The Ellettsville, Indiana, Town Council met in regular session at 7:30 p.m., Monday, February 14, 2000. Members present were Geraldine McIntyre, President, John Dailey, Jerry Pittsford, and David Sorokoty. Jerry Pittsford gave the prayer, and David Sorokoty led the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPOINTMENT:

Geraldine McIntyre appointed Frank Buczolich to the Planning and Zoning Commission.

COMMENTS:

Request for clarification on Town set back rules Matt Trowbridge lives at 110 Beechwood Drive. Matt returned to the council for an answer to his driveway set back question from the January 24th meeting. He also presented the council with pictures of the property in question. He asked if any decision had been made on the set back issue? Mike Spencer answered, he had reviewed the ordinance and his opinion it is not in violation of the ordinance. The ordinance says the entrance should be 5 feet from the property line. The entrance apparently meets that requirement. Our ordinance does not address what happens to the driveway after it goes back through the property. He reviewed Bloomington's ordinance. Their ordinance is different than ours. Their ordinance specifically addresses that our does not. As our ordinance now states there is not a problem with that driveway. Mr. Trowbridge asked if there was any way the council could in the future addresses decision such as that? Mike replied the council could amend the ordinance to deal with future problems, but it could not go back and change this. This would be grandfathered. Mr. Spencer advised Mr. Trowbridge the covenants were his only recourse. Jerry Pittsford added he had contacted Jody Wood, the IACT attorney, about the driveway question. She informed him it should be covered by ordinance and if we prohibit it and there are any shared driveways they would preclude the setback issue. Jerry feels the way the ordinance is written now there is not much the council can do to change the driveway in question. The council returned his pictures stated he might need them to proceed privately.

MINUTES AND CLAIMS:

John Dailey made a motion to approve the minutes and claims from the last meeting. David Sorokoty seconded. Motion passed 4-0.

OPEN BIDS ON 1986 FORD TRUCK AND 1960 PULL BEHIND AIR COMPRESSOR:

Mike Farmer, Bynum Fanyo Utilities Mike Farmer rejected all bids unopened on the truck and gave it to the Street Department. Geraldine asked about the air compressor. Mike will verify if there were any compressor bids and report back to the council at the next meeting.

OLD BUSINESS:

Ordinance 00-1 an Ordinance concerning the annexation of adjacent and contiguous territory of the McNeely Street area.

David Sorokoty read the ordinance by title only, Ordinance 00-1 an Ordinance concerning the annexation of adjacent and contiguous territory of Ellettsville Town Code. Geraldine stated this is the second reading to adopt this ordinance. David Sorokoty made the motion to accept this ordinance. John Dailey seconded. The motion passed 4-0.

Report on H.J. Umbaugh contract with Ellettsville Utilities: Rick Coppock Cost Analysis Contract

