We call this March 4th, 2025, the organization committee to order. Six o'clock, will everybody stand
and we'll pray and we'll do the Pledge of Allegiance. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you
even for the rain, where it says make the rain fall on the just and the unjust. Just take it for granted
it's gonna happen and you know what you're doing.
We ask that you'd be here with us as lead guiding directors. We try to get through this and decide what,
let the citizenry decide what's best. And we ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under
God, indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all. All right, roll call. Andrew Henry, present. William Ellis, present.
Kevin Ferris, present. Don Durnall, present. Jerry Sanders is absent. And we have an electronic policy
for members who may be zooming in, correct? Will we vote on that after roll call? Yes. OK.
With that, actually, I just got an email that Scott Reynolds is in the UK and not able to log in to
Zoom. Do you know if it's region restricted? Or is there a different link than last week? Every link
is going to be different. No problem. So I'll send him the new link. I haven't restricted it. OK.
Where's the, where could I find that link? Okay. I'll work on that and start. Okay. The startup meeting
with, has anybody got anything they'd wish to say or contribute? If not, we're gonna ask the subject
committees to present.
We have we have meeting minutes to approve and Approval of the minutes February 18th, 2026 realization
committee meeting So moved Look, why don't we do it this way anybody opposed to raise your hand? Everybody
Not opposed, raise your hand. Okay. So passes. Now public comment. Where's the electronic? Want to do
that first? Yes, please. Electronic meeting policy? So I drafted a policy and sent it out, I think,
on Monday. And this mirrors what the Planning Commission and the town council have in place, but it
allows board members to participate electronically under certain conditions.
and participate. Yes. So anybody want to make a motion to accept that policy? I will second that motion.
All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed? So passes. Passes unanimous. Now public comment. Anybody
want to say anything?
if you'd just write your name and state it. Thanks for... my name's Phil Shanoff,
We live over on Limestone Drive, my wife and I, Terry. We were here at the February 4th meeting,
and it was, by the time everybody had spoken, it was pretty informative. We didn't make the last one,
which was the 18th, I think. And yeah, February 4th, that's right. But since that time, we've had a
chance to digest some of what
we've heard and learned and spoke with folks. I'm going to kind of read this just because I'm not very
good at this, but after listening to the presentation and the panel, actually the committee, it seems
like most of this got started. If I'm saying things you already know, if you just be patient with me,
it'll take long.
It seems like the thing kind of got started when Ellisville's long-standing fire protection arrangement,
where the fire department, Ellisville Fire Department, historically provided fire protection for both
Richland and Bean Blossom townships, and Ellisville town, of course. And what it sounded, though, is
that the Ellisville Fire Department made large capital investment in a new fire truck, among other things.
based on the fire territory as they knew it at the time. And additionally, for whatever reason, Monroe
County commissioners in Ellsfield Town are not continuing this fire protection agreement, as I understand
it. I'm not intimate with it, but I do live here and try to pay attention to what's going on. Basically,
leaving Ellsfield Town with debt.
I guess a question is, if or can Ellsville town government and Monroe County government get together
and agree upon a fire protection territory that satisfies Ellsville's fire department debt while continuing
to provide fire protection services for both townships, Bean Blossom and Richland and the town,
And, you know, if there's any intention of a working agreement, you know, perhaps a third-party arbitrator
might be useful. I say that. Again, I'm not privileged to all of what you already know, so I have to
just extract this from what I know. The other problem that we see that I saw or we saw, my wife and
I, with the RE-ORG committee,
It indicates there's a problem with the county planning and zoning. As I take it, the reordered panel
thinks that Monroe County planning and zoning is just a little too slow for their purposes because they
just can't get things done in a timely manner as they see it, they being Richmond Township and Ellisville Town.
You know, currently the county has multiple in-place services for both Richland and Bean Blossom townships.
The county I'm talking about, county government included planning and zoning along with the master plan
for the entire county. You know, our concern is other than the planning and zoning, there are other
important county services already in place and operating and paid for under current county taxation.
I guess the question is, what happens to the sheriff protection that we have, road maintenance and repair,
snow removal, waste recycling, stormwater management, and that includes culverts and bridges, if this
reorganization occurs? I mean, Monroe County, I know ostensibly it might not seem like they do much,
but if you don't have them, you might look a little different. So I just ask that you consider this.
Will it become the responsibility of
Ellitsville or Richland, the new governmental entity, I guess you'd call it. Ellitsville, I was looking
at the maps and consists of about 20% of Richland Township, roughly 3,800 acres, round numbers, while
the remaining of Richland Township consists of 30 square miles,
which is about 19,000 acres. It's a lot of land, which is currently being served by the county. I guess
the problems that we see, you know, if the merger occurs, will the Ellsfield town have to provide all
the services already provided by Monroe County as currently taxed and paid for by the county? Now, Ellsfield
could always, or Ritson Township, whatever this entity is newly referred to,
hires more people and buys more equipment to provide duplicate services no longer available by the county.
Ellesville and Richland Township residents and business taxes will go up. And certainly a lot more than
8 cents per hundred. Because it's new debt. We're not opposed to incremental growth. I don't want to
be misunderstood here. And I understand what the
committee's trying to do, and I'm open. But, you know, we're not opposed to incremental growth that
consists of impartial planning and zoning. And I kind of mean that, impartial planning and zoning, which
means you're looking at the whole picture. And for example, you know, well, you know, this keeps the
special interest in the side deals from occurring and protecting residents and businesses.
I mean, you buy a piece of land as a resident, you're there. I mean, and if you buy a piece of land
as a business, you may or may not be there, but you got to live with it as a resident. So I'm really
thinking more of a resident. Again, we're not opposed to uncontrolled. We are opposed to uncontrolled
growth. There's only one example I can cite off the top here. My wife and I were driving
eastbound towards Bloomington. And if I'm wrong about this, please someone correct me. But across from
Arby's on northeast side of State Road 46, there's an area that was cleared and denuded of all vegetation.
Also, we noted a new high rise building that was going up on a joining property just on the opposite
side of that to the north and east of that again.
And this consisted primarily of single-family dwelling units. So here, you got a single-family dwelling
units, and you got high-rises going up right next to it. And we didn't see any green space in between.
Now, I didn't investigate it close, but I didn't see really any drainage control. But I'm sure there
was probably some there. So these are the things that we observed. I guess, in final, I'd like to just...
I think the county probably does more than anybody really knows, but, and I'm not saying that they're
not, can be a pain sometimes, but they do, you know, we gotta be part of some county. And this is our
county. So I think if there's a way that to work together and get what you need out of it, and even
the flexibility that folks want around here, I think it'd be useful. That's all I got.
Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah sure with the fire Situation. Yeah, that actually came up after we started this
the reason we decided to pursue reorganization was the state has talked about streamlining government
duplication of services and there was some from the township in the town and
Richland Township and Ellisville has a 79-year history with fire protection. So that was a good blueprint
for us. We were already kind of married, you know, there. And the county decided, while we're in the
middle of pursuing this process, to take that away from us. They gave the intention that they wanted
to do a fire district, which is different than a fire territory. Right now, we just have a contract.
and what that would do when you're worried about increased taxes, with this plan, your taxes, it would
increase taxes a lot more than what it would for, yeah, than reorganization, if they did a fire district,
because they'd have to build a station, they would have to buy equipment, because right now Ellisville
owns that. Same thing with the other services. Well, yes, and yes, and roads, I mean. Well, yeah, and
all of us,
we have these subcommittees, because they're addressing those particular things. The nice thing with
roads, as an example, a lot of the road funding will just shift from the county to go to the town. So
it's not like we're gonna have to spend a bunch more. But they have the equipment, the county has the
equipment already in place. So I mean, I'm not being argumentative, but what I am,
No, you're not. Not at all. No. And no, I get that. But an example during this winter.
there is, I can't remember the name of the cul-de-sac. The county decided since the road was built 20
years ago, not to their standards, and the developer who is either out of business or not responsive,
they're no longer gonna plow that neighborhood. It's little things like that that we wanna get away
from. Had Ellsville been plowing up until that time? No, no, no, this is the county, no, no,
I'm not talking, the county, this is in Richland Township. No one's been plowing it, that's just it.
We're not gonna let technicalities like that
hurt our residents just because the developer. That's something that should have been addressed with
the developer bond. But I'm talking about the mentality like that. When you come to planning. No, no,
they, they had said that the road wasn't met to spec. So they're not doing anything with it. And that
was a developer issue. But from what I understand, and all the investigation as a 20 year ago issue,
they've been fighting. That's why you have developer bonds, you go in there, take the bond and fix it,
you don't make the residents
pay for those mistakes. When it comes to planning and zoning, it's not so much that their lacks are
too strict. That's part of it, because it's like if you had 100 acres and you wanted to subdivide that
three ways to your family, you could not, or you'd have to wait, is it 25 or 50 years to subdivide it
again, something like that? I'm not- If you've got an existing track, you could subdivide it once. Right.
