Zionsville Town Council

Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 ZIONSVILLE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FOR MARCH 3, 2025 AT 7:00 P.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 Absent: Tim McElderry Also Present: Heather Harris, Town Council Attorney; Mayor John Stehr; Deputy Mayor Justin Hage; Cindy Poore, Director of Finance & Records; Lance Lantz, Director of DPW; Jon Oberlander, Town Attorney; Amy Lacy, Municipal Relations Coordinator and other Town staff OPENING A. Call meeting to order B. Pledge of Allegiance Plunkett All right, good evening. I will now call to order the Monday, March 3, 2025 regular Town Council meeting. If you would please, stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. All Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF THE MEMORANDUM OF THE FEBRUARY 3, 2025 REGULAR MEETING Plunkett All right, up first on the agenda is the approval of the February 3, 2025 Town Council Meeting Memoranda. A copy has been posted. Are there questions or comments from Councilors? I would entertain a motion. Norris I make a motion to approve. Melton Second. Page 1 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 Plunkett I got a first from Councilor Norris, second from Councilor Melton. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. APPROVAL OF THE FEBRUARY 2025 PAYROLL CLAIMS Plunkett Up next is the approval of February 2025 payroll claims. Are there questions from Councilors? If not, I would entertain a motion. Stein Move to approve. Burk Second. Plunkett I have a first from Councilor Stein, 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 6 in favor, 0 opposed. APPROVAL OF THE MARCH 3, 2025 CLAIMS Plunkett Up next is the approval of the March 3, 2025 claims. Are there questions from Councilors? If none, I would make a motion to approve. Melton Second. Plunkett A second from Councilor Melton. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. Page 2 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 REQUEST TO SPEAK Plunkett All right, moving on to next item on the agenda is a Request to Speak. I have two of them up here. Amy, do you have any others? Lacy No, just those two. Plunkett Okay. As a reminder for those folks for the request to speak, we have a 3-minute limit for requests to speak and I will give you notice when you are at 2 minutes so you’ll have 1 minute remaining and we’ll go in order here so the first one I have is Stacy Collins and if you would, when you come to the mic just state your name and address for the record and then we will start the clock when you’re done. Collins I’m Stacy Collins and my address is 3128 Grandview Way in Westfield 46074. Good evening Council members, I serve as the Executive Director of Breathe Easy Hamilton County, an agency funded by the Indiana Department of Health dedicated to reducing tobacco use and protecting public health. While I don’t live or work in Zionsville, I do spend time here as a visitor and my work extends throughout Central Indiana. I’m here tonight because the decisions made in this room impact Zionsville and set an example for the entire region. Zionsville, one of the top three healthiest towns in the state, has long been a leader in public health. Boone County was one of the first in Indiana to implement a comprehensive county-wide smoking ban recognizing early on that clean air is a basic necessity, not a luxury. That decision made years before some of the state’s most populated areas even considered similar action, showed true foresight, leadership and commitment to the well being of residents and businesses alike. And make no mistake, other communities are watching Zionsville. Many neighboring communities consider Zionsville a model for forward thinking, health-conscious policy. This isn’t just about one cigar lounge. This is about whether Zionsville remains a leader or starts to reverse its progress. Even with restrictions, allowing an exemption for cigar bars weakens these strong protections. It risks undermining the leadership this community has developed and sets a precedent for more rollbacks. Instead of leading, Zionsville could be seen as wavering and that’s not the reputation that this town deserves. I understand the economic argument. Business growth is essential and everyone wants to see Zionsville thrive but the truth is, strong smoke-free laws do not hurt local economies but only enhance them. Multiple studies have confirmed no negative economic impact within communities that have enacted smoking ordinances similar to those in Zionsville. Cities and counties with strict smoke- free policies continue to see thriving restaurants, bars and tourism without compromising public health. A cigar bar exemption isn’t economic progress, it’s step backward under the guise of business opportunity. So tonight, please consider the short-term decision and the long-term impact. Protect the strong, healthy foundation that Zionsville has built, continue to be the leaders that communities look up to. Work together to ensure Zionsville remains a model for progress, not reversal. I urge this Council to vote no on Ordinance 25, 2025-05 Page 3 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 which would amend Zionsville’s strong smoke-free air law. I thank the Council for its time, leadership and continued commitment to a healthier Indiana. Plunkett Thank you Stacy. Up next we have Taylor Williams. Williams Good evening. Plunkett Good evening. Williams My name is Taylor Williams and I represent the American Lung Association of Indiana. I reside at 102 South Main Street in Sheridan and I’m here to testify against Ordinance No. 