Common Council

CITY COMMON COUNCIL OF HARTFORD CITY, INDIANA JULY 1, 2024 MEETING MINUTES CALL TO ORDER & WELCOME: Mayor Eckstein called to order a meeting of the Common Council of the City of Hartford City at 6:00pm July 1, 2024. ROLL CALL: Members of the council present were Ron Dudelston, Michael Wolfe, Tracey Witt, Tony Scaggs, and Bill Aspy. Mayor Eckstein, Attorney Brandon Murphy, and Clerk-Treasurer Dana Whatley were also present. PUBLIC HEARING: Mr. Scaggs made a motion to suspend the regular City Council meeting. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. The vote to suspend the regular meeting was 5-0. A.) SB-1 PERSONAL PROPERTY – 3M (RES 2024-10): There was some description of this proposed $2 million investment in personal property improvements, increasing the assessed value to $17 million and retaining 201 employees. This would be a 10-year descending abatement. With no further public comment, this public hearing was closed. B.) ANIMALS (ORDINANCE 2024-03): There was much discussion on proposed amendments to the animal ordinance, including fines for dogs at large, grammatical changes, and limits on the number of fowl. Some topics discussed were - Dog attacks and law enforcement. Dangerous animals’ ordinance Animal Shelter capacity Enforcement of animal control ordinances Public awareness and education Fines and penalties Stray cats Chickens and other fowl Public health concerns Mr. Dudelston made a motion to close the public hearing. Mr. Scaggs seconded the motion. The vote to close the public hearing was 5-0. Mr. Dudelston made a motion to re-open the regular City Council meeting. Mr. Aspy seconded the motion. The city council’s decision to re-open the regular City Council meeting was 5-0. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Mr. Dudelston requested to move new business item “F” – Ordinance 2024-03 – an ordinance amending the city code regarding animals (1st reading) to item “A”. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FOR JUNE 3, 2024: Mr. Tony Scaggs made a motion to approve the minutes for June 3, 2024 as submitted. Mr. Wolfe seconded the motion. The vote to approve was 5-0. OLD BUSINESS: A.) RESOLUTION 2024-15 – E FLEX MOBILE SB-1/PP – 2ND READING: Mr. Dudelston made a motion to accept the 2nd reading of Resolution 2024-15. Mr. Wolfe seconded the motion. The vote to approve Resolution 2024-15 was 5-0. NEW BUSINESS: A.) ORDINANCE 2024-03 – AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CITY CODE WITH REGARD TO ANIMALS (1ST READING): There was a 2-part discussion regarding this ordinance. The first being chickens and fowl. After the discussion during the public hearing, Mr. Dudelston made a motion to remove the chickens and fowl piece from the ordinance. Mr. Scaggs seconded the motion. The vote to remove chickens and fowl from Ordinance 2024-03 was 5-0. The other discussion was on dogs-at-large and the proposed fine increases along with a definition of what nuisance means in this ordinance. Mr. Dudelston stated that more work needs to be done by the council on defining this. Mr. Dudelston made a motion to table this Ordinance 2024-03 until this is accomplished. Mr. Scaggs seconded the motion. The vote to table Ordinance 2024-03 was 5-0. B.) MAINSTREAM FIBER RIGHT-OF-WAY PROJECT: Mr. Warren Brown provided the council with a packet regarding this project. Attorney Murphy stated that he wanted to obtain a memorandum of understanding before proceeding with this discussion. He recommended tabling this topic. Mr. Scaggs made a motion to table it. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. The vote to table was 5-0. C.) RESOLUTION 2024-20 3M SB-1/PP (1ST READING): Mr. Dudelston made a motion to approve the first reading of Resolution 2024-30. Mr. Scaggs seconded the motion. The vote to approve the first reading of Resolution 2024-30 was 5-0. D.) RESOLUTION 2024-22 3M CF-1’S 2014-2023: Mr. Aspy made a motion to approve Resolution 2024-22. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. The vote to approve Resolution 2024-22 was 5-0. E.) JON CREEK – REQUESTING LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR TAX ABATEMENT REGARDING THE TYNER/MCKINNEY BUILDING RESTORATION: Mr. Creek addressed the council and stated that he along with Ms. Pat Redmond, Ms. Sinuard Costelo and Ms. Judy Sodders have formed an LLC to apply with the IHCDA for grant money to restore this building to be used for senior affordable housing and senior services and community meeting space. He is the managing member of Tyner LLC. and co-developer along with a co-developer out of Indianapolis. The contractor will be Ervin Graber. He stated that this will be a $12 million project and the application is due by the end of July for a November award. He was asking the council to provide a letter of support for a tax abatement when and if that time comes. Attorney Murphy stated that this would be a tentative and non-binding vote from the council at this time. Any tax abatement would have to be managed through all the proper steps at the appropriate time.  