May 12, 2003

 

 

 

The Ellettsville, Indiana, Town Council met in regular session at 7:30 PM, Monday, May 12th, 2003 at Ivy Tech State College located at 200 Daniels Way, Bloomington.  David Sorokoty called the meeting to order by thanking the College’s Chancellor John Whikehart for the use of such an impressive facility as well as for the refreshments.  Ray Freetage led in prayer then 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 and Mike Spencer, Attorney.

 

Supervisors Present:  Jim Davis, Jim Ragle, Ron McGlocklin and Mike Farmer.

 

Approval of Minutes of the regular meeting on April 28th, 2003

 

Lisa Creech moved to approve the April 28th minutes and Geraldine McIntyre seconded.  Motion carried.

 

Action to pay Accounts Payable Vouchers

 

Lisa Creech moved to approve the accounts payable vouchers. Ray Freetage seconded.  Motion carried.

 

Resolutions

 

Resolution 08-03 Temporary Loan from General to CCD

 

Lisa Creech read the resolution. 

 

From:  General $12,100.00

To:  Cumulative Capital Development Fund $12,100.00

 

Geraldine moved to approve Resolution 08-03.  David Drake seconded.  Motion carried.

 

Resolution 9-03 Transfer of Funds

 

Geraldine McIntyre read the resolution. 

 

From:  P-443 Arms, Radar and Equipment $2,728.00

To:  P-380 Trailer Rental $2,728.00

 

Ray Freetage moved to adopt Resolution 09-03.  David Drake seconded.  Motion carried.

 

Ordinances on First Reading

 

Ordinance 03-09 Additional Appropriation

 

David Drake introduced the ordinance and Sandra Hash explained the reason for the additional appropriation to the General Fund.  The Clerk’s Office and the Fire Department both need to purchase a new copier, which was not anticipated when preparing the current budget. The funds for the Police line are to equipment the new police car. The following appropriations will be increased by the following amounts:

 

G-225 Office Machines $2,500.00

F-213 Office Supplies $3,300.00

P-443 Arms, Radar and Equipment               For a total of $11,800.00 for General Fund.

 

Ordinance 03-10 Reduction of Appropriation

 

Ray Freetage introduced the ordinance, which reduces the CCD line.

 

CCD-380 Trailer Rental $2,728.00

CCD-444 Police Vehicles $1,921.00

 

 

 

 

For a total reduction in the Cumulative Capital Development Fund of $4,649.00

 

Old Business

 

Police Station

 

David Sorokoty asked Ron McGlocklin for an update of his progress on the new station.

 

Ray Freetage gave each of the Council members a drawing of the building that Ron is proposing for the new Police Station. Ron explained the drawing was not to scale.  It is only a rough draft version but that it would give everyone a general idea of their needs.  He does not have a cost estimate yet on having plans drawn or for the actual building.  He met with H. J. Umbaugh Representative Katherine Raver.  She requested an actual blueprint of the facility, along with an estimate of construction cost by the beginning of June.  The information is needed to complete the Capital Projects Plan. 

 

Ron would like the facility to be around 6200 to 6500 square feet to accommodate the needs of the Police Department and thinks it would facilitate the Town’s needs for many years.  His suggestion is for the building to be 50’ x 125’ with an attached garage.  The contractors he spoke to suggested the building be a block building for safety purposes.  He suggested soil compacting tests on the building site prior to beginning construction as well.      

 

Funds from the Insurance reimbursement are available to cover the cost of the plans.   He will use the rough draft to get a cost estimate for blueprints of the building.  He added that when choosing a contractor we should examine their experience in building a Police Station to insure a secure facility.

 

Council Comments:

 

David Drake mentioned that Monroe County Central Dispatch is looking for a back up 911-dispatch site large enough for a least three people.  They would provide the radio equipment if we would provide the space to house them.  Ron said he had spoken with Shane at B & L and they both think it would be feasible and should be looked into.

 

David Sorokoty commented it’s a great idea and it would create a good working relationship with Monroe County.  He asked if The Council was okay with using the Insurance money to have building plans drawn up. 

 

Ray Freetage said it would be a good idea since the money was there due to the flooding and it would move the process farther along.

 

David Sorokoty requested Ron get several quotes for the plans by the next Council meeting if possible. 

 

Geraldine McIntyre said since Ron wants soil compacting tests done on the chosen site questioned whether it would be better and cheaper to build a new Police Station on the old water tower site instead suggesting to fill in the sink holes with concrete.  She added she thought Ron originally preferred this site and commented it would be better for the Town to have the Fire Department on one side of the Town and the Police Department on the other side. 

 

Ron said he didn’t know the costs and an architect would have to look at the areas and plans.  He added the sinkhole is in the driveway area. 

 

Lisa Creech commented the Geological department at IU said it could disturb the environment if we were to fill the sinkhole with concrete and that it might be in violation of Rule 13.

