Town Council Regular Meeting

TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 7:00 PM Council Chamber Bristol Municipal Complex MINUTES CALL MEETING TO ORDER - Council President Jeff Beachy called the regular meeting to order at 7:00pm on Thursday, February 19, 2026 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - led by Officer Vincent Ambrose ROLL CALL Members present: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy absent: Dean Rentfrow Others in attendance: Town Marshal Steve Priem, Legal Counsel Alex Bowman, Clerk-Treasurer Cathy Antonelli, Town Manager Mike Yoder, Fire Chief Nik Kantz APPROVAL OF AGENDA - stands as published APPROVAL OF INVOICES  Motion to approve the invoices made by Cathy Burke, Seconded by Gregg Tuholski.Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries. APPROVAL OF MINUTES  Motion to approve the Council meeting minutes from February 5, 2026 and the work session minutes from February 17, 2026 made by Doug DeSmith, Seconded by Gregg Tuholski. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries. REPORTS Marshal Steve Priem gave recognition to Officers Ambrose, Simon and Pittman for proactive police work, which resulted in stopping a robbery in progress. TOWN MANAGER Mike Yoder  Motion to approve Reith Riley pay out for $57,852.11, close out of CCMG 2025-1 made by Gregg Tuholski, Seconded by Cathy Burke. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries.  Motion to approve SRF disbursement #45 for Commonwealth $35,888 made by Doug DeSmith, Seconded by Jeff Beachy. (Noted 81% completed) Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries.  Motion to approve SRF disbursement #46 to Crosby $350,020 and $18,422 to retainage fund made by Cathy Burke, Seconded by Doug DeSmith. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries.   Motion to approve SRF disbursement #51 to Phoenix Fabricators $61,732 w/ $3,249 retainage made by Gregg Tuholski, Seconded by Doug DeSmith. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries.  Motion to approve SRF disbursement #52 to JPR $12,155 made by Cathy Burke, Seconded by Doug DeSmith. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries.  Homecoming Request by Cathy Burke, Treasurer for the Homecoming Committee, 203 W Vistula St – Cathy shared that the Homecoming started in 1883 and may very be one of the oldest festivals in the state. A donation was asked of the Council to be used towards growing the free kids area. Town Manager Mike Yoder noted that the CCI and giveback fund had funds that were available for such a request. The request was tabled to an upcoming work session for the Council to be able to review the supplied budget and see a proposal for how the requested funds would be used. Project updates Mike Yoder 1. Great Lakes new office building, rendering shared. Location: corner of Maple and Earthway. 2. Well field work and photos shared 3. INDOT/RR construction phases – to be shared with the public tomorrow via the Our Town Bristol app and Facebook. Note: Rieth-Riley will be providing residents with contact person if there are questions and they will personally notify property owners of work to be done in front of their property. Access to all streets, businesses, parking areas will remain open during construction - except when open cut work is being completed. Opera House façade to be removed. Hometown Summer Nights/ Farmers Market - Jill Swartz Jill went over her plans for the Hometown Summer Nights to be held the 3rd Friday in June, July and August. A family-friendly atmosphere and a way to bring our community to the downtown area. Plans for activities for the kids, local businesses open for dinner and live music and a comedy act. CLERK-TREASURER Cathy Antonelli A public hearing was opened at 7:56pm to take comments on Ordinance No. 2.19.2026-1 Additional Appropriation request in the amount of $356,164.65 for the CCMG 2025-1 project. Hearing no comments the public hearing was closed at 7:56pm.  Motion to approve Ordinance No. 2.19.2026-1 for additional appropriations for the CCMG 2025-1 project $356,164.65 made by Cathy Burke, Seconded by Doug DeSmith. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries. Address the Amended Notice to Taxpayers of Additional Appropriation that was approved last meeting Motion to amend Ordinance No. 3.5-2026-4, publish and move to second reading $1,629,134 Motion to publish and advance to second reading.  Motion to publish Ordianance No. 3.5.2026-4 as amended and move to second reading $1,629,134.00 made by Doug DeSmith, Seconded by Gregg Tuholski. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries. A Cancellation of Warrants was presented to the Council. This included seven checks that were outstanding from 2023 and will be removed from circulation. TOWN MARSHAL Marshal Steve Priem went over his monthly operations report and noted that we lost an officer to the City of Mishawaka. Officer Laskowski had been with the Town for five years and will be missed. FIRE CHIEF Fire Chief Nik Kantz went over his monthly operations report and gave thanks to the Bristol Police Department, Osolo and Jefferson Fire Departments for their assistance with a fire that occurred on January 27 at 1305 W Vistula. There were no casualties and the fire was contained and extinguished within 12 minutes. PARK BOARD Assistant Town Manager Jill Swartz shared the our park reservations will soon be available via the website, hopefully making it more convenient for our renters. TOWN ATTORNEY Alex Bowman Legal Counsel Bowman gave an update on the Raber golf and reviewed the rules surrounding public comment. PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR (Public Comments to Council) Please state your name and address | 3-minute guideline for comments Tony Bures 809N Division St – asked for an explanation of the tax conversation from the work session Tuesday night. Mike Yoder spoke to thoughts of a TIF district for residential. Assistant Town Manager Jill Swartz, made mention of new Ways Find signage during construction Melissa Kauffman, Carolina Avenue, Elkhart > wanted to address the upcoming Kauffman annexation and asked the Council to not approve it right away but slow down and have public meetings for more community awareness and to be able to take in questions and comments. Council President Jeff Beachy explained this is a request by the Kauffman family to be annexed into the Town (Voluntary Annexation). This allows for water, sewer, police and fire services. Their goal is to sell the property. Mike Yoder stated that if the annexation were approved, the next action would be rezoning from A1-M1 next> rezoning A1 to M1 by way of a GPUD (General Planned Unit Development) Mike Miller, Carolina Avenue, Elkhart. Referred to the Wilhelm annexation and a pocket annex Elizabeth Hall, 54800 CR 28, Bristol asked when will the GPUD be made available to the public. Mike Yoder said it would first be presented to the County and then to the Town. The Kauffman family requested the rezoning in order to get a better resale. Helen Calvin 707 N River Rd, Bristol spoke to the Facebooks posting and that if the Town doesn’t annex the property then the revenue will go to whoever does annex it and she would hate for the Town to lose the revenue. TOWN COUNCIL DISCUSSION ITEMS - none this evening NEXT MEETINGS: March 5: Executive session at 6:30pm, followed by Council meeting. Annexation public hearing | Development standards overlay consideration. MOTION TO ADJOURN  Motion to adjourn made by Gregg Tuholski, Seconded by Doug DeSmith. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy  Meeting adjourned at 8:37pm. _________________________ __________________________ Jeff Beachy, Council President Cathy Antonelli, Clerk-Treasurer These minutes are a summary of actions taken at the Bristol Town Council meetings. The full video archive of the meeting is available for viewing at https://bristol-in.municodemeetings.com/ for as long as this media is supported.