Go ahead. Yeah, once. It's your land. And then there is a time, but I don't know what that time is.
Yeah, exactly. It's either 25 or 50 years. So things like that, there's no rationale behind doing that.
Well, there is to some extent. Right. But just because I don't really understand it at this point doesn't
mean that we as a collective buy should understand it. No, but I can tell you who should understand
it, and that's the property owners.
When the people want to sell their property or do something with it, they should be ultimately the ones
that make the decisions, not some government body that tells them what to do with their resources.
To a point. Because that's why you have planning and zoning. Because you've got 13,000 people in this
township. And that's about two people per acre. And you have a lot of people living next to each other.
And I have no control over what a business does next to me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-business, but it has to be considered what they're gonna be doing and
what that's gonna do to that. Yes, and it absolutely, in our current UDO, it absolutely is. And in the
plan that we're talking about, if it's currently agricultural, unless that person wants to rezone it,
I don't know the particulars, but we're gonna have two different, a rural and, we'll hear the presentation
or talk about it tonight, a rural and an urban area. So those things,
Are you going to honor the existing county? I mean, some parts of the existing county zoning and planning.
That's my question. Oh, I'm sure we would, because some of it doesn't really conflict with what we got.
Yeah. The western part of the township is the best land in the county, without a doubt. And I don't
know, we moved here 47 years ago. And, you know, part of the reason we moved here was because we like the area.
And I was commuting the whole time. And the thing is is that we just liked the area. And people lived
here and worked here. Bloomington, Crane, and all that. So it was a choice. So I would hate for that
choice to be. There's other people that I know feel similar to me. Again, I don't want to...
step on what you're trying to do. But I just want to thought out. No, these are real concerns and this
process is that we're doing this is to think up. So we make sure those things are addressed. And it's
not that this happens and then we say, what do we do? We don't want that to happen. The county does a ton.
And we, like on the parks, we're still gonna work with the county on that. I forgot about the parks,
but you're right. I mean, that's a fine park over there. Yeah, the county is still gonna handle those
parks. We're working that out. We've met with county streets to see what we can do. Sheriff protection,
since the sheriff is, they're still gonna respond to calls when it comes to Richland because they're
still part of Monroe County.
But this plan will get three months. I mean, that's that's part of the point, but I don't know how,
you know, I guess what I hate to see is I hate to see that an adversary relationship between Ellisville
or Richmond government and the county government. That's that's something you don't want to have. We
hate to see it too. And it comes and goes because people get elected. Right. And what we want to make
sure is we're protecting Richland Township residents and town of Ellisville residents under this new
thing from those frictions, because
You know, government bodies are going to have disagreements, but you should not get caught in the crossfire.
And we're trying to make sure that does not happen. And Ellisville has been when you come to when you
talk about the growth and that we have had a record number.
say in the last five to 10 years of voluntary annexations where people say, I want to come into Ellisville
because we want to get away from taking two years to go through the planning commission. And there's
no shortage of growth that I can see from no, but there is no, there is in Richland Township in Ellisville.
No, it's like a tale of two cities. A matter of fact, the growth in Monroe County has been driven by
the growth in Ellisville.
So the southeast part of the county mainly towards with the old GE because that's part of the township,
right? Yes. I mean, look how long that's taken to get going. I mean, I mean, that was just, I mean,
that's a big job. It is. But I always use this as an example. Harmon farms from the moment it got annexed
into, uh, they're going to have a house available this April. And the developer said that would not
happen under the county. There's no way.
Yeah, for sale, but I'm talking about as they can move in in April. Because what we understand is that
there's a housing shortage in Monroe County, in the country. And part of that housing shortage is not
telling people you can't sell your land and build homes. Part of that housing shortage alleviation,
especially for jobs. If we want people to have high paying jobs here, we have to have housing for it.
Doesn't mean you're gonna see a ton of apartments or anything like that. It's gonna be planned.
It's going to be the benefit of the community. It's not just going to be a bunch of sprawl. I don't
think any of us envision that. But it comes to a point in time where there are some issues that have
to be addressed in Monroe County. I think what I'd hate to see is along those lines is that just as
they drive up Ronald Reagan and look at all the distribution houses or units, those things are huge.
It's just like Keagy only bigger and there's probably
From that stretch from Interstate 70 all the way up to the 600 Road, which is right up before you get
to Brownsburg, there must be 25 of them, and they're just huge. And they just take over the area. And
that's business,
You know, there's been an awful lot of building with that stuff, and I'm not sure how sustained that's
gonna be either. There's limits to talking. And ultimately, at the end of the day, if you hear the plan
and don't like the plan, the nice thing about this is it won't be forced on you. You can always vote
no, so. Yeah, well, I've rambled enough. That's okay, thank you so much. Thanks. Thanks for your time.
If I may, I can ask you a couple of questions. Oh yeah, Jeff, sorry. Okay, well, first of all,
I said Jeff, I meant Mike. I'll take this.
So we have talked to the county highway. And so we went through the process of what we're trying to
do. And so it's a bit complex because one thing leads to another and there are several other things
related that you take into account. So when it comes to the roads though, it's pretty simple. We will
take on another 80 or 90 miles of road, it's true. And when we talk to the county about it,
They weren't exactly happy that we might be doing this, but at the end of the day, they said, well,
because we talked about maybe even allowing the revenue to stream to them sometime into the future and
work out a detail where as they, through attrition, grow down a little, we could grow up and maybe work
together. I mean, their contribution to the maintenance and repair? Yeah, yeah.
But at the end of the day, they said, we have 788 miles of road after that. And they had plenty to do.
And they're always needing more help. And they thought the best way to go about it is to just let it
switch and let the revenue follow whoever is going to take care of it. And so we went through the process.
We constantly are working with the county
as roads change who owns them or who's responsible for them, we work out details so that we're efficient
about who's plowing the road. And so I live in a county too, so. You're up in Bean Blossom, aren't you?
Yeah, I'm in Bean Blossom, but you're right, the county does a really good job, and we acknowledge that.
But we have talked to them, we've talked to the sheriff about police protection,
And we're assured that, you know, the Ellisville is in the county and as they go about their business
now, protecting us all, that's not going to change. And so some of these things have been talked about
and worked out. And to William's point, the town is growing and it's annexing all around where you live.
And as it grows, decisions are made.
And as a person that is adjacent to that growth, you have no say what goes on in Ellisville.
And one of the, I think, positives about this, we all know the town's going to keep growing. People
that want to do things with their land and be able to do it and make money on it and not have to wait
to develop it or whatever they want to do with it, divide it up amongst their family, they annex into
Ellisville.
The growth is going to be there. One of the things for you is if you are part of the reorganization,
you will have representation in the future. There's so many people that don't even realize they're either
in or outside the town, especially as close proximity as you are where you live. And so as we move forward,
if you want a positive, the positive would be you would have a say
in how things go in the future. So some of those concerns you have as a Richland Township person, now
you just have to watch the growth around you and have no say voting-wise. I mean, we take into consideration
neighbors even if they're not in Elso, but that's one of the main components of this that has what I
think is a positive. So anyway. That's a good point.
The one thing I heard, I'm glad you spoke with the Rhodes people, because it's a big item. I mean, I
didn't realize. We talked to parks, we talked to everybody, and so we have reached out. Yeah, I'm happy
with Monroe County roads. I mean, it's not perfect, but nothing is. It should be. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
For this meeting, we have a whole bunch of subcommittee reports, and these are all available, unedited,
straight from the subcommittees, all on our website. You can see exactly what they've written up.
about parks, rec, roads, everything, because we want to talk to every agency, every department we're
going to be working with and get the real detailed information of exactly what reorganization would
mean. And that's a lot of what tonight's meeting is going to be about is about the details in those
plans. So a lot of your questions are going to be addressed directly. I think I've used enough time.
Thank you, Phil. Unless somebody else has got something else. No problem. Thanks, everybody. Thanks,
Phil. Anybody else?
Okay, then let's move on and let's start the subcommittee reports. Would anybody like to volunteer,
be number one? Sandy Hash, step on up. Yeah, and I wanted to start off for the people here to tell them
that if you go to the Ellisville website and just type in the search reports,
All of our reports are right there together, all the subcommittee reports, you just click on them and
you can see them. Well, I couldn't remember that. No, I'm just saying, so we've got them both, so no
matter which way they go. Okay. Now, you have our subcommittee report.
and I hope you've all had time to review it. And I don't know how much you want me to say or if you
want me to field questions. Why don't you give us a general overview of it for everybody that's not
seen it and for everybody that's gonna be watching this tomorrow or the day after on Cats or they're
looking at it. You don't have to read the whole thing, per se, but give a general overview. Okay. And
what you think are the high points. Well, I might read the paragraph on the findings. There you go.
