Zionsville Town Council

Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 This meeting was conducted onsite. All Councilors participated in person. Council Members Present: Jason Plunkett, President; Brad Burk, Vice-President; Tim McElderry, Craig Melton, Evan Norris, Sarah Esterline Sampson, and Joe Stein Also Present: Heather Harris, Town Council Attorney; Mayor John Stehr; Mia Riley, Deputy Director of Finance & Records; Samantha Spencer, Town Judge; Jason Potts, Deputy Chief of Administration Zionsville Fire Department; Amy Lacy, Municipal Relations Coordinator; and other Town Department Staff OPENING A. Call meeting to order B. Pledge of Allegiance A. Swearing in of Town Council Members B. Election of Officers for 2024 i. President ii. Vice-President Plunkett All right, good evening. I will now call the January 2, 2024 Regular Town Council meeting to order. If you would please, stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. All Pledge of Allegiance. Plunkett All right, the first item on our agenda will be our swearing in of Town Council members. I’d like to thank everyone for coming this evening. This is obviously a very special moment for all of us and for you guys as well. Among our friends and family this evening we have Indiana State Representative Becky Cash with us, our newly elected Mayor, John Stehr and Deputy Mayor, Kate Swanson. Thank you all for being here. Tonight we have Zionsville Town Judge, the Honorable Samantha Spencer, to administer the oath of office to each Town Councilor. Spencer It’s my honor tonight to administer the oath of office to our new Town Councilors. Raise your right hand. I, Jason Alan Plunkett – Plunkett I, Jason Alan Plunkett – Spencer Do solemnly swear – Page 1 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Plunkett Do solemnly swear – Spencer That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Plunkett That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Spencer And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Plunkett And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Spencer And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Plunkett And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Spencer Discharge the duties – Plunkett Discharge the duties – Spencer Of the office – Plunkett Of the office – Spencer Of Zionsville Town Council Member District 2 – Plunkett Of Zionsville Town Council Member District 2 – Spencer According to the law and to the best of my ability. Plunkett According to the law and to the best of my ability. Thank you. Spencer Congratulations. Raise your right hand. I, Bradrick Burk – Burk I, Bradrick Burk – Spencer Do solemnly swear – Burk Do solemnly swear – Spencer That I will support the Constitution – Burk That I will support the Constitution – Spencer Of the United States – Burk Of the United States – Spencer And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Burk And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Page 2 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Spencer And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Burk And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Spencer Discharge the duties – Burk Discharge the duties – Spencer Of the office of Zionsville Town Council Member District 5 – Burk Of the office of Zionsville Town Council District 5 – Spencer According to the law – Burk According to the law – Spencer And to the best of my ability. Burk And to the best of my ability. Spencer I, Tim McElderry – McElderry I, Tim McElderry – Spencer Do solemnly swear – McElderry Do solemnly swear – Spencer That I will support the Constitution of the United States – McElderry That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Spencer And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – McElderry And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Spencer And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – McElderry And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Spencer Discharge the duties – McElderry Discharge the duties – Spencer Of the office of Zionsville Town Council Member of District 1 – McElderry Of the office of Zionsville Town Council District 1 – Spencer According to the law – Page 3 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 McElderry According to the law – Spencer And to the best of my ability. McElderry And to the best of my ability. Spencer Raise your right hand. I, Evan Norris – Norris I, Evan Norris – Spencer Do solemnly swear – Norris Do solemnly swear – Spencer That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Norris That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Spencer And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Norris And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Spencer And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Norris And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Spencer Discharge the duties – Norris Discharge the duties – Spencer Of the office of Zionsville Town Council – Norris Of the office of Zionsville Town Council – Spencer According to the law – Norris According to the law – Spencer And to the best of my ability. Norris And to the best of my ability. Spencer I, Craig Melton – Melton I, Craig Melton – Spencer Do solemnly swear – Melton Do solemnly swear – Spencer That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Page 4 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Melton That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Spencer And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Melton And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Spencer And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Melton And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Spencer Discharge the duties – Melton Discharge the duties – Spencer Of the office of Zionsville Town Council Member District 3 – Melton Of the office of Zionsville Town Council District Number 3 – Spencer According to the law – Melton According to the law – Spencer And to the best of my ability. Melton And to the best of my ability. Spencer I, Sarah Esterline Sampson – Sampson I, Sarah Esterline Sampson – Spencer Do solemnly swear – Sampson Do solemnly swear – Spencer That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Sampson That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Spencer And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Sampson And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Spencer And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Sampson