2025-05, an Ordinance to Amend Zionsville’s Strong Smoke-Free Air Law. Our concern is that you are normalizing smoking indoors and exempting the Wheelhouse Social Club by allowing them to smoke cigars indoors. Folks normally say oh, it’s just cigars, it’s just to celebrate and it’s just a cigar but it’s not just cigars. It normalizes the behavior and myth that cigar smoking must not be as bad for you as smoking other tobacco products. That is not the case. Secondhand cigar smoke contains the same toxic chemicals that secondhand cigarette smoke does, cigars are just depicted as exclusive but they’re not. It harms the message that all tobacco products are dangerous. Across the country the increasingly well-organized cigar industry has been pushing for cigar bar/lounge exemptions in strong local and state smoke-free laws peeling back lifesaving protections designed to maintain indoor smoking and boost industry profits, all while putting workers at risk. I’m going to read you the verbiage of the first thing you see when you visit the website of the business being exempted by this ordinance. “Wheelhouse is an incomparable gathering place with world class social amenities, exclusive experiences and the ability to enhance your network. For those that join, Wheelhouse will provide an experience unlike any other.” To provide this world class service will require world class employees who will then be harmed by secondhand smoke on the job as well. Don’t forget about the workers. This just doesn’t fit in with what the Town of Zionsville claims to represent. I want to remind you when you passed the original ordinance, you made a promise to the community that you’d prioritize protecting citizens and now you’re breaking that promise. This exemption normalizes that people who are affluent enough to join this club aren’t at risk of cancer or diseases caused by secondhand smoke but those deadly diseases know no socioeconomic bounds. I urge this Council to protect and keep your comprehensive smoke-free air law and not allow this establishment to smoke indoors. Thank you. Plunkett Thank you. Page 4 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 OLD BUSINESS Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Duties of the Deputy Mayor Ordinance 2025-02 (Final Reading) Plunkett Okay, moving on to Old Business – the first item of Old Business is a Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend the Duties of Deputy Mayor. This is Ordinance 2025-02. This is the final reading and we have Deputy Mayor Justin Hage with us this evening to present. Hage Thank you President Plunkett. As you mentioned, this ordinance is a second reading of an ordinance that was brought at the last meeting after some helpful questions and discussion both at this meeting and in the interim with Councilor Melton and some other Councilors. This has been amended to reflect as opposed to the creation of a new department rather to amend the duties of the Deputy Mayor such that oversight of economic development as was in those responsibilities and that also the new role, the Economic Development Project Manager, will also report to the Deputy Mayor. Again, I think as we discussed in this meeting last time, the goal and the intention I think would be to have a Department of Economic Development when the town is ready and when the Administration and the Council have both come to an agreement that that’s an important new department to create to really address economic development in our town but as an interim solution having these responsibilities be part of the responsibilities of the Deputy Mayor, I think, is, is the next best way to accomplish this goal. We also did clarify in consultation with legal counsel for Town Council that this is not a department head per that definition in the reorganization documents, that this position, the Economic Development Project Manager will be part of the Department of Administration and then lastly, I think that we took this opportunity to remove some references to Town Manager that are in the Town Code just for clarity purposes. So, again, this takes what is an existing Chapter 31, Section 31.03 and adds the economic development oversight duties and then removes that section, I’m sorry, Chapter 31, Section 31.02 which has those Town Manager references in it. So, happy to take any questions. Plunkett I know following the last meeting there certainly was a lot of feedback and back and forth. I appreciate the work that you put into this, Mr. Oberlander, Mayor Stehr, Heather – appreciate everybody’s, everybody’s input here. Are there any questions from Council for Deputy Mayor Hage? Having none, I would move to approve Ordinance 2025-02 on final reading. Sampson Second. Plunkett I have a second from Councilor Sampson. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Page 5 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. Thank you. Hage Thank you. Consideration of an Ordinance Amending the 2025 Salary Ordinance (Economic Development Project Manager) Ordinance 2025-03 (Final Reading) Plunkett Up next on the agenda – Consideration of an Ordinance Amending the 2025 Salary Ordinance for Economic Development Project Manager, Ordinance 2025- 03. This is also a final reading, Deputy Mayor Hage for this as well. Hage Thank you President Plunkett. As mentioned, this is the second reading and the amendment that is reflected in this version is twofold: One is the title is now Economic Development Project Manager and the second is that this position will fall under the Department of Administration, as I just mentioned, relative to the previous ordinance and besides that it’s relatively straightforward, just required a change to the Salary Ordinance whenever we have a new title. No net financial impact from this move, so happy to take any questions. Plunkett Any questions for Deputy Mayor Hage? Otherwise, I would entertain a motion. Melton Motion to approve. Sampson Second. Plunkett First from Councilor Melton, second from Councilor Sampson. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. Hage Thank you. Plunkett Thank you. Page 6 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 Consideration of an Ordinance Amending the Smoking Ordinance (Cigar Bar) Ordinance 2025-05 (Final Reading) Plunkett Up next on the agenda is a Consideration of an Ordinance Amending the Smoking Ordinance specific to Cigar Bar. This is Ordinance 2025-05. This is also a final reading. I would just like to read to Council similar to what I shared last time, as you all know, we currently have an ordinance that carves out some exceptions for smoking. Those exceptions include hotel/motel rooms, designated smoking areas, nursing homes, long-term care facilities which residents may only residents may smoke and in private residences as well. This seeks, this ordinance seeks to allow an exception for a private membership paid club/cigar lounge as defined in Town Code Title 9, Chapter 93. This ordinance requires specific enclosures and separate ventilation systems to exhaust air separately from nonsmoking areas of the private club. Further, this ordinance goes on to restrict the use of any other tobacco products only allowing for cigars as defined as a roll of tobacco that has a wrapper or a cover consisting only of tobacco. This would restrict hookah, cigarettes and vaping and continues this Council’s, this Council and Councils before us had a longstanding commitment of comprehensive smoking bans for the Town of Zionsville. I want to reiterate that this ordinance does not change our current smoking status for the current bars and restaurants. You cannot smoke in bars and restaurants in the Town of Zionsville should this ordinance pass. I want to thank the Councilors who offered their solutions for this ordinance to help get us to this point and make this ordinance incredibly narrow as well as those recommendations offered by the public. With that being said, are there any questions from Councilors? Burk No questions. I want to thank Stacy and Taylor for attending. Appreciate your commentary. I do think there are negative health consequences if we were to pass this bill but I also appreciate that it’s been as narrowly defined as it can in terms of meeting those objectives. I’ll be voting no but I do worry that it normalizes cigar smoking and tobacco smoking in general. Plunkett Anything else from Councilors? Sampson I do appreciate you both coming here. One of my least favorite things when I was in the audience was that people would stand up here and express their heartfelt thoughts and for then the Council to not acknowledge you so I’m glad Brad did and I want to acknowledge you as well. I’m not a smoker, I’ve never been a smoker. I do have to say that it helped me with how we narrowed down a lot of the process. It was much broader when it started so it was good work on our lawyers and Jason stepped in there and I am going to be voting yes but with a heavy heart because I do want people to remember the health problems that come with smoking but as adults, people are rightfully so able to make their own choices and that is why I am going to be voting yes. Plunkett Anything else from Councilors? Harris President Plunkett, I was just going to mention to the Council too just so in the definition when we talk about cigar lounge, it’s also referencing back that you Page 7 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 still have to be licensed by the Alcohol Tobacco Commission and there are specific rules and requirements for cigar lounges in state statute so those would also apply to the cigar lounges here. We just have the opportunity to be more restrictive than state statute. Plunkett Thank you. Any other questions or comments from Councilors? Otherwise, I would move to approve Ordinance 2025-05 on final reading. Stein Second. Plunkett I have a second from Councilor Stein. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Norris, Aye. Sampson, Plunkett, Stein Plunkett All those opposed same sign. Melton No. Burk Aye. Plunkett Motion passes 4 in favor, 2 opposed. NEW BUSINESS Consideration of a Resolution Regarding the Appropriation of Additional Funds (Economic Development Project Manager) (Inglenook Appropriation) Resolution 2025-02 (Public Hearing) Plunkett Up next on the agenda for first item of New Business is a Consideration of a Resolution Regarding the Appropriation of Additional Funds. This is for Economic Development Project Manager Inglenook Appropriations. This is Resolution 2025-02. This is a resolution so there will just be one vote on this. We have Cindy Poore, Director of Finance & Records here to speak on this. Good evening Cindy. Poore Good evening. So with the resolution in front of you, with the changes of the Economic Development Project Manager and not moving forward with the new department, we are asking for an additional to put funds into the Administration lines to compensate for that additional employee going in there. One thing that I do want to point out is on page 2 of your resolution there will be a deappropriation from the Planning Department so technically the money going into the Administration Department is not new money. We are taking it from the Planning Department budget and moving it to the Administration budget to cover the expenses of