And I might shake a little, because I'm a little nervous. So if my voice shakes it, just bear with me.
This plan anticipates that the property tax rates for the police, cumulative fire building and equipment,
cumulative capital development, and the existing debt service will be applied exclusively to the properties
within the current boundaries of the town of Ellitsville. Conversely, tax rates for the town administration
park recreation and fire will be levied across all properties in the consolidated area. The township
assistance tax rate will apply to the properties situated in Richland, in Ellisville, Richland and Richland.
Taxing districts will, no, rate is allocated to those properties. Funding for other services will primarily
derive from local income tax, service charges, wheel tax
gas revenues. Okay, now I'm gonna try to do my chart. I am so shaken, I can't believe it. Okay, on the
page two, at the top of the page, it just reiterates what I just read, that the police, fire cum, cumulative
capital, and the debt service will all remain in the urban town, current town,
And the general fund administration planning, fire, park and rec, street maintenance and town, but not
street maintenance, township assistance will all be in the whole consolidated area. So we have a section
there that tells the increases from the 26th budget at the bottom of the page and the additions for
the new budget and
It is an increase, but the total budget for 26 is $8,433,232, and that includes the township's budget.
And it'll go up to $11,326,182. Then on page three, we talk about the tax rates
how they'll be increased and there's actually dollar amounts assigned to it, maybe. So, but when you
compare between the 26 certified property tax levies and rates with the projections after the reorganization,
the impact on the property tax bills is expected to be
6.9% for Richland Township, 4.1% for Ellisville, Richland, 3.4% for Ellisville, Bean Blossom. And I
think the difference in that is they have their own township tax so that we aren't involved with them
on the township part in Bean Blossom. A $300,000 home in Richland
Township is expected to see a hundred and seventy three dollar tax increase while the same value home
in Ellisville will not really have any change because in Ellisville the tax rate is Substantially higher
than the tax rate in the county. So the people in Ellisville will hit the circuit breakers At 300,000
so they won't see any increase in taxes. It'll be dispersed among the properties and
that don't hit the circuit breaker, and if you hit the circuit breaker, that revenue's just lost. There's
no way to make it up later. Okay, so the tax rate currently for the town proper is .6160, and it will
increase to .7023, which is about .054, I think,
difference and then the The property tax for the township is currently point one six four four and It'll
increase to point two seven eight. Oh And I also asked Baker Tilly to oh I guess I should talk about
the conclusion. I
Reorganization gives the town several cost control tools such as structured service expansion, a broader
tax base, coordinated planning for land use and economic growth, community cohesion, protection of township
fire services from county takeover and a differential to annexation by other municipalities. The single
budget process also simplifies and makes financial matters more transparent for the taxpayers.
The finance subcommittee has determined that the proposed merger presents long-term financial advantages
contingent upon a carefully managed and transparent transition process. We advise proceeding with the
merger in accordance with the specified financial plan and ongoing oversight mechanisms. So I asked
Baker-Tilley to make a comment
a comparison chart because the three things that are on the line is the possibility that the township
could be taken by the county and put in the fire district. It's a possibility. So we wanted to look
at how that would affect the tax base. Did you guys get this little comparison chart? It just came to
us yesterday, so.
Well, could we please make at least them a copy and a few extras maybe. So maybe we should talk questions
while she's making copies. It would be easier for you if you have a copy of this. Does anybody have
any comments on the board? Well, if you want to read through that chart just to tell the people,
like what, a $200,000, a $300,000 home? On this chart? I want to go back to our report too. I omitted
the police, I mean,
street department in the in the relocate re merger what it reorganized plan. I know mergers not the
n word. The street department would be fully funded with wheel wheel tax and the MVH revenues and you
know gas tax and all that. So there will be no tax rate for the street department so they can serve
Ellitsville and the outskirt area and with that additional road mileage, then we'll collect more money
and it'll cover the expense of the street department. So that's good to know. That's a neutral effect.
Okay, now William, what did you want me to do? Let the public know kind of different scenarios on the
chart, like a tax in the Richland Township, what a $200,000 homestead property
Approximately their taxes from one year to the next would increase We have both yeah, so just just read
to the just the dollars just the dollars Yeah, the difference from one year to the next with
the reorganization fire territory and fire district, okay so with the reorganization the
It's not on the screen. Yeah, that's... We just got it. This is what she didn't have loaded. This is
my little summary short sheet, and we just got it yesterday finalized. She went to make a few copies.
And hot off the press for everybody. Okay, so our three choices are the reorganization. Let's just start
there. Well, I want to say the three choices.
and the fire territory and then Monroe District fire. So if the district would take us over for fire
protection, it won't affect the town of Ellisville's rate because it would just be the township. And
let's see. The cost for a $200,000 property in Richland Township
They didn't give us a dollar rate for the district, did they? Yeah, it's the very last column, change
from baseline. Okay. Do you see it? We used to have that old projector here that you could lay a paper
down and everybody could see it. Sandy, did you find it? Yes.
Okay, so with the reorganization, a $200,000 house in Richland Township would increase by $105 a year.
And a $300,000 house would increase by $173 a year.
Then with the fire territory, a $200,000 house would go up by 120, and a 300 would go by 198,
increase by 198. And then with the fire district, which is our most expensive choice, and we don't know
exactly what it would cost for Richland, so we used what,
the rate they gave for being blossom. And that would increase a $200,000 home in Richland Township by
$332 and a $300,000 home by $494. So why I asked for this chart, I wanted an easy reference for you
to see the difference of the three plans. So you can see the reorganization is by far the cheapest plan
in Richland Township.
for the town of Ellisville. Sandy, could you hold on one second? Yes, sir. It's people, people, it's
super distracting, especially up here for everybody that's talking in the public. Everybody's gonna
have their chance to talk, but for the sake of everybody on the board and the other people in the audience,
and especially whoever's at the podium speaking, if you wanna talk, that's fine. Could you go to the
back and talk, okay? Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
So in town, for the reorganization, a $200,000 home would increase by $72, and for a $300,000, it would
hit the circuit breaker, so there'd be no increase. On the fire territory, for a $200,000, it would
be a $72 increase, and for a $300,000, zero. For the district,
In town, it would be a $72 increase for the $200,000 home, and again, a zero increase for the $300,000
home. Is that right, because the district is so involved? Sorry, yeah, I think you're right.
That's a mistake. Yeah, I think it's zero. Okay, you're right. That should be zero. The district can't
take the town. I'm sorry about that. That was on the chart, and I just read it. Oh, hey, no problem.
Thank you. On your point that Richland's township residents are exposed to roughly triple the amount
of tax increase if a fire district is enacted versus reorganization, was the point of the chart? Yes.
Okay, thank you. Does anybody in the public have anything they'd like to ask Sandy while she's up here
to clarify anything? Is it pretty clear to everybody? Go ahead. Do you stand by?
Oh, don't make it. Okay, go ahead. You don't need to stand up. It's okay, you don't have to stand,
they say. Yeah, my question relates to the sort of the structure of the tax, taxation, because after
2027, is it, or beginning in 2028, there's the prospect of an income tax that can be added, or that's
an alternative. You're talking about local income tax?
I'm talking about SB1, yes. Yeah, and most likely, it'll be in 2029, and the local income tax is to
replace revenue from property tax. Right, yeah. So, but I would personally like to see some comparisons,
particularly in terms of projected financial implications that involve more than simply a property tax,
because we're not only on...
built only on property tax under SB 1, and we don't have the choice to change that, I presume. I don't
think those numbers are even available yet, are they? This takes into account, you know, Secretary's
report takes into account the other revenues that the town gets. I mean, we get the local income tax,
and we currently get excise tax,
cigarette tax and gas Yeah, right, but I as I understand it and again, my name is Jim Perry The question
is the sort of the taxes the tax will fall on people according To the tax structure and under which
though for which they're responsible whatever that is and and if it's if there's a service shift to
a partial income tax and our
A city clerk will or town clerk will clarify that for us. The simplest way to answer this is Senate
Enrolled Act 1 did change how local income tax is going to be structured. They did have an amendment,
so it will not happen for us. We'll have to adopt. The town council will be the ones that actually adopt
it if the reorganization passes, right? Right.
The estimates that we used used the least amount of revenue that we would anticipate to receive based
off of Senate Enrolled Act 1's current low. Now, the percentages have changed, and I haven't been able
to finalize the bill or look through it. We're having our legislative update in a few weeks. But that
is something we did estimate in there. We estimated very conservatively because we can't tell what the
new town council is gonna do.
My point is that we ought to be sort of structuring the sort of that the tax project or the projections
of income according to the new structure which includes the local income tax and We also had sort of
the concern about raises for city staff or town staff, right? What do you mean by concerns?
