March 28, 2005

The Ellettsville, Indiana, Town Council met in regular session on Monday, March 28, 2005, at the Fire Department Training and Conference Room. Patrick Stoffers called the meeting to order at 8:10 p.m. Lisa Creech led in prayer and William Evans led in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Roll Call: Patrick Stoffers, President, asked for roll call of the Council Members. William Evans, Vice President, Lisa Creech, Phillip Rogers and Dennis Williamson were present. Also present were Sandra Hash, Clerk-Treasurer and Mike Spencer, Attorney

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

Approval of the minutes

Lisa Creech moved to approve the minutes of the regular meeting from March 14, 2005. William Evans seconded. Motion carried.

Action to Pay Accounts Payable Vouchers

Lisa Creech made a motion to pay the Accounts Payable Vouchers. William Evans seconded. Motion carried.

Ordinances on First Reading

Ordinance 05-06 adopting a Capital Assets Policy

Patrick Stoffers stated Sandra Hash requested that we table this ordinance until our next meeting due to some additional information that was received today, March 28, 2005.

Lisa Creech made a motion to table Ordinance 05-06 adopting a Capital Assets Policy. William Evans seconded. Motioned carried.

Ordinances on Second Reading

Ordinance 05-05 Concerning the Retention and Use of Credit Cards

Sandra Hash explained the procedure in the past, the Clerk Treasurer would retain the credit cards in her office and the different departments would check them out as needed. The supervisors have requested we change this procedure and let them retain their credit cards in their own offices and maintain their own log. We have received a new credit cards with the supervisors name taken off and the tax exempt number put on so when the cards are used, we will still receive our tax exempt status for Indiana state tax. Also listed on the cards are the department names; Ellettsville Street Department, Ellettsville Police Department etc.

Lisa Creech made a motion to adopt Ordinance 05-05 Concerning the Retention and Use of Credit Cards. William Evans seconded. Motioned carried.

New Business

Hiring of a part-time enforcement assistant

Frank Nierzwicki explained needing an assistant to help him with code enforcement. After the job was posted, a candidate came forward that he would like to recommend for the council to hire. Her name is Laura Entrekin. She is an Ellettsville resident and has worked in Code Enforcement and Parking Enforcement with the City of Bloomington since 1992 where she is currently the Manager of operations. Frank has interviewed Laura and would highly recommend the board to formally approve her employment with the Town. Lisa Creech asked if Laura will be staying with the City of Bloomington. Frank answered, “She will be leaving the City of Bloomington and coming to Ellettsville.” Her expected start date is April 4, 2005. Lisa Creech questioned Laura’s present position paying more. Frank could not answer but just stated from Laura that “she lives in Ellettsville and now being able to work here helped with her decision”. Frank went on to explain the position will be 4 days a week. She will work two days a week with Code Enforcement and two days with the Police Department. Ron McGlocklin addressed the board and said “Frank and I met with Laura and spoke with her on the issue of working with the police and Planning and Zoning Department. She has the background for what Frank needs and she would be an asset with our department working in the dispatch area taking walk in complaints.” They have spoken with her 3 or 4 times and she is looking forward to this position if the board agrees with it. Dennis Williamson questioned who her supervisor will be. Frank answered, “Laura’s supervisor will be the person she is working the hours for at the time”. They will be joint employers.

Lisa Creech made a motion to hire Laura Entrekin as the part time enforcement officer with the Planning and Zoning and the Police Department. William Evans seconded. Motion carried.

Privilege of the Floor – Non Agenda Items

Supervisor’s comments

Jim Davis, Ellettsville Fire Department, went over the 2004 annual report. He started with the review of the major calls in 2004 with the man hours required. Also listed were the volunteer man hours and what the actual cost would be if they were paid at the current rate. The next page was a list of the classification and location of the calls. Then he reviewed the building department report. He went on to compliment Donya Medley for the great job she did putting this report together.

Jim also discussed the inspection report for the 1969 aerial truck. The truck was purchased from Bloomington City 11 years ago. According to NFPA 1914, aerial apparatuses have to be inspected every so often due to being in the air with firefighters in it. The report details the problems found. They noted $16,770 repairs to the truck for the aerial portion itself. The repairs need to be completed by a certified company and then the truck needs to be recertified. The other problems with the truck starts with it being a custom made truck needing custom parts. There is water in the oil meaning a cracked block, head or bad head gasket. The certified company could replace the motor with a rebuilt one for $30,000.00 depending on what they find. He recommends not repairing the truck and has already placed the truck out of service due to firefighters’ safety. Jim is exploring ways to finance a new vehicle. They cost about $660,000 for a “stick”, no bucket, at the top, $760,000 for a rear mount and $860,000 for a mid mount. Jim hopes to have more information in the next 30 days as possible funding sources. He is hoping to raise money from donations and other organizations in and around Monroe County also requiring the Town of Ellettsville and the Richland Township to contribute funds. The town funds are already established in an accumulative fund requiring a 5 year note between a bank, Don Lewis, trustee and Town Council.