That I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Spencer Discharge the duties – Sampson Discharge the duties – Page 5 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Spencer Of the office – Sampson Of the office – Spencer Of Zionsville Town Council Member District 4 – Sampson Of Zionsville Town Council Member District 4 – Spencer According to the law – Sampson According to the law – Spencer And to the best of my ability. Sampson And to the best of my ability. Spencer Raise your right hand. I, Joseph M. Stein – Stein I, Joseph M. Stein – Spencer Do solemnly swear – Stein Do solemnly swear – Spencer That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Stein That I will support the Constitution of the United States – Spencer And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Stein And the Constitution of the State of Indiana – Spencer And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Stein And that I will faithfully, impartially and diligently – Spencer Discharge the duties – Stein Discharge the duties – Spencer Of the office – Stein Of the office – Spencer Of Zionsville Town Council – Stein Of Zionsville Town Council – Spencer According to the law – Stein According to the law – Page 6 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Spencer And to the best of my ability. Stein And to the best of my ability. Plunkett Thank you Judge Spencer and thank all of you for waiting through that. We’ll give you, we’ll give you a moment. For those of you that just came for this if you want to leave you can certainly do that. We don’t have too robust of a meeting but … Sampson Bye. Plunkett I see Boone County Commissioner, Tim Beyer, snuck in too so thanks for being here Tim. All right, up next is the election of officers for 2024. First item is election of President. At this point, I’ll call for a motion. Melton I would like to make a motion to nominate or renominate President Jason Plunkett. Sampson Second. Plunkett We’ve got a first by Councilor Melton, a second by Councilor Sampson. Do you want to be addressed as Esterline Sampson? Sampson Just Sampson. Plunkett Councilor Sampson. 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. Up next would be Vice President and I would like to nominate current Vice President Burk. Stein Second. Plunkett I’ve got a second by Councilor Stein. Stein Sure. Plunkett All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. Page 7 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. All right, thank you. APPROVAL OF THE MEMORANDUM OF THE DECEMBER 18, 2023 REGULAR MEETING Plunkett Okay so, up next is a Memorandum of the December 18, 2023 Regular Town Council Meeting. A copy of that has been posted. Are there any questions from Councilors? Otherwise, I would make a motion to approve the memorandum. Norris Second. Plunkett A second by Councilor, was it Norris? Man, you got me all mixed up here. 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 2023 YEAR-END CLAIMS Plunkett Up next is the approval of the 2023 year-end claims. We’ve got those in our packets. Are there any questions from Councilors on claims? Sampson I have a question – I am, so, as I looked over them I felt like there should be some sort of comparative for us as we are learning what a normal number would be. Do we ever do anything like year-to-date from last year so that we could run those totals to compare because that would be the only way we would notice an anomaly? Has that ever been done? Plunkett We don’t usually do a year-to-date comparison or a, or a comparison from last year. As you probably are aware, we’re in the middle of continually, continuously reconciling our accounts so I would imagine as the monthly appropriations are completed, we’ll be able to, to go back and look at those but until those are, are balanced, I would imagine it would be difficult to do that right now. Sampson Okay, no I understand that. I think that would be a more of a best practice once we can do that because we would see a fluctuation and be able to ask about a variance that way rather than just coming up with questions for Cindy to answer. Because there was some, there was an item in there for PR. I think it was like 20 grand and, you know, is that normal? Do, is that because someone had room left in their budget? Was there a better use for that funding? I know it’s not a lot of money because our, our amount of our budget is obviously different than my home budget but just the $20 or $20,000 jumped out at me and just made me wonder well, what’s normal? Page 8 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Plunkett Yes – Sampson So, that would be good information for later. Plunkett So I think, I think as Baker Tilly finishes their reconciliation of the accounts, we’ll have the ability to then go back and look at what the spend is compared to what the projected spend was – Sampson Yes – Plunkett And we’ll obviously be able to do that with the budget in 2024 throughout the course of the year and in communication with the new Mayor it’s my understanding we’re going to have regular finance updates so that would be something that we’d probably be able to, to balance as well. Sampson It would definitely make the review of claims quicker I would think as we could just see anything that jumps out at us so, thanks. Plunkett I have a questions and maybe, Heather, this is for you – on page 5 of the claims there’s a, there’s an OpenGov legal claim to Nooning & Whitsitt. Do we know if that claim has been or if that suit has been settled or where we are with that? Harris There hasn’t been any status change since the last time we talked about it but since we have new Council members here – this is a matter, some of you may be familiar with, with the vendor who was providing financial services for the Town. We have no pending litigation but it’s been a matter that we’ve been trying to resolve with final payments to the vendor for a number of months as well as a lack of services that were provided to the Town and some differences of opinion on what is owed. So, at this point there isn’t any change, status change, that I’m aware of with OpenGov. Plunkett So procedurally will that just be handed, will they continue to work on that or how does that, how does that work? Harris Not necessarily. I think the Mayor will, this will be an item we’ll need to talk with Mayor Stehr about whether or not he wants to engage someone to continue those discussions or, or simply – Plunkett Okay – Harris Assuming that they’re not