Zionsville Town Council

Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 This meeting was conducted onsite. All Councilors participated in person. Council Members Present: Jason Plunkett, President; Brad Burk, Vice-President; Alex Choi, Joe Culp, Josh Garrett, Craig Melton and Bryan Traylor Also Present: Heather Harris, Town Council Attorney; Cindy Poore, Director of Finance & Records; Lance Lantz, Director of Department of Public Works; Amy Lacy, Municipal Relations Coordinator; and other Town Department Staff OPENING A. Call meeting to order B. Pledge of Allegiance Plunkett All right, good morning. I will now call to order the Monday, December 18, 2023 Town Council meeting. If you would please, stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. All Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF THE MEMORANDUM OF THE DECEMBER 18, 2023 REGULAR MEETING Plunkett All right, first item on the agenda is the Approval of the Memorandum of the December 4th Regular Town Council meeting. A copy has been posted. Are there questions from Councilors? I’ll make a motion to approve. Melton Second. Plunkett Second by Councilor Melton. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. APPROVAL OF DECEMBER 18, 2023 CLAIMS Plunkett Up next is the Approval of the December 18, 2023 Claims. Are there questions from Councilors? I’d make a motion to approve the December 18, 2023 claims. Garrett Second. Page 1 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Plunkett I heard Councilor Garrett. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. REQUEST TO SPEAK Plunkett Up next is a Request to Speak on the Agenda Item. We have one request and it’s Paul Dreier. Paul, if you would, come up and state your name and address and you’ll get three minutes and I’ll let you know when you’re coming down the homestretch. Dreier Thank you very much and unusually I’ll speak very, very quickly. The purpose of this is to address not one but all of the items on the agenda as well as in the past. That is to say congratulations to all of you. There’s great, positive results in your work regardless of the challenges that you’ve had to fight. Your diligence, honesty and strength, quite honestly, they impress me every day and I’m thankful for that. I really am. We’re thankful for your wisdom and your intelligence and taking the time to solve a lot of problems that I sure as hell couldn’t and so I’m thankful for that. And, most importantly, to everyone of you – thanks for voting the way your voters ask you to vote. I know some of you voted against what you really wanted or may have believed in but you paid attention to your voters. So, that’s my message today. Just thank you very much. Traylor Thank you. Plunkett Thank you, Paul. I’ll give you an extra 10 minutes if you want to come back up. TOWN COUNCIL UPDATE Plunkett Up next is Town Council Update. We do have one update if there’s any updates from Councilors, I’ll certainly give you the floor before we ask Tim to come up but or if you’d rather wait? Tim, if you want to go ahead and come up. As a little bit of background, this was a request from the Administration to share some thoughts on some of the recent tax levy requests and appeals and such and, as well as supplemental distributions and whatnot and I appreciate Tim’s ability to come in and willingness to come in and walk through this so, thank you. Berry Thank you members of the Council. Tim Berry with Crowe, financial advisor to the Town. I wanted to give you an update. During the budget process, a part of that budget process was in a request to the Department of Local Government Finance for excess levy. There were two requests that were made. The first excess levy request was for the transition for those areas from rural to urban and then there was the excess levy that was, that related to the growth in the assessed value of the Town over the last three years. Reporting back good news – the Department of Local Government Finance approved both of those excess levy Page 2 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 requests. They approved an excess levy of $728,143 in addition to the additional excess or excise tax dollars that the Town will receive on the rural to urban area. So there’s a total excess levy appeal granted of $769,142 for 2024 for the rural to urban portion. As you will recall, within that request there was a one-time purchase of equipment in the amount of $415,000. So, the 2025 excess levy will be reduced back down eliminating that one-time purchase for $313,143 and that was all within the request that was made to DLGF. On, as it relates to the three-year growth, DLGF approved $886,876. So, with that there’s a total levy growth of $1.656 million dollars for 2024. Again, this was all budgeted within the budget dollars that you approved, the revenue dollars that you approved so it does not mean there is a windfall of additional tax revenues for the Town. What it does mean is that you are able to fund the budget as was expected when we approved the budget back in October. Hard to believe it's been that long now. And then the max levy growth for 2025 will be just over $1.2 million dollars plus the max levy growth quotient for 2025 which is expected to be about 4% based upon legislation that the General Assembly passed last year. Garrett Hey Tim – can I – Berry Yep – Garrett And I don’t mean to – Berry Nope, go ahead. Garrett Skip ahead accidentally but can that, because it’s based on a three-year cycle, can it be appealed again next year or is this a one and done? Berry Golly, thank you. Garrett Oh – you’re welcome. Berry That was going to be the next comment. It does not preclude you from moving forward with an excess levy growth appeal for 2025. Your assessed values in 20, for 2024 did not raise as much over the rest of the state’s average as they did in 2023 but you have that three-year look back and that 2023 figure should still allow you some excess levy growth for 2025 should the Town want to move forward with that. Choi So, when we first talked about the excess levy, I thought you had indicated it’s automatic year after year. We do have to appeal this year after year? Berry So the $1.2 million dollars that is approved for 2025 is already set. You will get that plus the maximum growth levy on that $1.2 million dollars. Should the Town realize assessed value growth greater than 2% larger than the statewide average over the last three years again next year, the Town would be able to apply for additional excess levy growth – Choi Okay. Page 3 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Berry As well and that’s part of what I’m going to lead into the next area that, that really precipitates the need for the action that you took as a Town as a Town Council in October. In our appeal to DLGF, and I’m just going to read right here from this, from the actual DLGF order. “The Town states that the excess levy is also being used to position itself financially better with the neighboring Town of Whitestown. Specifically, the Town claims that the Town has a lower property tax levy than Whitestown, a community with 2020 Census population of 10,183, has a 2023 levy of $17,000,000 while Zionsville with three times the population has a current levy of $14.6 million dollars. As a result, the local income tax revenues for Whitestown are more than Zionsville which has three times the population.” On this chart here, it shows some comparisons between the Town of Zionsville and the Town of Whitestown. Your assessed value is greater than three times larger than the assessed value of the Town of Whitestown. Your population with 2023 estimates is about three times greater than that of Whitestown. Your average household income is about 1-1/2 times larger based upon Census estimates than Whitestown. Your operating fund tax levy though for operating funds is significantly less than the Town of Whitestown’s and your total levy is significantly