have 174 employees, white collar and blue collar. 47:28 Um, with two labor contracts on the plant. 47:34 Um, our products. So, we are a true specialty plant. Um, by that I mean we do operate in five different value 47:41 streams for the company and four different product channels. everything from utility to diesel locomotive to building wire. 47:53 So we have a project that we are proposing. Um this project is to increase the capacity in our current 48:00 product line that we run today. Um this project would bring facility upgrades, upgrade to our current equipment. um 48:09 would also add five new pieces of equipment along with bringing in 29 new jobs. 48:16 Um we are requesting for a tax abatement on our personal property for this project um to move forward. Um I'll turn 48:24 it over to Joe to go into the details of that, but if there are any questions, I will be around um to answer anything that you guys may have. Thank you. 48:35 Thank you, Justin. 48:38 So, as you heard there, um quite a long extensive history under several different names with this company here in Marian. Um and this new investment um 48:47 for me is very very exciting. Um ultimately getting down to the the brass tax of the abatement um when my office 48:54 receives an inquiry like this from a company that's already located here, we typically evaluate three consecutive questions. Number one is is this a 49:03 company and a project that we want to be associated with as a community? Does it align with our strategic vision for growth in the community? Um, and in this case, I think that is a resolute yes. 49:12 Um, you know, under Mayor Morell and this administration, we've been experiencing somewhat of an industrial growth period, which is really exciting. 49:18 Obviously, this community was built on industry. And so, this is in line with with additions to the GM plant, additions to the Cafe Valley plant, Harts & Kennedy, and now Prismanian. 49:27 We've seen, you know, four major manufacturers choose Marion in the last several years and invest in not only new equipment, but new jobs in our community. So, I think uh on question 49:36 one, it's a resolute yes. Question two then becomes, does this project need abatement to move forward? Um I've I've got Andy Mouser here with Baker Tilly 49:44 that can bring you up some numbers if you're interested in hearing the particulars. But what I would share with you is on the personal property side for this project, you've got an existing 49:53 assessed value of right around $9 million for the existing equipment in the building. With this new investment, we would raise that assessed value by 50:01 almost double. So overnight the company's tax bill on the personal property side would double. Um meaning that this would not be a tenable 50:09 position for the community or for the company to make that investment. Right? 50:13 There's no feasible way for the company to make ends meet, continue to operate, employ the people they do if overnight their bill is doubled from $300,000 to over $600,000 annually in the community. 50:25 So we recognize that there is a need to abate this project. Then third question is how do we work with the company to best provide that abatement? So that's 50:33 been the longest process with this project is just identifying the correct mixture of abatement to be sure that the city is being treated fairly but also 50:41 the company feels that they're being treated fairly. I will point out as it's been uh I think referenced on one of these slides is this was a competitive 50:47 project. So as you just heard Prismian has an extremely large footprint not only in the United States but globally. 50:53 So, we want to be sure that we're competitive and that we can bring those jobs and that new investment here to Marion as opposed to seeing them land somewhere else across the country. Um, I 51:01 think what's what I want to point out to begin with here is that, you know, if those jobs and that investment does not land here, we don't experience any new 51:08 tax growth. Even with this abatement proposal, we do still experience some meaningful tax growth, not only to the personal property side, but we also are 51:16 going to re be rece recipients of over two mill or roughly $2 million in new salaries for this community as well as 29 new jobs. So there's there's 51:24 meaningful impact to the community in spite of the fact that we are proposing abatement. But um ultimately we looked at an array of abatements on this 51:31 project and landed on a 10-year 75% flat abatement. Um two reasons for that. Uh, number one, at the front end, you know, 51:39 typically with a project like this, you may consider a descending abatement where it starts at 100% and phases out over 10 years down to 0%. Uh, what we 51:47 experience with this is kind of a strange phenomenon that occurs in Indiana. Um, when you have a really uh old plant with a lot of older equipment 51:55 and then you interject a large amount of new equipment, if you abate 100% that 100% of that new equipment, you experience something where you actually 52:04 start to fe feather into the existing equipment. And what we've seen and Baker Tilly's provide us the numbers on is that the actual tax revenue to the 52:12 community in that case at 100% would decrease from where its current levels are. So you'd see you'd see almost $120,000 decrease in the revenue. So 52:21 that wasn't a tenable position for us to take. So that's the reason we don't start at 100 in this case. We're starting at 75. So that they do receive 52:28 some property tax relief up front, but it still represents an increase in revenue to the city from year 1 all the way through year 10. Um and then what 52:36 we've done on the back end is we've maintained that flat rate because um and we you've heard this before with some of