City Council

TOWN OF CICERO TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2024 at 7:00 PM Call to Order: President Lutz called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Ms. Gary gave the prayer. Mr. Lutz called for roll call. Members of the Cicero Town Council were present or absent as follows: Present: Joseph Cox Absent: Eric Hayden Dennis Johnson Christopher Lutz Emily Pearson Declare a Quorum Present: President Lutz declared a quorum with all members present. Others Present: Rhonda Gary, Clerk Treasurer Jeff Rednour, Police Chief Lance Overholser, Fire Chief Frank Zawadzki, Cicero/Jackson Township Plan Commission Director Terry Cooper, Street & Utilities Director Jim Hunter, Parks Superintendent Aaron Culp, Town Attorney Bruce Freeman, Storm Water Management Board President Dan Strong, Project Coordinator Approval of Agenda: Mr. Cox made a motion to approve the agenda as amended. Mr. Johnson seconded, motion carried 5-0. Approval of Prior Minutes: Town Council Staff Meeting Minutes, May 16, 2024, 7:00 PM Town Council Executive Session Memorandum, June 4, 2024, 6:00 PM Town Council Meeting Minutes, June 4, 2024, 7:00 PM Mr. Hayden made a motion to approve the minutes listed above. Ms. Pearson seconded, motion carried 5-0. Approval of 6/18/2024 Claims: Ms. Pearson made a motion to approve claims dated 6-18-24 as presented. Mr. Johnson seconded, motion carried 5-0. Council Committee Reports: 1. OTC Report – Ms. Pearson had nothing to report at this time. 2. EDC Report – Mr. Cox stated that their meeting was cancelled. 3. SWU Management Board Report – SWU President Freeman said that there was nothing going on. 1 Legal Counsel Report – Mr. Culp stated that he has been working with Morse Waterways Association concerning the annual lake clean up event. He requested that their volunteers sign waivers as the town doesn’t get involved in their hiring process and they should take responsibility for the volunteers to limit liability for the town. Council agreed with Mr. Culp. Cicero/Jackson Township Plan Commission Report – Mr. Zawadzki was happy to report that he has fulfilled the IDEM requirement to complete a Certified Flood Management Course. He also added that the Steering Committee for the Comp. Plan will meet on 6/24/24 at 6:00 PM at Red Bridge Park. Town Engineer Report – Mr. Bryant was not present but emailed the following: 1. Tamarack – Waiting for MI Homes to address the punch lit items for Section 4. Upon completion and reinspection, a recommendation for Council infrastructure acceptance will be made. 2. Water – Waiting for property owner approval for additional test wells by Peerless Midwest. 3. Wastewater – The SRF Environmental comment period will be complete on June 24. Mr. Bryant has responded to the last PER comments from the SRF / IFA staff. He anticipates approval shortly after June 24 which would allow Reynolds to mobilize and begin physical construction. There are weekly meetings with Reynolds and shop drawing review continues for process equipment as well as schedule discussions and other project related coordination efforts. 4. Tollgate Road – Midwest Paving has completed underdrain and widening base installation. They plan to complete milling and HMA base installation north of the subdivision entrances today and continue south tomorrow. They will then install the HMA surface and other incidental work and clean up. They hope to be complete before the end of the month. Contractor Pay Application No 2 ($12,553.88) and Pay Application No 3 ($41,012.86) have been submitted for Council approval tonight. Mr. Hayden made a motion to approve Pay Application 2 and Pay Application 3. Mr. Cox seconded, motion carried 5-0. 5. Brinton Street Storm Water Rehab Project – The contractor, Insituform, has completed all of the contract lining and the base bid work. They have also completed the additional inlet and pipe work on Pearl Street (some restoration remining). Mr. Bryant is awaiting a schedule from them to complete the final lining of the outfall segment to the reservoir. 6. Jackson Street CCMG – Mr. Bryant continues with design, plan and specification preparation and plan to complete bid documents next week. He is working with Ms. Gary to advertise to receive bids at the July 16, 2024 council meeting. They have met with Duke onsite and should be able to move the pole, guy wires and meter pole to the NE side of Brinton. They are awaiting a cost from Duke as well as a response from Frontier who have service lines on the pole. Please reach out to Mr. Byrant with any questions or thoughts related to the project. Mr. Bryant also requested a decision tonight on the following items so that progress can continue. Those items are: a. Crosswalks at Short Street and east of the railroad – After discussion, Council agreed to eliminate crosswalks which were previously discussed located at Short Street and east of the railroad. 