This letter would not be a guarantee of a tax abatement. Mr. Scaggs made a motion to provide this letter of support. Mr. Wolfe seconded the motion. The vote to approve providing a letter of support for this project was 5-0. F.) RESOLUTION 2024-21 – A RESOLUTION TO TRANSFER FUNDS FROM THE GENERAL FUND TO THE RAINY-DAY FUND IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $50,523: Mayor Eckstein stated that we have not put any remaining appropriations from the general fund into the Rainy-Day fund over the past few years. He requested to have this amount transferred. Mr. Dudelston made a motion to approve Resolution 2024-21. Mr. Witt seconded the motion. The vote to approve Resolution 2024-21 was 5-0. G.) TRAVIS WILLIAMSON – PERMISSION TO SPEND OVER $10,000 FOR LTCP PRE/POST CONSTRUCTION FLOW MONITORS: Mr. Aspy made a motion to approve this expenditure. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. The vote to approve was 5-0. H.) NICK PARROTT – PERMISSION TO SPEND OVER $10,000 FOR GROUND PREP WORK FOR NEW TRAINING CENTER: Chief Parrott and Fireman Rob Hess explained to the council about the award from the State of Indiana of a new fire training center that will be built next to the Street Department offices. This is an $800,000 facility that was awarded. They need to get the groundwork accomplished before the delivery of this training facility. Mr. Dudelston made a motion to approve this expenditure. Mr. Aspy seconded the motion. The vote to approve was 5-0. MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Eckstein wanted to remind everyone that Saturday in the Park will be held at Sigma Phi Gamma Memorial Park starting at 10:00am July 6, 2024. It will be going on all day culminating with the fireworks show at dusk. Mayor Eckstein thanked everyone for attending tonight’s meeting and invited them back to future meetings as well. CLERK-TREASURER COMMENTS: NONE COUNCIL COMMENT: A.) TONY SCAGGS – Mr. Scaggs thanked the community for coming to the council meeting tonight. He invited them to attend more often. B.) RON DUDELSTON – Mr. Dudelston echoed Mr. Scaggs’ sentiments. C.) RON DUDELSTON – Mr. Dudelston advised the council that our previous Ordinance Control Officer has resigned. They have found a replacement with Mr. Jordon Massey. He stated that Mr. Massey has started training and is doing great. PUBLIC COMMENT: A.) MELANIE PIERCY ON BEHALF OF KYLIE PENROD: Ms. Piercy read a letter from Ms. Penrod that was advocating for our 4-H youth in Blackford County in reference to the chicken topic addressed earlier. She explained about all the benefits that these 4-H projects provide for these children and the importance of caring about something other than themselves and the value of a dollar. B.) DEAN FIGHTS: Mr. Fights addressed the council and asked how they produced the number of 6 chickens as a limit. He provided some very interesting facts about chickens and roosters, in reference to noise studies that have been done on these animals. C.) ALICE KINGSLEY: Ms. Kingsley addressed the council regarding the proposed ordinance changes in reference to dogs and increasing fines. She asked the council to carefully consider the changes and think everything through before passing any amendments. D.) BILL SMITH – BLACKFORD COUNTY EMA: Mr. Smith wanted to remind everyone that they will be holding an IU Radio training at the Montpelier EMS building on July 18, 2024 at 6:00pm. He also provided the council with a template for a Disaster Debris Management Plan. He’s trying to assemble a committee of County and City officials and employees to go over this template and customize it to fit Blackford County in the event of a disaster. E.) JOE COSTELO: Mr. Costelo addressed the council and told them about the 250th anniversary of the USA that will be in 2026. He talked about the bi-centennial celebrations that were held in 1976 and hoped we can surpass that in 2026. He reminded the council to budget for this celebration in their upcoming budgets for 2025 and 2026. ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Mr. Dudelston made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 7:34pm. FOLDER 2/REC 180421_002