Zionsville Town Council

Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 ZIONSVILLE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FOR MAY 20, 2024 AT 7:30 A.M. EST ONSITE MEETING 1100 West Oak Street 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; Deputy Mayor Kate Swanson, Cindy Poore, Director of Finance & Records; Jon Oberlander, Town Attorney; 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. If you would please, I’ll now call the meeting to order. If you would please, stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. All Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF THE MEMORANDUM OF THE MAY 6, 2024 REGULAR MEETING Plunkett All right, up first on the agenda is the approval of the May 6th Town Council meeting memoranda. A copy has been posted. Are there any questions from Councilors? Sampson I have a correction. On page 41 of 51 it says that I asked the question: “And the Faebers have been contacted about this?” It’s supposed to be and the neighbors. Lacy Okay, I will correct it. Plunkett All right, anything else from Councilors? I would entertain a motion. Sampson I move to – Page 1 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 McElderry Move to – go ahead. Sampson I move to approve the Town Council meeting memoranda dated May 6, 2024 with the correction that I suggested. Burk Second. Plunkett I got a first from Councilor Sampson, 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. APPROVAL OF THE MAY 20, 2024 CLAIMS Plunkett Up next on the agenda is the approval of the May 20, 2024 claims. Are there questions from Councilors? Having none, I will make a motion to approve claims. Norris Second. Plunkett 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. REQUEST TO SPEAK Plunkett Up next is Request to Speak on Agenda Items. Amy, do we have any requests to speak? Lacy No, we do not. MAYOR/ADMINISTRATION UPDATE Plunkett All right, moving along quickly to the Mayor and Administration Update. Mayor Stehr, good morning. Stehr Good morning. Norris Good morning. Page 2 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 Stehr Good morning everyone. It’s good to be here. I just have a couple of quick updates to start us off here. The first is the software of our Planning and Building Department operations. We have been looking at this from the beginning of the year. Not only are we not up to date with private businesses in this regard, but we’re also lagging behind our peer communities in having a digital profile for permitting and inspection applications. The goal is to create a better user experience for our constituents and also better efficiency for our employees. So I wanted to update you on where we are right now with that. Our team is looking at several vendors and we have not yet seen all the demos so once we compare the solutions, we can choose the one that is best for us. Now the trajectory on all of this is that this is likely something that would be an expense for 2025 so it would not impact this year’s budget. Also, an IT assessment – we’ve become aware that it’s been more than three years since we’ve had an independent information technology assessment. It is good practice to do this once every two or three years to look for strengths and weaknesses in our IT system. It is not limited to cybersecurity. This is to look at all of our systems to make sure they’re operating as efficiently and economically as possible. Now we do have a proposal in hand and we are meeting next week with one vendor. We are working to fit that under our existing budget so I do not anticipate coming to the Council to ask for a new appropriation to cover this expense at this time. Also, on May 9th we had our inaugural all-employee drive-thru breakfast here at Town Hall. We offered everyone a breakfast muffin, some fruit, water, a small gift of appreciation for their efforts on the Town’s behalf. Joe, we can go ahead to the next slide to show some pictures of that. This event coincided with Public Servant Recognition week and we had nearly full participation from our staff including Councilors Stein and Sampson who showed up. We were glad to see you there but it was really gratifying to be able to recognize our Town staff which is really our best and most important asset that we have here in Zionsville and we do plan to do it again next year to coincide with the same week. You may have also noticed that our Police Department continues to be more public facing. The sign marking the building is now installed. I took this picture last week before the electricians had a chance to come in and light it up so it now lights up with LED lights at night so it’s very visible. The cost on this was $7,500 and the Chief was able to work this into his allocation of ARPA funds that has been used for the renovation of the Police Department. And speaking of that renovation, after a slowdown due to some difficulty in sourcing materials, we are back on track. It includes new flooring, paint and repair of some of the building’s mechanical systems including the sally port garage doors which are important to police operations. So we are making very good progress there. And then one other item – in our continuing effort to build good relationships with our friends in Whitestown, our Parks Department coordinated the inaugural Town Showdown last Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. People came north from Zionsville and south from Whitestown to meet at Heritage Trail Park where we had games and food trucks and eBoom bike shop was there to do free tune ups on bikes for the summer. It was really a great event and we hope that this is the first of many Page 3 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 joint efforts like this with Whitestown. I will note real quickly here, it culminated in the awarding of the golden bicycle wheel to the town that had the most participants and I’m sorry to say that Whitestown out numbered us by about 12 people, although this was the night of the show choir finale so that could’ve tainted the numbers