2  b. Bid date – Council was ok with the 7/16/24 bid date. Old Business: Fire Truck – Mr. Hayden made a motion to untable the fire truck discussion. Mr. Cox seconded, motion carried 5-0. Mr. Hayden stated that he has met with Chief Overholser and there is no proposal for a fire truck at this time. Moving forward, it was suggested that talking to the county to see what a partnership might look like, visiting a surrounding fire department to inquire about and check out their fire truck. The council also suggested forming two-person committee to meet with Chief Overholser to nail down specific needs and wants. Ms. Pearson and Mr. Hayden volunteered to take on that role. Ms. Pearson and Mr. Cox would like to make a decision concerning the fire truck before 9/1/24 so as to avoid a significant cost increase. New Business: Mr. Johnson updated the Council on the Annexation Fiscal Plan to include the boundaries set forth, opportunities and costs. Council thanked Mr. Johnson for his time and efforts on this project. Afterwards, a lengthy discussion ensued concerning opportunities to reduce or minimize some or all of the first-year losses outlined in the Baker Tilly report. For the record, the first-year impact is over $5,000,000.00 net loss for the town. Discussion continued as to what was or was not included in the first-year impact costs. Discussion also included the possibility of partnering with the county and/or Jackson Township on some of the services in hopes of reducing the net loss in the first year. President Lutz stated that we’ve got a path, but financially not there. In the end, it was decided to continue discussions and still consider annexation as a possibility. In addition, Mr. Johnson and Ms. Pearson will continue to explore some options and a potential strategy in regard to annexation. Miscellaneous: a. Crosswalk – Mr. Zawadzki solicited bids to paint a crosswalk at Jackson/Byron Street. In addition, Mr. Zawadzki has had a complaint about the lack of a crosswalk at the Jackson/Byron Street intersection. Mr. Zawadzki made a compilation of considerations for determining the need for a pedestrian crosswalk. Those considerations include pedestrian and vehicle volume, roadway characteristics, sight distance and speed limit to name a few. After discussion, Council recommended not moving forward as the CCMG project on Jackson Street is set to begin in the near future. b. Commissioner Replacement – Chief Rednour stated that he has a Police Commissioner vacancy and would like Council to approve Mr. Cook to fill it. Mr. Hayden made a motion to allow Mr. Cook to fill the vacancy. Ms. Pearson seconded, motion carried 5-0. c. Executive Session – President Lutz would like to schedule an executive session for 5:45 PM on 7/2/24. Ms. Gary will advertise. d. Food and Beverage – Mr. Culp would like to introduce the food and beverage ordinance for discussion during the first council meeting in July and set a public hearing date. He will work with Ms. Gary to get letters to the business owners. e. Annexation – Mr. Culp asked the Council to adopt the fiscal plan and annexation policy. Mr. Hayden made a motion to approve both the fiscal plan and annexation policy for the property located at 23333 Tollgate Road. Mr. Cox seconded, motion carried 5-0. 3  f. Indiana Bond Bank (IBB) – Mr. Culp stated that he expects to hear from Mr. Hadler with Baker Tilly tomorrow in regard to interest rates. g. Employee Handbook – Mr. Hayden inquired about the employee handbook. Ms. Gary replied that it will be on the 7/2/24 Council Meeting Agenda for council approval. h. Innkeeper Tax – President Lutz asked Ms. Gary to add this for discussion to the next staff meeting. Comments by Citizens: Motion to Adjourn: Ms. Pearson made the motion. Mr. Hayden seconded, motion carried 5-0. Signatures on Official Documents! Signatures of Cicero Town Council AYE NAY Christopher J Lutz Joseph R Cox Eric C Hayden Dennis D Johnson Emily K Pearson Attested: Rhonda Gary, Clerk Treasurer The Next Cicero Town Council Meeting will be on July 2, 2024 at 7:00 PM at Cicero Town Hall. 4