moving forward since we’ve not heard from the vendor in a number of months. Plunkett That’s fair. Any other questions regarding the 2023 year-end claims? Melton Just for the record, President Plunkett, I did notice that same claim that you were talking about for that, that same line item and then I went ahead and looked – there was another line item with the same attorney on there as well and I did some quick math and the math just didn’t add up for a regular hourly rate. So, just kinda confusing on that. It looked like it was a little odd on the numbers Page 9 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 themselves when I broke them down. So, just throwing that out there on that particular claim that you brought up, there was another charge – Plunkett Yes – Melton And I think that had to do with another detail. I don’t have it in front of me but it was, again, when I did quick math it’s just interesting how the hourly rate changed so. Sampson Is that Whitsitt & Nooning? Melton It is Whitsitt & Nooning again – Sampson Okay. Melton Yes. Plunkett Any other questions for Councilors or comments? Otherwise, I would make a motion to approve the 2023 year-end claims. Melton Second. Plunkett A 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 JANUARY 2, 2024 CLAIMS Plunkett Up next would be the approval of the January 2, 2024 claims. I did not have any questions on those. There weren’t very many so – any questions from Councilors? Otherwise, I would entertain a motion. Burk Move to adopt. Plunkett We got a first from Vice President Burk. McElderry Second. Plunkett Second from Councilor McElderry. 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 10 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 GENE THOMPSON – LION’S CLUB PARK DIRECTOR Plunkett Up next we have Gene Thompson, the Lions Park Director for a couple minutes. Thompson Thank you Mr. President. I’m a little confused – I thought the kids were all here to hear about when the egg hunt started in April so – Gene Thompson, Zionsville Lions Park Corporation. I wanted to give you just a brief update. There’s a couple things you dealt with as it relates to the park during the last two meetings, I believe, or three meetings, but I wanted to give you a little background first. 2023 was, once again, an exciting and busy year for Lions Park. Of course, we hosted Zionsville Little League and the thousands of visitors that they bring in every week as we have for the last 70 years and as we were also the site for the Lions Club events like the eggnormous egg hunt, the Sunday concerts, the July 4th fireworks, the Fall Festival, pumpkins and hayrides. In addition to Little League and Lions Club events, we also serve the community in many other ways, the most popular way it seems lately is our parking lot during Christmas in the Village, our parking lot is overflowing. During the mini marathon, the event starts and ends in Lions Park and the Boy Scouts sell their Christmas trees in Lions Park every year. Throughout the year we have many other events too and the park gets used by many people and most days you’ll see the new Mayor walking his dog down there as well too. So we are, we are being used by the community in a lot of different ways. But how did Lions Park get started 84 years ago? First, in 1930 there was 24 Zionsville men who formed the Zionsville Lions Club and affiliated with Lions International. Today, the Zionsville Lions organization is the largest in the state with 180 men and women serving the community and managing Lions Park. Ten years later in August 1940, the Lions organized a committee of, of Zionsville citizens to raise funds to purchase the first acreage we have which is the 8 acres right at just east of Elm Street along the park where our Lions building is. There’s 8 acres there. That was purchased for $3,000 from the Hurst family, a little bit less than $400 an acre but they also threw in a house that was on the property which is the white house that sits next to the Lions building now and so it was a pretty good investment and it was operated as the Zionsville Playground Association for the purpose to place thereon a playground and lay out a ball diamond, build fence, backstops, grandstand and bleachers. The Zionsville Playground Association was later incorporated in 1953 and in 1991 it was reorganized as a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation and the name was changed to Zionsville Lions Park, Inc. The original 8 acres that I mentioned included an area that the Town asked if they could use for a play or tennis courts and tot playground. That was about two-thirds of an acre and they came to us, not us, the organization at that time. In 1962 they asked for two-thirds of an acre which we gave to the Town. Now, this past week, I received documents because the Town Council made a motion last month to return that two-thirds of an acre to us improved with tennis courts, pickleball courts and a playground and we thank you very much for that. That’s a very nice addition to the park, we did not have any tennis courts or pickleball or, and it does, it is a nice addition to the tot lot since it was, so much work was invested by the Town a few years ago to enhance and improve that park. Page 11 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 And then in 1977, Ben Bauman who was the developer of Raintree, gave Lions Park 15 acres which was the acreage from the first 8 acres to the creek which was park of the flood plain and part of the Hurst farm and the Hurst farm actually was also on the east side of Eagle Creek where Raintree was then developed. That acreage, and we stayed with the same 22 acres for about a half a century, 46 years, and in 2023, earlier this year, we purchased 5 acres north of the park from the Henkaline family and it was probably about a month after we made that purchase and it became public that I got a call from Park Director, Jarod, and he asked me what we were going to do with the land and I said I don’t know, do you have any ideas? And about a week or so later Jarod shows up with some heavyweights and I knew I was in trouble. Then Park President, John Stehr, and Public Works Director, Lance Lantz, came along and they said – and I had a couple other Lions there with me and I said oh, what do you guys have in mind? And, of course, we, one thing we knew they had in mind was a connecting pathway which we very much were interested in and one of the primary reasons why we purchased the land. So what we’re working on