just a little bit here in Zionsville but that means that they will hold onto the traveling trophy until next year when we hope to take it back from them. So, that’s all I have this morning. Any questions or any concerns, comments? Norris Thank you. Stehr All right, thank you. Appreciate it. McElderry Thank you. OLD BUSINESS Consideration of a Resolution Approving the Order of the Zionsville Plan Commission (Sentry) Resolution 2024-12 Plunkett All right, up next on the agenda is Old Business. Item 7A – Consideration of a Resolution Approving the Order of the Zionsville Plan Commission. This is the Sentry Resolution 2024-12. We have Heather James here for the petitioner. James Good morning everybody. So you’ll recall, this is simply the resolution approving the Plan Commission Order that approves the Declaratory Resolution that the Redevelopment Commission adopted to expand the Holliday Farms economic development area and create the Sentry allocation area. So this is not one of the bond approval steps, it is simply a TIF approval step. So the Redevelopment Commission and the Plan Commission have already taken action. We’re asking you to adopt this resolution approving the Plan Commission Order and then we will go back to the Redevelopment Commission so that they can hold a public hearing and then consider adoption of a Confirmatory Resolution and then we’ll be back before you again to ask you to approve final creation of this allocation area. So this is a very short and sweet resolution. This is actually the one that was supposed to be on your agenda at the last meeting and then there was confusion and the wrong resolution was attached so I’m happy to answer any questions that you might have on this one. Burk That’s very helpful Heather – so the Development Agreement that’s still in the works – James Yes – Burk That’s a different, that, that has nothing to do with this particular – James Correct. Burk Resolution? Page 4 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 James Update on that though – there have been drafts going back and forth and I think we’ll have that wrapped up probably this week. Sampson And what was the vote by the Plan Commission on this item? James The Plan Commission approved their Order that approves the Declaratory Resolution and so now this resolution simply is a resolution by the Council approving the action of the Plan Commission and determining that their action is in line with the plan of the economic development for the Town. Burk Heather, what would be the downside of continuing this until June when we also pass everything at once, once we have a signed Development Agreement? James So statutorily there is an order that is required and the, we cannot go to the Redevelopment Commission and ask them to hold their public hearing and consider adoption of the Confirmatory Resolution unless and until the Council takes this step and so we would then, if you did not approve this today, then we would not be able to go on to the next step with the Redevelopment Commission and we cannot have you adopt the other TIF resolution approving the area until the Redevelopment Commission adopts their Confirmatory Resolution so it is a two-step process for the Council. Burk But that was on the agenda last time. James It was on the agenda last time but, unfortunately, somebody attached the wrong resolution. They attached the resolution that we’ll have before you on June 3rd and so that’s why we pushed this resolution to this meeting. Burk So this has to go to the RDC – this, this goes to the RDC and then the other piece that we’re talking about that has the Development Agreement in it – what, why – I get that there’s a timeline – James Yes – Burk But in my mind that’s two weeks away. I don’t know that it’s a significant hold for them to have two more weeks. I don’t even know when they meet again. James The Redevelopment Commission is meeting on May 28th so they, again, they wouldn’t be able to move forward on the TIF side of things unless you take this action today. They could consider the TIF pledge resolution which approves or, I’m sorry – which pledges the TIF to the repayment of the bonds and they could move forward with the Development Agreement but they would not be able to move forward with the TIF Confirmatory Resolution. Burk I just, I guess my frustration is in the months of conversation and then all the sudden the Development Agreement just kind of gets sat aside and I get now that everybody’s crunching to move the timeline forward and I think, I think even at the meeting you said that would probably be June and there’s some language going back and forth so that’s encouraging but the fact that we had to wait until the last meeting to kind of really get some urgency around that is, it’s just Page 5 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 frustrating because that could’ve been done and we could be moving this whole project forward right now. James Understood, I guess, that was – I haven’t been spearheading the conversations and the negotiation of the Development Agreement so that’s been handled by other folks but I understand your frustration on that point. I guess it has been being negotiated on an ongoing basis and I think that the conversation around the trail somewhat changed in the last several weeks so I think that there’s been positive movement over the last week or so and I, again, expect them to wrap up that Development Agreement negotiation yet this week and before we come back to the Redevelopment Commission or before this Council for final approvals that Development Agreement should be good to go. Plunkett Yes I think I would just, I mean to your, to your point, obviously, the process seems a little disjointed without having that but I also am sensitive to the fact that this particular step is, is different than – this, this step is required to get to the point where there is an ultimate approval regardless. I think initially , when we found out there wasn’t a development plan that included everything with that particular