Common Council

CITY COMMON COUNCIL OF HARTFORD CITY, INDIANA SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 MEETING MINUTES CALL TO ORDER & WELCOME: Mayor Dan Eckstein called to order a meeting of the Common Council of the City of Hartford City at 6:00pm, September 2, 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. PUBLIC HEARINGS: Mr. Dudelston made a motion to suspend the regular council meeting. 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 suspend was 5-0. Mr. Dudelston made a motion to open the public hearings. 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 open public hearings was 5-0. A.) APPROPRIATIONS AND TAX RATES FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2026: There was no public comment in relation to the proposed budget ordinance. B.) PROPOSED RATE INCRASE FOR WATER, WASTEWATER, STORMWATER AND SANITATION UTILITIES: There was no comment on the proposed rate increase for the utilities. Mr. Scaggs made a motion to close the public hearing. 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 close the public hearing was 5-0. Mr. Scaggs made a motion to re-open the regular council meeting. 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 re-open the regular meeting was 5-0. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Mr. Dudelston made a motion to approve the agenda as submitted. 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. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: A.) JULY 31, 2025 SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES: Mr. Wolfe made a motion to approve the minutes of the July 31, 2025 special meeting 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.  B.) AUGUST 4, 2025 REGULAR MEETING MINUTES: Mr. Scaggs made a motion to approve the minutes of the August 4, 2025 meeting as submitted. 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. OLD BUSINESS: A.) 2ND READING OF ORDINANCE 2025-11 – ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE 1215 DEFINING AGRICULTURAL USE WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS: Mr. Dudelston made a motion to approve the 2nd reading of Ordinance 2025-11. 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. B.) 2nd READING OF ORDINANCE 2025-10 – AN ORDINANCE AMENDING HARTFORD CITY CODE TITLE V – PUBLIC WORKS: Mr. Wolfe made a motion to approve the 2ND reading of Ordinance 2025-10. 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.) EDP RENEWABLES: Mr. Christopher Boyles and Mr. Tom Turner with EDP Renewables attended this council meeting. They explained how the wind project works. They stated that their company is incredibly invested in our community. They explained that the proposed ordinance regarding Article 10 has some items that are unusual to any other ordinances they have seen in other communities. Some that would make the project not feasible to complete if left in place. B.) MS. ANNE OWEN – ARTICLE 10 FINAL COPY AS PASSED BY THE AREA PLAN COMMITTEE: After much discussion, Mr. Dudelston made a motion to reject this document as submitted. Mr. Scaggs seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. Michael Wolfe – AYE, Tracey Witt – AYE, Ron Dudelston – AYE, Tony Scaggs – AYE, Bill Aspy abstained from voting. The vote to reject the Article 10 document was 4-0. Mr. Wolfe made a motion to allow Mr. Dudelston to present Council’s concerns and proposed changes to the Article 10 document to the Area Plan Commission. 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 carried 5-0. C.) FIBER INTERNET: Mayor Eckstein explained that he has met with 3 different internet companies who are interested in running fiber internet throughout the city where residents can obtain affordable internet if they so desire. This was just for informational purposes and no vote was taken. D.) MR. TRAVIS WILLIAMSON – QUOTE FOR BIOSOLIDS CEILING REPAIR: Mr. Williamson presented two different quotes for the Biosolids ceiling repair and asked for  permission to spend over $10,000 for repair. Mr. Dudelston made a motion to approve the expenditure for the quote from E. Wilson Enterprises in the amount of $25,000. 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. E.) 1ST READING OF ORDINANCE 2025-12 – AN ORDINANCE FOR APPROPRIATION AND TAX RATES FOR 2026: Mr. Dudelston made a motion to approve the 1st reading of Ordinance 2025-12. 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. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: A.) “THIS IS US” – Ms. Cheri Brown explained that the “This is Us” community project has officially launched. B.) DOWNTOWN CLEANUP – Ms. Brown stated that the city-wide cleanup will be held Saturday, September 13, 2025. She said there will be more information coming soon. MAYOR’S COMMENTS: A.) Mayor Eckstein explained that Mr. Jeff Thomas – DPW has started paving 93 blocks in the CCMG project. He explained that the overall project has a cost of $930,000 and Mr. Thomas received $745,000 of that cost in grant money. B.) Mayor Eckstein also gave kudos to the county road department on their paving project. C.) Mayor Eckstein explained that the Blackford County Greenway board has decided to disband. He talked about the city taking this over and transferring it to the Park’s Department in 2026 for the care and upkeep. He stated that the city and county currently have an interlocal agreement taking care of the insurance policy on the Greenway and the fuel purchase for mowing. He explained that the city and county will need to amend the interlocal agreement to help with the costs of the upkeep. Mayor Eckstein stated that he will bring this to the Park’s Board meeting this month to get their opinion. D.) Mayor Eckstein stated that OBI’s is coming along, and they should be opening for business soon. E.) Mayor Eckstein stated that the 9/11 ceremony is planned at Veteran’s Park. He stated there will be more details to come. F.) Mayor Eckstein talked about the Housing Needs Assessment that he would like to have done for Hartford City. He stated that he is going to ask the Redevelopment Commission to split the cost for having this done. CLERK-TREASURER COMMENTS: NONE COUNCIL COMMENT: MICHAEL WOLFE – Mr. Wolfe gave kudos to Travis and the Sewer Crew for taking care of the Hickory Grove Road sink hole. They responded within 5 minutes of receiving the call. TRACEY WITT – Ms. Witt complimented Mr. Dustin George on how nice the dinosaur looks in its new location on the city hall property. TONY SCAGGS – Mr. Scaggs stated that he has had some complaints about the Kirby Sweeper salespeople showing up door-to-door at a time later than the ordinance allows. BILL ASPY – Mr. Aspy gave kudos to all the city crews in all departments for the good job they all do. RON DUDELSTON – Mr. Dudelston stated that he stands agreement with Mr. Aspy. PUBLIC COMMENT: A.) COUNTY COMMISSIONER, JOHN LANCASTER: Mr. Lancaster explained about the committee that worked on the ordinance amendments to Article 10. He stated that the committee was divided on what changes that needed to be made from one extreme of limiting it so that no one could do this project to the other extreme of not making any changes to the ordinance. They finally allowed a couple of items to be agreeable and not cause a stalemate. ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Mr. Scaggs made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 6:47pm. FOLDER 2/REC 54