less than the Town of Whitestown. Because of the unique way in which the General Assembly has or the State of Indiana based on statute allocates local income tax dollars based upon a formula that is largely based around tax levy, the Town of Zionsville has lost significantly over the last few years in comparison to Whitestown with your LIT dollars. In 2023, it, the total LIT distributions that the Town of Zionsville received were $18.7 million. That includes both the certified amount as well as the supplemental for both certified shares and public safety and the LIT distribution for Whitestown was 17 point, nearly $17.2 million dollars. The estimates though for 2024, based upon what the state has provided to the Town and to all units of government based upon the tax levies of the previous year looks at that and changes that allocation where Whitestown would be estimating to be receiving $17.3 million and the Town of Zionsville just over $16.5 million. As you look at a percentage of the city populations between the three largest cities and towns within Boone County, Zionsville has approximately 52.5% of the population yet in ’24 is estimated to receive only 37.6% of the LIT distributions. While Whitestown has a just over 19% of the population between, among those three cities and towns they will be receiving 39.5% of the LIT distribution. The LIT distribution has changed significantly as a result of the state’s calculation over the last four years. In 2020, Zionsville received 46.4% of total LIT dollars allocated among the three cities, Lebanon 26.1, Whitestown 27.5. Yet in 2024 estimates and the final numbers have still not been certified by DLGF yet, we’re waiting for the final 1782 notices and budget orders from DLGF, but Zionsville were to, is scheduled to receive 37.6%, Lebanon 22.85, Whitestown 39.54. Utilizing the same percentage that the Town received in 2020 of LIT distributions, that would amount to a difference of $3.8 million dollars in annual revenue for the Town. Page 4 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Similar situations have happened in communities across the state and in 2020 the communities in Hamilton County sought and obtained legislation to rebalance the LIT distributions within that, those communities. In 2020 it was … 18:17 to 20:20 AUDIO/VIDEO GLITCH Choi … whatever formula they came up with, it’s not applicable to all the counties or it had limited jurisdiction? Berry The statute had limited jurisdiction, yes. Choi Okay. So, we might be able to – Berry And it was specific to Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield and it was largely because the growth in LIT dollars based upon the calculation based upon levy that Carmel was receiving was rising at a much faster rate than the other communities, even though their populations were growing as well. Choi The result of that legislation – was it taking from one community and giving to another or growth in one community while the others stayed stable? Berry It was limiting the growth in Carmel to 2.5% annually in local income tax dollars and the theory and the thinking behind that was by limiting the growth in Carmel to 2.5%, the others would grow faster so those percentages and allocation would get back in line with population and incomes. Choi Do you recall when 1114 was first passed whether or not there was strong resistance from Carmel? Berry Yes. Choi Okay. I would’ve anticipated that. So we would, if something like this were to happen in Boone County then we would anticipate strong resistance from other communities? Berry I would assume that – Choi Yes – Berry You know, but at the same time, I would think that there would be strong resistance from the Town of Zionsville in the fact that your LIT dollars over the last few years have grown at a much slower pace than other communities in Boone County. Choi Thank you. Garrett I assume there is no bigger plans afoot at the legislature to fix this formula versus having to legislate work arounds to the formula? I mean, looking at those numbers are crazy – I assume, I think most people probably assume, if I am paying local income taxes going to my local municipality and not going to my neighboring municipality, no offense to Whitestown or anyone else but – Page 5 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Plunkett Right – Garrett I mean, I think there is, I think the one thing we have struggled with and I say the collective we, the Town, is that I think there is an assumption that because we have affluent residents with high income, you said it’s 1-1/2 times of Whitestown, that we are rolling in money yet we are every year struggling to make ends meet through various programs today being ARPA, tomorrow being who knows? Is there any grander plan afoot? I mean I’m sure there’s not a lot of people unless later (inaudible) for Zionsville but like it is woeful. I mean this is, these are crazy numbers right here. This isn’t even close. I mean if it’s in 5-10% like all right you get it. I mean that’s just insane. Berry Certainly the General Assembly right now is in the middle of looking at total tax reform. I would assume that this might be part of that as greater data or data is obtained from Department of Revenue to be able to identify where revenues come from but drastic changes like that also might have huge impacts on other budgets and so I think they have to look at all of that. I think that’s why the 2020 legislation did not eliminate growth but limited growth of, of LIT dollars. Garrett Well I, I applaud your guys’ attention to this, the Administration bringing this. I mean, this, this isn’t going to be my problem but President Plunkett and Mayor- Elect Stehr, I mean, I think however you want to look at this, there’s, there’s gold to be found if you can fix some of this stuff and I think you do it through lobbying or looking at how others have done it but it’s, I mean, if you fix some of this there’s lots of money that goes then towards services here in Zionsville that are being paid for by Zionsville residents. Berry And part of that is Whitestown has grown, as you’re aware, is growing at a rapid pace as well and they’ve taken advantage of some of the excess levy growth opportunities which was why it was necessary for Zionsville to take advantage of that this year to help rebalance that a little bit into the future and make sure that those LIT dollars are allocated appropriately. Garrett Yes, I mean, It’s just interesting that I mean if, if our – and I get sort of – good for them for doing that. If we were on par with them, I mean, our budget would be 3x and can you imagine all the things, you know, if we were at their rate but with caps it would be the same taxes to most of our residents but, I mean, that’s, that’s eye opening. Choi Just a correction – our budget would not be 3x, our LIT dollars would be 3x. Garrett What’s that? Choi Just the correction of what you said. Our budget would not be 3x, our LIT dollars would be 3x. Garrett Yes that’s true. I, well, yes, but also our operating fund levy too, right? I mean, theirs is $14 – Choi Yes – Page 6 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Garrett And ours is $9. Choi We would – Garrett Maybe not 3x but it would certainly be – Choi Yes, about $4 million dollars more according to – Garrett What’s that? Choi About $4 million dollars more. Garrett No, I mean, look at these numbers. I mean, our assessed value is 3x, our population is 3x – Choi Our assessed value yes. Garrett I mean our LIT might even be more than that, right because we’ve got 3 – Choi You’re right – Garrett We’ve got 3x the population but we’ve got also 1-1/2 times on top of that the, the – Choi Assessed value – Garrett Average income. That would be 4-1/2x from an income tax standpoint. I mean, the numbers are huge. These are not. I think the formula probably comes from if we – Choi Right – Garrett Pass the legislation for the catchup thing but