Well, we're did we have raises for town staff this lot past year? Yes, we included a 4% raise based
on we've went with it will go without raises for two years prior. So a lot of your questions are going
to be answered on the financial impact study that's going to come. This is not financial impact. Well,
so once the
plan and correct me if I'm wrong on this but once the plan is composed right there has to be a financial
impact study done and that is a huge report that is going to be compiled based off of all the things
down in the report and I think what you're asking for is going to have to be in that report okay okay
and that was that was my only point is this sort of available there's a lot of projections that won't
be available
We don't know what the state's gonna do in 2029, especially. But we do know, we do have some understanding
of what the expectations are for sort of revenues needed by the town and township. Correct, and as Noel
said, that's already paid. And then on that, we need to sort of adjust our sort of taxing authorities
and taxing structure and the property tax rate and the income tax rate, et cetera.
Right. Subcommittee came to this. These numbers. We took the budgets from the township from every department
in the town with increases in capital needs and personnel needs. And these numbers reflect that. But
my point is that if we sort of shift from from the property tax to some
combination of property and income tax That will sort of change the numbers Won't change the tax rates?
Won't change the property tax rates? No, these numbers include all of the revenues that the town receives
and will receive But I'm not talking about revenues. I'm talking about tax rates that generate the revenues
That is still to be seen
The numbers in this report are for the 2027 budget Yeah, I would like to see us look a little bit further
ahead in terms of sort of informing the public about the decisions that have to be made in terms of
sort of approval of a merger or
Reorganization at this time Jim that's too far in the future and relies on too many other factors that
we have no control over our insight But if you can bring that to the table bring that to the okay If
this is reorganized if this passes that Though though that question about I think you're asking what
will be the income tax impact to is that what you're right? I
Well, I mean, part of the sort of the revenue stream is a function of the property tax plus the income
tax. As I've said, that's already factored in. But those budgets, when they're made for those years
that you're talking about, you will have a council representing the entire, you know, town, former township
in town, be able to address and make sure those concerns are addressed. Because we can't make policy
or even suggestions for a council in 28 or 29.
Also, so I mean but you will have that representation. You've got William. You've got an opinion on
that though. Don't you what's that about? What what your preference would be in in what way? Well, I
mean look at the the township the town's tax rates over the last ten years. I never look at rate
I look at what the increase is in actual dollars, because I've said somebody, people have heard it,
when you go pay your mortgage or pay a bill, you don't pay by rate, you pay by dollars. So I try to
focus on a budget that has the least impact from what you pay this year to what you pay next year. And
that's not gonna change if I'm still on the council. So I guess what I'm saying is that the income tax
information that we have, I mean, yes,
it's gonna supplement some of the property taxes, but that's already factored into this. And if you're
wondering how much your income tax is gonna increase, the whole system's being- I'm not worried about
my income tax increase. Okay, then if you're worried about the property taxes, that if anything,
I can't see, there would be no, since they took the most conservative value that's out there, there's
nowhere to go but down. I mean, am I kind of a safe to assume that Sandy and Noel? Yeah, as we grow.
Because it's not uncommon, for instance, for projections, for predictions on sort of future allocations
to have sort of a best-case scenario and a worst-case scenario. We actually have that if we don't reorganize.
That's the one constant. So we have those projections of what are going to happen if we don't reorganize.
With the income tax and how that
I mean, well, that's I I think we did because if we if we if we run the status quo The projection was
that we would Run into the red and and there'd be reduction in service. Yeah, but that's not what he's
asking Well, one thing has to do with yeah. Well, yes, but I guess what I'm saying is that we this is from our
what I've understood from what the subcommittees presented, the worst case scenario for income
tax collection, right? This is if we adopt the lowest that we allow, so. This is our third revision
on our report. The police were all in town and the police were spread out everywhere. They had no cume fire.
Right. And as far as the state, the after the tax rates established and if the organization takes place,
then we're locked into the state growth backport. So we can't grade. According for the property tax.
For the property tax. Not the income tax. Not the income tax. Okay, I think that I sort of, the point
I wanted to raise was sort of whether we can sort of factor in both the,
both the property tax Provisions of SP one as well as the income tax provisions and you're saying no
No, they have factored that in Right Sandy and Noel that has been factored in Set for 2027 because we
know that right or the local income tax is a revenue that was included to get so that's in the projections For 27
That's we're only doing for 2027 for the the year that so that clarifies But for someone who doesn't
pay a lot of attention to the numbers that's me I Think this is a very clear chart
And when I read the report, I thought it was really, I understood it. My question is, whenever we talk
about something, can we clarify what's in our jurisdiction and what is left to the netherworld of higher
government to do? Because some, like state income tax, that's not ever, ever,
going to be a total in our purview, that kind of a thing. And I think sometimes we get caught up in,
well, what's this going to be like if we do it? I think we also need to look at not only what it will
look like if we don't do it, but what's out of our control no matter which way we go? And I think that's
something maybe I'd like to focus on a little.
I think it's wonderful that we know that there are so many questions that we don't have answers to yet.
People tell me that it's because it doesn't look like you know what you're doing. I keep trying to tell
them it's because those answers aren't available yet. And it has nothing to do with competency or lack
of information. It has to do with lack of information available.
And on the flip side, if we had all those answers, then the same people would be saying, we already
made the decision, and we're not taking public input, so. Yes. I was trying not to say that.
I'll say it. Better you. Anybody else have anything? Scott, he had some questions, I thought, that he
emailed us. I'm sorry.
It actually is an issue that was just mentioned, actually, the question about...
on budgets numerous times and we just got those totals directly from the supervisors. So I can't answer,
maybe public safety or the individual supervisors could be better at answering your questions. I don't
know about staffing, the increases on staffing and that type of thing, but maybe that will be in the
public assistance report. Public, pardon? And the police is only, I think you asked
You understood that the police is only in the urban area, but your question to me was, will they still
go out and cover the township? Is that what I heard? Well, the tax levies and the rates kind of dictated
some of this to us.
and it was much more cost efficient for Ellisville to continue paying for the police 100%. Noel.
If I may, the intent to get the tax levy where it was manageable to meet all of the needs dictated putting
the police only in the urban area. Obviously, as we grow, the tax districts can change. We can expand
it out more.
where it's at some point in 20, maybe however long, it's all one district and it's not just urban and
rural. But in order for the numbers to work with the budget to keep the tax rate as low as we possibly
could, that was the best option. And to be clear, we're just talking about who's paying for it. They
would still be controlled. The whole township will be police. Yes, because that's what we do now.
but they'll just be dispatched closer. That makes sense to everybody. Scott, does that answer your question?
Yes, I appreciate that information. Sorry, I didn't have the right answer. Anything else on the Finance
Committee? No, thank you very much. Great job, Sandy. Well, I also, the township did not have a subcommittee.
So one of the township workers, Bobbi, was on our finance committee, and she worked really closely with
us to help cover a budget for the township. And on our report, it says that on page two, the township
will have $530,000. So in your information, there's a breakdown on the budget that covers the $530,000.
I don't know, I mean, I've got a long sheet here that I really don't wanna read. So hopefully you guys
have looked it over and I wanna answer questions, but I wanna say the township trustee will become a
department head over public assistance. Public assistance will still be housed in the township office.
That supervisor will be with their employees.
so they can take care of everything that department needs. And they have a food pantry and they do a
lot of, public assistance helps people in need when they hit a crisis. So do you have any questions
about public assistance? Because I can get my cohort up here to answer questions if you do. I don't
believe so. I didn't have any questions, but it's obvious that public assistance is a critically important
part of the work
of the township and making sure that that's maintained properly, staffed properly, funded and clearly
available to all the residents of Christian Township is very important. So I appreciated the thoroughness
of that additional report on the township. Thank you, Bobby, for that. And that does cover, like I said,
the supervisor and the office manager, the caseworker and a part-time pantry person.
So the caseworker is the investigator? Yeah. Okay. And it moves one of the account and deputy trustee
role, which are two part-time positions into one, into the clerk treasurer's office, because it deals
with budget. And that's on the final recommendation that I have on the screen. Okay. Again, good job.
I want to remind everyone that all these subcommittee reports in full detail are available for download.
You can get them at ellitsvillerichlandinfo.org or off the town website. Ellitsville Richland is just
linking to the town website. So if you want to read all the detail of every single thing that
the subcommittees have submitted and have as much time as you want to pour over it and formulate questions,
it's all there. Please do check it out. Okay, the next subcommittee.
All right, good evening everyone. I'm Anne McComb and I'm gonna be reviewing the planning and zoning
subcommittee report. So overview of the administration and planning and zoning functions. So the subcommittee
recommends that all of the planning and land use functions that typically happen are gonna continue
to be administered under the current leadership of the planning director.
