The Ellettsville, Indiana, Town Council met in regular session at 7:30 PM, Monday, April 22, 2002 at the Town Hall. David Sorokoty called the meeting to order and Jerry Pittsford led in prayer. Mike Cornman led in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll Call
David Sorokoty asked for roll call of the Council Members. Members present were David Sorokoty, President; David Drake, Vice-President; Mike Cornman and Jerry Pittsford. Also present was Sandra Hash, Clerk-Treasurer; Deborah Hudson, Administrative Assistant and Mike Spencer, Town Attorney. Geraldine McIntyre was absent.
Supervisors
Present
Jim Davis, Jim Ragle, Ron McGlocklin, Mike Farmer and Jeff Farmer.
Approval of Minutes of
the regular meeting on April 8, 2002
Jerry Pittsford moved to approve the minutes. David Drake seconded.
Motion carried.
Resolutions
Resolution 06-02 Concerning
Personnel
David Sorokoty explained that this resolution was a disciplinary action
against an employee. Jerry Pittsford
made a motion to approve Resolution 06-02.
David Drake seconded. Motion
carried with Mike Cornman abstaining.
Ordinances on First
Reading None
Ordinances on Second
Reading None
Old Business
Proposals for Survey of the
Well Site Property
Darlyne Sowder, President of Parks and Recreation Board explained that
she has received two proposals for surveying the Well Site property. Trico Surveying proposal cost $3,280 and
Bynum Fanyo & Associates, Inc. proposal cost $1,800. David Sorokoty confirmed to Darlyne that
the Town would be paying for the stake survey to be done. Darlyne requested that the survey be done as
soon as possible. Mike Cornman made a
motion to accept the proposal from Bynum Fanyo & Associates, Inc. to survey
the Well Site property for $1,800.
David Drake seconded. Motion
carried.
Insurance for the Skate Park
Darlyne Sowder explained that she had received 4 or 5 different
proposals from the May Agency for insurance for the skate park. The Parks Board reviewed the proposals and
decided on one that gives the most protection for the Town. They chose a policy from United National
Insurance Company as the main insurance, which is an annual premium of
$1,250. This would give the Town the
best protection but it still does not protect the skaters in case of an
accident. So the Board also took out
another policy from Continental Assurance Company, which is an annual premium
of $750, and this does provide medical payments if someone is injured. She said the Board had enough money in the
budget to cover the $1,250 and the other $750 would be taken from the money the
skate park funds raised. The plan
provides medical coverage for a maximum of $25,000 with a $100 deductible.
The United National policy would make the Parks Board a member of Youth
Sports Association Purchasing Group and is meant for “extreme sports”. Last year’s insurance policy only covered
anyone passing by that was injured and was more expensive. The Board is hoping to open the skate park
on May 1st, 2002. The
Insurance does not go into effect until that date. Darlyne said they will be posting rules for the park and that
there have been some changes. She
explained that there would not be volunteers supervising the park now that each
person will be responsible for taking care of their self, it will be restricted
to 12 years of age and up and if they are 12 or under then they must have a
parent or guardian with them. The skate
park will not be locked, each person will have to have their own protective
gear and equipment because there will not be any equipment rental. The Board will make sure the equipment has
regular maintenance checks to maintain safety. The hours will be 8:00 a. m.
until dusk with no nighttime hours. If
anyone is caught using the park after dark they will be charged with
trespassing.
The Parks Board hopes that the skate park will eliminate open skating
on public streets, parking lots and sidewalks.
David Sorokoty suggested an ordinance prohibiting skating downtown since
there will be a facility available for skaters to use. Mike Cornman requested the Parks Board to
look into an alternate funding to plan for 2003 insurance. Jerry Pittsford asked what the balance of
the Skate Park Fund would be after the insurance amount was deducted, Darlyne
said it will be $620. Jerry suggested
asking park users to donate money for next year toward insurance and upkeep.
New Business
Mary George request
signature for verification of non-cash charitable contribution
Sandy explained that the Town had two appraisals done for this property,
one for $200,000 and one for $210,000.
The Town paid $144,506.57 leaving a balance of $55,493.43 as a
charitable donation. Mary George sold
the property to the Town of Ellettsville for the Fire Department to build a new
fire station. She requested a signature
on a tax document showing both the appraised value and the actual selling price
for tax purposes. Mike Spencer stated
that a charitable donation was not discussed in the purchase agreement. He also said the true price paid for the
property was less than the appraisal.