that employee that’s, that’s making the move. Page 8 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 Also, you have four items for the ARPA money. These were miscellaneous items that correspond with the approved Amended ARPA Plan that was approved at the end of last year, I believe, in November. We had a few items, departments that didn’t utilize all their funds and so we had to appropriate those in order to spend those down. The other item we have is the CCD Contractual Services. This is for Inglenook. The amount is $200,000, $25,000 of that will be reimbursed by the county but we do have to appropriate it to spend it even though we’re, we’re getting it, some of that back. And then the Food & Beverage Promotions additional are for, it’s for the AED for the Zionsville Youth Football League. Do you have any questions? Plunkett Thank you Cindy. Are there any questions from Councilors for Cindy? Stein Cindy, can you, everything looks good. Can you tell me what the process looks like to get that $25,000 back from the county? I mean do we have to file for it? What’s that, what do you guys have to do to get that? Poore I do not know what the process is but I believe Lance Lantz, the Director of DPW, does or Evan do you? Plunkett Councilor Norris has been – Norris Yes. Plunkett Involved in this as well. Poore Okay. Norris I kind of led the charge on this – Poore Okay, good. Norris So I’m happy to, to take it over. Poore You go right ahead. Norris So, my understanding is the $25,000 was appropriated before December 31st of 2024. Those funds have been encumbered through the County Council for their approval and then I think once we make the request those will be paid out to us. Remember we had to spend the, we had to encumber the ARPA funds before the end of the year. And if I can, I can just touch on Inglenook real quick just for, for everyone. So when I was approached last summer by the members of the Board of Inglenook who are here today, specifically, Ms. Barbara Hudson and Gwen Doyle, about a situation in their neighborhood regarding some permeable paver systems and a developer that was backing out of their obligation to put in this necessary infrastructure, we’ve had several meetings since then about the status of that neighborhood. I mean, a lot of meetings, a lot of phone calls, a lot of emails. The HOA has exhausted all of the avenues, in my opinion, that they can for recourse Page 9 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 against the developer to finish out this project. A permeable paver system is not cheap whatsoever. It’s very expensive. It’s not like just putting blacktop so and to me this raises serious issues and concerns and that’s why I’m asking for your alls vote in support tonight. These people can’t get in their garages. These people cannot, we cannot get emergency vehicles down the alleyways to this neighborhood and basically these people are left without any sort of recourse other than paying hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket and they’re basically at their wit’s end and they came to us for help. So we’ve worked very closely with Jon Oberlander and their attorney as well, the HOA’s attorney, to, to sort of iron this out. I want to personally thank President Plunkett and Councilor Melton for attending those meetings with me and being another sounding board and a voice of support at those meetings. I also want to thank the Mayor and Lance Lantz for all of their efforts in helping push this along. And also with us tonight is Commissioner Beyer who is sitting in the back there. Commissioner Beyer helped put through and push through the $25,000 contribution to help offset some of the cost for these neighbors and I want to thank the Boone County Council as well for approving that money. And then I told him I would say it but Tim, Tim isn’t here tonight, Tim McElderry but he also told me that he’s in full support of this as well so. Thanks for letting me be on my soapbox. Plunkett All right, any questions for Cindy? This is a public hearing. I have proof of publication of the public hearing. At this point I will open the public hearing. If there’s any members of the public who would like to speak. Seeing none, I will close the hearing. I would reiterate a lot of support comments from Councilor Norris but also just point out that he did lead the charge on this and was very helpful and so I appreciate all your efforts. Norris Thank you. Plunkett If there are no other questions, again, this is a resolution so this would be a one- vote approval and I would entertain a motion at this time. Norris I will make a motion to approve Resolution 2025-02. Melton Second. Plunkett I have a first from Councilor Norris, a second from Councilor Melton. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. Poore Thank you. Page 10 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 Plunkett Thank you. Consideration of an Ordinance Regarding Park Rules Update Ordinance 2025-07 (First Reading) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance Regarding Parks Rules Update. This is Ordinance 2025-07. This is a first reading and should there be questions, we have Mayor Stehr here certainly this evening. Good evening Mayor Stehr. Stehr Good evening. Yes, I think the ordinance is pretty self-explanatory. This is something that the Parks Department does on regular basis, semi-regular basis when things come up. For example, drone operations and horses in the parks and all that kind of thing. And what we’re doing is seeking to put this in the Town Code which gives our Police Department the ability to enforce them as Code violations rather than