now with the Parks Department is an Easement Agreement to provide a connecting pathway from Creekside Park on the south side of Sycamore through Lions Park through the new land that we purchased through the Storen property and then connecting to Elm Street Green. We’re looking forward to that and I want to thank you for a couple other things besides the playground and the tennis courts. In early, in late December of ’22 we received in January, actually, a $20,000 Community Enrichment Grant which we used to do a $100,000 improvement to the playground with new equipment and everything adjacent to the gazebo in Lions Park and I also want to thank you again for a $10,000 Community Enrichment Grant that you provided to us about a month ago that we have now contracted with a planner to be able to plan how we’re going to use the new 5 acres and how it’s going to relate to and be integrated into the current 22 acres that we have. So, thank you, thank you and thank you again. As you can see, Lions Park is growing and it’s there for the whole community to enjoy. Thank you. Plunkett Thanks Gene. Appreciate your leadership on the Lions Club and everything you do for the park. You guys do a great job. REQUEST TO SPEAK Plunkett Up next is a Request to Speak on Agenda Items. Amy, do we have any requests to speak? Lacy No, we do not. MAYOR/ADMINISTRATION UPDATE Plunkett Okay, we’ll move along to the Mayor/Administration Update and we have Zionsville Mayor, John Stehr. Good evening. Stehr Good evening. Thank you, President Plunkett, and it’s so good to see you all sitting in those chairs. It’s been a long journey for all of us and the first thing I Page 12 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 want to do is congratulate all the Council members tonight for taking the oath of office and being seated. I appreciate and I know how hard all of you have worked to get to these chairs tonight and having gotten to know all of you, I know that you’re there for the right reasons too. I know that the people sitting up here in front of the room, your desire is to help the people of Zionsville, to help the Town of Zionsville and I think that’s fantastic and I can tell you that our Deputy Mayor, Kate Swanson, and I are looking forward to working with all of you closely over the next four years. So with that in mind, let’s talk about a couple of priorities that I would like to lay out. The first priority, obviously, needs to be getting our financial house in order. As you know, Baker Tilly has completed audits of 2020 and 2021. Our accounts have been reconciled for those years. The auditors are also taking a deep dive into our internal controls and should have a completed report for us by the end of the first quarter. Also, an SBOA audit of 2022 is going to be coming up soon and I want you to know that the results, some of the results from that are going to be a little difficult to digest. We are not out of the woods yet and that has to do with the switchover from OpenGov to Keystone. So, don’t expect a perfectly clean audit because that’s not what we’re going to get. We’re going to have some issues to still work through when that audit comes through. But be assured we are on track to have all our accounts reconciled, a new set of internal controls in place and a reliable reporting system going forward. So, just so you know, I have looked into our reorganization document and as Mayor I am compelled to give you a complete financial report once a year but because of what we’ve experienced over the last few years, I’m going to give you and our citizens a complete financial report every quarter going forward. I will also appoint a finance committee which will be a, sort of a advisory committee, to meet regularly and advise our Administration and Financial Officer as we execute a plan to regain our AA+ credit rating. The committee will include a Town Council member – I’m going to ask you to choose who you want to have come and join us for that but I want to make sure that we have complete transparency into that process but I do understand that the buck stops with me and I take full responsibility for this process. We have a plan. We are going to execute it and we are going to get that AA+ credit rating back. Also, another priority – the second priority I have is appointments. You have before you tonight on your agenda a complete list of board and committee appointments and I want to commend you, first of all, on the choices you have made. I think we’ve made some pretty good choices too but I think what it really does, it points up the talent and commitment that we have here in Zionsville and I appreciate the willingness of all the people to serve on those various boards and committees. Also under priorities – Comprehensive Plan. We will have a request proposal. We’re working on that right now. Hopefully we’ll have that for you by the next meeting to take a look at. We will, no doubt, have quite a bit of interest in this process because it has been, as you know, 20 years since we’ve done a Comprehensive Plan in Zionsville so we’re going to have to appoint a group to Page 13 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 sift through the ideas presented to help us run a process that’s going to take probably 12 to 18 months before it’s done. Our Community & Economic Development Director, Mike Dale, will largely be guiding that process but it will require a committee of stakeholders and citizens and, of course, we are going to want Town Councilors to play a role in that. I don’t think there is anybody closer to your constituents than you are so, I think you’re going to play a vital role in that. I am counting on you to be actively engaged, not just in the overarching theme of the Comprehensive Plan but the various subcommittees that are going to go out into different areas and deal with very specific areas of our Town such as the school community, the business community and our more rural areas. We’ve been calling them Union and Perry Township – I’d like to start calling them East Zionsville and West Zionsville because we’re all Zionsville and we need to come together under the same banner. Collaboration – This is something that I think is important in any walk of life and particularly what we’re doing here. I will always do my best to communicate with you and I’d like to ask you both as individuals and a group to do the same coming back the other way. Let me know your priorities and the priorities of your constituents. Again, I don’t think anybody is