David Drake made a motion to authorize Council President, David Sorokoty
to sign the charitable contribution document for Mary George. Jerry Pittsford seconded. Motion carried 3 - 1 with Mike Cornman
voting no.
National Day of Prayer –
Richland Bean Blossom Ministerial Association – Clarence Houser, President
Mr. Houser was not present so did not discuss.
Privilege of the Floor
Bob O’Rourke, 7350 N. Rodeo
Drive - Said there are still
vehicles in the yard across SR 46. He
presented a newspaper article concerning abandoned vehicles and said there was
a State rule concerning this issue. He
suggested using this State rule that states “ a vehicle can be removed if it is
more than three model years old, inoperable, visible to the public and left on
private property for more than 20 days” as a reference point for writing a new
Town ordinance to correct situations like this.
Darlyne Sowder,
Co-Chairperson of the Citizens for State Road 46 Improvement Committee – Informed the Council that the Citizens
for the State
Road 46 improvement will be meeting on Monday, May 6th at
7:00 p. m. at the Early Childhood Center.
She also said that the public is invited and encouraged everyone to
attend it will be very informative as to what is happening and when it will be
happening with the project.
Action to pay Accounts
Payable Vouchers
David Drake moved to approve the accounts payable vouchers. Mike Cornman seconded. Motion carried.
Supervisor’s comments
Jim Davis – Explained that Mike Stalcup had
successfully passed the written test, the agility test and interviewing process
as well as his MMPI and physical exam.
Jim said Mike has been an active volunteer member for 10 years, a part-time
employee since August of 2001 and an EMT.
Therefore, Jim is recommending and requesting that Mike be hired as a
full-time fireman for the Fire Department.
David Drake made a motion to appoint Mike Stalcup to fill the vacant
full-time firefighter position. Jerry
Pittsford seconded. Motion carried with
Mike Cornman abstaining.
Mike Farmer informed the Council that the Utilities
must buy a new air missile (a boreing tool for going under roads) because the
old one broke. He said he would be
getting a couple of quotes but that it would cost approximately $4,000. He said he would like to buy within the
state to have a good response time when in need of repair work.
Mike also said one of the temporary full-time employees Randy Wines had
recently been hired by Crane, which leaves an opening in the Utilities
Department. He requested permission to
fill this position immediately instead of wasting time by posting the
opening. This is seasonal work and by
July all the experienced people have found jobs. He already has someone in mind
that is a good candidate, an experienced equipment operator with a commercial
drivers license. This person is a
Veteran with a bronze star, is very qualified and has a college education. Mike would like to hire this person before
he finds another job. The length this
person would be hired as a temporary
full-time employee could range up to two years due to the construction project
making his employment fall in a gray area according to the Town’s Policy. There was long discussion as to whether
Mike’s request would follow the Personnel Policy. Jerry Pittsford moved to approve the request to hire somebody to
fill the temporary fulltime position with the idea that as we review our
Personnel Policy that we include in there stipulations on the hiring practice
for temporary full time employees in the future. Mike Cornman seconded.
David Sorokoty asked if there was any other discussion. Jim Ragle inquired why the last time he
hired a part-time employee he had to list it, advertise it and post it. It
appears there are two different systems here.
David Sorokoty responded he feels what is fair for one should be fair
for all. Mike Farmer replied that for
this temporary position it is counter productive to wait two weeks, receive 40
applications, one-half of which would not be qualified. It would be inefficient for the utilities,
inefficient for the town and will probably prevent us from getting the best
help. Jerry Pittsford admitted it was
probably not the best thing to do by posting a part time position. Making a mistake in the future should not
compound a past mistake. We need to
review the personnel policy hiring standards for temporary and part time
employees. These are usually urgently needed positions that need to be filled
right away. Motion carried 3 – 1 with
David Sorokoty voting no, stating that Mike Farmer should have to follow the
hiring process rules of the Personnel Policy like all the other
departments.
Jeff Farmer informed the Council that the recent rains
have created overflows at the Elementary School. Ron Pearson the State Inspector with IDEM encouraged the Town to
monitor the flow meters from Eastern and Northern Sewer lines. The
problem at the school is going to be looked into tomorrow, April 23rd
and any necessary action to correct the problem(s) will be taken care of.