simple trespassing or something like that so. This is, again, I think pretty self-explanatory and if anybody has any questions, I’m happy to answer those. Sampson I just thought it would be a good time to point out to the general public who might watch this about how drones are not allowed to launch or land in our parks. Stehr Correct. Sampson I think that’s important because I don’t know if everybody watches both the Parks Board and this and that was a big change that was voted on. Stein There is reference to the DORA and I just, if you could refresh my memory, I think we don’t, the parks are not part of the DORA but we can do special events, is that correct? Stehr That is correct and the park in Creekside is, I mean that’s Park property, the trail through Creekside, that is in the DORA. Stein Okay. Stehr But there is no other parkland that’s in the DORA on a regular basis. Plunkett Are there any other questions for Mayor Stehr? I would entertain a motion. Stein I’ll move to approve Ordinance or sorry, is this first reading? Plunkett Yes, introduce. Yep. Stein Sorry, move to introduce Ordinance 2025-07. Plunkett I’ll second that. So a first from Councilor Stein, a second from President Plunkett. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Page 11 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. Thank you. Consideration of an Ordinance Amending the Crosswalk Ordinance Ordinance 2025-08 (First Reading) Plunkett Up next is a Consideration of an Ordinance Amending the Crosswalk Ordinance. This is Ordinance 2025-08 and we have Mayor Stehr here for this as well. Stehr Yes, this is an amendment to the Town Code to allow the Mayor to approve crosswalks in public safety zones when in the best interest of pedestrian safety. Now the current procedure is to identify areas that need a safety enhancement and that generally begins with the Pathways Committee or with a citizen petition. The Department of Public Works then takes a data-driven approach to study the need and when such a need is deemed warranted, the DPW makes a recommendation to establish a safety zone. Now in the last six years we have had four crossings that have been established at Oak Ridge Drive and 975 East, Ford Road and Starkey near Thornhill, at 5th and Oak and at Colony Square and Whitestown Road. All of those were unanimously approved by the Council upon DPW’s presentation of its supporting data. So we’re not proposing any changes to the process. Any new pedestrian safety zones would be established only when the data shows that it’s warranted, it just makes the final approval process more efficient by not making it subject to waiting to get on a Council agenda for approval. So it would become an administrative check-off after the DPW has done its due diligence in this process. Plunkett Any questions for Mayor Stehr? Melton Not a question but I just want to vocalize my support. The Pathways Committee has met several times with Lance in the last few years. He’s been kind enough to come after hours and attend our meetings and I really appreciate that. I feel like , this is going to kind of streamline the process. It still gives the Pathways Committee the ability to kind of touch on the topic and understand and hear from the public but it also, I think it’s going to streamline the actionable items with regards to the actual safety zone and I’m in support of this and I appreciate Lance’s time as well as Mayor Stehr’s time on this issue. Sampson So I always try to play the game of what happens when it’s not John Stehr, when it’s not Lance Lantz since it becomes like a, it’s our law here so it can’t be pertaining to the people that are actively doing it, it should be what could be carried forward as well and I’d kind of expressed to a few of you if there’s some sort of financial limitation on crosswalks because while they seem pretty simple, Page 12 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 they’re not actually cheap, right? They, they cost what? Like $85,000? Is, no? No? Norris Well it’s totally dependent on the circumstances. Sampson Okay. So – Norris Sometimes they can just be lines painted on the ground or sometimes you need traffic signals and all that. Sampson So I didn’t know if there was some limitation that we would want to add to this? Some sort of up to three a year or – Melton I think that’s – Sampson Or a sunset with each Mayor like, I don’t know. Melton They’re still going to have to find the money – Sampson Right. Melton And we’re going to have to either see it in a budget or they have money, they have different buckets of money to be able to do this but I think one of the bigger concerns that like the Pathways Committee and I think the overall concern is when you take a thoroughfare and then you add a new system to that, a crosswalk, there’s dangerous, it’s dangerous – Sampson Yes. Melton That’s why it’s a big deal to be able to do a mid-block crosswalk and I think that’s the major part of it but the financial part I agree with your thought on that. You don’t want to just give the opportunity to the Mayor to say there’s a crosswalk, there’s a crosswalk and that’s not what I believe is going to happen with this new process. There’s a detailed process, three parts specifically, to how Lance and his team is going to evaluate these and it’s going to start with, it comes from the public initially I think that’s kind of where I see them stemming from the last four years or the last four that we’ve done. It’s not been a necessarily a DPW like we’re going to do this. So from a financial standpoint it’s not like they’re going to just start dolling them out. There’s a process and it’s a technical