 

David Sorokoty said they had given the Town guidelines to follow if they decided to fill in the sinkhole and that the Town would have to wait a year for it to settle before building

 

 

 

 

 

on the site as well.  Asked if all of the Council were in agreement to use the Insurance money to have plans drawn up?

 

Ray Freetage made a motion to utilize the Insurance money for an architect to draw plans for the building.  Lisa Creech seconded.  Motion carried.

 

David Sorokoty asked if Jim Davis, Fire Chief had any comments about building a new Fire Station. 

 

Jim Davis is having an engineering firm draw up a footprint for the new station at no charge.  A foot print is basically plans drawn up according to square footage.  He already has a preliminary footprint and they have given him a rough estimate of cost.  He started working on the specifications for the new station two years ago.  The station would have 8 garage bays for the trucks, 4 back to back, which would be located in the middle of the facility with the living quarters on one side and the offices on the other side.  Jim said the firm he’s been working with gave an estimated cost.  Two years ago the price to build this building was 1.2 million dollars but now it would cost 1.5 million.  He added when he gets the newest footprint from the firm he would give copies to the Council.

 

New Business

 

The June 9th, 2003 Council Meeting will be held at of Edgewood Intermediate School.

 

Privilege of the Floor

 

Keith Klein, Executive Director of Resource Development / Regional Relations at Ivy Tech State College, welcomed the Town of Ellettsville to their facility and gave an open invitation to visit their facility again.  He stated one of the good qualities that Ivy Tech offers this Bloomington / Ellettsville Community is training student skills that will be put directly into the work force in our area.  Another asset of Ivy Tech is to design classes around the needs of the community and he encouraged input.

 

Supervisor’s Comments

 

Ron McGlocklin previously had given Ray Freetage a letter about the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D. A. R. E.) program stating the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department originally had started this program in the area.  Ron reiterated the letter to the Council stating that the Ellettsville Police joined the program in 1995 to share this duty with Monroe County by reducing the amount of time each department was shorted an officer.   The D. A. R. E. program is going to be phased out at the conclusion of this school year in both the M. C. C. S. C. and R. B. B. C. S. C. systems.  They are going to a new program called “Life Skills”.  However, the Ellettsville Police Department is going to withdrawal from the program at the end of this school year due to lack of manpower, scheduling conflicts and increase in calls.  They only have 6 street officers including the Marshal and Deputy Marshal.   During the nine weeks of D. A. R. E. the manpower is reduced to 5 street officers making it more difficult on the department to meet the ever-increasing calls.  That is why Ron feels they have to withdrawal from the program.  He said they will continue the Officer Phil Program which only takes one week and doesn’t require any financial contribution from the Town.  He ended by saying if they continue the Life Skills program he needs another Officer to fulfill the demanding needs of Ellettsville’s growing community. 

 

He has taken applications for a part-time officer to fill the open position and has narrowed it down to 3 individuals. 

 

Lisa Creech suggested recruiting a retired officer(s) to volunteer their time to teach the D. A. R. E. program to the kids.

 

Ron McGlocklin said we would still have to pay to send that person to school to be certified to teach the program.  It requires 40 hours of training.  They also have to be a certified Instructor prior to this training.

 

 

 

 

David Drake suggested filling in with a part-time person and asked how much more money it would to take to pay overtime or to hire another person.

 

Sandra Hash gave an estimated calculation of approximately $3,000.00 to pay a person for the time the current officer is teaching D. A. R. E.

 

David Sorokoty asked Ron to get more information on the “Life Skills” program because the Town needs to continue these programs for the kids.

 

Karla Frownfelter commented she attended the Animal Control meeting and gave copies of the minutes to the Council members.  She added that she will get the information on the calls that the Council requested to them.

 

Geraldine McIntyre thanked everyone who voted for her during the Elections.  She informed the Council that Duffy Stevens contacted her and he wants to find a way to make a new road from the new schools out to highway 46.  Mr. Stevens is willing to meet with the Council and the school to discuss the possibilities as soon as possible.  The land is donated so all the Town needs to do is find the money to build the road.

 

Ray Freetage commented that he read the Animal Control Board minutes and thanked Karla for them.

 

David Sorokoty informed everyone that the 3rd grade students will be visiting the Town Hall this week for a mock Council Meeting and will also be touring the Waste Water Treatment Plant.

 

He reminded the listeners that the Town of Ellettsville is still open for business.

 

Adjournment

   

David Sorokoty asked for a motion to adjourn.  Ray Freetage moved to adjourn.  Geraldine McIntyre seconded, motion carried.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:26 p. m.

  

 

 

 

_____________________________                       __________________________

David Sorokoty, President                                         David Drake, Vice President

 

 

 

_____________________________                       __________________________

Lisa Combs-Creech                                                  Ray Freetage

 

 

 

____________________________                         __________________________

Geraldine McIntyre                                                    Sandra C. Hash, Clerk-Treasurer