Rick explained to the council there are two contracts. The first contract is for a cost analysis. This contract comes out of the contract with the town and the wholesale customers, Northern Richland Sewer Corporation and Eastern Richland Sewer Corporation. In our agreement with them we are required to review the sewer rates. This first agreement is to have H.J. Umbaugh do the rate study for the sewage utility in conjunction with our contract with Northern Richland and Eastern Richland Sewer Corporation. They have been reviewing the books. For the new board members they have been the town's accounting and rate consultants for some time. They did the rate study for the bond issue for the sewer plant and the water tower. John Seever is here from H.J. Umbaugh is you have any questions for him. Jerry Pittsford asked this provides everything that need to be done for the rate structure to be passed on to Eastern and Northern sewer districts? Rick replied yes it is an analysis of the rate structure. David Sorokoty asked is this the same way they got the rate they are paying now. Rick replied yes. The same people did it for the town last time? Rick answered H.J. Umbaugh did the town's rate study. The sewer corporation did their own. Dave asked how long a time period will it take to do the analysis? John Seever replied they needed to get the calendar year 1999 closed out first. Within a reasonable period of time after that, about one month to six weeks. Dave asked will this be over a whole year. John answered yes it will cover calendar year 1999. Geraldine asked if this was a directive of the State Board of Account? John answered that is the second agreement. John Dailey asked why there is such a large difference, $5,000, on the cost of the contract. It is between $15,000 and $20,000. John replied the last time there were a lot of meetings with the wholesale customers. Their billing rate is $100 per hour. If they do not have all those meeting it will be on the lower end of the range. David Sorokoty asked what the cost was the last time. John Seever answered it was done as part of the overall project. Including the bond issue in with everything else. It is subject to check, but around $35,000 to $40,000. Dave asked on average how many hours will you spend on this. John answered at $100 per hours it would be about 150 hours. David said it seems like an awful lot of money, it is a shame we can't get it done cheaper. John Seever said in our defense the contract with the wholesale user are not real straight forward. John Dailey asked why is there an adjustment in article 8 John Seever said that is a great question. They started putting that in all their agreements back in the 1970's when we had all those high inflation years. To be honest with you I don't think we ever invoked that clause. The only reason it is there now is because we have never gotten rid of it. Dailey asked so we can strike that clause? Seever answered go ahead. Seever said he has a memo in his stack of memos that it should be in every agreement, but if you all want to take it out I don't care. John Dailey said when you have clause saying it will takes us six weeks to do what we need to do then you have a clause saying we can take up to this long to take care of it. John Seever said especially with inflation. Jerry Pittsford asked about clause 9 dealing with the State Board of Account, is that an additional cost? John Seever said this is a clause our lawyer put in to help you understand this is not an audit. Jerry Pittsford made a motion for approval of this contract for the service of determining the cost analysis and revenue with H. J. Umbaugh and Associates. David Sorokoty seconded. Motion passed 4-0. Rick Coppock contract to provide update to bookkeeping services This contract came about after the last State Board of Accounts Audit. They found some items, that they discussed with the town, that they would like to have changed or updated. To clarify some of these items were closing out the 1999 books, reviewing accounts payable and accounts receivable. This will result in a change of bookkeeping procedures. It will provide a financial statement to the council that will be easier to understand than in the past. It will improve the utility bookkeeping. H. J. Umbaugh have put in a lot of man hours and to make it easier for us to pay they have extended the contract over a three year period. The cost will be $11000 per year for three years. In the past it took 2 or 3 days to provide information on the balance of accounts. Jerry asked about the software. John Seever answered it was with Komputrol. Rick added they are working with the existing software. Sandy Hash said the utilities have a general ledger which is a double entry system of bookkeeping. It is quite different from the accounts receivable and accounts payable used in the clerk's office. Jerry asked would this be something the utility department could resign to? Sandy went on to say on the old computer system the conversion of the general ledger was complicated, things were not at the level the State Board of Accounts would have liked. We turned to Umbaugh to help iron out the problems. Geraldine said there were problems in the past with providing information in a timely fashion. She feels these problems will be eliminated with the expertise of the new office manager Becky Wines. Becky will be doing the books and will be able to provide up to date information. Jerry Pittsford made the motion for approval of the agreement for accounting and bookkeeping services with H. J. Umbaugh Associates Certified Public Accountants, LLP. David Sorokoty seconded. Motion passed 4-0.

FINAL ADOPTION PONTON PROPERTY PHASE I: Rick Coppock

David Sorokoty read by title Ponton Phase I Ordinance 99-16 an Ordinance Concerning the Annexation of Adjacent and Contiguous Territory of the Ellettsville Town Code Rick informed the council on the location of the above mention property. It is 30 acres that lays between Lakeview Drive and Union Valley Road. It is behind Forest View Apartments. It is divided into 2 phases. The first phase is 22.5 acres and second phase is 7.5 acres. It has been through the Plan Commission and given a zoning of R-1. We have approval for the fiscal plan. There is no cost associated to the town, the cost will be to the developer. The question was asked if Rick had seen the plan for the infrastructure. He replied there is no plan yet. There has been a preliminary plan for the plots only. Jerry asked if this was the correct ward number. It should be ward 4. David Sorokoty made the motion for the final adoption of Ponton Property Phase I. Jerry Pittsford seconded. Motion passed 4-0.