And then we also are recommending hiring of at least one additional professional to support Denise in
her office and all the activities that she's gonna have to do as a result of Additional work with the
reorganized town Then under plan Commission and board of zoning appeals. So the subcommittee understands
that the state of Indiana is gonna set the final
legislative voting districts and that they will also have requirements in terms of additional Additional
seats that could be added but if possible the subcommittee recommends adding two additional seats to
the Plan Commission and two additional seats to the Board of Zoning Appeals And then again under the
state law, they're going to determine how those voting districts are reorganized and if possible as
much geographic representation across
The newly reorganized jurisdiction is what we're recommending for those two additional seats that are
gonna go on the Plan Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. We want that to reflect the geographic
diversity of the newly reorganized town and make sure that it has representation from both the town
district and the rural district.
So that brings us then to the town and rural district So the subcommittee is recommending the establishment
of two districts within the reorganized town. So a town district in a rural district All the property
currently within the corporate boundaries of the town of Ellisville On the date that this is effective
that will all be classified as part of the town district And then any property that's located outside
of the town boundaries but within Richland Township that will be classified as part of the rural district and
And right now we are not making any recommendations to reclassify property currently within the town
boundaries as part of the rural district then For the the UDO and transition of current developments
so for any developments that are
actively being worked on that have been approved under the Monroe County Unified Development Ordinance.
Our recommendation is that that proceeds as is right now under the approvals and standards that were
in place at the time that that all got started. If any of those in progress developments need to see
material modifications, at that point then everything would come under the newly reorganized UDO.
And then any new development applications that are submitted after the effective date of the
newly reorganized town Then that would all be governed by the town of Ellisville UDO. So that's how
we're recommending Handling transitioning existing developments from Monroe County to the newly reorganized
town All right
And then we also provide in our subcommittee report recommendations in terms of when a property would
move from the rural district into the town district. So there's a list there of about six different
items that might trigger that movement from rural to town. But that should be adopted by an ordinance
and formal review process as
things already established now with the current town and annexations. Then for the comprehensive plan
update. So this was a bigger section for us. This is where we felt like we had a lot of input from the
public and individuals who are in the development community in Monroe County. So we are recommending that
The town undertake a comprehensive review an amendment of the comprehensive plan and then the UDO So
that way everything is clear consistent and aligned with Should the reorganization get approved? So
we're recommending that some of these updates and Denise has already Got this on her radar. She's already
planning on this a lot of these updates to the UDO be
The work start now, it get ready so that way if reorganization is approved in November, all of the updates
to the UDO are ready to go on the effective date as well so that we're not behind, lagging behind, and
trying to catch up on that. One specific thing that our subcommittee report does
that's a lot more specific than the rest of the report is recommendations about updates to the UDO regarding
wastewater service, the wastewater service requirements. So this is something that we heard from the
public and as subcommittee members in our various professional roles during the day that we hear a lot.
So we wanted to be sure that there was a lot of, that the updates happened to the current UDO to make
that extra clear and specific to
provide everyone that's in the development community consistency and an understanding of what
the expectations will be moving forward. So that kind of is a big broad overview of the planning and
zoning subcommittee report. We obviously are recommending reorganization because we feel like it will
help unify the planning and land use authority. And we also feel that it is going to help with
Ensuring development decisions that affect residents of Elksville and the town and the township are
going to be overseen by a single local authority And that that local authority is going to be directly
Accountable to the voters of the reorganized town And we also think that this is going to provide a
lot of administrative efficiency Eliminate some duplication and provide greater clarity and predictability
for not only residents but also developers moving forward so
Any questions for me? Great job. Thank you. Anybody got any questions? Planning and zoning. It's everyone's
favorite topic. Everyone loves planning and zoning. Scott? It's my favorite. Scott, did you? Go ahead.
Oh, did you want me to ask a couple questions? Yeah.
I understand your question. Is that what you addressed already? I believe so, but we can go ahead. Reiterate.
Yeah, we can. We can reiterate it. Yeah, so we are recommending that within the the expansion of the
two additional seats for the Plan Commission in the boarding Board of Zoning Appeals.
So from what we understand as we've discussed this with Denise and then the lawyers, and she's discussed
some of this with the lawyers as well. From what we understand, the state of Indiana determines the
final legislative voting districts. And so our recommendation is that the state of Indiana takes a look
at, and I believe they will even restrict how many people can be on the Board of Zoning Appeals. I believe
it's possible that we might not be able to add any additional seats.
So we're deferring to whatever the state of Indiana says is required by law for the number of seats
and then we're also deferring to the state of Indiana based off of the legislative voting districts,
but our recommendation is that Both of those commissions under the newly reorganized town be reworked
through a process, it's not gonna happen overnight, be reworked so that way there's a geographical
representation and also a district representation so that there's a town district, individuals who represent
the town district and then individuals who represent the rural district as well. Based on population.
Yeah, based on population.
Scott it was my understanding you were wondering your concern was if there is an expansion how that
expansion is chosen because the expansion could be chosen from current town residents as opposed to
township residents was that more who would decide
Yeah, I think from our understanding a lot of that's gonna depend on the state To what extent we can
it's obviously written into the subcommittee report and we hope that that will roll up into the broader
reorganization report for that body to be
To have specific seats or specific representation based off of town district rural district and then
you know Geograph geography as a whole. Yeah, you know I was talking I'm gonna make the first comment.
Okay, I Was talking with some folks this this afternoon and this is gonna happen more and more and more
and more and more Everybody's gonna be coming to everybody that sits up here and also the subcommittee
members and even you folks that have
showing your face now. And people are gonna be coming and asking you questions, and some people are
gonna try to make it about taxes. Some people are gonna try to make it about land use. Some people,
whatever. We don't want Alexville to change. We don't want the township to change. However, governance,
okay, how we're governed. And as I'm talking with these folks and telling them my ideas and my thoughts,
she kept coming to my mind.
Okay, that is the future of Ellisville right there. It's her generation. She's got a five-year-old in
school. She's unbelievably intelligent. I had a chance to work with her on the Planning and Zoning Committee.
In my opinion, it's not about taxes, although if you look at it from a tax viewpoint, I think this is
the better solution. It's not about land use, although if you look at it, and nobody's got more skin
in the game than I do,
Okay, when it comes to the land use, I've got a lot of land in the township. It's not about that. It's
about what does the future, when we sit down and we give up the ghost, what does the future of Ellisville
look like for the next generation coming behind us? And if you look at the census, do you know what
the average age is of the folks in the area?
It's 35 years old. Now, you're not 35 years old, but the, and I'm not gonna ask you. She's got a five
year, let's just put it that, she's got a five year old. We'd have to shut down the meeting if you did
that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She could tell me, but then she'd have to kill me. But it's the
truth. That's the future of Ellitsville. And then her son coming through the school system, that's the
future of Ellitsville. If you wanna know the best reason
For reorganization, you're looking at it right there. She's the poster person. She should be on that
poster that we put in people's yards.
I don't think anybody wants my face. No, no. I'm super, super impressed with you. I know the job you
did. I know how much work you put into this. You've got a full-time job on top of everything else that
you do, as does everybody on all the subcommittees. We're impressed with all of you. So much talent
in a little bitty, tiny pool. But that's the reason we want to see reorganization done, is for that
generation and then the generation she's bringing up and then her grandkids, not us.
We're old folks, we're dying out. Well said, Kevin, but Darla, Eric, it's a great question. There is
a process to ensure that representation is spread out geographically and by population that says the
town as it is now will not control the new town as it's going to be. And correct me if I'm wrong, they take,
They take the boards apart and put them back together again. Is that correct? Well, um, first governance
because I want to ask a question about a hot topic right now. I just finished this. So, um, first I
want to say, I think everybody did a marvelous job on their reports and I liked everything about them.
The graphics, the charts, everything. Um,
I don't know that Mr. Cook and I have really had a chance to digest them. We will go through
them cross-reference with the Indiana code to see what can and can't be done. But to answer the question
about representation, I think as part of your reorganization plan, you can make an effort or state that
when it comes to the boards,
composition of both the Board of Zoning Appeals and the Planning Commission, you can make an effort
to pull people from different parts of the counties. So that it's not just the way it has been with
everybody being appointed from Ellitsville. You don't want that, obviously, if you have a reorganization.
So you can make a requirement that the people on the boards come from different corners of the county.
So. Corners of the township. Yeah, that's what I meant, sorry. So that's how you get your,
representation from, that's how the township gives their voice. So that everybody gets represented.
Yes. Yeah. So town representation, theoretically, it's almost 50-50. There's a little bit more people
in the township. So the representation should, half of it be represented by the town and half of it
be represented by the township, theoretically.
And what Anne said is we don't know for sure based on the state review whether we have the ability to
add seats to balance that quickly and immediately. It may take a little bit of time to get it balanced
the way we want, but certainly I'm in favor of there being as equal representation as possible geographically
and demographically because the people who will make the best decisions about the usage of the land
are the people who care about it most, who are closest do it physically. Yeah, and you know, the planning
and zoning's already in place for the town.
and that works really well, okay? But it's outside the town in the township that the dissatisfaction
lies with how we're governed, okay, in the township. So that's what we would like to see changed. Does
that make sense? Anybody else got anything they wanna say? Great job, great job. Thank you. Thank you.