I’m saying if the, if the funding formula was truly fair there would be a lot, a lot of good things going on. Choi Yes, you’re right. Berry The shifts that led to the legislation in Hamilton County were much smaller than the shifts that we’re seeing here in Boone County over the last four years. Garrett I remember reading about it and I didn’t really get it. Like, well it was a bunch of grumbling in Hamilton County but that’s, that’s amazing. Burk Again, just, yes, thank you, Tim, for, for that presentation but also for your leadership and continued updating on us but this is good news about the appeal and – Berry Yep. Burk I appreciate you bringing that news to us. Thank you. Page 7 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Berry It was through the appeal process that we really came to see this imbalance and used that in the Town’s benefit, to the Town’s benefit to obtain the additional levy. Garrett Exactly. Plunkett Anything else for Tim? Melton Just, can you share those slides with us via email? Berry I will do that. I will distribute those slides to everyone afterwards. Melton Thank you. Plunkett Thanks Tim. Appreciate it. Berry Thank you. Plunkett I do want to make note we’ve amended the agenda on the Old Business items which we’re certainly allowed to do to eliminate items G, H and I. Councilors, I just want to make sure that everyone’s aware of that. Garrett Hold on a sec – that’s the Non-DLGF budget is I? Plunkett No, no. This is the, this is the Town court, banners and fire alarms. Garrett Got it. The paper one I had said the I was the – Plunkett Oh, okay. Garrett Yes, okay, got it. Plunkett Sorry, so this must be, I must have the original. Harris So I can – Traylor I think you have the updated. Plunkett Okay. Harris Yes, I think Amy updated it but we, there were still two that were missed – Garrett Got it, okay. Okay. Harris From the original. Garrett I just wanted to – Plunkett Yes, so Town court, banners and fire alarms have all three been removed so before we jump into any Old Business items. Page 8 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Garrett Can I, can I comment on that really quick? Plunkett Yes. Garrett Like, the, the reason why it was stated that there were some changes that the Administration found that they didn’t like, like we send them all this stuff in advance. We’ve gone through two meetings, we’ve discussed it, we’ve voted on it. I’m not saying their feedback isn’t helpful – it is, but I don’t understand why they wouldn’t provide it when they first reviewed it. Either they’re ignoring it or they’re just like, it just, it kind of boggles my mind that we went through all that time to adjust these. I want to get it right so I don’t mind taking it off to get it right but like why wouldn’t they reach out the first time they saw it? That’s just – Plunkett Well, I would agree. I mean, I’m incredibly frustrated for a number of reasons, not the least of which we also increased the legal budget for the Mayor’s attorney to review these in conjunction with our attorney to go through the process so that’s the frustrating part is we got to the very end and had meetings on it, approved it, I don’t believe we suspended the rules to approve any of those three so there’s been at least a month of communication on our end about it and, you know, as that kind of rapid fires through when it’s over, it’s a little bit frustrating. So, I would agree with that, Councilor Garrett. OLD BUSINESS Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances to Revise Hosting Minors; Liquor or Controlled Substances Ordinance 2023-37 (Final Reading) Plunkett Are there any other updates from Councilors? If none, I will move on to the first item of Old Business. This is a Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances to Revise Hosting Minors; Liquor or Controlled Substances. This is Ordinance 2023-37, this is final reading. Before Heather introduces or before Heather walks through this, if anybody has any questions, I would just remind Councilors that just like we’ve done in this past, this is a continuous effort to rewrite and improve our Code of Ordinances to bring it up to state statute and language associated with the reorganization. Traylor I do have a question. So, my assumption is that the Mayor is going to veto anything we vote on today, just because that’s what she’s been doing. So, if we vote on this in final reading and she vetoes it then it’s all got to start over again. Since we had the first reading already, if we continue this and let the new Council vote on it in the next, I mean, that would avoid the, the veto process and everything that’s, that is coming. So I’m just, is that, acceptable? Harris Yes, I think that would be more than acceptable if that’s what the Council wanted to do and just a few sort of items to note – so, we introduced a number of these cleanup Ordinances on first reading – Traylor Yes – Page 9 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Harris With the hope that people would look at them in between the meetings and provide any comments. Some of them we did receive comments back and we did correct the comments or make the changes that were requested by the various department leaders. So we’ve got one coming up, for example, that Lance Lantz pointed out that we needed to change. We’ve gone ahead and revised that so I would hope that that’s okay to go ahead and move forward with today. I’m okay if we hold it as well. The reason I recommended that we let the vetoes stand on the others, I mean, the goal is to get this done correctly and to have it done right and so we want to make any changes that are necessary. I will note on the Mayor’s three vetoes, however, those were not sections that we had made revisions to. So, the Ordinance – Garrett Hmm – Harris Wasn’t changing them and there was one comment regarding the Town court that it was reestablishing a Town court. We’ve had a Town court since 1996, I believe. The only thing we were doing is doing a repeal and replace for convenience of the publisher so that the publisher would know just take everything out, put this new language in but we weren’t creating a new Town court or going through that process. The other substantive things around fines, for example, in, I think, the Signs and Banners Ordinance or False Alarms, we didn’t make changes to those statutes so – or to those sections. So I say that only just to maybe say if there are changes, let us know. I do know some of the ones we’re introducing today I did receive comments back from Amy Nooning and different department leaders. We will red-line and bring that back for any suggestions they had for final reading for your consideration so there are some things that they did share back and then there were a few that were more complicated that we shared in advance to say, hey, can you weigh in on this? So, we’re trying to make the changes and make sure it’s right and I’d rather hold and make sure they’re right than move forward and have more time taken for the Council. So, defer to all of you. If you would like to hold these and just bring them back, give everybody a little bit of additional time to look at them, we can have them ready for the first meeting in January. Garrett I kinda like that plan. Traylor Yes and that was a lot nicer way to put it than I did so thank you. Garrett I don’t mind continuing them. I mean, I have an agreement with you. Traylor I’d make well, I mean – Plunkett Hold on a second. Heather, are there any, are any of these that, that you feel like need to be done based on communication back and forth with department heads and the Administration? Harris I don’t think there’s any that need to be done. I will share that I think it’s in item C, the garbage, weeds and grasses – we did go ahead and make the changes that were suggested replacing Department of Public Works with Community Economic Development. I do know that PZAZ, I have had some