review and I think that review has been really important as we move forward because it does change the traffic flow potentially – Sampson Right. Melton And it can cause, it can be dangerous doing this, so. I think keeping it in the DPW’s purvey is very important. Burk I guess I would just add we’ve had a few of these on my first term and one we just passed what, two months ago? I, admittedly, some of these come from Council. Council members bring these forward which I think that’s still a path Page 13 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 right? We can still bring this forward but when we get into the details of how DPW handles all of these assessments and what they bring to us, we would never approve these without those studies and their recommendation and so I don’t know I hear you but I feel like we’re not giving up a whole lot because we can still make the case and then they’re going to do all the work on the backend and if it’s not something that they feel like they would bring to us, then they’re not going to. If they do, but I just don’t know that we have ever approved one without their guidance and I don’t know that we would ever deny one if they brought this forward and said this is a good idea so I don’t know that we’re really losing any real authority. Sampson Right. I was just trying to think if there’s any way that this would come back to bite us. Like what would be the financial part of it because that’s our role with this and it would just more be could contracts be completed and then we’re asked to sign off on claims and we’re wondering where the money is going and that sort of thing. That’s all I was trying to, mentally trying to make sure that it’s kind of like giving, because a lot of crosswalks aren’t budgeted for 12 months from now, right? They come up as the year is going so then it starts becoming more of a flexible where’s that fund coming from to pay for it? Or if there’s an immediate need for it, where’s the money? What slush fund? Or, you know – Burk Yes. Sampson Like where’s it coming from? Burk I think it’d be a good idea to kind of have a proactive approach where we already know like next year these are the two crosswalks we’re going to be looking at as opposed to if it came up and I hear what you’re saying. Sampson Trying to be in the process of the budget process, I don’t know. I mean, Lance, do you have ideas of just for playing this out, do you have ideas of where we might do crosswalks in the next 12 months that you could put into the budget in August? Lantz Yes, a presentation that some of you who have been on the Council for a longer time probably saw when we initiated this process back in 2021, 2020 was to take the aggressive approach of potentially up to two locations to study each year and obviously what the Mayor said with that count we’ve kind of more fell to the one-ish per year. Now most of these, I should say all of these to date so far have all been done in-house. We’re budgeted each year for sidewalk repair, curb ramp repair, sign replacements, those types of things and we’ve got these down to a, to the point where they’re pretty inexpensive to do. The flashing signals cost about $8,200 so if there are sidewalk modifications, curb ramp modifications, we’re going to make those anyway because those would already be an ADA deficiency so we would just be replacing those as a matter of course. So we also self-install. We self-perform everything so while the first crosswalk at 5th and Oak was done a number of years ago and that ran like $11,000 over 10 years ago, we’re down at the $8,000 and we just buy the flashers out of our sign budget and we install them ourselves. Page 14 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 Sampson Okay. I think I heard 80 instead of 8 so there you go. Lantz I was going to say, drop a zero – Sampson I know, drop the zero. All right, well that makes me feel better that it’s not, not coming from just anywhere he has an account, a balance that he could pull from even as the year goes. Plunkett Any other questions from Councilors? This is a first reading of Ordinance 2025- 08. At this point I would entertain a motion. Norris I’ll make a motion to approve Ordinance 2025-08. Melton Second. Plunkett Those are motion to introduce. Norris Excuse me. I will make a motion to introduce – Plunkett Do we need to withdraw that motion? Harris Yes. Norris Yes. I will withdraw my previous motion. I will make a motion to introduce Ordinance 2025-08 on first reading. Melton Second. Plunkett I have a first from Councilor Norris, a second from Councilor Melton. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett All those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. OTHER MATTERS Plunkett Up next on the agenda is Other Matters. I just want to take a quick moment to congratulate Councilor Evan Norris for his election to the County Republican Party Central Committee this weekend. I’ve served in that capacity as Vice Chair for the last 18 months and I know Evan has what it takes to do it and he’ll do an incredible job for our county, so congratulations. Norris Thank you. Page 15 of 16 Zionsville Town Council March 3, 2025 ADJOURN Plunkett All right, any other matters from Councilors? Otherwise, I will make a motion to adjourn. Burk Second. Plunkett Second from Vice President Burk. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All Aye. Plunkett Those opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes 6 in favor, 0 opposed. The next regular Town Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 17, 2025 at 7:30 a.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 16 of 16