Town Council

Rocky Ripple Town Council Meeting March 14, 2023 Rocky Ripple Town Board Chair, Mandy Redmond, called the meeting to order at 7:33 pm. Town board members Megan Hulland and Randy Sanders were present. Julie Smith, clerk treasurer, Mike Kiefer, town marshal, and Matthew Dodson, town attorney, via Zoom, were also present. Welcome Community! Town board chair welcomed and thanked those who were present at town hall as well as those who are joining us for tonight’s meeting via Zoom. Our new town counsel, Sarah Guffey, introduced herself. She will start on April 1st. Thank you to Matthew Dodson for his service. Clerk Treasurer Reports Minutes – February minutes were presented. Randy made a motion to accept the minutes with said corrections, Megan seconded. All were in favor, motion unanimously passed. Treasurer Report for February 2023 – In addition to routine expenses, invoice for floodwall counsel was paid as well as expenses for repair of electric meter mast. Proceeds from sale of police car were received. Ending bank balance for 2/28/2023 was $157,043.03. Megan motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report and Randy seconded the motion. All were in favor, motion unanimously passed. Signing of Town Legal Counsel Contract – Will sign at end of meeting. Update on Funding Availability for Floodwall Legal Counsel – Will discuss at next month’s meeting since we have not received February’s bill yet. ARPA Funds Annual Report – Due by end of April. Old Business Rocky Ripple Flood Protection: 2022 Summary; DPW Updates, ILA; town hall brainstorming sessions: Floodwall Poll Fact Sheet Committee – The board provided a revised version of the ILA to DPW on March 2nd. The revised ILA included the board’s comments and verbiage from the floodwall legal counsel. Mandy has not heard back from DPW regarding the submission of the ILA. Mandy has inquired about the exhibits in the ILA that the city was providing along with some timing issues related to the contract and has heard nothing. The board did receive an exhibit amendment from Shannon Killion. Very hard to read and a couple of properties were not on the map. Megan has asked for a larger printout of it. It is more detailed than past drawings. Every outbuilding, fence, and deck that is going to be removed is on it. A pump station has reappeared on the map. Some of the map layers have been turned off so you can see the height and width of the wall. According to DPW, the map markings match the stakes that were recently placed. When the maps are completely updated, they will be posted online. The appraisers will utilize these drawings as a basis when they do their appraisals. The board is still awaiting answers to questions they gave DPW back in December. DPW is planning to include these renderings on their website as part of some FAQs and share the visuals with the Rocky Ripple Town Board for questions or clarifications; otherwise, DPW plans to post these renderings by the end of the month. Another brainstorming session on Town Hall relocation was held. Randy also sent out a poll to all Rocky Ripple residents that subscribe to Town of Rocky Ripple emails using a Google Doc form which has generated 27 responses. Hohlt Park has the most 1st place votes but has almost as many 3rd place votes. Patterson has the next most votes for being 1st but has more votes for being 3rd. Fountain Park is the most neutral choice, receiving 21 votes for 1st and 2nd. If you do rank voting, Patterson scores higher by 1 point than Hohlt Park. No clear consensus. Peace Park was suggested as well as the corner of 53rd and Clarendon Road. April 9th will be deadline for submitting poll responses on relocation of town hall. We do not need to design town hall, but we do need to give our specifications, dimensions, how many windows, use of natural light, parking and storage needs we desire. Rocky Ripple Town Board members met individually with the new DPW Director, Brandon Herget, in February. These meetings were intended as meet-and-greets and no new information related to the floodwall project was received from these meetings. Shannon Killion and Mike Massonne were in attendance for these sessions as well. Mandy asked in her meeting if they could return to having monthly meetings and DPW was adamant that they did not plan to host monthly public meetings with the Rocky Ripple Town Board again any time soon. Director Herget stated another public meeting would be held in the future once the floodwall design is finalized. DPW did agree to having one of the board members be a contact who would have weekly/monthly updates with Shannon. Megan mentioned that Rocky Ripple town councilors did ask for monthly public updates be included as part of the agreement in the ILA. DPW stated they would like to take a signed ILA to the City County Council in May. The project’s website