Town Council

Rocky Ripple Town Council Meeting December 10, 2024 Rocky Ripple Town Board member, Randy Sanders, called the meeting to order at 7:34 pm. Town board members Randy Sanders and Megan Hulland were present. Julie Smith, clerk treasurer and Mike Kiefer, town marshal, were present. Town board member Rachel Hunter and town attorney Sarah Guffey were not 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 – November minutes were presented with no changes. Randy made a motion to accept the minutes as written, Megan seconded. All were in favor, motion unanimously passed. Treasurer Report for November 2024 – Expenses were presented; printouts were missing this month, so Julie walked the board through the bank statement. Julie noted that there were no non- routine expenses this month. Continued rental interest resulted in income of $300 for rentals in November. Randy is still waiting for a response from Butler University to pay their portion of Lester Street paving; the board plans to follow-up on this during their call with Butler later this week. A check was issued to the Department of Transportation for gap between CCMG and Baumgartner costs. Randy continues to have conversations with Master Mike on outstanding balance of $300. Megan noted that – if Mike has not made a good faith effort at repayment by the end of the year – his code will be turned off at town hall. Ending bank balance for 11/30/2024 was $90,217.35; Randy motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report. Megan abstained because she hadn’t yet had a chance to review. November financial report approval will be tabled for vote until January. Internal Controls – Julie circulated the nepotism policy, salary ordinance and internal controls document for review and signature. Search for Clerk-Treasurer – Julie brought her resignation letter and will submit to appropriate contact at the City. Her resignation will be effective January 1 st. Sarah will swear new Clerk- Treasurer, Mary McCoin, in during the January 14 th board meeting. Resident Mary McCoin has offered to be the new Clerk-Treasurer for the town. The town will need to transition bank responsibilities and set Mary up with a bond at the beginning of the year; conversations are ongoing here. Randy or Megan will need to remove Julie from the Chase account in the new year. Randy made a motion to spend up to $300 on a printer and printer supplies for Mary; Megan seconded and motion passed. Old Business Rocky Ripple Flood Protection: DPW Updates, ILA – Megan shared an update from an email, see full text of email at the end of the notes, Shannon Killion sent on 12/3. Shannon responded to two questions that Megan had asked in early November, where she had asked for an update on project budget/timeline and also on the CLOMR feedback from FEMA, which DPW received on 10/17. Shannon walked Megan through some of the financing history for the project and shared that the current estimate for the floodworks project goes beyond what can be supported by the local stormwater fee, including through issuing bonds against the fee. Shannon also mentioned that DPW is not planning to seek additional funding options until Rocky Ripple has committed to the project through execution of the Interlocal Agreement (ILA). Shannon mentioned that the comments DPW received on the CLOMR submission from FEMA were in line with what was expected and reiterated that DPW now has 90 days to provide responses. This process will continue until all of FEMA’s comments have been satisfactorily addressed; Shannon mentioned that this process typically takes 12-18 months. Megan and Randy noted that they planned to check in on CLOMR response status in the late December/early January timeframe. Speeding Cars in Rocky Ripple/Related Safety Concerns – Megan reached out to Michael Lofton and Bruce Arrick to request a meeting; this meeting has been scheduled on 12/12 via Zoom. The board plans to talk about speeding cars/support for the spring, as well as paving needs for Butler thoroughfare streets. The board discussed the potential need for an ongoing commitment to split paving expenses for Lester and Clarendon streets with Butler, as right now it is an informal agreement between parties. INDOT ADA and Title 6 Compliance Plan – Board will address this line item in January when Rachel can join. Town Manager/Marshal’s Report – Four reports this month (two harassments, a disturbance and an arrest). Marshal Mike mentioned that the CCMG has been closed out this year and that grants for the new year will open January 2nd. Marshal Mike is going to put together a list of recommended streets to pave next year and asked Julie to help pull together a rough 2025 paving budget. He mentioned the need to explore speed bumps on Clarendon Rd. with Butler. Community Association Updates – A women’s self-defense class is planned starting January 5 th for six weeks. This course is open to adults ages 18-80. Randy asked RRCA to request critical dates on the calendar in advance, as facilities are already starting to book up through July of next year. Fitness equipment for the park has been delivered. The kids clothing swap has become a big hit and RRCA is exploring future swap opportunities (for adult clothing, for art supplies, etc.). There will be no RRCA meeting in December; the group will meet again in January. Disc golf day was a huge hit. The RRCA has received some ideas on how to set up the golf pitch moving forward; they estimate the costs will be around $3000. Indy Disc Golf has committed to helping if they want to pursue; they intend to monitor disc impact to the park and development of muddy ruts and make a decision from there. RRCA talked about hiring a park manager to help support ongoing park maintenance using the park endowment. This would enable support for the park beyond volunteer labor. Megan mentioned that the board would want to look at the contract and run it by the town lawyer before committing to the hiring. Randy mentioned wanting to revisit the blood drive idea and offered to work with Versiti to coordinate in the new year. New Business Community Concerns None. Meeting adjourned at 8:37pm. Respectfully submitted, Megan Hulland - Can you share an update on funding mechanisms and corresponding timeline? Last we heard, you were working with a consultant to look at novel funding ideas and had considered deploying the project in phases over an extended period of time. Is this still on the table? What is the current cost estimate for the project and what is budgeted in 2025 onward?  Per Mayor Hogsett’s commitment in 2016, the City has encumbered $10 million dollars from the local stormwater fee to determine the feasibility of a locally funded Rocky Ripple Flood Works Project. We have determined that a project is physically feasible, but continue to evaluate the project cost.   In 2018, the estimated cost of the floodwall was $66 million. Due to supply chain and labor issues that arose during COVID the cost in November of 2021 was estimated at $95 million. In 2022, a redesign was initiated to reduce the cost to under $80 million. A revised cost estimate will be completed once we have CLOMR approval from FEMA. We expect the price will continue to increase due to inflation and rising property values among other impactors.  To help offset the cost to the local stormwater fund, DPW applied two years for FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program. Unfortunately, neither application were successful in brining outside funding to the project.  At this point, after further discussion with our finance team, the estimated cost of the floodworks project goes beyond what can be supported by the local stormwater fee, including through issuing bonds against the fee. We will not know until we have the final estimate if phasing is a potential solution or what other funding options may be available. At this time, DPW does not plan to pursue additional funding options until we know the Town is committed to the project by executing the Interlocal Agreement. - I understand you have heard back from FEMA on the CLOMR. Is there anything noteworthy in their response that would impact residents or the town? What are the next steps on this front? The comments are in line with what we expected for initial review comments. The City’s consultants are developing responses to FEMA’s comments and will submit with the 90-day window. As we have discussed, the CLOMR process will be a series of 90 day review periods between FEMA and the City until all of FEMA’s questions and comments have been addressed. From our consultants’ experience approval typically takes 12 -18 months.