The South Committee would just also like to thank Denise for all of her help and expertise. Oh, absolutely.
Fantastic to work with. Absolutely.
Next. Somebody. Parkes, yes. I'm Jim Perry, and I'm with the Parks Recreation, and as I like to point out,
cemeteries. Green spaces, all green spaces. All together, green. We hope green spaces. Until recently,
they were white. Our committee is pretty simple. Yeah, I got too close. First of all, we don't spend
a lot of money on parks, recreation, and cemeteries.
Township has some responsibility, and I think I don't have the numbers in front of me. I think it was
$10,900 for two cemeteries that have been abandoned in the township. And at least our expert,
Valerie Dewar, tells me that the responsibility for cemeteries becomes a public responsibility. One,
if the cemetery's abandoned, and two, it's on public land.
and I assume that that probably requires the cemetery to deed the land to the Township or the other
entity now the one uncertainty we have that that I have is whether That there's a prospect of that Responsive
might fall to the town If there were an abandoned cemetery in the town, but there are I think there
are only two cemeteries in the town and they're both Connected to
churches or religious institutions. They have private boards, okay. So we have the numbers in the report
for both what we spend on parks and recreation in the town as well as in the township. They're nominal
numbers. The reality is that we're moving slowly
to elevate the activity of parks and recreation. And there has been some... excuse me, I got something
stuck in my throat and I don't have any water here. Thanks. Yeah, okay, good, thank you. Seldom happens,
but it did tonight.
for a recreation director or somebody part-time to play that role, but they're really relatively little.
There's little staffing, so there's very little dollar outlays. Now, in the report, we talk about sort
of the range of park spaces, and they belong not only to the town and the township, but also the county
and other entities like the...
I'm trying to think of the The trail system yes the trails and some of that is county some of it's also
related to And I have my report on the phone here, so that's slowing me down a little bit Be great to
have a hard copy This is the
limitations of not having a good printer at home. My wife manages the printing, and I don't have access.
It's not working at the moment. So we try to inventory in the report, in the subcommittee to report
parks, recreation assets, events,
And there are a variety of events that might be considered parks recreation, like the Monroe County
Fall Festival in September, Alexville Summer Concert Series, the Indiana Limestone Symposium. We even
included the Hilly 100 in there, although I don't know who manages the Hilly 100. I think it's probably
a non-profit that is more, or that
is more inclusive than the town and township territories. Now, we were given five questions from the
committee to answer, and we tried to answer those five questions in a relatively short text. Will the
Parks Board continue to oversee these services?
The answer is I think yes, although we suggest an error and I was not aware that we were reorganized
or that the last subcommittee reports indicated a sort of a restructuring of the fiscal responsibility
for parks recreation between the town and township. But I think that's consistent with our recommendation and that
In our recommendation, we suggest that we maintain, since there is statutory authority in the state
of Indiana for parks boards, and the town has a park board, but there's not a similar entity in the
township, that if we were to reorganize, that we would sort of redefine that entity to cover both the
town and the township territory.
There are presently five members on the Parks Board, and in our report, we say we recommend maintenance
of the same number of members and criteria for the membership, two of whom would be sponsored by the
town executive, two by the township executive, and the fifth appointed from the Richland Bean Blossom
School Corporation Board of Directors, and that's now Jimmy Durnell. Jimmy is the chair of the Parks
Board. Do I have that right, Jimmy? Yeah, okay.
So we're conceiving of the same structure, but the territories would have to shift. Another question
that we were given is, how will the budget change, if at all, for parks and recreation? We
say the subcommittee does not envision any immediate budget changes. Now, one of our members,
Paula Anderson, Paula's not here, though. I think Paula's gonna be watching us on CATS, on the Community
Action or Community Television.
The Paula has some expertise in this area, and she suggested we develop a master plan somewhere five
years down the pike, and that is another... but we also suggest that the budgets for the two jurisdictions
now total $126,000, which is sort of a minimal fiscal impact, and that we could sort of easily carry
over, and I think the last subcommittee
address the financing of that budgetary outlay. How many cemeteries are in Richland Township?
We say 17, but nine of these cemeteries are abandoned, and seven of the abandoned cemeteries are on
private land, which shields the township from any responsibility for them. But there is some obligation
or some responsibility for the maintenance of the two that are on public land in Houston.
Houston Town Cemetery and the Vernal Mayfield Cemetery, of which I know their names on the report here,
but I know nothing about them. I couldn't tell you where they were, but they're somewhere in the township,
and Dawn, you probably know where that is, I suspect. I actually do not. Oh, you don't? Okay.
What are the costs for cemetery maintenance? 10,900 cemetery maintenance, and we have that number in
there. And then, we also suggest some future ideas for parks and recreation in the town and township,
in part because it's an underdeveloped area activity. And we suggest better promotion of programs and
assets. You know, one of the things as we came together, we realized there are lots of assets, and there
are lots of programs
but people may not sort of connect with them. And to be honest, they don't necessarily attach themselves
to the town or township, but they may be county, they may be a different jurisdiction. And so, I think
we sort of need some entity, though, that provides better promotion of the programs and assets. We also have...
a second-point emphasis on cooperation, cooperative activity, and collaboration, in part because I think
the township, for instance, now has the ball fields, but the ball fields are leased or, you know, they're
shared. And so, who the... and the town and the ball fields are located in Alexville, but they're owned
by the township, and there's some responsibility for the town and the township
between the two, between the ball fields and the facilities of the ball fields. So I think that's sort
of an indication, again, of the collaborative activity that is ongoing that we need to be mindful of,
particularly in an area where, historically, there's been a sort of a significant role for nonprofits,
and we do suggest also that there be the development of a sort of a nonprofit foundation
To provide funding and some of the some of these activities have been funded by Nonprofits in the in
the vicinity, but we've not sort of emphasized that or the funding sources significantly And then the
third general point was expansion. Well, that's I already said that expansion of involvement of nonprofits and
Paula has some other ideas in that area, but we have both the sort of the core report, which is about
four or five pages, and then we've got a lot of other additional materials that sort of are intended
to elaborate if somebody wants to look for further elaboration, and we may in the next iteration of
this, depending on the committee's preference,
try to sort of develop a closer correspondence between the two by one, citing the other one, but not
necessarily incorporating it so that somebody who wants to go to the subcommittee report can read four
pages and come away with sort of our general set of recommendations. That's it. Thank you, Jim. After
reading the report, especially the addendum at the end, I learned a whole bunch about the parks and
organizations in our area that I had not known. And I have kids, we go to parks. I hadn't either.
Any questions for Jim? Thanks for the water. You're very welcome. Thank you for the report. Yeah, you
did a great job. We definitely want to thank everybody that participated in the subcommittees. Yeah,
a lot of work. Yes. In a short period of time. I particularly appreciated
how much effort was clearly given to making the reports intelligible, making them not just technical,
not just a bunch of data, but actually interpreting it, framing the main questions, and giving clear
recommendations. And in other cases saying, there are two possible options here or there, and we are
not going to make a recommendation about this, but this is what you need to know to understand the options.
So I found them overall very intelligible. I was concerned that I was going to slog through a lot of
just technical data, and I was
very pleased to read much clearer subcommittee reports than I expected even. Simplified. Scott, do you
have any questions for Jim? No. No. Okay. Okay. The next subcommittee. I'm going to start picking people.
I know you.
Zach Michael with the Public Safety Subcommittee. I'll let Calvin introduce himself when he's ready.
Two presenters on this, neither one of us wanted to pretend we knew what we needed to know to present
for the other person. So I hope that's okay with you guys. On the police side, we started off just kind
of comparing the area we're responsible for now and what that will look like if the reorganization happens.
And I'm not gonna go through the entire report. You have it if you have questions.
certainly let me know, but I just wanted to point out a few things. Quick comparison between the two
entities. There's 35.4 square miles in Richland Township, 7.33 in town of Ellitsville. So that's pretty
big difference for us. That's about a 382% increase in the area that we'll be responsible for in terms
of patrol. Population wise, fortunately a much smaller increase
So we're going from almost 7,000 residents to a little over 15. And this is all according to the 2024
American Community Survey. So that increase is about 126% for us. So just to give you an idea of what
our increases will look like. And to answer the question that I'm hearing a lot, and I'm not sure where
the confusion comes from, so you'll hear it here first, folks.
ellisville police department if if reorganization happens will be responsible for policing the entire
township the town of ellisville and the township so that that's that that is a definite we had a very
the top three at our department the top three at the sheriff's office we had a very productive conversation
about a month ago chief i think it was and and they will continue the sheriff's office will continue
to back us up just as they do now it's a very
a good relationship we have with them. So we see no changes in that whatsoever. And I think there's
very intelligent individual that has been in my ear. And I think he definitely hit the nail on the head
when he said overall in this county, staffing is not gonna change. Sheriff's office isn't gonna lay
anybody off. Bloomington PD is not gonna lay anybody off. If this happens for us, we're not gonna lay
anybody off. In fact, we're adding people.