closer to your constituents than you are so I’m going to rely on you for, for that type of information so we can do the most good for the most people in Zionsville. I think we always need to remember that we are elected to serve our Town and none of us has a lifetime appointment and I intend to try to always keep the people at the center of everything I do and I trust that you’ll be doing the same. So with that, I want to say I look forward to working with each and every one of you to make 2024 a great year for Zionsville and 2025 through 2027 as well. We have a ways to go together and I’m looking forward to the journey. So are there any questions I might answer for you or any comments that you’d like to make? Burk I appreciate you being here John and looking forward to the next four years. Stehr Thank you. Plunkett Yes, I certainly appreciate, obviously, congratulations to you as well – Stehr Thank you. Plunkett And I appreciate you being here, giving the updates, communicating to the public. It’s a refreshing change of pace so thank you. Stehr My pleasure. McElderry The inauguration was very well done yesterday as well. Had a great time. Stehr Thank you. Sampson Congratulations. Stehr Well, thank you very much and I look forward to – what, you’re going to do this again in two weeks? Page 14 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Plunkett Two weeks. Stehr All right, I’ll be here. Sampson See you soon. TOWN COUNCIL UPDATE Plunkett All right, up next is Council Update. Are there any updates from Councilors? Okay. OLD BUSINESS Plunkett Moving on to Old Business – there are no Old Business items. NEW BUSINESS Consideration of Appointments to Various Boards, Commissions and Committees Plunkett The first item of New Business is the Consideration of Appointments to Various Boards, Commissions and Committees. Councilors, you guys have, have reviewed these appointment recommendations over the weekend and over the last week. I would just point out for clarity to the public, the process for boards and commissions first and foremost existing Councilors who sat on boards and commissions obviously would get first right of refusal. If Councilors decide not to continue and they have interest in other candidates those candidates are considered. Any current member who expressed interest in staying on boards and commissions receives consideration as well. From there Amy sends Heather, and Brad and I the list of folks who filled out the form online to be considered and we go through those folks at that point. If there are still vacancies, then we go back and look at recommendations from, additional recommendations from Councilors and then we take that information, share that with Heather to make sure that we’re statutorily aligned with the boards and commissions and those appointments. So, in an effort of transparency, that’s how those folks were, were chosen and appreciate, appreciate the Council and your guys’ work and every citizen and resident of Zionsville that expressed interest in being a part of, of these boards and commissions as well so. Are there any questions from Councilors regarding the consideration of appointments? Burk President Plunkett, is this, would this be everything that was vacant or are there still a couple of spots that are not filled yet? Plunkett This is everything that’s vacant that is statutorily in place. We do have two boards that and commissions that we are going to merge and we’ll hear that at the next meeting and we’ll have appointments for that one and there are various, various commissions and boards that haven’t met in multiple years that as we go through our, our Town Code rewrites, we’re going to essentially eliminate them if they weren’t, if there are no state statutes and they’re just not meeting. We’re Page 15 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 going to eliminate those but – so, so technically there are vacancies but those are of, of boards and appointments that we’re not going to fill. Burk Right. It was my understanding that there might, and correct me if I’m wrong, there were three Town Council appointees, appointments to the Solid Waste Management District Board. I see two – one, Craig being reappointed and – Sampson Evan. Norris Myself. Sampson Evan is on there. Burk Evan as a new member and I was a member of that board but if, if we need to clarify that here, I thought we had three so that would be two. That was the only thing I saw that was, that looked like it might be missing. Make sense? Plunkett Yes, I’ve got Melton, Burk and Evan. So did you not want to stay on that? Burk Oh do you have me? Is it on here? Plunkett Yes. Sampson Down at the bottom. Where it says Craig it should say - Plunkett I’ve got Melton, Burk and then Evan would replace Choi. Burk Are we appointments? Sampson It’s not on the reappointment list. Burk Oh. Plunkett Well – Burk Is this the official, this attachment? Plunkett Amy – Harris I think it’s two members, right? Plunkett No, there are three. Harris Three? Plunkett We do have three. Harris Okay, so do you have all three listed you said? Plunkett I have them on my sheet, on my emailed sheet but it’s apparently not on – Page 16 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Sampson The ones we – Plunkett The list here. Sampson Yes, the one that got sent out. Plunkett We could just make a motion to approve them with the addition of Councilor or Vice President Burk, assuming you want to – Burk Yes, that’s fine. Plunkett Put Vice President Burk on that, correct? Burk Do you need to confirm that Heather? Harris Yes – Plunkett Yes, we received an extra spot on that board three years ago with the Census information because we’re the largest municipality in the county we received an extra spot. Harris Okay, we’ll need to review that just to double check. It’s a 7-member board, right? Total, 7, 7-member Board? Two members come from the county executive – I’m trying to do quick math – one member from the county fiscal body, so that’s three – one member who is the executive of the municipality having the largest population if that municipality is a city or appointed from the membership of the legislative body of the Town so that’d be Zionsville, four, right? One member appointed of the legislative body of the municipality with the largest population in the county, five. One member who is executive of a city – that’s Lebanon. A member of the legislative body that is not the municipality having the largest population. So, I’ll just need to double