conversations with one of the committee, committee members. They’re looking at sort of a Page 10 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 global review of all the flora and fauna, weeds and grasses and they’re going to make a recommendation out of that committee to the Administration and to the Council probably end of the first quarter of next year. So we didn’t make any of the substantive revisions. We did share with them that we’re just making sort of stylistic revisions but I do expect that to come back but I’m okay on holding any of these which would be A, B, C, D, E. Plunkett That should be it I think. A through E. Harris Yes and continuing it to the next meeting and then with the New Business items, then we can work with the folks and if anybody has changes hopefully they’ll bring them forward between now and final reading. Plunkett You guys want to make that first January meeting a long one aren’t ya? Traylor I don’t care. Plunkett I’m not opposed to that either. So I don’t know if you want to make a motion. Can he make a motion to just A through E or do we have to go through these individually? Harris No, I think you could just make a motion to continue A through E. Traylor I’d make a motion to continue A through E. Garrett Second. Plunkett We got a first from Councilor Traylor, a second from Councilor Garrett. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Consideration of a Veto Override of an Ordinance Amending the American Rescue Plan Act Act Ordinance 2023-29 Plunkett Up next on the agenda, item F is a Consideration of a Veto Override of an Ordinance Amending The American Rescue Plan Act Act, Ordinance 2023-29. Heather, is there anything you’d like to or any Councilors, questions/comments, anything anybody would like to add to this? Garrett I have some bellyaching I’d like to go through if that’s okay? So, it’s kind of interesting, so the Mayor has – I’m going to talk about ARPA and the Non- DLGF budget because they are both related. The Mayor has line item vetoed the Non-DLGF budget for the Chamber, zWORKS and the Cultural District but she has entirely vetoed the ARPA plan of which that is a part of but of which Page 11 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 everything else is in there that she stated that she supports because it’s from her budget but if it's not in the ARPA Plan, it can’t be spent even if it is in the Non- DLGF budget and the thing that she vetoed, line item vetoed, which she is allowed to do, in the Non-DLGF plan is the thing that she previously approved the last time we did the Non-DLGF plan. So, her reasoning about this is that it really needs to go through a process that she controls with her appointments but that’s a bit of a red herring argument because the first reasoning she gave is the ARPA dollars would be a reporting burden to the grant recipients which they’re not. So now she’s claiming it should go through a different process that she controls but that process we had to interject in through Councilor Traylor because those grants were being given effectively illegally because they were outside of the bounds of the Ordinance. So then we asked to approve all of those because of that and then it went through another grant process the second year and those grant recipients also were not in the right, were not qualified based on the Ordinance, even though they were good grant recipients, because they were given the wrong information. So we actually had to go through and modify the Ordinance to allow those grant recipients who had done a lot of work to get those grants even though they didn’t go through that. Also, the Chamber and the zWORKS were originally in her budget that she proposed and has been in her budget every single year which is unfortunate but, so she states in here that “Unfortunately, we have not come to an agreement on this Ordinance.” So, words are important and that kind of implies that we’re all sitting down for some sort of grand bargain where we disagree on things but it also implies that she communicates with us and it’s kind of interesting, like, I don’t hear anything from the Mayor except for well, memos and I did hear from her through the Current Zionsville article that she just had which is titled Reflections: Emily Styron Shares Her Thoughts on her Term as Zionsville Mayor. One of the quotes that stuck out to me referring to this Council is “I have ignored them to my best of my ability.” So it’s kind of hard to come to an agreement with someone who actively ignores you but, you know, I sort of reflect on, my own reflections in the last four years and why do we not have a relationship with the Mayor outside of the fact that she just doesn’t show up at these meetings and I certainly understand both sides have faults but it’s really kind of how do you compromise with someone when you disagree with them is how you get things done. The Mayor does not compromise. If you want X and she wants Y she’s happy to take Y but she will not give you X. Maybe that’s a perceived character strength but if you think about buildings or planes, the ones that are engineered to be flexible are ultimately stronger in the end. So, like it’s, the, the last budget I think proves the point where the Mayor was not involved. I think we all said that was the most productive budget we’ve ever had. It was only when she interjected herself back into this process and back into this rigidity that things started going haywire again. So, I thought we’d come to an agreement but clearly we have not through this veto. So, you know, also in that article she said that “They (meaning the Council) have gotten absolutely nothing of substance pushed through.” Now, I stand by our record. I think we’ve done a remarkable job but we’ve had to spend a whole lot of time fixing their messes and there’s been no partnership to, to talk about. She also states in the article that “I’m not really a people person.” Actually, let me do it exactly – “I’m not really a huge people person.” The problem here and if you think about what she’s vetoed Page 12 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 here is that who lives in Zionsville? It’s people. And people want firefighters to have equipment they need and they want paths to walk on and they want events like the Summer Concert Series and the Brick Street Market and Christmas in the Village. I’m a people person, I talk to a lot of them. I’ve not had anyone come up to me and say gee, I wish firefighters didn’t have breathing apparatus that wasn’t expired, I wish we didn’t have that new path, I wish that Christmas in the Village would be cancelled. You know, life is about compromise and she doesn’t want to do this – I still don’t get it but at some point you’ve got to give a little to get a little. This is, by far and away, the best plan for our community. This will be for me, if the Council agrees, the easiest vote, I think, I’ll have in these four years is to override this veto so that we can get these things done for the community. It’s been, it’s been a long four years. Plunkett Heather, is there anything you’d like to add to the veto? Harris No, but you’ll just need a simple majority to pass a veto. Plunkett Anything else from Councilors? Garrett Heather, you had sort of indicated there’s a specific motion that needs to be made. Is that for both or just for the line item veto portion? Harris It’s just for the line item veto. You could, you could probably use it for both but it was just a suggestion for the line item veto. Garrett Well, I’m going to go with your suggestion on both just to be everything buttoned up if you’ll allow me. So I’d like to move the Town Council override all line items and language that were vetoed by the Mayor in Ordinance 2023-42, no I’m sorry – 2023-29 which is an Ordinance Amending The American Rescue Plan Act. Burk Second. Plunkett First by Councilor Garrett, a second by Vice President Burk. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Page 13 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Consideration of a Veto Override of an Ordinance to Amend the 2024 Non-DLGF Budget Ordinance 2023-43 Plunkett While they’re passing that down, up next on the agenda is a Consideration of a Veto Override of an Ordinance to Amend the 2024 Non-DLGF Budget. This is Ordinance 2023-43. Is there any Councilor who would like to comment or question here? Garrett No, I think I’m sorta reiterate what I said last time. She line item vetoed the grants to the Chamber, Cultural District and zWORKS but by vetoing the or, I’m sorry by, yes, by vetoing the entire ARPA Plan, it doesn’t matter what’s in the budget or not, you have to have both for it to work. And if you’ll let me then, I would like to move that the Town Council override all line items and the language that were vetoed by the Mayor in Ordinance 2023-43 which is the Ordinance to Amend the 2024 Non-DLGF Budget. Traylor Second. Plunkett I got a first by Councilor Garrett and second by Councilor Traylor. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. NEW BUSINESS Plunkett Moving on to New Business. Again, similar to the Code rewrites of past meetings, quite a few of these but I would imagine we’ll go through pretty quickly. Heather, if you would, giving us just a high level on all of them and then we can certainly make whatever amendments the new Administration or Councilors would like and department heads, etc. as we go through. So, item, first item on New Business is Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances to Amend Parking, Stopping, and Standing Rules. This is Ordinance 2023-45. Harris Currently, this draft does the following: It just adds a section to clarify which department monitors the regulation for the chapter which is Department of Public Works and if there are any comments we receive, I’ll review those. I don’t believe I’ve received any yet on this one but between now and the next meeting, if so, I’ll be bringing back an amendment. Plunkett Any questions from Councilors? Page 14 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances to Amend Parking, Stopping, Standing Rules Ordinance 2023-45 (First Reading) Garrett I’ll make a motion to approve Ordinance 2023-45 on first reading. Plunkett Introduce on first reading. Choi Second. Plunkett I got a first by Councilor Garrett, a second by Councilor Choi. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances to Amend Parking, Stopping, Standing Rules Ordinance 2023-45 (First Reading) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances Chapter 99. This is Animals. This is Ordinance 2023-46, also a first reading. Heather – Harris Yep. This proposed draft will do the following: It adds a department which would be the Police Department to regulate the chapter, removes language that’s duplicative in the penalties section, adds a reference to state laws that are being made as part of this chapter, corrects the definition of department in the definitions section, there’s a couple typos in the original Ordinance and removes a duplicate section on animal fecal matter and animal defecation – nothing like that first thing in the morning – and then corrects the typo, adds some facilities to go along with persons who are prohibiting from keeping or harboring dangerous animals. I did get some notes back from the Administration on the dangerous animals section so I will be reviewing that. I got that at the end of last week and then I’ll bring that forward to all of you with a note and a revision. Plunkett Very good, any questions for Heather? Choi I move to accept on first reading Ordinance 2023-46. Plunkett Yes we’re, we’re just introducing this on first reading. Choi Oh sorry, yes. Plunkett So I got a first by Councilor Choi. Burk Second. Page 15 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Plunkett Second by Vice President Burk. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances Chapter 100 Trees and Flora Ordinance 2023-47 (First Reading) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances Chapter 100. This is Trees and Flora, Ordinance 2023-47, also a first reading. Heather – Harris Yes, so this is just changing the or adding a department in charge which would be the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Public Works and it also adds a title for the chapter. This is the one that I did note that PZAZ is planning a more comprehensive recommendation on. I want to thank Pauline Coderre for reaching out and we had a great conversation about kind of where they’re headed. I know they’re working with, I think, Lance and with Jarod, if I’m not mistaken, but we’ll, if you would like, you can go ahead and introduce it on first reading. We can circle up with them at the first of the year and determine if you want to pass it or wait for a more comprehensive recommendation. Plunkett Appreciate that. Any other, any questions for Heather? I’ll make a motion to introduce Ordinance 2023-47 on first reading. Garrett Second. Plunkett Second by Councilor Garrett. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances Smoking and Tobacco Prohibited in Public Places Ordinance 2023-48 (First Reading) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances for Smoking and Tobacco Prohibited in Public Places. This is Ordinance 2023-48. Heather – Harris Yes. So this proposed draft continues the policy that Zionsville has that is actually stricter than, a little bit stricter than state statute in terms of prohibiting Page 16 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 smoking in public places. It relocates the enforcement section at the top of the chapter to be consistent with just how we’re formatting the other Ordinances in this re-write. It edits the definition of place of employment to align it to state statute. It edits the definition of public place to make sure it’s also consistent with state statute and then it removes sections 9(B) through (D) where smoking and tobacco are not regulated and then and that is specific to state statute as well. This one I know is being reviewed by the Administration and I do have some comments back so I will take a look and make sure we’ve got all of those incorporated before final reading. Plunkett Great, thank you. Questions from Councilors? I’ll make a motion to introduce Ordinance 2023-48 on first reading. Choi Second. Plunkett Second by Councilor Choi. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] The motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Consideration of an Ordinance Authorizing Investments and Deposits Ordinance 2023-49 (First Reading) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance Authorizing Investments and Deposits. This is Ordinance 2023-49. This is a first reading and we have Cindy Poore here if there are any questions – Director of Finance and Records and also Heather can answer our questions as well. Harris I would just share with the Council, this is a policy that we’ve had in place for a number of years that has expired. We are just re-establishing the investment and deposit policy for the Town. This is something that’s required by the State Board of Accounts and the language is largely driven in state statute as well as State Board of Accounts guidelines. I don’t know if Cindy has anything additional to add but, but that’s what we’re working to accomplish here. Plunkett Heather, if this is required by State Board of Accounts, is this something that you would recommend we suspend the rules and have done prior to the end of the year? Harris I would. I think that would be fantastic and then when we have our audit, we’ll have all of our compliance policies in place. Plunkett Cindy, are you thumbs up, thumbs down? Are you good with that? Cindy’s got a thumbs up back there. Are there any questions from Councilors? Garrett Unt uh. Page 17 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Traylor Nope. Plunkett Then I will make a motion to introduce on first reading Ordinance 2023-49. Garrett Second. Plunkett Second by Councilor Garrett. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. I would like to make a motion to suspend the rules. Garrett Second. Plunkett Second by Councilor Garrett. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett Motion passes or all those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. I would like to make a motion to adopt Ordinance 2023-49 on final reading. Choi Second. Plunkett Second by Councilor Choi. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Thank you, Council, for walking through that. Consideration of an Ordinance Authorizing the Acceptance of Payments by Debit and Credit Cards Ordinance 2023-50 (First Reading) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of Ordinance Authorizing Acceptance of Payments by Debit and Credit Cards. This is Ordinance 2023-50. We also have Cindy here as well as Heather to speak on this and I would just point out to Council this is something that the Administration has wanted for a little while now and, Page 18 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 obviously, we had, had requested Baker Tilly in their efforts to come in and help with internal controls and everything that they’ve been doing and really just wanted to get comfortable with the progress that they’ve had before we put this on the agenda so. Heather, is there anything you’d like to add to this? Harris No, this is also a recommendation from the State Board of Accounts to have a policy on accepting debit and credit cards. It allows you to charge a convenience fee to, to cover any fees that would be charged by the credit card company up, our Ordinance says up to $3.00. It also has language regarding the internal checks and balances and internal controls that are necessary regarding credit cards and debit cards including making sure that information is stored securely and that only certain information have, certain individuals have access to the information. This is also one recommended, as I said, by the State Board of Accounts, so you may wish to consider this for a final reading as well. Plunkett Any questions from Councilors? If you’ll bear with me, I wouldn’t mind going through that similar process or the same process there too. I’ll make a motion to introduce Ordinance 2023-50 on first reading. Garrett Second. Plunkett Second by Councilor Garrett. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] I would also like to make a motion to suspend the rules. Burk Second. Plunkett Second by Vice President Burk. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. I would like to make a motion to approve Ordinance 2023-50 on final reading. Garrett Second. Plunkett Second by Councilor Garrett. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Page 19 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Thank you very much. Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances Amending Noise Ordinance 2023-51 (First Reading) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances Amending the Noise Ordinance. This is 2023-51, 2023-51. This is also a first reading. Heather, is there anything you’d like to run through here? Harris Yes. So, this draft adds a section to clarify that the Police Department is responsible for regulating noise, adds standards to the Ordinance that’ll be used to identify whether an unlawful noise exists and there is a list of those standards, adds clarity in the penalty section by inserting “of disorderly conduct” to show which kind of violation this is. I think I also received late last week a comment on this from the Administration. I’ll, I’ll take a look at that. I’ve not reviewed it yet but we may have some changes here. If anybody does have any changes, please let us know. Otherwise, we did not make any additional substantive changes in the introduced version. Plunkett Very good. Any questions for Heather? I’ll make a motion to introduce Ordinance 2023-51 on first reading. Melton Second. Plunkett Second by Councilor Melton. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the 2023 Salary Ordinance Ordinance 2023-52 (First Reading) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the 2023 Salary Ordinance. This is Ordinance 2023-52. This is a first reading. Heather, is there anything you’d like to walk through here? Harris So, we’ve had a lot of conversation about this over the last several weeks and months, some additional conversation since our last meeting and I want to thank Tim Berry for his help as well as Amy Nooning. We are recommending for payment for Chief VanGorder related to the litigation expenses that he was not compensated for that there be an amendment so it’d be a one-time amendment to the Salary Ordinance for 2023 in the amount of $50,000 which would pay the legal fees as well as any taxes related to the payment of those fees. Since this is additional compensation, there would be a tax requirement so we’ve tried to Page 20 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 gross that up to accommodate for that tax burden. And it’s, again, only for a one- time payment. Plunkett Heather, because this is the 2023 Salary Ordinance, is this also something you would recommend suspending the rules and approving? Harris I would, yes. We would really like – Burk We probably have to. Harris To see this get paid this year. This has been an ongoing point of conversation now for a couple of years so I would recommend to the Council that you consider this for final reading. Plunkett Okay. Culp Can the Mayor veto this even now? Traylor Yes. Harris Yes. Traylor And that’s something good to address. When she vetoes this, because I know we had the Deputy Mayor here and stated that this was an agreeable way of doing this – Plunkett For, for the record, this is, this is their desired method to do this. Traylor This is their plan. Right. Plunkett That’s correct. Traylor I understand. Plunkett Yes. Traylor But, all logic aside, the Mayor’s going to veto this and when she does, I just want to encourage the next Council to make this right because this, what is, what was done here was completely outside of any standard HR policies, procedures, put this man through hell for no good reason and all we’re try to do is make him financially right. We’ll never be able to make, make it right what was done to him but we do need to make this financially right. And I guess that brings me to another question because I know we’re going to hopefully vote for this and suspend the rules and make everything happen now and I, this is in public – I, I’m going to try to not put myself in any liability here but so Heather stop me when I do – but knowing that there’s an accusation out there that the Mayor has not reside, been residing in Zionsville since May 8th and I believe the individual that sent all of us the accusation is also sending it to the state, if it is found that the Mayor was serving outside of her legal authority does, what happens for everything that happened between May 8th and now? I mean that’s a, that’s a lot. Page 21 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Harris It would be a lot. I don’t know that we’ve had that precedent before – Traylor And just for the record, we didn’t bring this up – Harris Yes – Traylor This came – Harris Yes – Traylor From somebody I’ve never heard of but pretty detailed. Harris I have not had the opportunity to review any of that information. I would tell you I think it would be very unprecedented and I’m not sure if, if a court would rule that there wasn’t, it wasn’t a legally held office at the time – whether it would invalidate any of the actions that have been taken place in that timeframe. It would be very unprecedented so it would definitely be new ground. So I’m going to have to say to be determined. Traylor To – Harris I’m sorry that’s a very unsatisfactory – Traylor Yes – Harris Answer but it