FINAL PLAT APPROVAL FOR REPLAT OF A PART OF LOTS 40 AND 43 AND ALL OF LOTS 44-56 OF EDGEWOOD HEIGHTS SECTION III: Phil Tapp from Bledsoe, Tapp and Riggert representing Rex Voils.

This was approved by the Plan Commission last week. He is requesting approval of this plat and will answer any questions. This is a planned unit development the single family home portion of the plat. Jerry Pittsford said there was a question if this maintains the original 50 plus years of age restriction on the residential units in the covenant and restriction portion of the plat. Phil answered that he had just received the covenants today and there is no restriction in the covenants on age as it is drafted today. If that is a condition of approval and if is a legal condition and doesn't form any discrimination to age it should be added to that. Currently it is not in the covenants and restrictions. Jerry asked Mike Spencer if it was in there originally five years ago would it be age discriminatory. Mike Spencer replied he didn't remember rendering an opinion on that five years ago. He does not know the answer off hand. Jewel has indicated that it a designation as a retirement community. That is an acceptable designation. If it not designated as a retirement community then that is not an acceptable designation. He does not know the answer. Rick Coppock said it was presented and approved as a retirement community five years ago with a 50 years old age limitation. Geraldine said it states in the Planning and Zoning minutes that it was to be 50 and over. Pat Wesoloski was on the board at that time and the price of the houses were around $100,000. Pat said you mean if I bought one of those houses and I have an eighteen year old son living at home he could not live there. The answer was yes. The question was asked about grandchildren living there with their grandparents. The answer was they could visit overnight but they could not live there if they didn't qualify with the restrictions. Dave read from minutes of the Planning and Zoning from page 111, dated April 13, 1995, it reads the age limit is 50 years old. Phil said there are provisions for a home owners association to maintain the yards and snow plowing the driveways. If it can be legally done and approved then that is the way it should be approved. Geraldine said it was approved that way with a R-3 PUD. Phil asked if he can get the attorney to have this written into the covenants and bring it back to them for signatures? Jewel Echelbarger commended that she made the presentation and 50 years and older should be in the covenants and restrictions. Mike Spencer stated it should be amended and come back to the council in 2 weeks. In the interim Mr. Spencer will look at it and make a determination. David Sorokoty stated before closing he was the only no vote on this at the Planning and Zoning meeting. He is concerned with the traffic. This is adjacent to High School and Area 10 Senior Citizen entrance. It is a cul-de-sac street with upwards of 116 units. Survey of 1995 showed traffic use at 3,000 vehicles. The road is estimated to handle 5,000. That was 5 years ago. I am concerned about how many vehicles out of 116 units will be using the road. Plus when the new school goes in I am concerned about the safety of the kids that walk to school adding that much more congestion to the area. Safety, God forbid, if there was an evacuation here in Ellettsville we are not going to be able to get people out because we are a cul-de-sac town. There is just one entrance in and one entrance out. We need connector routes to people in and out of these areas. I am 100% behind growth in this town, but I am 110% behind smart growth. He feels this plan, no bad rep against Bledsoe and Tapp, is from the dark ages. If I told you John go ahead and make a subdivision as cheap as you can, you would draw a straight line across there and say there is my street and that is what was done. There was an access road at one time but it was taken out because of the site distance. You would not be able to get up enough speed before you were rear ended. There is only one way in and out and that is facing the High School and Area 10. John Dailey asked how many cars would 116 units project. Dave said normally you would say 2 but since it is elderly citizens you would cut that down. Living in this town you have to drive everywhere. If they use Area 10 buses then we would have increased traffic with heavier type vehicles. Rick Coppock said they projected 390 cars per day from the unit. Dave said take the 3000 from five years ago and add the 390 plus the increase over the past five years and the increase from the new school, maybe the new school traffic could be rerouted someway to reduce the congestion on the street. Dave asked Jim Ragle how it was plowing snow on a cul-de-sac. Jim answered they have to use little truck on a lot of them. He then asked Jim Davis what if there is a fire how is it to get a big truck into those cul-de-sac. Jim answered they can get them in there. Most of the cul-de-sacs are big enough to turn a truck around in. There are good things about this area. They are going to have a fence barrier and sidewalks. Dave expressed his approval of that. He would like to suggest on the Planning and Zoning they encourage connector routes. We need to be able to keep people moving. With the population coming in here we just can't cul-de-sac every subdivision. He just wanted to clarify his no vote in the planning and zoning minutes. Jim Ragle added he would rather have a cul-de-sac than a dead end. When there is a dead end you have to back the truck out at lease we can turn around in a cul-de-sac. Dave asked when you are pushing snow it goes into those peoples driveways correct? Jim said we try to get it between their driveways. The new cul-de-sac are bigger and better than some of the old ones. Dave realizes this was five years ago, but he thinks it would be wise in the future they know we are looking for this stuff to be improved and better planed in so far as being able to move the people. Geraldine commented the people who live up there over half of them do not drive. A lot of the people use the rural transit bus that come into there once or twice a week to take them to the grocery store. The older people do not do that much coming and going. Rick Coppock pointed out this is a tract plan from the seventies. In the seventies there was not much thought given on the outlet to Reeves Road. They could have outlet it someplace that had better site distance. However it was not done that way it was platted into lots without any other planned access from that subdivision. With the school on the other side there really wasn't much you could do. Jewel asked if the re plat was the same as the original plan done by Bynum and Fanyo. Phil answered the plans were the same as in 1995. Geraldine reaffirmed the change to 50 and older be made and brought back before the council in 2 weeks.