So everybody works really well together in the law enforcement community, that will continue. So if
something major happens here and we need help, we know we're gonna get it. And rest assured that the
township, the population of the township will be well protected. We are immediately calling for or asking
for, I guess, the recommendation is an additional three officers for the department.
And we're basing this all on averages. So unlike the fire department and the fire service in general,
we don't have a known standard. There's not a developed standard in this country, right? So we work
off of averages and the average currently in the United States is 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents.
In the Midwest, it's a little bit lower because obviously in different regions of the country you have
differences, so it's a lot lower out west, but in the Midwest it's 2.2. Currently, the town of Ellisville,
we sit at 2.5, which is really great. Now, if reorganization happens, that obviously is going to lower,
but I did want to point out that currently the county, the sheriff's office, they sit at .81 officers
per 1,000 residents.
So with the three additional officers that, if reorganization happens, that we would gain would put
us at, I think it's 1.13 per 1,000 residents. So it's going up, the average is going up, which is a
good thing. So that's the immediate recommendation. We put in there some five to seven year planning.
As we know, the township, the reorganized town, if this happens, will continue to grow economically.
and population will probably grow with housing and such. So we put some long-term recommendations in
there. You can see those, I'm happy to talk about those, but I think the focus is right now, how do
we make this happen and what do we need for 2027? So three is what we're recommending. We are looking
forward to this, should it be, or I guess I should say when it is hopefully approved.
And yeah, we look forward to it. So happy to answer questions on the police side. If you don't have
any, then I'll turn it over to Calvin. Does anybody in the public have anything they'd like to ask?
I think Sandy addressed a lot of it as far as the funding for the three additional officers. That's
all in place. Nobody? Yeah, pointing out to the public that
this reorganization isn't going to dramatically change the rate of calls for service in any meaningful
way likely because it's the same people in the same area with the same basic needs, the same traffic
patterns, the same everything on January 1, it's not going to suddenly be an entirely different thing.
And it's not just Ellisville and it's not just the county, the police in the township. I mean, I've
rode along at least twice with, uh, Bloomington's police department.
in the township, where they've helped cover it, three times, three times where they've helped cover
the township. So like you say, everybody works real close together, great police departments, everybody's
serviced. Bloomington does have a section in the township, which I know that's been discussed before,
and that was not included in anything we did on the public safety side. But yeah, I mean, obviously
there are some very big overlaps in
how they get from point A to point B puts them in the township. So they're patrolling in the township.
So all that's gonna continue. None of that will change. And then even when, if we really, really need
it, state police has responded to this. And I'm glad you guys have a very good working relationship
with that, because this would not work without it. Matter of fact, I don't think policing or even fire
protection would work if there weren't cooperation.
Thanks, Zach. Yeah, I'll turn it over to Calvin. Hello, I'm Calvin Poole and with the subcommittee and
I worked on the fireside of the committee report. And essentially for the Ellisville Fire Department,
we are currently the provider of fire rescue and first responder, first medical first response services for
town of Ellisville as well as Richmond Township. So we're currently providing that service and we have
since about 1947. So we're we're operating out of two stations one in the township one in the town and
so you know the the quick summary of the thing is that if this consolidation was to go through tomorrow
we would be able to continue with services as we are currently providing them.
The biggest part of the report is to just make the committee and any future governing entity aware of
some of the future challenges and some of the future issues that we are looking at that would require
some growth of the fire department. I'll skip through some of the history stuff on here,
For instance, we are seeing continued growth in demand for calls for service in our response area. And
as the chart showing there that's up on your screen now is in the last five years, we have seen approximately
about a 102% increase in calls for service. So just increased requests for medical services, increased
responses across the board.
we don't really predict that to go in a downward direction. The other piece of the puzzle is that we
do have two stations, two crews that respond to calls, and that on occasion that we do have what we
classify as overlapping calls, where there's more than one call occurring in our response area that
requires both stations to be out and addressing calls. And in tracking those,
In 2024, we showed that we had 530 occasions where we had both stations committed on calls. And in 2025,
that number was 546. So just a point to be aware of on that. Additionally, as far as overall activity
in the Ellisville and Richland Township area, we are one of the busier areas. Our two stations,
are the number two and number three responding companies when you look at the county as a whole, including
Bloomington City, as that chart shows. So we do have a lot of call volume and we do, as I said earlier,
we are expecting those numbers to not go in a downward direction, but only increase as development continues
and we gain more population in our area.
The current operating budget for 2026 is about $3.4 million. I believe the current proposal for 2027
is around 3.8. The biggest increases in that are regarding some obligations, some legal obligations
for increased contributions to retirement funding.
some natural increases in expenditures, and also a request for three additional personnel. And that
kind of gets us into our future challenges. If the budget for 2027 is approved, we would go from where
we currently are in staffing of having a total of six personnel on duty at one time,
three at our station 71 in Ellisville and three at our station 81 in the township. And an additional
three personnel, if approved in 27, would bring that up to having four at one station and three at the
other. What we're trying to do is work toward getting back up to the national minimum standard for staffing
of an engine company. And that is four on each engine company.
So like I said, granted, if we do get that increase in 27, the next immediate need is additional three
personnel at some point down the road to try to get us to that staffing level of four personnel at each
station for a response. Another staffing need that's been identified is an eventual need for adding
a shift supervisor.
and that would be one additional person on each shift that would be able to oversee major incidents
and take on many of the administrative functions of supervising the on duty shift personnel and freeing
those tasks up from the administrative staff where they can focus on other projects. The other item
as far as future challenges is
The maintenance of fleet, obviously fire trucks are not small vehicles and they don't come with a small
price tag either. So we currently have one new pumper that's currently ordered and we have a ladder
truck that has also been ordered. One of them should be due at some point this year and the ladder truck,
I believe,
We're looking at 2027 for that one. But in addition to that, the entire fleet eventually goes through
a replacement schedule. And we are fortunate enough that we do have some national standards on that
that recommend what that replacement schedule should look like in some general terms. Ideally, your
frontline life of
your primary trucks like the engines should be about a 15-year lifespan. Then they spend some time as
a reserve truck where they can be stood up and used as needed, like if the primary truck goes down for
maintenance. And then around the 20-year mark, that's when we're looking at trying to replace apparatus
and retire those older trucks out of the fleet.
The chart that's on there, it shows what the current age of the fleet and how those dates are kind of
staggered currently from when they were acquired originally. And we would just encourage that the need
for fleet replacement continue to be addressed so that we don't end up with a backlog where you have
multiple apparatus that are in need of replacement at one time and we can continue to kind of stair
step our way through them one at a time.
Last item that we wanted to make sure that the the group was aware of as far as future needs is the
possibility of having a third station brought online at some point down the road now the Harmon farm,
I'm sorry. I jumped ahead a little bit there's two items as far as talking about stations currently the
the current township station, we performed a study back in 2024 about the possibility of replacing that
station and changing its location. And through that study in conjunction with the township, a location
was determined off of Vernal Pike and Harkstray. We were able to actually acquire land there at no cost
to the town or the township.
and we do have a plan for a new station that can go in that space. That location would better locate
the township station to have better coverage of the township instead of being kind of in the far southeast
corner of the township right now. It would be a little more centrally located and give us a
better overlapping coverage. The plans for that are,
currently on hold because of all the different variables involved in this process. I believe the township
had identified funds that they could move forward with that if all things being equal, but with the
current discussions over what the future governance of the area is gonna look like, that's kind of on
pause right now. The, as I,
prematurely mentioned, a third station is kind of on the radar for future. Harmon Farms development
out here on the west side of town, as a part of their development, they set aside land for a future
fire station. This isn't something that's gonna happen tomorrow. As all of you know, funding for public
safety is kind of on the backend. You get the development, you start getting the tax revenue in,
And then once you have those funds built up, then you start bringing up your resources to cover those
areas. And we understand that. But with development on the west side of town and with the potential
for other future developments throughout the town and township, we do expect demand for services to
increase. We do expect that
the instances of overlapping calls will probably increase as well and that we will eventually have a
need for a third station to maintain good coverage and consistent coverage. The location and kind of
being up in the northwest portion of the response area would also kind of give us a good coverage that
would kind of seal up some of the gaps that are left between the two stations.