our other tax abatement uh proposals. uh 52:44 Marian's got a a fairly high overall tax rate and so circuit breaker tends to become a factor in these projects and so we maintain that higher rate through the 52:52 remainder of the project to avoid those circuit breakers uh cutting off any benefit benefit to the comm or to the company in the later years. Now even 53:00 with this project at a relatively high rate after year seven the impact of the abatement is essentially zero because of 53:08 that circuit breaker tax already providing you know somewhat of a quasi abatement for the company already. So, um, that's where we landed on the 10 53:16 years, 75%. I'll be happy to entertain more questions on that. Um, just a quick review again of the investment. We're 53:22 talking about 303 or yeah, $33 million total, 28 million on the personal property side. That's what we're contemplating an abatement on. The 5 53:31 million in real property. They're not requesting any abatement on. Large portion of that is going to go towards replacing large sections of the roof as well as upgrades to the facilities that 53:39 primarily serve their employees, primarily their bluecollar employees. 53:42 So, it's going to be upgrades to their locker rooms and their break rooms and some other amenity areas inside the building. And again, that will represent some meaningful growth to the actual 53:51 assessed value on the real property side that we will capture through our TIFF um that they're not requesting any abatement on. And then on the job side, 53:58 again, we've got 219 new jobs, three salaried, 26 production with a combined aller rate over 30% per or $30 per hour. 54:07 I'll point out that that represents uh 125 actually above 125% of the county average wage for the applicable 54:14 position. So we're talking about doing above and beyond what the average wage for a type of position in this county would look like. So that's that's great. 54:21 That's music to our ears. Again, another reason to be very supportive of this project. Um shifting gears really quick 54:28 to the actual EDA, which is the first item on the uh docket for today. 54:32 Essentially, this is a commitment on behalf of the city to provide the abatement and then rules and requirements that the company's going to have to meet both in the short term and 54:40 the long term over the life of the abatement to be sure that they can continue to receive that abatement. We just talked earlier about the CF1 process. That's that's what's outlined 54:48 here in pretty clear detail. So again, those those investment figures, those employment figures are referenced in here. The 10ear 75% abatement is 54:57 referenced in here. And then what we have as well as um in protection of the city, we also have in um article three 55:06 company's obligations section B, you've got an overall employment level that needs to be met as well. You know, one of the things that we want to make sure 55:13 we avoid with projects like this is a situation where they add 29 new employees on paper while also reducing their existing labor staff by 29, 55:21 resulting in a net gain of zero jobs. So we we require that they at all times maintain an employment level of 190 according to their SP1 that they 55:29 submitted. They've currently got an estimated employment of 173. So that will represent again the goal is we would always see that ad of 29 new jobs. 55:38 But we do recognize that economic conditions don't always make it possible over the 11-year lifespan of this abatement or 10ear lifespan of this abatement to be able to sustain that 55:47 level of of commitment. if you do experience some level of economic downturn, we do recognize there's need for that to be flexible, but we do 55:54 maintain that 190 uh employee level in there. And then you've got in article 4 all of your abatement, termination, and 56:02 compliance information in there. So again, there is going to be the requirement on the front end that they submit the SP1, they've complied with that. And then there will be the annual reporting requirement of the CF1 as 56:11 well. um whereby if this body finds that there's anything that they're not complying with, they can inform the company that they're out of compliance, 56:18 triggers a hearing in front of this body whereby you guys have the authority to terminate the agreement. You also have the ability to seek damages for the 56:26 prior year if they were able unable to perform. So you can, you know, cancel the abatement moving forward. You can also look at collecting damages and the formula for how you collect those 56:34 damages is outlined in here as well. Um, so in closing, I would just offer this that I I think again this is a project 56:42 that aligns really strongly with this mayor's strategic vision, with this community strategic vision. It's another investment in our industrial economy. 56:50 Uh, this was a competitive project project. We're really excited to see that Prismian recognizes Marian as a great place for an industrial company to 56:57 be and they want to make that investment in here. And so in consideration of that as well as the the tax implications that they're facing if this project were not 57:05 to be abated, we recommend approval of the EDA and the 10-year 75% abatement. 