The Ellettsville, Indiana, Town Council met in regular session at 7:30 PM, Monday, June 9th, 2003 at the Edgewood Intermediate School located at 7600 Reeves Road, Bloomington. David Sorokoty called the meeting to order by encouraging the public to visit the new school since it’s such a beautiful building and Ray Freetage led in prayer. David Drake 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; Lisa Combs-Creech, Ray Freetage and Geraldine McIntyre. Also present were Sandra Hash, Clerk-Treasurer; Mike Spencer, Attorney and Rick Coppock, Engineer.
Supervisors Present: Jim Davis, Jim Ragle, Ron McGlocklin, Jeff Farmer and Mike Farmer.
Approval of Minutes of
the regular meeting on May 27th, 2003
Lisa Creech moved to approve the May 27th minutes and Ray
Freetage seconded. Motion carried.
Action to pay Accounts
Payable Vouchers
Geraldine McIntyre moved to approve the accounts payable vouchers. Lisa
Creech seconded. Motion carried.
No Bids were received for the Police Car
Ellettsville Parks and Recreation – Skate Park
Darlyne Sowder, President introduced the Board to the Council. Those present were: Denise Knell, Edwin Macatangay;
Vice-President and L. D. Axsom. Jeff
Frownfelter was not present. Darlyne read the violations at the skate
park concerning bicycles using the park as well as other problems. The Board feels after a warning ticket is
issued and the person is a repeat offender then a citations should be written
for violating an ordinance at the park.
Darlyne went on to explain the Board came tonight seeking help from the
Council about this problem.
Denise Knell commented there’s a monetary fine system in place and if
it would be enforced then the problem might be stopped due to parents having to
pay fines. The parents need to control
their children. Darlyne agreed saying
if the Police would write ordinance violation tickets to the offenders then it
would go a long way making a point with the kids as well as the parents.
David Sorokoty asked Ron McGlocklin about writing citations. Ron said it would be hard to catch the
violators and enforce. If they do write
citations then the Town needs to have citations printed up specifically for
writing these types of violations because he only has traffic citations. David stated if things do not improve by
writing citations and the rules are still disobeyed then the Town may be forced
to close the skate park.
Darlyne read a portion of the ordinance, which outlines the rules for
using the skate park and suggested using the “Ordinance Violation” ticket to
write citations since the offenders are violating an ordinance. She closed by saying this needs to be
resolved now since school is out for the summer and if things get real bad, the
Board has already voted to close the park temporarily until things get
resolved.
Lisa Creech mentioned again about the possibility of forming a
partnership with I.U.P.D. since their Academy is in the area to help enforce
the rules. Lisa commented the problem
may be deeper since there is no respect for authority figures and suggested
referring some
cases to Child Protective Services to research situations to get to the
source of the problem.
David Sorokoty said to give Mike Spencer a copy of the “Ordinance
Violation” ticket to review to see if it is adequate and if not new citations
may need to be printed. He added if
skate park citations and parking tickets are not paid then the Clerk-Treasurer,
should start pressing the issue, which may lead to legal action taken. He ended by assuring Darlyne and the Board
that the Council would have an answer for them by the next meeting.
Darlyne Sowder announced the Ellettsville Exchange Club will be holding
their “Quarters for Kids” 5K race on Saturday, July 5th, 2003.
Resolutions
Resolution 10-03 Transfer of Funds
Lisa Creech read Resolution 10-03 transfer of funds in its entirety,
which transfers funds in the following lines:
From: MVH-122 Group Health
Insurance $36.36
To: MVH-123 Unemployment
Insurance $36.36
Lisa Creech moved to adopt Resolution 10-03. David Drake seconded.
Motion carried.
Ordinances on First Reading
Ordinance 03-11 Creating a donation fund for the Park and Recreation
Department
David Drake introduced Ordinance 03-11 by reading the ordinance in its
entirety.
Old Business
Katherine Raver, H. J. Umbaugh
– Capital Projects Financing Plan
Ms. Raver presented the Council with a draft
copy of the Capital Projects Plan. She explained the purpose of this project is
to give the Town a plan to move forward as the community grows. She suggested everyone look it over and give
her any suggestions or changes wanted.