Frank Nierzwicki, started by saying he was on family vacation in Las Vegas during the last meeting. Regarding the Well Park area, he will be visiting the site on Friday afternoon with the adjacent land owner to look at and discuss the situation.

Then, Frank mentioned before he took over his position, 178 Paddington is a small parcel of surplus land the town has possession of. They have gone through the procedures of advertising it for sale. Mr. Spencer has been contacted about this land and it has been advertised in the paper twice. They are ready to have the property passed to another owner. He will be coming back in two weeks to make a recommendation to the board on that.

Frank then introduced Laura to the Board. She clarified that she started work with the City of Bloomington in 1992 part-time and is ready for a change.

Sandra Hash, Clerk Treasurer explained the packet she passed out. This included an amendment to a Resolution that was passed by the council at the last meeting. After the last meeting the Utilities Company realized they had a surplus trailer they wanted to dispose of and took it to the sale. Lisa Creech made a motion to adopt amended Resolution 04-05 to add the Utilities Department line number 16 for a 16’ homemade dovetail single axel trailer. William Evans second. Motion carried.

Sandra Hash also reviewed the Premium Comparison Chart. We recently changed our property liability to Bliss McKnight. The total annual premium for 2005 went from $103,665 with TR Downey to $89,637 with Bliss McKnight. Also we shifted the premium due date so we received a refund of $58,701 from the old insurance company that we paid in November which will go to our 2005 rates. So we will see a considerable savings in the budgetary expenses for 2005. Our insurance will be due in January 2006 but that will be out of the next budget, in general alone that is a $30,000 savings for 2005. Lisa Creech questioned the General Liability line of the comparison chart not having a dollar amount. Sandra answered General Liability is included with Bliss McKnight’s public agency multi class liability. They also include the skateboard park’s property and liability portion.

The packet also included some Statement of Benefits forms. Sandra received a telephone call from Ed Bitner since the last meeting asking questions about the statement of benefits and she asked Ed to address the questions to the Council but Ed did not attend the meeting. Lisa Creech looked over the forms and wanted it put on record to note that Beth Robinson-Pyclik should come down and change the date of the form she signed because the year she wrote is wrong. Lisa feels the current number of occupants and the number of additional spaces is still within the original range. The question was “do they really have 49 occupants?” Lisa feels that we need to balance everything out. We have a building that could be sitting dilapidated or we have occupants trying to fix it up. Do we need to go down and investigate the real number of occupants? Or do we see a positive?

Sandra Hash, Clerk Treasurer, has a request from B & L Communications to release their bond for the Fire Department. The Fire Department has assured the work is complete. The check is made out to the Town of Ellettsville. The Fire Department has given Sandra a verbal approval but has not signed the form. She will ask Jim to sign after the meeting. Mike Spencer asked the Fire Chief if it was okay. The Fire Chief shook his head in the affirmative. Lisa Creech made a motion to release the bond to B & L Communications in the amount of $9,868.52. William Evans seconded. Motion carried.

Sandra Hash then brought up at the last meeting R.E. Anderson had presented a change order and there was some concern about the numbers so she wanted to clarify for the last change order from R.E. Anderson she assigned #4. It was passed by date and amount but just for clarification purposes, the change order is #4.

Dennis Williams, the Fire Department conducted interviews for volunteers for the new class for this year. They will have 9 new volunteer firemen who will start their training this next month hopefully adding 9 new volunteers to the department. They are also planning on having a fall class for those who missed out this time.

On a sad note, John Davis passed away this passed Saturday. He was a long time Monroe County public servant and elected official. His visitation will be this Wednesday at Chandler from 3-8 p.m. with funeral services Thursday 10 a.m. at The First Methodist Church.

Lisa Creech hoped everyone had a great holiday this passed weekend. She wanted to thank local churches for having community Easter egg hunts for the children. She hopes the Parks Department might think about doing this in the future to bring together the community which we need more of.

William Evans asked Ron if Neidigh has ever gotten back with him to check on the building. Has anything been scheduled? Ron responded that a crew was sent to repair drywall. William suggested Ron try and contact them again.

Also the Police Department is going to Big Lots this Saturday to do “Indent-A-Kit” as a community service project.

William Evans also mentioned that trash day for bulk items will be this Saturday. We had one the Saturday before last and it turned out well. We got rid of a lot of trash in the community; 44 tons were collected that day. William mentioned that George is doing a good job at the Ellettsville Trash pick-up site.

Adjournment

Lisa Creech made a motion to adjourn. William Evans seconded. Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 8:49 p.m.