Town Council

Rocky Ripple Town Council Meeting November 12, 2024 Rocky Ripple Town Board member, Randy Sanders, called the meeting to order at 7:32 pm. Town board members Rachel Hunter, Randy Sanders and Megan Hulland were present. Julie Smith, clerk treasurer, town attorney, Sarah Guffey, and Mike Kiefer, town marshal, were present. Welcome Community! Town board member, Randy Sanders, welcomed and thanked those who were present at town hall as well as those who are joining us for tonight’s meeting via Zoom. Clerk Treasurer Reports Minutes – October minutes were presented with no changes. Megan made a motion to accept the minutes as written, Rachel seconded. All were in favor, motion unanimously passed. Treasurer Report for October 2024 – Expenses were presented. Julie noted that there were no non-routine expenses this month. Due to continued rental interest, the Board will pay for a toilet in the park until the end of November. The town received a little more Riverboat income in October (largest chunk was paid in September). Randy is still waiting for a response from Butler University to pay their portion of Lester Street paving. Marshal Mike has completed rating road conditions on pacer scale. Master Mike paid Randy $300 towards his outstanding balance and planned to attend the meeting tonight; Master Mike was not in attendance. A balance of $200 still remains on his account and Randy plans to follow-up. Ending bank balance for 10/31/2024 was $94,912.52; Rachel motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report and Megan seconded the motion. All were in favor, motion unanimously passed. Search for Clerk-Treasurer – Resident Mary McCoin has offered to be the new Clerk-Treasurer for the town. Thank you, Mary! Mary is slowly learning from Julie and needs a printer. Randy mentioned he had done some research and found a good option for a reasonable price. Julie and Randy looked into what would be required to formally transition duties; Julie would need to resign and then Mary would need to fill out paperwork and the Board would vote. Randy asked if Sarah could join the Board in person for the first meeting of 2025 on January 8 th to swear Mary in. The town will need to transition bank responsibilities and set Mary up with a bond at the beginning of the year. Julie will look into what we can start to transition now to get ahead of the lengthy process associated with Chase Bank. Old Business Rocky Ripple Flood Protection: DPW Updates, ILA – Shannon Killion, DPW Stormwater Administrator, met with interested residents throughout the month of October. Rachel also attended several meetings with residents. Shannon clarified that property acquisition and clearing of trees would occur in phases and that some of these phases would be spread out over a period of several years. Residents asked what would happen if the City’s financial situation changed in the interim and Shannon stated that the agreement between Rocky Ripple and the City would make clear that the City would have to finish the project. Shannon mentioned that – with the back and forth on the Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR) and other logistics – it may be 3-4 years before Phase 1 of the project would commence with the tows approval and financing in place. A resident asked what would happen if there were a flood event while the City was in the midst of active construction. Shannon mentioned that contractors would be required to keep emergency supplies on hand to help prevent flooding as needed. Shannon also mentioned that the current design will require 4-5 underground pump stations. Shannon also mentioned that the first comments from FEMA on the Rocky Ripple CLOMR had been received; there were 23 items noted by FEMA. Shannon forwarded this information along to the Board. Randy mentioned that the Board should plan to reach back out to Shannon for a status update in 60 days, as the City has 90 days to respond to FEMA’s questions to keep the project moving forward. Speeding Cars in Rocky Ripple/Related Safety Concerns – No update. Megan emailed a point of contact within Butler Athletics and hasn’t heard back yet. Marshal Mike shared that soccer tryouts for the summer start on April 15th. Megan mentioned that she wanted to meet with Butler before the spring to work out a plan for traffic control. Residents suggested a few other people at Butler to connect with, including outgoing CFO Bruce Arrick. Megan will follow-up. INDOT ADA and Title 6 Compliance Plan – The Board had posted the Title 6 and ADA compliance plans after the October meeting; no public comments were received. Rachel made a motion to vote on the new addition of these two items to town ordinance; Megan seconded. Motion passed. Rachel is still updating formatting for the ordinances wholesale. Town Manager/Marshal’s Report – No reports this month. Next cycle of Community Crossings Grant (CCG) will open in January 2025. INDOT road assessment has been completed. Community Association Updates – Randy mentioned that two rentals the previous weekend had left the town hall in terrible shape; both Randy and Marshal Mike had to spend time cleaning up the space. Randy mentioned he felt that these deposits should be kept and Megan and Rachel agreed. Rachel suggested we increase the deposit fee to cover two hours of professional cleaning to tidy up if this were to happen again in the future. Rachel mentioned she would look into pricing to share with the Board. Disc golf will occur on 11/23 from 10:00am-12:00pm. The next clothing swap will take place on 11/24 at town hall. A family folk dance is planned for 11/17. The Rocky Ripple Holiday Bazaar will take place on 12/7. Next RRCA meeting is 11/19. Megan asked when the next RREM meeting was scheduled; Marshal Mike mentioned he would follow-up. New Business Community Concerns None. Meeting adjourned at 8:37pm. Respectfully submitted, Megan Hulland