57:10 So happy to take any questions you guys have um at this time. We also have Justin available if there's questions about the specific investment in the uh plan. 57:19 I don't remember the shapes of all the districts, but I didn't hear you mention TIFF. So there's no TIFF involved in this, right? So the the the project site 57:27 is within a TIFF. However, uh TIFFs capture real property tax and and there's no is a personal property tax. 57:35 So there will be no negative implication on TIF. And in fact, as I mentioned, the 5 million in real property that's being invested, you know, whatever meaningful 57:42 AV is is growth experience in there, the the TIF will capture and that'll be again to the benefit of the city. So we'll be receiving some, you know, some modest but new revenues on that TIFF. 57:53 will still be receiving some some meaningful new personal property tax revenue as a result of this project even in spite of the abatement. And then as I 58:01 mentioned almost $2 million in new salaries and 29 new jobs for our community. Yep. 58:09 Anybody else have any other questions? 58:15 Okay, Justin, I appreciate you and Alicia both being here tonight. 58:19 appreciate the fact that you guys chose and I know we was in competitive with it was it Kentucky I think I can't remember now 58:26 and um I see you unfortunately got the job done without me going to Italy but that's okay but u there's still time 58:33 very yeah that's right very much appreciate you choosing Marion um we're we're on the rise again and so uh 58:42 it's a great thing I appreciate it if um don't have any other questions or anything. I'll entertain a motion. 58:51 Mr. President, I move that we pass resolution number 8, 2026. 58:58 Second. Andy got it. 59:01 All right. We got a motion by Councilman Kaine and a second by Councilman Whitten. Roll call, please. Kane. I. 59:09 Reyes. I. Forice. I. Brunner. I. Klene. Yes. Marshall. Hi. Whitten. Yes. 59:16 Divine. Yes. Calgill. Hi. All right. That that is that passes. 59:24 Uh go on to resolution 92026. 59:29 A request to approve a declaratory resolution designating certain property as an economic revitalization area and authorizing abatement. First reading. 59:38 Speaking Joe Murphy, economic development director. 59:42 So this is the second part of this process. Um, as you'll recall likely from our previous abatement processes. 59:48 In order to actually approve abatement, you have to first establish this economic revitalization area, uh, you can do this in any area of your community. In this case, we would just 59:56 be identifying that individual parcel that encompasses the actual building itself. Um, and all this does is essentially recognize at the state level 1:00:04 that this is an area that is in need of revitalization. It's it's, you know, lacking investment, etc., etc. Um and it allows us the authority to then approve 1:00:12 an abatement on the project. Um this is the first of of two resolutions that will actually assist us in establishing 1:00:20 that revitalization area. This is the declaratory resolution assuming approval this evening. We'll then send notice overnight to the papers and have this 1:00:27 noticed and send it. We'll also send notice to all the overlapping tax and districts that this is set to occur. And then we'll be back before you in two 1:00:34 weeks with the confirmatory resolution which does have a public hearing component as well to be sure that we can um hear from any members of the public 1:00:42 who want to speak in support or against the project. Um and then once that is complete and that economic revitalization area is established, the 1:00:50 aratement is approved, then we can move forward with actually securing that investment and abating the uh taxes. 1:00:57 So entertain any questions about that part of the process um at this point in time. 1:01:07 Seeing none, I will entertain a motion. 1:01:11 Mr. President, I move that we pass resolution number 9 2026 to a second reading and public hearing. 1:01:19 Second. 1:01:20 Okay. We have a motion by Councilman uh Kaine. Uh second by was that you councilman Brunner. 1:01:27 Roll call. Kane. I. Reyes. I. Forice. Hi. Brunner. Hi. Line. Yes. 1:01:35 Marshall. Hi. Whitten. Yes. Divine. Yes. Cal. I thank you, Joe. Yeah, thank you all very much. 1:01:43 Thank you again, Josh. 1:01:44 Appreciate you very much. [snorts] Okay, we'll go on to uh additional appropriation 10 20226. 1:01:56 An additional appropriation appropriating $360,68781 for a park bond. Speaking city administration. 1:02:08 Hi D. Good evening. Good evening. So, this is um we're asking for additional appropriation for this park bond payment. Um the park bond, you guys had 1:02:17 approved it in December of 2025 and so we wanted to make the payment. Um we have a payment in July and a payment in 1:02:25 January which will pay in December. So, both of these uh the 3668781 will be for both of the payments for this year. 1:02:37 Any questions? If not, I will entertain a motion. 1:02:44 Mr. President, I move that we pass additional appropriation number 10, 2026 to a second reading public hearing. 1:02:52 Second. 1:02:54 Have a motion by Councilman Kaine, second by Councilman Whitten. Roll call. Kane. I. Reyes. I forise. 1:03:02 Hi. 1:03:03 Brunner. I Klene. 1:03:05 Yes, Marshall. 1:03:07 Hi, Whitten. 1:03:08 Yes, Divine. Yes, Calgill. Hi. 1:03:14 And the CF1 forms annual review. CF1 forms be speaking. Councilman Mike Klein. 1:03:21 Well, remember what I said in the committee report section? Nothing has changed since then. [laughter] All this time, nothing's still changed. 1:03:32 All right. Good job, Mike. Okay, well that was pretty quick. 1:03:39 Thanks, Mike. Uh the only other thing uh announcement wise we have is uh citywide cleanup is going to the next one is 1:03:47 going to be on June the 13th. Um it will be from 9 a.m. to 200 p.m. Pickup will 1:03:54 be for district 3 only. So, anybody outside District 3, um you can drop off uh items at 520 East 6th Street. 1:04:05 Any other uh councilmen and women that have any announcements? Okay. 1:04:14 Take a motion to adjurnn. Mr. President, I move we adjourn. Second. Uh okay. Uh roll call, please. 1:04:22 Kain I. Reyes. I. 1:04:25 Forice. Hi Runner. 1:04:26 Hi Klene. 1:04:28 Yes Marshall. 1:04:29 Hi Whitten. 1:04:30 Yes Divine. Yes Calg. 1:04:34 Hi. [laughter] Where's Jared 1:04:46 testing?