This project basically details the capital improvements that are needed
or would benefit the Town as a whole including a cost analysis and the impact
it would have on the taxpayer. She met
with Sandra Hash and each Department Supervisor to compile this document and
gave a brief overview of each section hi-lighting the main points. The first section gave the history of
Ellettsville and noted that the Ellettsville, Richland Township area is the
most rapidly growing area within Monroe County. It also outlined the Town’s Government system, as well as the
Police, Fire, Utilities and Street Departments explaining each department’s
function, current conditions and goals for the department. Section two outlined the proposed projects
which include a new Police Station, a new Fire Station, improvements to the
current Town Hall and a new Utilities Service building giving possible
financing options including issuing bonds for the projects. In addition, three possible options for the
Town Hall and Utilities Department were described. It also summarized the Town’s current contracts. Lastly graphs were included to illustrate
the Town’s financial status. Ms. Raver
closed by reiterating that this was just a preliminary draft for review and
discussion, which was subject to change, and she welcomed the Town’s further
input.
David Sorokoty thanked Ms. Raver for her
report. He recommended a work session
and suggested everyone look over the draft and decide what they want then move
forward. The work session will at 6:30
p. m. on June 23rd, 2003.
New Business
Prominence Point Subdivision Phase I (formerly know as Deerfield
Subdivision) final plat
Bernie Guerrettaz of Bledsoe
Tapp & Riggert addressed the Council for Prominence Point Subdivision
requesting final plat approval of phase I.
David Drake stated it meets all the requirements and was reviewed by
Rick Coppock. He added the Plan Commission passed the final plat with
a unanimous vote. David Drake made a
motion to approve the final plat on phase I of Prominence Point. Lisa Creech seconded. Motion carried.
Subdivide plat – Chicago’s Pizza Preliminary and Final Plat
Tim Cowden, RECSTC Realty requested approval to subdivide the
plat. David Drake explained the owners
of Chicago’s pizza want to buy the land the actual restaurant is on but did not
want the other 1.94-acre plot behind Chicago’s so this request would subdivide
the plat making an additional lot. The
liquor store, Chicago’s and the other piece of acreage would all share the road
easement that is currently in use.
David Drake said the Plan Commission has already approved the request
with a unanimous vote. Geraldine
McIntyre moved to approve subdividing the plat. Lisa Creech seconded.
Motion carried.
Capacity Certification for Muirfield Subdivision
Tyler Doades, Smith Neubecker & Associates, Inc requested
acceptance of fifteen single-family hook ons to Ellettsville’s sanitary sewer
system. Jeff Farmer commented there is
no problem with new installations.
Geraldine McIntyre moved to approve the capacity certification letter
for Muirfield subdivision. David Drake
seconded. Motion carried.
Announcement: Council Meeting to be held at off-site
locations
·
July 14, 2003
at the Endwright Center
Privilege of the Floor
Katie Deckard who lives in the
Meadowlands said there is water problem where her home is located. The home was built in January 2002 and one
week after they moved in, it rained and lots of water flowed through her
property filling the street as well.
There is a big drain across the street from them that is not covered up
except for the concrete blocks they placed on it, which gets pushed off when
the water rushes toward it. The drain
needs to be covered properly to prevent accidents. All the water rushes toward their property every time it
rains. She has already spoken to Rick
Coppock who agreed to check on the situation plus Bynum Fanyo checked today and
agreed there was a problem. She has
reported this problem to the Town but no one she has spoken to thought it was
the town’s problem.
Her other issue was that her house was not
built up to code and that the inspectors should have made sure the home was
built up to code. Her house was built
two blocks too low (16”), the crawl space was not completed and other
problems. She faults the Town’s Building
Inspectors for these problems for not doing more thorough inspections. She would just like some answers since she
has been given the run around on these problems. Bill Headley, Assistant Building Inspector inspected her home.
The last thing she mentioned was there are
no speed limit signs or children at play signs in the Meadowlands, which is
dangerous when teenagers go speeding through the neighborhood. Buyers Only was the contractor and Deckard
Construction was involved with the drainage layout both of whom are now
bankrupt.