trail I was a little frustrated too, but understanding that there’s, again, a couple more whacks at this before, before it gets done, I think I’m comfortable with this. Burk No, I hear what you’re saying. It’s just that we continue to move this down and then, in my mind, if that agreement doesn’t get finished, I don’t think the entire project should move forward. James I think that’s fair. Plunkett Yes. Norris And I think like what we could do is at the next meeting will be the big TIF omnibus package and if we don’t have that Development Agreement in plan just like we said at the last meeting – Plunkett Yes – Norris We’ll kick it down the road. So I guess it’s incumbent upon the developer and the RDC right now to, to be working on that if they want to get through the next meeting where we vote on the big package. James And – Norris That would be my two cents on it. James I would suggest that in the future before moving forward with the bond-related steps, it makes absolute sense to get the project agreement out of the way but this step is a part of the creation of the allocation area and this to me is a step that is logical to take on the front end completely separate from the Development Agreement. Burk I appreciate it. Thank you. Page 6 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 Plunkett Any other questions or comments from Councilors? Sampson I guess I have just one more follow-up to that – if we approve this and then we don’t approve the next step – James Yes – Sampson What’s the ramification of what we’ve done? James Nothing because the TIF area is not actually created until you take the final TIF step so, I mean, we’ve not actually created the area until we go fully through the process. Sampson Okay. Plunkett Anything else Councilors? I would make a motion to approve Resolution 2024- 12. Melton Second. Plunkett Second from Councilor Melton. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Plunkett, Stein, Aye. Norris, Melton, McElderry, Sampson Plunkett All those opposed same sign. Burk Aye. Plunkett Motion passes 6 in favor, 1 opposed. James Thank you. Plunkett Thank you. Consideration of an Ordinance Authorizing Investments and Deposits Ordinance 2024-13 (Final Reading) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance Authorizing Investments and Deposits. This is Ordinance 2024-13. This is a final reading and we have Cindy Poore, Director of Finance and Records to present. Good morning Cindy. Poore Good morning. As you said, this is the second reading of this. We are required by statute to present this to Council for approval once a year and to at least review to see if there are any changes that need to be made. As stated last time, the major change that took place in this was Section 5 which speaks about prudence. That was the major change, not from the last meeting but from last year. Page 7 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 Melton Can you tell oh – Plunkett No, go ahead – any questions from Councilors? Councilor Melton? Melton Yes so, so I read through that whole ordinance. You know I was pushing back a little bit because of it’s the same as it was last – Poore Yes – Melton Last year with the exception of prudence and the statement about prudence. So I’m Googling and researching what prudence is just to make sure I understand the use of that word and this – what is your interpretation of prudence and the benefit of having that statement in this ordinance as the only change – Poore Yes – Melton That I could find. You said it’s the – Poore It was recommended. When we were going through this through, with Baker Tilly this, the prudence section was something that GFOA suggested having in there – the Government Finance Officials Association. They suggested having it in there. It’s just another level of making sure that I take the right steps and that that making the right decisions, going to the right people, etc. So it’s just another level of – oh, I can’t think of the word I need to – just another level of, of kind of ethics and security of the process that I go through. McElderry Cindy, I – Plunkett I – go ahead, go ahead. McElderry I’m sorry. I was, I brought this up – we spoke briefly before the – Poore Yes – McElderry Public hearing started with John. Everything looks to be in order. Poore Yes. McElderry I love the fact that there’s going to be a written statement every year – Poore Yes. McElderry For the Council to look at but every four years for an independent audit – Poore Yes – McElderry To be conducted – how was four years arrived upon as opposed to maybe let’s say like two given the fact that this elected group turns over, could turn over potentially every four years? Page 8 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 Poore Sure, sure. That’s kind of like the, the maximum, you know, every four years of having your investments audited. Now, sometimes when we go through our actual State Board of Accounts audit, they may look at some of that maybe at a different level but they will look at some of that but as far as the every four years, I mean, we could, we could call for an audit on our investments anytime that we want. McElderry Right. Poore That, the four years is just kind of like the maximum guideline and what they suggest. McElderry So if we wanted to change it to two – Poore Right – McElderry Would that, that’s just something you would suggest we – Poore I think I, what I would recommend is leaving it at four because here again, that’s the maximum guideline but if it comes to a point where you guys would like to, to suggest or request us to go ahead and do an audit within that four years, we can do that but we don’t have to unless you guys request it within the four years, otherwise we would just do it every four years. Plunkett I appreciate the, you bringing this to us Cindy. I know this is something we’ve talked about over the last – Poore Yes – Plunkett Two or three years and, quite frankly, I just wasn’t comfortable updating it until – Poore Right – Plunkett We had the appropriate checks