The Ellettsville, Indiana, Town Council met in regular session at 7:30 PM, Monday, December 9, 2002 at the Town Hall. David Sorokoty called the meeting to order and Ray Freetage led in prayer. Geraldine McIntyre 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, Geraldine McIntyre and Ray Freetage. Also present was Sandra Hash, Clerk-Treasurer; Deborah Hudson, Administrative Assistant and Mike Spencer, Town Attorney.
Supervisors Present Jim Davis, and Ron McGlocklin. Jim Ragle, Mike Farmer and Jeff Farmer were absent.
Street Light Proposals Opened
Only one bid was received. Mike Spencer opened and read the bid for the decorative streetlights. Kirby Risk gave a proposal for the Americana Series # 2261 in the amount of $677.47 each for the year 2003 and $720.72 each for 2004. David Sorokoty made a proposal that the Council take the bid under advisement. Geraldine McIntyre made a motion to take the bid from Kirby Risk under advisement to study. David Drake seconded. Motion carried.
Approval of Minutes of
the regular meeting on November 25, 2002
Geraldine McIntyre moved to approve the minutes. Ray Freetage seconded. Motion carried.
Action to pay Accounts
Payable Vouchers
Geraldine McIntyre moved to approve the accounts payable vouchers. David Drake seconded. Motion carried.
Ordinances on First
Reading
Ordinance 02-24 Fixing of
the Salaries for Budget Year 2003
Ray Freetage read by title. Ray Freetage moved to approve Ordinance
02-24. David Drake seconded. Motion carried.
New Business
Heritage Trail Transportation Enhancement (TE) Application
Rick Coppock handed out copies of the project proposal. He explained that the trail would reach from
the old stage area by the Town Hall to the bridge on Hwy. 46. The total cost of the project is $321,568.00
and the Town would be required to have a 20% match making the local funds total
be $76,154.00. The proposal is to use
the existing old railroad corridor. We
will utilize the Town’s work force as laborers on the project. Bybee Stone Company will donate decorative
limestone for the trail’s beautification.
We would try to get some of the property donated. The application was originally due by
12-13-02 but the revised deadline is 1-31-03.
Rick advised the Council to review the packet and application and amend
anything needed be before the deadline.
The Trail was an original idea of Barry Fisher’s. Jeanna Kapczynski of the Main Street Project
has encouraged the trail idea and stated that trails are the new upcoming thing for fitness. A pedestrian bridge is a big portion of expense of the
proposal. David Sorokoty said the Council
should take action at the first meeting in January on this application.
Final Plat Approval for Union Valley Farms, Phase II
Rick Coppock explained this is Phase II, which has 25 lots. There are 77 total lots in Union Valley
Farms. The water and the sewer are in
and extended by the help of gravity eliminating the need for a lift
station. The only items left to finish
are the final layer of black top, tree landscaping and sidewalks. Planning and Zoning passed the Final Plat
Approval previously. Mike Cornman made
a motion to
approve the Final Plat of Phase II of Union Valley Farms. Geraldine McIntyre seconded. Motion carried.
Request to transfer unused vacation days to sick days
Kevin Patton turned in a request form to transfer his remaining
vacation days into sick days. David
Sorokoty read Kevin’s request to the Council.
David Drake made a motion to approve 4 days to be transferred from
vacation to sick for Kevin Patton. Mike
Cornman seconded. Motion carried.
Request to roll vacation days from 2002 to 2003
Kip Headdy wrote a letter of request asking that his remaining vacation
days be rolled over into 2003. David
Sorokoty read Kip’s letter to the Council.
David Drake made a motion to approve 5 days of vacation to be rolled
over from 2002 to 2003. Ray Freetage
seconded. Motion carried.
Set meeting schedules for 2003
David Drake read the public notice for the meetings schedules for the
year 2003. David Drake made a motion to
approve next year’s meeting schedule.
Ray Freetage seconded. Motion
carried.
The Town appraised 615 West Main Street in September 2001 for the site
of a new municipal building. The
property is now for sale and the owner would like to know if the Town is still
interested.
Sandra Hash explained that Susan McClain, the owner of 615 W. Main St.
called the Clerk’s Office inquiring if the Town would be interested in
purchasing her property. She has moved
out of the house but just wanted to give the Town first offer before putting it
on the market. The lot size is 66 x
132. She
is asking $50,000.00 for the property. David Sorokoty said he felt the Town
had other needs and priorities. Any
money the Town would spend should be used for a new police station. David Drake explained that one parcel is not
enough property for the Town’s needs.
