Common Council

CITY COMMON COUNCIL OF HARTFORD CITY, INDIANA MARCH 3, 2025 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, March 3, 2025 ROLL CALL: Members of the council present were Ron Dudelston, Michael Wolfe, Tracey Witt, Tony Scaggs, and Bill Aspy. Mayor Eckstein, City Attorney Aubrey Crist, and Clerk-Treasurer Dana Whatley were also present. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Mr. Aspy made a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Mr. Dudelston seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FOR FEBRUARY 3, 2025: Mr. Scaggs made a motion to approve the minutes for February 3, 2025 as submitted. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. OLD BUSINESS: A) MICHELE RISINGER – HARTFORD CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY: Clerk-Treasurer Whatley explained that Ms. Risinger reached out and stated the library has developed a plan in managing their issues. She was not in attendance at this meeting. There was no action taken. B) NOISE ORDINANCE DISCUSSION: Mr. Scaggs made a motion to table this discussion to the April 2025 meeting. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. C) ZONING FOR AGRICULTURE IN CITY LIMITS: It was briefly discussed that Council would need to hire a different attorney to draft an ordinance for this topic as the City Attorney has a conflict of interest. Mr. Scaggs made a motion to table this topic until April. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. D) ORDINANCE FOR NO PARKING SIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF NORTH MICHIGAN AND GREENBRIAR DRIVE: Mr. Scaggs made a motion to table this topic until the April meeting so that the ordinance can be completed. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. NEW BUSINESS: A) HERITAGE DAYS FESTIVAL: Dr. Tom Lee approached Council regarding the 2025 festival to be held from May 7 – May 10, 2025. They asked for the city to allocate some funding for the festival. Clerk-Treasurer Whatley requested that she receive a copy of the liability insurance certificate for Heritage Days naming the city as an insured. She requested to have that in her possession before cutting a check for any funding. Mr. Wolfe made a motion to appropriate $3,000 to Heritage Days until the city could determine what other festivals will be requesting funding. Mr. Dudelston seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. B) HCPD – PERMISSION TO SPEND OVER $10,000: Chief Crouse requested to spend over $10,000 for two new police vehicles. He explained that they have hired two new officers and need vehicles for those officers. He presented 4 quotes for council’s review. Chief Crouse explained that he will do the outfitting of these vehicles himself which will save some money. He explained that he plans to pay for these vehicles out of his LOIT fund. Mr. Scaggs made a motion to allow Chief Crouse to purchase the vehicles from quote #1 with Kelley Chevy, LLC, and quote #2 with John Jones Police Pursuit Vehicles. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. C) WATER DEPARTMENT – PERMISSION TO SPEND OVER $10,000 1.) REFINISHING THE FLOORS AT THE WATER PLANT: Mr. Bill Bacon explained that he wants to refinish the floors at the Water Plant and plans to pay for this project out of the Water Project bond. Mr. Aspy made a motion to allow this expenditure. Mr. Scaggs seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. 2.) MINI EXCAVATOR PURCHASE – NEEDED FOR LEAD LINE SERVICE PROJECT: Mr. Bacon explained that it will be extremely helpful if they had a Mini-Excavator to use on this project and other projects in the future. If he can find the equipment for the right price it will be more cost effective than renting one. He believes he can find one between $15,000 - $20,000. Mr. Scaggs made a motion to allow the expenditure with a cap of $20,000 if Mr. Bacon can find the equipment. Mr. Aspy seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. 3.) TWO DUMP TRUCKS: Mr. Bacon explained that he would like to purchase two dump trucks sometime in the future. He is arranging the funding for this purchase. It was decided to come back to this topic once things are decided.  4.) NEW WORK TRUCK: Mr. Bacon explained that he wants to purchase a new work truck. He currently has a pickup truck in his fleet that is not set up like the other work trucks and it is hard to haul the equipment needed to go out to jobsites. The truck he currently has could be sold to the DPW and it would be used for a plow truck. Mr. Bacon is asking to spend over $10,000 for this work truck and he will utilize the proceeds of the sale of the other truck to help pay for this. Mr. Scaggs made a motion to approve this expenditure. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. 5.) ANNUAL 4TH GRADE FIELD TRIP TO THE WATER DEPARTMENT: Mr. Bacon explained that the 4th grade field trip will be held on May 9, 2025. He asked council if they would be willing to pay $390 in transportation fees to the school for the students and teachers to attend. Ms. Witt made a motion to pay for this expense out of the festivals line item. Mr. Wolfe seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. D) WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT – NON-COMPLIANCE FROM LOCAL INDUSTRY: Mr. Williamson gave another update on this situation and that he is working with the City Attorney to help rectify it. There was no action taken. E) MS. CHERI BROWN – COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: Ms. Brown stated that it has been 60 days since she started in her position. She gave updates on several projects on which she is working. 1.) BIKE/PEDESTRIAN PATH MASTER PLANNING GRANT: She stated we have received the grant funding, and she has been working with HWC as the consultants on this project. 2.) SENIOR CITIZENS CENTER FACE LIFT: She explained that she received some donated funding to paint and replace flooring in the Senior Citizen’s Center. 3.) ANIMAL SHELTER ORDINANCE AMENDMENT: She is working with the animal shelter task force and the City Attorney on an ordinance amendment. This process is ongoing. 4.) YOUTH COUNCIL OR GETTING KIDS INVOLVED IN THEIR COMMUNITY: Ms. Brown stated that she will be meeting with the JAG students at the high school. She wants to engage with the youth and find out what they would like to see in their community and how they can be involved too. 5.) ARTS COUNCIL GRANT: Ms. Brown stated that she is working on an application with the Indiana Arts Commission to try and secure grant funding for the local Arts Council. She is working with Ms. Cindy Gross on this endeavor. MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Eckstein reported on the following items: 1.) OBIs have officially signed a lease with the Redevelopment Commission. 2.) RDC has hired a contractor for the design of the condominiums at the Newberry building. 3.) Fire Training Center – The Fire Department hosted 15+ departments (70+ people) in a fire training at their new training center. 4.) Employee Handbook Revision: Mayor Eckstein explained that he has put together a group of people that have been tasked to update the employee handbook. This group consists of: Karen Bargerhuff, Payroll Clerk Morgan Massey, Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Bill Aspy, City Councilman Pam Weiseman, Board of Works Member Ron Parrott, Parks Board 5.) Golf Course: Mayor Eckstein stated that the city along with other private investors have tried and tried to purchase this property but regrettably it is not going to work out. CLERK-TREASURER COMMENTS: A.) WARRANTS DATED 2022 CANCELLATION REQUEST: Clerk-Treasurer Whatley provided a list of old checks that are over 2 years old totaling $940.97. She explained that the water deposits will be sent to Indiana Unclaimed, and the other amounts will be deposited back into the funds they were written from. Mr. Scaggs made a motion to approve the cancellation of these warrants. Ms. Witt seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Bill Aspy – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE. The vote to approve was 5-0. COUNCIL COMMENT: A.) MICHAEL WOLFE – Mr. Wolfe reminded everyone of the Council’s Town Hall meeting on Monday, March 31, 2025 at 6:00pm. B.) RON DUDELSTON – Mr. Dudelston thanked Mayor Eckstein, the Redevelopment Commission and Economic Development for the time that was spent getting OBIs across the finish line. PUBLIC COMMENT: A.) MR. JOE COSTELO – AMERICA’S 250 BIRTHDAY (SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL): Mr. Costelo addressed council to make them aware that he is part of an America’s 250 Steering Committee. He recommended that we do a simple kick-off for this celebration on Flag Day June 14th. He stated that this is the community’s celebration, and the steering committee will be there to help but he reminded everyone to be thinking about this celebration and that we need to make it a big deal. He also reminded that we keep this celebration in mind when we are budgeting for our festivals in 2026. ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Mr. Scaggs made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 7:23pm. FOLDER 2/REC 51