Ron McGlocklin stated that the Police Department had
experienced hail damage to three of the police cars during the recent
storm. The estimates on the three
vehicles that were damaged are $5,400, $2,400 and $500.
He also said that he had received confirmation from the Governor’s
Council informing the Police Department that they would receive a grant from
“Click It or Ticket” that they had applied for to help reinforce the seatbelt
law. The grant was applied for to help
offset the cost of salaries for the officers to run this program, which starts in May.
Ron said he thinks that no matter whether a person is to be hired for a
part-time, full-time or temporary position that everyone who is being
considered for employment by the Town should have a background check.
Darlyne Sowder – Explained that the Park and Recreation
Board are having a “Name the Park” contest to name the Well Site Park
property. She said they would
choose the winner at their meeting on May 8th, 2002. The winner will receive 2 tickets to Holiday
World and Splashin’ Safari, which are compliments of The Journal. The children are planning to start working
at the Well Site property tomorrow if weather permits.
Sandra Hash – Conferred that Planner Bill Land is
planning on having his first meeting on May 15th, 2002 at 7:00 p. m.
for the Zoning Ordinance Committee. He
said that he would do the zoning “bricks and mortar” portion and that Deborah
Hudson will concentrate on the policies portion. They will meet every 3-4 weeks, about 6 meetings total, and should
finish by late summer.
She reminded the Council that she and Amber would not be in the office
for the next three days due to the Indiana League of Municipal Clerks and
Treasurer’s Conference in Merrillville, Indiana they are attending.
Mike Cornman – Stated that this coming Saturday, April
27th, 2002 is the opening day for the Richland-Bean Blossom Youth
Sports baseball and softball season and are having a grand show and would like
to request that Park Street be closed between Turtleback Creek Drive and Ritter
Street by having the Street Department put up barricades during that time. Mike Cornman made a motion to close Park
Street during this event. David Drake
seconded. Motion carried.
Mike explained that when the Personnel Policy was first adopted it was
meant to apply to full-time employees and that all other status levels of
employment were left up to the Supervisors and the Council to decide about the
hiring process. Mike strongly
recommended writing a new resolution to amend the Personnel Policy as soon as
possible that defines the rules of hiring all status levels of employees so
that if another situation similar to Mike Farmer’s arises in the future that
there will be definite guidelines to follow.
David Drake – Reported that he had attended a good
training conference last week on annexation and had brought back a lot of
information for Mike Spencer.
David Sorokoty – Talked about the flooding that has
occurred due to the recent storms we have had and he warned that there are some
possible business scams on siding occurring placing business cards on doorsteps
and such for repair work. He suggested
calling an insurance company or someone from the phone book instead of using one
of the business cards you may receive in case it is a scam.
He and Deborah Hudson attended a meeting at Bloomington City Hall with
a representative from Housing and Neighborhood Development, “H. A. N. D.” Dave explained that a week ago, Mayor Fernandez
announced a plan to provide low interest loans to first time homebuyers. He said that the Mayor’s plan is to improve
Bloomington. Three different areas,
which are mostly rental properties in need of repair work, have been selected
to receive low interest loans. Both
first time homebuyers and low-income families refurbishing their homes will
qualify. Dave said that it would be a
good project for Ellettsville also and that’s why he and Deborah had
attended.
He also reminded the Council that the Ellettsville Elementary School Fourth Grade Classes will be at the Town Hall on Tuesday, April 23rd; Wednesday, April 24th and Thursday, April 25th twice a day each day at 10:30 a. m. and 12:30 p. m. to hold a mock Town Council Meeting and explain how government works. He also said the classes will be touring the Waste Water Treatment Plant and the Street Department Facility.
He informed the Council that the Monroe County Emergency Management meeting would be on July 15th, 2002 and that he and Deborah will be attending and that anyone else can attend if they want to.
He attended the farewell to the Ellettsville Elementary School recently and would like to suggest again that the Council reconsider using the old Ellettsville Elementary School building for the new Government Center / Town Hall.
Adjournment
David Sorokoty asked
for a motion to adjourn. Jerry
Pittsford moved for adjournment. Mike
Cornman seconded. Meeting was adjourned
at 8:52 p. m.
_____________________________ __________________________
David Sorokoty, President David Drake, Vice President
_____________________________ __________________________
Mike Cornman Jerry Pittsford
_____________________________ __________________________
Geraldine McIntyre Sandra C. Hash
Clerk-Treasurer