check and make sure we’ve got the right appointment structure here. Burk We could probably just move to appoint these as is and if we have to add an addition we can do that at the following meeting. Is that appropriate? Plunkett Well, what we have is Evan so you wouldn’t be on that. Burk That’s fine. If there’s not another vacancy then I’d be happy to – Plunkett Yes. I’m 90% sure there is – well, I shouldn’t say 90%. I know there is because I was on the board when we got it so. But we can approve them as is and then go back and modify that at the next meeting if we need to so. Burk One other question – are we approving the mayoral appointments as well or was that just FYI? Sampson Yes, I had that question too. Harris It’s just an FYI the Mayor appoints. Page 17 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Burk That’s what I thought. McElderry While we have John here could I just have one point of clarification on the mayoral reappointments. The third bullet down has like seven peoples’ names and it doesn’t say who they’re being appoint – it’s Amanda Rubeck, Cara Weber, Erica Carpenter, Tammy Kelly, Patricia McCarthy and Ericka Pickell and then it doesn’t say what they’re being reappointed to. Harris It’s the CDC. Stehr It’s the CDC. McElderry CDC? Stehr Yes, the Community Development Corporation. McElderry Okay. Stehr Which is in the process of gaining a 501(c)(3) designation so it will become self- appointing at some point in 2024 if they get that designation as they hope. McElderry Great. Thank you so much. Stehr You’re welcome. Plunkett Any other questions from Councilors? I would entertain a motion. Sampson I make a motion to approve the Town Council appointments to various boards, commissions and committees. Burk Second. Plunkett I’ve got a first from Councilor Sampson and a second from 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 18 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the 2024 Salary Ordinance Ordinance 2024-01 Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the 2024 Salary Ordinance. This is 2024-01. We certainly have Heather here to talk about this. I’m happy to go through it as well. I think Councilors, as, as all of you have sat through various meetings over the last few months in different capacities, I would just point out that as Mayor Styron or Mayor Stehr mentioned earlier, we’ve got a number of concerns that we’re going to continue to see from the Styron administration and this is one of those. This was a preferred method to approve a claim from their administration and it was vetoed. So, I have, I have no logical, legitimate explanation as to why it was because the explanation we got was in stark contrast to, to their initial request. So, this is a request to increase the Salary Ordinance to offset the remaining legal claim from the Styron litigation versus Town Council and Fire Chief VanGorder. McElderry I’ll make a motion. Plunkett I’m happy to answer any questions that you guys have. Stein Yes, so I went back today and watched the footage from the meeting where there was the dialogue with you and Deputy Mayor Pickell and it was at that time that he pointed out that it was based on advice given to them by I can’t remember who – Sampson State Board of Accounts. Harris The State Board. Stein Yes, yes, State Board of Accounts, that this is the best way to handle that. Has that been, I mean, are we – Harris Yes. Stein Good on that? Harris So I have talked to the State Board of Accounts legal counsel as well to verify that this was the best way to handle this particular matter and just, just so you know, we are not going back and overriding a veto because we are now paying the compensation in 2024 and that’s why we have to start the process over again. We were trying to accomplish getting that compensation paid in 2023 and it's a one-time gross-up to handle the legal fees that are outstanding in an amount of $50,000. The $50,000 also compensates for the taxes that will be paid since this is being paid as payroll to Chief VanGorder. Stein Sure and that was my concern because running a business anytime you’re grossing somebody up you’re paying substantially more than the cost of the actual expense and so my initial thought was has there been and I’m sure State Board of Accounts has looked into it, but my initial reaction would’ve been and it was suggested during the meeting, that perhaps we reimburse for the expense Page 19 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 and do it as an expense reimbursement so then you don’t have the tax implications but apparently that’s, that has been chased down. Harris Yes. We did look into whether or not we could directly pay the law firm that had represented Chief VanGorder and then allow the law firm to reimburse the Chief for the fees that he has already paid. Because there isn’t a contractual relationship with the Town, we cannot do that – Stein Okay. Harris And that was really the sticking point and we would not be able to have a contractual relationship because they were adverse to the Town as the law firm – Stein That makes sense, okay. Harris So, so that is the challenge that we had in trying to accomplish it in that way. Stein Yes. Thank you. Plunkett Any questions from Councilors, any additional questions from Councilors? Sampson No. Plunkett Having none, I would make a motion to introduce Ordinance 2024-01 on first reading. Norris Second. Plunkett I got a second from Councilor Norris. 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. Councilors, occasionally we’ll come across a scenario where we would consider suspending the rules to pass an Ordinance on first reading. I would like to, to do that for this particular scenario so we can get this over with and move beyond it. So I will make a motion to suspend the rules. Norris Second. Plunkett I got a second by Councilor Norris. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Page 20 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 The motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. So I will then make a motion to adopt Ordinance 2024-01 on first reading. Burk Final reading. Plunkett On, well, this is first reading but Yes, first reading/final reading. Sampson Second. Plunkett Second from Councilor Sampson. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. Thank you Council for your consideration there. Consideration of Resolution Regarding the Appropriation of Additional Funds (Fire Salary) Resolution 2024-01 (Public Hearing held 12/18/2023) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of a Resolution Regarding the Appropriation of Additional Funds. This is in conjunction with the Ordinance we just passed. We did have a public hearing on December 18, 2023 regarding these funds and the appropriation of these funds. So if there’s any questions from Councilors, Heather can walk through that. I can certainly answer anything but otherwise I would entertain a motion. Sampson I make a motion to – I don’t know – to pass the consideration of resolution? Harris To approve Resolution – Sampson To approve the Resolution Regarding the Appropriation of Additional Funds for the Fire Salary, Resolution 2024-01. Plunkett I’ll second that. So we got a first from Councilor Sampson, second from 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. Page 21 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Consideration of a Resolution Adopting the 2023 Boone County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan Resolution 2024-02 Plunkett Up next we have a Consideration of a Resolution Adopting the 2023 Boone County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan. This is Resolution 2024-02 and we have Jason Potts, Deputy Chief of Administration for Zionsville Fire. Potts Good evening. Plunkett Good evening. McElderry Good evening. Potts I respectfully ask your consideration to adopt this resolution supporting the 2023 Boone County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan. This plan serves as a guide for the county’s assessment of hazards, vulnerabilities and risks. It also aids the county’s cities and towns in preventing, protecting against, responding to and recovering from disasters that may threaten the community’s economic, social and environmental well-being. This plan documents historical disasters, assesses probabilistic disasters and assesses specific strategies to mitigate the potential impacts of these disasters. The Boone County Emergency Planning Team included representatives from most of the municipalities in Boone County as well as the school systems. Myself, Captain Klykken from ZPD and Superintendent Lantz from DPW met several times with the team in 2023 and participated in the plan update process. This plan has been approved by FEMA and Town Council adopting this plan allows us to be eligible for FEMA funding. Director Mike Martin, Deputy Director Russ Dulin and Rachel Hanson from Boone County Emergency Management Agency are also in attendance tonight and can assist with any questions that you may have. Sampson The only question I had about this was why we didn’t have something before? Potts We did. The plan itself is one that we update every five years? Sampson Okay. Potts It’s a five-year plan so we were just up and we’ll go through this and review it again in five years. Sampson Okay, thanks. Melton And this is the first year that the school systems have been a part of that? Is that – or the Zionsville school system? Potts Yes it was. Melton That was one of my initial questions. I was a little concerned about it as I was reading through it today I noticed, I didn’t notice, excuse me – any Zionsville school members in that but I just, before the meeting I actually communicated with some of the folks in the back there and they did mention somebody’s name Page 22 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 that, that was in attendance. I just, it just stunned me because the Zionsville school system is one of the largest businesses in Boone County and I – Potts Correct, and they’re part of their safety group as well as their operations staff from Zionsville and Traders Point and all the school systems were involved in that, in those meeting processes. Melton Fantastic. I did have a question about – so, I read through it kind of quickly but I tried to hit on some things. The Emergency Manager – who is that person because the booklet alluded to the Emergency Manager will put this forth every five years and get it updated and who is that person? What’s your name sir? Martin Mike Martin. Melton Will you come up here for just a moment please? So, so Mike Martin, is that correct? Martin Yes sir. Melton Awesome. So you’re the actual county Emergency Manager? Martin Yes. Melton And I guess my next question was how are you appointed or how, how are you given that position? Martin The Boone County Commissioners. I work for the Commissioners. Melton You work for the Commissioners? Martin It’s appointed every year. Melton And how long have you been in that position? Martin 27 years. Melton Well, I appreciate your service in that position and I can imagine it’s, it’s a pretty heavy lift preparing for the worst and I think that’s, that’s pretty important so I do appreciate that and I appreciate you answering some of these questions. One other question is that and this may be more FEMA related I’m not sure – it sounds like this plan is compliant with Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 of the year 2000. I mean right after the year 2000 we were attacked on 9/11 and I’m just curious and that’s a little different than a natural disaster but it was a disaster – has there been an update to that Act, the Disaster Mitigation Act since the year 2000? Has there been some, any kind of updates to that or we’re going back because that’s 20 years, 23 years ago – Martin They’ve been upgrading all the time and like this time they added the schools, they’re adding more infrastructure and other, other businesses and like you say Zionsville school is the biggest business you probably have in Zionsville so they’re finally recognizing that and we’re planning for those disasters also. Page 23 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 Melton To me, I think we need to look at that and see are we really comparing to the year 2000 and this is, again, more of a federal, federal plan and I think our State Rep just left but I just, I just noticed that and it was associated with the year 2000 then I started thinking about 9/11 and the things that occurred after the year 2000. Potts One of the things with Councilors, there’s kind of a triad of plans with the county including the Town of Zionsville that kind of make this happen. This all having a Disaster Mitigation Plan is really the historical data in the study, the data part of it, we couple that with the Zionsville Emergency Preparedness Plan and the county Emergency Mitigation Plan together and that really goes to – we have the data, we know what to expect, we, it’s really a full planning and