would be very unprecedented. Traylor All right. Garrett Heather, I just want to confirm – mine is maybe not as a detailed question as Councilor Traylor’s but maybe less interesting. If, if we pass this and the Mayor vetoes it, I assume the next Council, should they choose, can override a veto of a Mayor who is no longer serving, correct? It’s just a continuity of – Harris Oh yes, absolutely. Garrett Okay. Harris Yes. Garrett Very good. Plunkett And along the same lines, a question here regarding the veto – our, our reorganization requires that the veto be heard at the next regular – Harris Regular or special meeting. Plunkett Oh, we can have a special meeting? Harris I did confirm that and I do have my little – I have so many papers today but – Page 22 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Plunkett You guys got to clear your calendars for next Friday or New Years. Harris I did look at that. It says at the next regular or special meeting of the Council, I believe. Plunkett Well I guess, I mean, we just need to probably shore that up over the next 10 days – Harris Yes. Plunkett To confirm that, so. Culp I’ll be there. Plunkett What’s that? Culp I’ll be there. Traylor Yes, I’ll make a point. Plunkett All right, any questions or any comments or any, anything from any Councilors? Garrett I make a motion to introduce on first reading Ordinance 2023-52. Traylor Second. Plunkett I got a first by Councilor Garrett, a second by Councilor Traylor. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Garrett I’ll make a motion to suspend the rules. Plunkett Second, I’ll second that. First by Councilor Garrett, second by President Plunkett. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Harris President Plunkett, just – sorry, I found my right paper here. For the Council’s information, in the reorganization in ZR2A18 it states in section (c) that “Whenever an ordinance, order or resolution is vetoed by the Mayor, it is Page 23 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 considered defeated unless the Town Council at its first regular or special meeting after the ten (10) day period.” So you do have an option for a special meeting. Plunkett Thank you. Garrett I’ll make a motion on final reading to approve Ordinance 2023-52. Culp Second. Plunkett I got a first by Councilor Garrett, second by Councilor Culp. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Up next is a Consideration – actually, before we move on from there, Heather, I just want to – so, the Mayor has 10 days from today. Can we notice a special meeting – Traylor In anticipation? Plunkett In anticipation of this? Harris The 29th? Plunkett Can we just notice it for the 29th? Harris Yes, you can. Plunkett Okay, thank you. Consideration of a Resolution Regarding the Appropriation of Additional Funds (2023 Year-End) Resolution 2023- 27 (Public Hearing) Plunkett All right, up next is a Consideration of a Resolution Regarding the Appropriation of Additional Funds. This is 2023 Year-End, Resolution 2023-27. We have Cindy Poore, Director of Finance and Records here to speak through this. Good morning Cindy. Poore Good morning. This is, along with the next one that comes up, kind of a regular year-end process that we go through to make sure that all of our lines are in place prior to the end of the year. As you’ll notice, there are a lot of these in here that where we’ve received money it just needs to be appropriated. Now, there are a few that it is additional funds but here again most of it is funds that have been received that need to be appropriated to a line. Page 24 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Choi Under Finance it is stated this is for consulting, the $10,000. Poore Yes – Choi What consulting was that? Poore Some of it was, was Crowe. We’ve, we’ve had a lot of that going on this year between consulting and our contractual services and so we just ended up being short a little bit. Plunkett Cindy, do you know what the legal fees are for out of curiosity? Poore Uh, let’s see here – that one – is that for the – Plunkett It says general – Poore $1,400? Plunkett Yes – Poore Okay, I do not. I know that a lot of times they have to use attorneys with a lot of the deals and stuff that they have come through and so as busy as they’ve been I would say it’s just because of the volume of what’s come through but I do not have a specific answer for that. Choi And under Wastewater the two items for Wastewater are being offsetting entries from – what does that mean? Poore So, the one that you’re speaking of – this was something that as we were going through and reconciling everything, something that had happened in a prior year, so it’s not really money that’s out it’s just offsetting but it’s happening in a different year so we’re having to compensate for that. Choi Okay. Plunkett This is a public hearing and I have proof of publication of the notice of the public hearing. At this point I will open the hearing. If there’s any members of the public who would like to speak – seeing none, I will close the hearing. Are there any additional questions from Councilors for Cindy? I would make, having none, I would make a motion to approve Resolution 2023-27. Burk Second. Plunkett Second by Vice President Burk. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Page 25 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Consideration of a Resolution Regarding the Re-Appropriation of Funds (2023 Year-End) Resolution 2023-28 Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of a Resolution Regarding the Reappropriation of Funds. This is 2023 Year-End, Resolution 2023-28. Poore Here again another year-end process that we generally go through. Sometimes there may be times where you might overspend in one line but underspend in another so it’s just moving some budgeted funds around. Plunkett Questions from Councilors? Traylor The CCD Fund – Poore Yes – Traylor The $352,500 that’s being moved to contractual services – I’m just always skeptical of contractual services anymore. So, do we know what that was for? Poore Lance can speak to it, although it is, I know, this, I believe if I remember correctly, was an error that happened during budget time that all of it was put into infrastructure and there should’ve been some that was put into contractual services so this is making that right and he can give specifics on. Traylor Mr. Lantz – Lantz Great, thank you for asking that, asking that question. That was an incorrect data entry. When you saw the budget for this year there were some pathway projects listed for design and, unfortunately, a past Administration when they saw “pathway project” they just considered it infrastructure when it’s actually for engineering. This is for engineering design along Oak Street, along County Road 875 and County and along Whitestown Road pathway projects. Those are all the contractual services. Traylor Okay. Thank you. Plunkett Thank you Mr. Lantz. Are there any questions for Cindy? Melton Just on, I have one on the golf course one and we’re, we’re appropriating from construction to PT salary? Poore Part-time salary. They had actually a pretty stellar year this year and so they ended up having to work their part-time help a lot more than what was anticipated when budgeted and these are just dollars that were leftover in some of these line items and so they’re, they’re moving it to, to help with the abundance of part-time help that they needed this year. Melton So those dollars are being spent this year? Poore Yes. Page 26 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Traylor Have spent. Poore Yes. Melton Okay. Plunkett Anything else from Councilors? I’ll make a motion to approve Resolution 2023- 28. Choi Second. Plunkett Second by Councilor Choi. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Poore Thank you. Plunkett Thanks Cindy. Consideration of a Resolution Regarding the Appropriation of Additional Funds (Fire Salary) Resolution 2023-29 (Public Hearing) Plunkett All right, up next is a Consideration of a Resolution Regarding the Appropriation of Additional Funds. This is for the Fire Department salary, Resolution 2023-29. Heather, is there anything you’d like to add to this? Harris This is just appropriating additional funds to cover the additional $50,000 in compensation related to the Salary Ordinance amendment that was just passed by the Council. There should be proof of publication. We also published this. Plunkett As Heather mentioned, this is a public hearing and I have proof of publication of the notice of public hearing. At this point I will open the hearing if there’s any members of the public who would like to comment. Having none, I will close the public hearing. Any questions from Councilors? Traylor I make a motion to approve. Culp Second. Plunkett We have a first by Councilor Traylor, second by Councilor Culp. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Page 27 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Annual Certifications of Compliance with the Conflict of Interest and Nepotism Policy Plunkett Last item of New Business is Annual Certifications of Compliance with Conflict of Interest and Nepotism Policy. Amy, is this something you’d like to carry for us? Lacy Yes. This is just something we have to do every year to comply with State Board of Accounts. It is, and also to comply with our Ordinance regarding conflict of interest and nepotism. All Council members must complete compliance with the Town’s nepotism policy involving direct-line supervision and the compliance with the contracting with the Town by a relative policy and those forms have to be completed and submitted on an annual basis by December 31st of each year. So, I’m passing those down to you right now if you could sign those and return those at the end of the meeting. Garrett Amy, we usually do this at the end of the year. It would seem like you’d want to do it like at the beginning of the year so people are kind of aware of it. Lacy Yes, normally we do it earlier in the year. We did not this year so that’s why – and then we were revising that Ordinance which we revised at the last meeting was 2023-30. The original Ordinance is 2012-10 and it was another one that was just kind of housekeeping items that Heather updated. But, yes, normally we do it closer to the beginning of the year. Garrett So I wouldn’t know to hire all my relatives before this. Lacy Yes. Garrett Dang it. I missed it. Plunkett All right. Make sure Amy gets those. There’s two of them here so make sure Amy gets those when you guys head out. All right – Choi You want to pass them back this way and I’ll gather them up? SPECIAL PRESENTATION Plunkett We have one more item here or a special presentation and I’m actually going to go down here for that one. If we, if we could have the outgoing Councilors – Councilor Traylor, Councilor Garrett, Councilor Culp and Councilor Choi come down to the front please. Garrett I wore my best suit for this. Plunkett I would just say as you guys are walking down here, we’ve had a number of folks over the last year or few years talk about what this Council’s done and the work Page 28 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 that we’ve put in. Just a quick list – not an exhaustive list but just the work that this Council’s put into help fund miles of pathways, two roundabouts out on Oak Street over the last couple years, certainly navigated COVID very, very well under the leadership of Councilor Garrett and Traylor. You, you’ll recall we established a Public Safety Task Force to work with schools and police and fire. We worked diligently to pass operationally balanced budgets, certainly with Councilor Garrett’s help this year. We funded, this Council funded the Carpenter Nature Preserve, supported Winterfest. The, the accomplishments of this Council, I think, many times go unnoticed because we don’t have a voice outside of this meeting and, you know, a lot of times there aren’t folks, as many folks tuning in here as they might be reading the newspaper. I would point out that you guys have been a tremendous help to me personally as when I first came in in 2017 caucused working with Councilor Garrett and Councilor Traylor to understand what the difference might be between an ordinance and a resolution, like just understanding the basics and it is like drinking from a firehose at times and you guys have been very helpful. All four of you in times where we’re trying to figure out how to position things on a budget or on an agenda, what should go on the agenda, what type of support you might have for various agenda items, it’s very helpful from the President’s perspective to have support and your guys’ leadership on this Council and you’ll be greatly missed. So, I wanted to take a – Amy and Lance and others have worked on this. We’ve got some bricks that have your name, Town Council, the years that you were on the Council. For those of you that were involved in leadership on the back of the Council it’ll have your President and Vice President positions on there as well. Joe, I didn’t put anything on here about your Police Commissioners position but I appreciate your work and leadership on that as well. Councilor Garrett, you’ll see that on yours you’ve got President from 2017 to ’21, Vice President in ’17 – so, we just wanted to make sure you guys had these. I appreciate all of your, all of your work and I’m going to bring these over to you. So thank you very much. Thank you guys. All right, last item on the agenda is Other Matters. Are there any other matters or anything any Councilors would – Councilor Melton, you’re looking at me like there’s something there. Melton Yep, I just, we still have a few appointments to Boards and Commissions I think for 2024. Is that correct? So, I just want to reach out and just let the public know that they should reach out if they have any of their passions or talents or skills that they want to utilize on some of these Boards and Commissions. It’s very important that you reach out to us. The Mayor’s, you can reach out to the Mayor or you can reach out to the Councilors and we’ll get you an application and we would appreciate those, those people that want to be a part of the Town of Zionsville. Choi I have one thing – I don’t want to speak for the other Councilors that are going out but this has been an incredible journey for me over the last four years. An honor and a privilege to be able to serve this Town. Gotten to know many of the Page 29 of 30 Zionsville Town Council December 18, 2023 residents and it is an incredible place. I do encourage, in follow up to Councilor Melton’s comments, those of you wanting to serve in a public office, it is an incredible experience and the opportunity to work with people like those up here – Amy and Heather and the Administration, the department heads, has been incredibly invaluable. I am grateful to those Councilors that are replacing us to serve and so thank you very much for this opportunity. Garrett We won’t turn this into speeches but I will miss the staff. You guys are awesome. You guys are the ones that make this work, not us, so thank you and Jason, you’ve done a great job as President so, same to you Brad. Traylor Agreed. Thank you to the staff. Appreciate you. Culp Thanks everybody. Plunkett All right, last item – ADJOURN Garrett I’ll make a motion to adjourn. Traylor I’ll second. Plunkett I got a first from Councilor Garrett and a second from Councilor Traylor. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. The next Regular Town Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 2, 2024 at 7 p.m. in the Zionsville Town Hall Council Chambers. Public notice will be posted in compliance with the Indiana Open Door Law. Thank you very much and Merry Christmas. Respectfully submitted, Amelia Anne Lacy, Municipal Relations Coordinator Town of Zionsville Page 30 of 30