and balance, internal audit – Poore Sure. Plunkett And controls and such and – Poore Yes – Plunkett And appreciate your cooperation through Baker Tilly to get us to where we are here so. I think, I do think it’s important for Council to realize a lot of these things when they go into these ordinances are not arbitrary decisions, they’re statutory – Poore Right. Plunkett Or they’re recommendations from bodies that, that are giving Cindy direct – Page 9 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 Poore Correct. Plunkett Direct recommendations so. Sampson I remember last week we, or not last week two weeks ago, we were hearing from Councilor Stein about changing it from required versus recommended with a review – Poore Yes – Sampson Or having you have the authority to make the investments. Did we change anything according to that? Stein No. Sampson That was, do you still – Stein No, I mean, I just wanted to kind of visit that and get a feel for what was behind the language but I’m comfortable with that at this point. It was the other way around, by the way – Sampson Sorry. Stein It was from, yes. So, yes, no I’m, I’ve moved on from that. Sampson Okay. Stein I guess as, as it pertains to the audit, I would say as long as the investments are a part of the financial review that we’ll be getting from the Mayor – Poore Yes – Stein And the accounts are doing what we would expect them to do at a cursory level, then a four-year audit is probably appropriate. If things don’t look right then we could probably suggest an audit – Poore Yes – Stein Outside of the four-year term. Sampson I would think the State Board of Accounts annual audit would at least alert us if there were significant dips or concerns on how it was being handled as well. We do have an annual audit’s just not like from an external point of view, it’s just from the state so there is someone who at least reviews outside of our internal people. I do agree that it’s good that we have to do it every four years and that we can do it sooner so I think that should assuage some of your concerns on that. Poore Yes, I mean the four years here again is, is the max of what we would do and we can call for an audit on that any time we want. Page 10 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 Sampson On that note – where are we in the four-year cycle? Does it go mid-way of our current term or is it in line with our four years which to me that would be a way to feel better about it being people who have been in the weeds and knowing the numbers going on instead of it maybe right at the beginning or the end of a term. Like it would nice – Poore Yes. Sampson If it was mid-point. Do we – Poore So the last, the last policy that was adopted was in December of last year. We decided to go ahead and bring this forward again since we were going through all the other policies and that way the new Council could approve it. So, honestly, we’re kind of in the beginning of that part because prior to that we did not have a policy in place since about 2018, 2019. Sampson So then my suggestion would be not to wait four years for this first one – Poore Sure. Sampson Just so that it gets mid-cycle of people that are elected. Maybe we do it at the 2- 1/2, 3-year mark so that we have current Council already familiar with the process and numbers and then it just carries forward that way. Poore Sure. Sampson Does everyone agree on that? Stein That’s fair. Sampson Okay, I’m done with my questions. Thank you, Cindy. Poore You’re welcome. Plunkett Anything else for Cindy? I’d make a motion to approve Ordinance 2024-13. Sampson Second. Plunkett Second from 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. Poore Thank you. Plunkett Thanks Cindy. Page 11 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 Consideration of an Ordinance Adding Title III, Chapter 34, Section 34.04 to the Zionsville Town Code Ordinance 2024-14 (Final Reading) Plunkett Last Old Business item is Consideration of an Ordinance Adding Title III, Chapter 34, Section 34.04 to the Zionsville Town Code. This is Ordinance 2024- 14. This is also a final reading and we have Town attorney, Jon Oberlander, here to present if there are any questions. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Oberlander? Norris No. Plunkett Okay, well I would entertain a motion. Norris I make a motion to approve on final reading Ordinance 2024-14. McElderry Second. Plunkett First from Councilor Norris, 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. NEW BUSINESS Plunkett There are no New Business items. OTHER MATTERS Plunkett Are there any other matters from Councilors? I have one just real quick – I wanted to offer a brief update on the Council’s and the Administration’s proposal for the South Village PUD. We’ve had some folks reach out with questions about the role the Town Council plays. The South Village PUD will be heard by the Plan Commission this evening. Town Council members and leadership have met with the Mayor and his team to share our thoughts and the thoughts that have been shared with us by residents. As recent as last week, the Mayor shared that we will continue to work to make the needed changes to the PUD as it moves through the Plan Commission process. Once that proposal is voted on by the Plan Commission, it’ll then come to us for final approval. So this is something, it’s just important to make sure that the process is clearly out there, that this is going to the Plan Commission tonight and it will rest with the Plan Commission until they make their decision and then it would come to the Town Council so I just wanted to update everybody on that. Anything else from Councilors? Page 12 of 13 Zionsville Town Council May 20, 2024 ADJOURN Plunkett I’ll make a motion to adjourn. Stein Second. 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. The next regular Town Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 3, 2024 at 7 p.m. in the Zionsville Town Hall Council Chambers. Final 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 13 of 13