Ray Freetage agreed that one lot wasn’t enough property to buy. Mike Cornman stated that he thought the
Council should keep it in mind to purchase this property because the Town needs
to help direct the future of this property.
Geraldine McIntyre agreed with Mike that since the Town owns the house
located at 709 W. Main Street it would be wise
to keep this property in mind. David
Sorokoty said they should inform Susan McClain that the Council is interested
in the property but not at this time due to funding and a change in priorities
and if the opportunity arises the Council may take action if the property is
still available then.
Donation from Perry-Clear Creek Fire District toward purchase of
tornado warning sirens
Jim Davis informed the Council that Perry-Clear Creek Fire District
wanted to do something to help out the tornado victims so the department hosted
a raffle and it was very successful. A
representative had called Jim and asked what the profits could be used for and
Mike Cornman suggested the money could be used to help purchase the new tornado
warning sirens, which would benefit a larger group of people. They have donated $2,500.00 toward the cost
of a new tornado siren. The cost to
purchase a new tornado-warning siren is $17,000.00. David Sorokoty asked
if we need a special fund to receive donations. Sandra Hash reminded the Council that they
had approved a special fund for the cost of tornado clean up and asked if we
could use that fund or should the Council create a new fund for this
money. Mike Cornman suggested a
separate fund might be wiser since it may take a while to accumulate funds
toward the new tornado sirens. Mike
Cornman made a motion to have a separate fund for the future purchase of tornado
warning sirens. Ray Freetage
seconded. Motion carried. David Sorokoty thanked Perry-Clear Creek
Fire District for their generous donation of $2,500.00.
Supervisor’s comments
Jim Davis explained that the Fire Department had been working on a funding proposal, which involves Ellettsville’s Department joining with another fire department. He had a presentation prepared for tonight’s meeting on this issue but due to circumstances out of his control he was not able to give this presentation tonight. He wants to make the public aware of this proposal and he said he would be discussing this in more detail at the first meeting in 2003.
Ron McGlocklin wanted to inform the Council that
the Police department has participated in a program called the Officer Field Program for the past 4 years. A company out of Minnesota comes to the
school with a presentation for the kids featuring health and safety, covering
911, Halloween safety and tips of that nature.
They also bring a robot to answer questions for the kids about safety,
which the kids all enjoy. Ron showed
the books the company uses for grades Kindergarten through 4th
grade. The program lasts two or three
days and it will be starting in mid January.
Rick Coppock informed the
Council that last week Jeana Kapczynski and Deborah Hudson met with a Dr. James
Segedy a professor from Ball State University who is in charge of Community
Based Projects concerning doing a streetscape beautification and a development
plan for the Town. This group has planned
other projects and the Council could see examples of his work in the Clerk’s
office. The professor will put together
his proposal and send it to the Council for their review. Rick said it would be helpful to planning,
redeveloping property guidelines and a good reference starting point in
planning for beautification.
Sandra Hash invited the
Town employees to come to the Christmas Luncheon, which will be on Friday,
December 20th at the Town Hall from 11:00 a. m. to 2:00 p. m. She also thanked The Eagles for their
donation of $300.00 and the Am Vets for their donation of $400.00 to the
tornado clean up fund. Sandra also has
all of the paperwork back from FEMA.
Geraldine McIntyre explained
that she has spoken to Marion Jacobs.
He and John Davis along with other senior citizens are interested a road
coming from the Senior Citizens housing to Matthews Drive to avoid driving in
so much traffic on the new road. They
need 30 feet for a road easement. It is
different from the proposed Brown Road.
If they built this road it would be a public road and belong to the
Town. Geraldine McIntyre requested Rick
Coppock do a study on this. David Drake
made a motion to approve a study of a possible road connection from the Senior
Citizens Housing to Matthews Drive.
Mike Cornman seconded. Motion
carried.
David Sorokoty reiterated
thank you to both The Eagles Lodge and the Am Vets. He announced that the Parks Board needs a Democrat for their
Board. The Board of Zoning Appeals also
needs two more members. He also thanked
everyone for the cards, flowers, phone calls and visits to him at the hospital
during his heart attack. He thanked Dr.
Fix as well.
Adjournment
David Sorokoty asked
for a motion to adjourn. Ray Freetage
moved for adjournment. Mike Cornman
seconded. Meeting was adjourned at
approximately 8:24 p. m.
_____________________________ __________________________
David Sorokoty, President David Drake, Vice President
_____________________________ __________________________
Mike Cornman Ray Freetage
_____________________________ __________________________
Geraldine McIntyre Sandra C. Hash, Clerk-Treasurer