Jim Davis, Building Inspector said that when a
site is inspected if there are any discrepancies at that time they note it on
the inspection form with instructions that the problem(s) needs to be corrected
and will be re-inspected when corrected.
The ultimate responsibility for the construction of the home is the
contractor.
Lisa Creech commented the
Town’s Building Department is failing miserably to perform all of the proper
inspections and that someone needs to be responsible to verify
that contractors are following the plans as
originally approved. The drain cover
issue is a safety issue and feels that it needs to be addressed as well.
Rick Coppock stated as the
lot constructed was not how it was planned and this is why there are water
drainage problems. The contractor did
not follow the original plan obviously.
He said Bynum Fanyo would look into the situation and determine what it
would take and how much it would cost to fix the problems. He also suggested cleaning out some of the
brush in the creek to help fix part of the problem.
David Sorokoty said Jim Ragle
would be willing to look at cleaning out the creek and Rick said Bynum Fanyo
would look at the drain. The Council
would look into her problems further and consult with the Attorney to determine
what other course of action to take.
LaDonna Stand, lives at 882
Clover and has several problems with the home including several doors will not
close properly. She assumed that her
home being new would be up to code but has determined it has structural
problems and feels her home was not inspected properly while being
constructed. She paid for it to be
inspected by an official building inspector and structural engineer who have
found several flaws. She read part of
the report that Sherlock Homes prepared.
Charlie Wright was the contractor and currently her lawyer is looking
into the situation.
David Sorokoty requested her to
keep the Council up to date on the situation.
David Drake commented
Ellettsville is not the only area that has building problems, he knows of at
least one in Clear Creek Estates. Some
builders cut corners and some things just don’t get caught. He explained the Town’s current Building
Department can not possibly catch every problem because they would need a lot
more training. If the Town wants every
house to be inspected for every single thing then it will cost the Town for the
inspectors to be trained more extensively or another suggestion would be to
contract with the county to do all the inspections.
Supervisor’s Comments
Mike Spencer received a letter
requesting two quitclaim deeds need to be approved for recording. It changes a lot line in Greenbriar Knolls
subdivision. The Robinson family owns
both lots. Rick Coppock explained that
Kenton Robinson and his daughter Beth own the lots and they want to build on to
one of the homes and would need at least another foot; therefore, to not go
beyond the setback requirements would require getting a variance. Instead they have agreed to change the lot
lines. It does not create a new
lot. Mike has already prepared the
letter of approval for the Council to sign allowing the documents to be
recorded.
Lisa Creech congratulated Jim Ragle and the
Street Department for doing a fine job with Ellettsville’s streets. She read a letter from Downey Insurance
commenting how safely the Street Department performs their jobs. Also thanked Officer John Stone for his
services to the Town, his position is as vital to the Police Department as the
other policemen.
Ray Freetage explained that he’s been given
the first briefing on a new evaluation form for the Police Department. It is a good form.
David Sorokoty congratulated
the Edgewood Athletes at the State level in track and golf as well as all the
students for their achievements.
Reminded everyone to shop in Ellettsville because the businesses are
still open.
Sandra Hash explained that
Fire fighter Mike Stalcup has signed a “Conflict of Interest” form that needs
the Council’s approval. Mike has a lawn
and home repair service and he was hired to mow the Fire Department’s new fire
station building site. Geraldine
McIntyre made a motion to approve Mike
Stalcup’s “Conflict of Interest” form.
David Drake seconded. Motion
carried.
The Clerk-Treasurer’s Office will be closed
on June 17th, 18th and 20th to allow the Clerk
and Deputy Clerk to attend a conference in French Lick. However, the office will be open when Donya
is there on Monday, June 16th and Thursday, June 19th.
Darlyne Sowder requested
everyone that received a survey from the Parks and Recreation Department to
fill it out and return it.
Adjournment
David
Sorokoty asked for a motion to adjourn.
Geraldine McIntyre moved to adjourn.
Ray Freetage seconded, motion carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p. m.
_____________________________ __________________________
David Sorokoty, President David Drake, Vice President
_____________________________ __________________________
Lisa Combs-Creech Ray Freetage
____________________________ __________________________
Geraldine McIntyre Sandra C. Hash, Clerk-Treasurer