Town Council

Rocky Ripple Town Council Meeting April 11, 2023 Rocky Ripple Town Board Chair, Mandy Redmond, called the meeting to order at 7:39 pm. Town board members Megan Hulland and Randy Sanders were present. Julie Smith, clerk treasurer, Mike Kiefer, town marshal, and Sarah Guffey, 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. Hard copies of agendas will no longer be distributed at meetings; agenda are available electronically and a hard copy will be available for review at each meeting. Clerk Treasurer Reports Minutes – March minutes were presented. Megan made a motion to accept the minutes, Randy seconded. All were in favor, motion unanimously passed. Treasurer Report for March 2023 – In addition to routine expenses, invoice for floodwall legal counsel, trustee and clerk treasurer wages, Q1 legal fees, and snowplowing wages for January were paid out. Ending bank balance for 03/31/2023 was $153,643.97. Randy motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report and Megan seconded the motion. All were in favor, motion unanimously passed. Funding Availability for Floodwall Legal Counsel – All the additional appropriated funds from last year have been used. Still have $3,872.57 in this year’s budget to spend. Anticipate needing to raise more funds but will not know for a few more weeks or months. 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 – Mandy has had some correspondence with Shannon Killion asking when property appraisals were going to start, how long they would take but DPW said that information is between the individuals and the appraisers. The board was asking for general not specific information so Mandy will ask the question again. The appraisers are asking to come into the homes which has raised some questions. Appraisers have been given instructions to be as comprehensive as possible. Two separate appraisals per property and the appraisers have been coming at the same time according to residents who have had them done and/or scheduled them. Other residents have heard nothing. In answer to repeated questions from some residents present, the Town Board reiterated that it is not going to sign an ILA because DPW and the City of Indianapolis pressures them to do so. The Town Board will take as much time as needed to ensure the ILA best serves Rocky Ripple before proceeding. No construction can start without a signed ILA in place. Dan Axler reached out to John Barth via email. John Barth talked with the new director of DPW who told him that communication with the Rocky Ripple Town Council has been consistent and is up to date with the expected plans. The current status is that the City of Indianapolis and the Town of Rocky Ripple are working on finalizing the ILA. Rocky Ripple’s floodwall counsel, Yasmin Stump Law Group, worked with the town board’s response to the initial draft of the ILA. As of March 3rd, the ILA is back with the City and there has been no response as of this date to the suggested changes made by the Town of Rocky Ripple. DPW legal department is very slow. More land is being required of the current plan than the one agreed upon in 2017. Town board encourages everyone to be present at the appraisals of their home and land. Brandon Herget, DPW Director, stated that DPW would have a public meeting once all the appraisals are done. Mandy sent an email on March 30th inquiring about appraisals and when they would start, Byrne and Horvath property appraisal completion, missing items on drawings, and receipt of Town hall appraisals. Shannon Killion responded on April 10th that DPW’s legal counsel continues to consider the town council’s comments on the draft ILA, but the initial feedback is that with each iteration of the ILA there is growing distance between the town council’s request and what the city is able to commit to. The town board has only submitted one draft. The town board will share the final draft of the agreed upon ILA before it is signed. DPW sent Randy an aerial view of an area called Chevy’s Dam that resembles what Rocky Ripple’s public access area will look like. The internal drainage project is a separate project that is going on at the same time as the flood wall project and has a separate budget. DLZ is the firm hiring appraisers for this project. The town board has asked for appraisals for the Rocky Ripple town hall. The board is going to start working with other elected officials to get answers. The board also encourages residents to reach out and write DPW asking the same questions. The town hall relocation poll had 43 responses. Hohlt Park was the desired location with 21 votes picking it as their top spot. 85% percent of the responders left comments. The board would like to share the results with the residents around Hohlt Park and have a feedback session with them. The board will thank the responders and let them know the results. Whether or not this information is needed for the ILA, it was valuable information as to what people desired in a new town hall. Stu Rhodes was present and wanted to express that Rick Hohlt is opposed to the town hall being placed in Hohlt Park. Rick Hohlt will see what he can do at the federal level to help us. John Byrne suggests we raise money, hire another attorney and get the City’s attention. CEG STEP Program Update – Contracts for Phase 1 homeowners were due on March 31st. CEG provided a letter addressing the homes being destroyed and they are now included in Phase 3. Citizens Energy is still waiting on Butler easement and IDEM permitting. The board will ask for an update. Redesign of town website (Town Web) – There has been no time to look into this more. Megan suggested we ask Town Web to add some functionality such as seeing the calendar on our phone. Rental forms need to be added and eventually we will accept payment by credit card or echeck. Town Hall Maintenance/Repairs – No repairs currently. AED batteries arrived. Paddles are backordered 4-6 weeks. We should look for a new AED the next time around. It will be easier to find grants for a new one versus replacement parts. American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds – New Truck/Snowplow Update – The truck is still at the outfitters but anticipate it will be ready later this week or next. Check will be needed soon for the full amount of $72,827.00. Need to sell old truck so we are not paying insurance on it anymore. INDOT ADA and Title 6 Compliance Plan – No discussion. Town Manager/Marshal’s Report - 2023 Road Paving Grant Application – Unable to check status of CCMG paving grant currently. Hope to hear next month. Insurance is renewing on April 14th. Quotes will be received soon. On March 31st at 0745 in the 5100 block of Clarendon Road, took report of an animal bite. A loose dog bit a construction worker. Animal control is following up on that incident. On April 6th at 1930 hours in the 5300 block of Sunset, IMPD took a vandalism report. Someone’s gate had been vandalized. Gun shots and drag racing have been reported recently. No shell casings were found by either IMPD or the marshal. Community Association Updates – Easter Egg Hunt and Cake Walk was great. Perfect weather. Enough cakes for all who stayed till the end. Thank you to everyone for their contributions. One more Bingo scheduled for April 22nd. Games in the park for the summer. Possibly a movie in the park. Charlie Morgan would like to have a free musical event. He will forward dates that work for him. Reported vandalism of light fixtures in park; it has been suggested we place cages around the motion detectors so that they are not tampered with by the neighborhood kids. Annual meeting is coming up in May so the RRCA will be talking bylaws and elections next week in preparation for that meeting. Vice-president, and treasurer are up for reelection. Secretary position remains open. New Business Frank’s Livery Tactical Advisory Committee Request for RRTB rep – Megan would like to volunteer. Preparation for Primary Election Polling Site at Town Hall – Jill Morris has made arrangements to have the town hall be a polling site on May 2nd. Tamara Carr will man the polling site with other volunteers. Reminder – The Bulldog Dash is on Saturday, April 22nd and will impact the neighborhood prior to 10 am for about an hour and a half. Randy will put out a reminder on NextDoor. There is also a race this coming Saturday, April 15th. Community Concerns Mandy made a motion to adjourn, Randy seconded. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 9:22 pm. Respectfully submitted, Julie Smith