AWARD BID ON SEWER REPLACEMENT PHASE 4 OF HIGHWAY 46 PROJECT: Rick Coppock

This is the phase on the west side of Ellettsville. From the intersection of Main and Highway 46 to Red Hill Road. The bid was awarded in January for the Highway. The town has to relocate the sewer and water lines that are in the state right of way. The town will relocate the water line themselves. We took quotes on the sewer line. We originally took quotes and we had a section down by Smithville Telephone in a low riding area. The quotes came in at around $89,000. The Stanger quote came in only 6 dollars different than Robinson, with Crider being quite a bit higher. The town crews went out and televised the lines that go down by Smithville Telephone. The pipe is cast iron and in good condition therefore we will not need to redo the whole line. We will only have to replace a few manholes in that area. So we cut that portion out of the project. We then ask for 3 new quotes from the 3 lowest bidders last time, Robinson Construction, Stanger Construction, and Crider Construction. We requested a unit price to replace laterals. We do not know how many laterals need to be replaced. We only received 2 quotes back. One from Robinson and one from Stanger. Robinson was the low bidder by $58. Public hearing for voluntary annexation Coffey Belcher Property 4990 Lakeview Drive

SUPERVISORS: Request for overtime:

Jim Ragle requested overtime pay for snow removal. Jerry Pittsford made the motion to pay Jim Ragle for 16 hours of overtime for snow removal. Gina Hawkins seconded. Motion passed 5-0.

Jim Davis submitted the Fire and Building Services report for the year 1999. The report tells the number and classification of building permits issued. It gives a four-year comparison of building permits by classification and valuations. It also shows the cost of the issued building permits, the revenue taken in and the expenditures of the building department. The last portion of the report tells the total runs responded to. It show that the number of runs have doubled since they started EMS about 1 1/2 years ago. Some of the medical calls with the ambulance are just to assist and some of the calls they are not needed on, so they may just go, turn around and come back. When the ambulance is not in town or if it is serous it takes quite a bit longer. The police if they are not on call often arrive at the scene before we do. This is a big help for us to find the location quickly. It is easy to fine a squad car with its lights on and not to easy at 3:00 am to find house numbers. Also listed are the majors runs for the year, the loss of property, the man hours. As most of you know we had one fatality this year in a house fire.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

None

ADJOURNMENT:

John Dailey made the motion to adjourn. David Sorokoty seconded. Motion passed 5-0.

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D. Geraldine McIntyre, President

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Gina Hawkins, Vice President

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John Dailey

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Jerry Pittsford

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David Sorokoty


Attest:

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Sandra C. Hash, Clerk-Treasurer