then how we’re going to execute the plan in the future when you put all those things together. Martin We have a county Emergency Plan also that you folks sign off on – it’s every five years is the county plan? It’s five, five years on the county plan also and they, we have to get it through all the organizations to make sure, you still have your own emergency plans but if you get past your resources where you need stuff outside of what Zionsville can do, where we bring you county equipment in or state or federal that’s where the county plan goes in and it gets approved by FEMA and like this year they, we had to do some – they didn’t accept the plan the first time. We had to make some corrections that, that they added that was not in the plan five years ago. Melton Who funded the creation of this plan? Martin It’s funded by FEMA and how it was, it’s a matching-type grant so with all the folks on there had to keep track of their hours and that’s how we funded the (inaudible) all the peoples’ time and hours, research and some places had you go (inaudible) brought them in there. The only thing that we did find out that Traders Point is not going to be included in this plan because it’s a private school. So, we’re still going to take care them just like they’re on there but to get federal monies private schools do not fall in that category to be able to get that. Melton Yes, it seems like for Zionsville five years could be an eternity in change from a development standpoint, from adding school system or excuse me – school buildings and I wonder if five years is too far out but go ahead – Potts Certainly, from the local standpoint as far as our Town Emergency Preparedness Plan, it’s something that we review pretty regularly and we have a new draft that’s in process now with the new Administration, new updates, new information as, as we get different shelters, different, different threats. The information out of here we make sure that we’re assessing and really putting some of those things that come out of this mitigation plan into our local just so they seamlessly work together. Melton Fantastic. Well, thank you for answering some of those questions. I appreciate the candor and giving us all that extra information and all the hard work to give us a process for a natural disaster too. Thank you. Page 24 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 McElderry It does bring the question that the five-year timeline is that more FEMA funding related then necessarily? So, is there the possibility that you would update this prior to that date if, if it was – Martin We update all the time, different things change like, like the LEPC part of the plan and stuff that’s the Local Emergency Planning Committee with the different type of hazard and chemicals and stuff like that – McElderry Yes – Martin There’s different parts of this gets updated every year on there but it just gets all put back in one book and – McElderry Got it. Thank you. Martin You go that way. You have to be on top because today’s society, you’re a couple feet behind everything anyway trying to make sure you can outthink these guys. Sampson The only other thing that jumped out for me was it, it mentioned trying to reach out to the public and how there was limitations to public participation or, I don’t know if it was limitations as much as communication, not having a social media account and relying on newspaper notices to be a way to draw the public in and I think that that would be a suggestion I would have even if it is something that’s new for the group that it’s much more able to be found when people search for something if you do have a social media versus just relying on newspapers which often limit how many times people can have access to that information, so many articles per search bar. I would just suggest that if you’re truly trying to reach the public and get public input, that you would take that step to create some sort of social media account that people can find such as Facebook. Potts Thank you. Plunkett Are there any other questions or anything else from Councilors? This is certainly a robust plan. I appreciate you guys – McElderry Yes – Plunkett Putting this together and getting it to us. This is pretty, pretty informative for sure so. Questions? Comments? Otherwise, I would entertain a motion. Melton I’d like to make a motion to approve Resolution 2024-02. Burk Second. Plunkett I have a first from Councilor Melton. Was that Evan? Sampson No. Second if you need me to. Norris Second. Plunkett Second from Councilor Sampson. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Page 25 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 7 in favor, 0 opposed. OTHER MATTERS Plunkett Up next on the agenda is Other Matters. I will just take this time real quick to say thank you to Amy and to Amanda Vela for putting together the certificates that we all have with our oath of office. Those are, I think that’s really neat and something that we’re going to be able to hang onto for a long time. I’m looking forward to serving with this Council. This is my second time coming into a “new” Council so to speak so this is going to be a lot of fun and I look forward to the next four years so. Congratulations to all of you. Sampson Thanks. McElderry Thank you. Burk Well let me thank Jason Plunkett for making this special. I know I’ve been through one other that didn’t feel like this and so I appreciate you, everything that you did from the photography to inviting families to having Judge Spencer here and the individual swearing in. It just really felt very special for everybody and I know you were, were the person who made that happen so thank you. Sampson Yes, thank you Jason. Plunkett All right, anything else? Otherwise, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. ADJOURN Norris I’ll make a motion to adjourn. Stein Second. Plunkett I have a first from Councilor Norris. Was that – who was that down there? Sampson Joe Stein. Plunkett Second from Councilor Stein. 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 26 of 27 Zionsville Town Council January 2, 2024 The next Regular Town Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 16, 2024 at 7:30 a.m. in the Zionsville Town Hall Council Chambers. Please note the shift in days due to the Martin Luther King holiday. Public notice will be posted in compliance with the Indiana Open Door Law. Thank you. Respectfully submitted, Amelia Anne Lacy, Municipal Relations Coordinator Town of Zionsville Page 27 of 27