has been updated and timelines have been revised. Residents who will lose their homes as part of the project have been contacted by relocation companies; DPW indicated this was an oversight and the calls should stop for the time being. No updates on project budget. Appraisers will be coming around soon for remaining riverfront residents who will lose outbuildings and land as part of the project. The board has asked about next steps now that they have returned a revised ILA to DPW. A poll will be conducted within the town of Rocky Ripple once we have final designs and a signature ready final draft of the ILA. Per the Rocky Ripple Fact Sheet Committee, the fact sheet is not complete as they are still waiting for more information from DPW. The board requests that the Fact Sheet Committee set a date and they will attend their meeting. At this meeting, the board would like to see a hard copy of the fact sheet as it stands currently. The board would also like the Fact Sheet Committee to share their rationale of how to conduct the poll and who can participate since it differs from what the board had decided upon. John Byrne commented that he and Peter/Annie Horvath have not had any contact from the City nor from the relocation subcontractors for quite some time. Mandy mentioned she would follow-up with DPW to check on status. CEG STEP Program Update – Meeting was well attended. Phase 1 deadline is March 31st. Those with homes potentially being demolished are unclear whether they should sign their contract and start paying and seek reimbursement afterwards or hold off on signing. Heather Handley has received word from Lance Langer, Project Manager at Citizens Energy Group (CEG), that those homes can be part of Phase 3. Mandy will email Lance Langer requesting he provide a written statement to the board that can be shared with residents. An easement from Butler University and permitting from IDEM are required before the project construction can start. Town Hall Maintenance/Repairs – No repairs currently. AED batteries need to be replaced. They generally last 4 years. The marshal has found them as cheaply as $360 each online via GSA, and we need two. GSA might not let the marshal use his personal card. Randy made a motion to allocate up to $1100 for AED batteries. Megan seconded. All in favor. American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds – New Truck/Snowplow Update – The truck has arrived at the dealership and is being sent on to the outfitter. We will take it in separately to Ziebart for the undercoat. Do we care what decals we put on truck? The marshal likes what we have on the website if we have a decent picture of it for him to use. Mandy will send him a current .jpeg of the town logo. INDOT ADA and Title 6 Compliance Plan – Not discussed. Town Manager/Marshal’s Report - 2023 Road Paving Grant Application – The CCMG is still under review. The marshal needs to pick up some bags of asphalt to fix potholes on Riverview Road. Insurance is up for renewal. The marshal has contacted insurance to remove old police car and add new truck. He will forward insurance information when received. On March 8th at 0830 in the 5100 block of Patterson Street, US Marshals served an arrest warrant out of New Mexico on an individual. On March 13th at 0845 in the 5100 block of Clarendon Road an immediate detention on an individual who was running around knocking on doors occurred. Immediate detention means sent to hospital for evaluation. Community Association Updates – Bingo went well. Next Bingo is on April 22nd. Playground installers finally fixed outstanding equipment issues on the crab trap. Easter Egg Hunt and Cake Walk is set for April 8th. Thank you, Mandy Redmond, and Diane Householder. RRCA elections in May. The Secretary position is open, and Treasurer and Vice President are up for election. Paper Retriever recycling service has been cancelled and the bin has been removed. New Business Redesign of town website (Town Web) – Will sit down with Town Web in April to discuss changes to the town’s website. Mandy has asked all of us to come with suggestions of areas we would like to see improved. Utilization of Clare Wildhack-Nolan Service Offerings – Megan will reach out to her and let her know that we will wait until appraisals start coming in before we set a date to utilize her services. Community Concerns If a tree falls across the road and it is after hours, please call Mayor’s Action Line. Report the address and they will send out somebody to take care of it. If a tree falls across Canal Boulevard after hours, call Citizen’s Energy Group. Mike Marienthal plans to have Taekwondo camp the week of June 5th to June 9th from 9-3. Only one week this year. Mandy made a motion to adjourn, Randy seconded. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 8:56 pm. Respectfully submitted, Julie Smith