And I believe there are some figures, there are some illustrations a little bit further in the document
that kind of go through that. And specifically the last one kind of puts together all three of those
where the blue area is showing the relocated township station and what its coverage area would look
like. And you have kind of the
brown area there, that's the current town station, station 71, and then the future site up in the northwest
corner that would kind of fill in some of the gaps that we have in that far western side. And that would
give us a good footprint of coverage and response to the entire area. And like I said, this is kind
of a roadmap discussion, not necessarily immediate needs. Like I said at the beginning,
We have been the provider of services for the town and township for many, many years and we are taking
care of that community now and can continue through whatever becomes of this if we are, we end up with
a governance that keeps us in that area. Any questions for me? Any questions?
in the southeast part of the township, is that? What about? There's a station down in the south, there's
a township there that's stationed in the southeast part of the township there. What's planned on the
other? That's the station that we're currently looking to relocate and place at the Varla and Harstow
locations.
And like I said, a couple of reasons for that. The station you're referring to was built in 1971. It
was originally designed for one person to be in there. And we're trying to staff four people now. So
it's a little tight. And as far as response for the entire township, its position
kind of puts us on some long runs getting across to more western and central areas of the township.
So the idea would be that we would no longer be in that station, but relocate to the new location. Anything
else? Anyone else? Just to be clear, these needs that you outlined, whether this happens or what, they
still need to be done.
Yes, and like I said, yeah, what I was hoping that we would all understand from this is that, yeah,
these are kind of just roadmap issues that we're projecting for the fire department as a whole, not
consolidation issues. Like I said, if we consolidated tomorrow, we could continue to provide protection
at the same level we are right now to the community the next day under a new governance.
These are all things that regardless of the future governance picture of this area would need to be
addressed for fire service protection. Do you want to comment on anything about fire territory? I don't
think that would, for this committee. Thank you. All right. Do you want to talk about the planning part?
If you want to, I can at the minute.
We were tasked with coordinating a little bit with the planning department. So I believe the planning
department kind of got split between two subcommittees a little bit because public safety planning,
there's an aspect of planning like through inspection services that does fall under public safety. And
essentially what we were looking at was
with input from the planning department was that obviously there'll be an expectation that there's gonna
be more plan reviews, more inspections to do over a much larger territory and a much larger space and
with growing development that increases that volume as well so that they were gonna be looking for an
additional employee to help with that workload. And that's, you got anything to add to that? And that's
what we got.
Good job. Mr. Patton. Kevin Patton, fire chief with the town of Ellsville. Not gonna take up any time
here, but I know there's a lot of questions with the fire district, the fire territory, where it stands,
all this, the pros and cons. I'm gonna be back over there, so when the meeting's finished, if anybody
has any questions, I'm happy to hang around and answer them. That way I don't take up any of your time.
Thank you, thank you.
So I think we've got finance left. Local governance. I'm elected by virtue of no one else being able
to be here. So I will be very quick though, because luckily for us, we have very limited options on
what we're allowed to do. So let me pull up the report really quick so everyone online can see.
I apologize. I need to sit here so that I can read off my papers and move the screen at the same time
So really quick the I'm just gonna read the executive summary We reviewed current governing structure
of the town of Ellisville and Richland Township and the transition needs that would result if reorganization
takes effect we find that the reorganization between the town of Ellisville and Richland Township is
recommended and
And this report will present two governance options for the reorganization board's review and determination.
We wanted to present multiple options to ensure that the representation for Richland's township was
considered. That was one of the main things when we were having our discussions, that we wanted to make
sure that Richland township having a greater population than the town of Ellisville was able to have
maximum representation on the transition board. With that being said, we will go to a side by side comparison
of the board's considerations. So option one has it at seven members with five districts and two at
large. And for the board's knowledge, we currently call them wards. The recommendation is to transition
wards to districts.
since that's what the county uses for everything else in the city. It just makes it a little bit easier
for the public to know where to go for districts. The at-large seats, we are recommending that we take
two from the Township Trustee Board that will be elected this year to take office January 1st of 2027
for option one.
And so then those at large seats will serve their full four year cycle. So the term will end December
31st of 2030. We don't have any temporary transitional seats in option one. You'll see that in option
two. And so the board size beginning in 2028 for the transition year will be seven members. And the
offices that are elected in 2026
for wards four and five that will become districts four and five, stay their entire four year term.
So for the 2027 ballot, you'll have districts one, two, three, and the clerk treasurer. So you'll have
those members that will stay on during the transition year to be reelected or to be elected new positions for 2028.
So the next at-large election will be in 2030, and the first full election realignment, where the potential
for every new person to be on the board will be in the 2031 cycle. So that's option one. So option two,
and to be fair, we kind of asked the legal team pretty late in the game, because we were still kind
of trying to figure out what would maximize
the Richland Township representation to make sure that they had a good representation on the board.
So we're not 100% sure how a nine member board would work because the knowns would be that we could
take at least three members from the Township Trustee Board because we know that those will be elected.
The unknown would be because the intent of the Township Trustee
um, subcommittee was to take the elected township trustee person who would be in office January 1st
of 27 and transition them to the director of public assistance. So the laws have changed somewhat. We
were told with special elections, so we were not 100% sure. So I hope with board discussion and legal
that that could be figured out if that's the option that the reorganization board chooses to go in.
And that's pretty much it. The only difference between option one and option two is that instead of
a transition year of seven members, it's nine members. And then on option two, if that's the option
chosen in 2028, it would go back to seven members for the full board. Correct. Because the maps, which
you'll be having a presentation next
I'm guessing for the maps. We'll need to discuss meeting weekly. You'll see the districts and he's got
several maps. I have a preview of them, but he's going to be doing a full presentation of that. Let's
not look at that now. So moving from the wards to the districts. Only the name changes. Only the name
changes, so the wards stay the same. So 46 corridor, that's still a district. Well, I think Mr. Sheldon's gonna
give a presentation next week on. So they'll have to expand based on population, but that's covered
in code. Like that's not something that is just arbitrarily decided upon, thankfully for us. So it goes
based, there's several factors, population, all sorts of things. But eventually all the districts will
change from what they are now. Yes, they will have to change to incorporate the newly available areas
for people to be on boards.
So those running in 2027 would run under the new districts. Correct, and the clip treasure, yes. So
anyone in the township for my position, for example, anyone in the township can run for that. So when
you say 2027, is that? To take office January 1st of 2028. 2028, so that's a November election. Well,
yes, mm-hmm, yeah. So you have the primary and the general, yeah. So everything pretty much runs
That is quote until 2027 reorganization takes place. Yes. So the two members that are currently up for
election this year in words, four and five would become district four and five and they would maintain
their four year term. And then the three positions in the clerk treasure next year, like I'm up for
election next year. So I have to run next year. So anybody in the township can run for clerk treasure.
So that's all under option number one. Yes, well it's option one and two because the voting area is
gonna be all one instead of Richland Township and the town of Ellsville. Okay. It'll be easier to see
when Mr. Shelton presents the maps. It'll be a lot easier to see because he'll have an overlay of what
the current districts are, or wards, and then what the new proposed ones, and you guys will have a lot
of discussion about that. And that criteria was determined by- State, code.
based on population. Yes, there's a lot of variables. I can't speak to everything, but luckily for us,
we didn't have to learn any of that, so I'm happy about that. On the districts, from what I've understood,
they're interchangeable. Wards is an older term.
would we be changing who's eligible to vote? In other words, would, so district one would still be at
large. I mean, you have to live in the area, but everybody in the township votes for it. So on option
one and option two, the permanent board would have two at large members and that it would be township
wide. And then you would have five people that have to live in their specific district.
but they're voted on by everyone in the township. It's the same as we do the current town council now
and the township trustee board. Yeah. And now you'd have to have a separate election for each district.
That would be expensive. That'd be expensive. Well, not really. I mean, cause it could cost the same,
but it would cause sense and putting everybody through all that. I just don't know if some of the districts
have enough registered voters. I mean,
to do that, I mean, but I will tell you the county does that effectively. So does the city of Bloomington.
So parity would be equal from district to district, correct? Population wise. Population wise, yes.
I think there's some very, what is the variance? Can't be more than 10% or something like that for state
code. That sounds right, William. Okay. And again, we did not feel comfortable making a recommendation
for the board to, we thought that these were the two best options to ensure that there was maximized
township representation. Any questions from the public? That's a biggie. I do have one more question.
Go ahead. What is your recommendation for township trustee? Would it still be an elected position, but
employed by the town? I mean, the recommendation,
And I can only speak for me personally, we did talk about if the option one was chosen, then both of
the other members of the subcommittee are very comfortable with that. It would be the township trustee
that is elected this year to take office of January 1st of 2027 would become the director of public
assistance. Because you would have two at large members or two
Yeah, two at-large members from the Township Trustee Board. And that to be determined, again,
by the board, if it's the two highest vote-getters, or if the Township Trustee Board makes
that recommendation. Right, but again, would that position be elected? The Director of Public Assistance?
Right. No, it would be a town employee. Because I know by code, with reorganization, you can still,
they can still elect a Township Trustee, they just work for the town, just like you would.
Theoretically, there's no township. Well, no, but. Making that person the director of public assistance,
I mean, it would just be. The director of public assistance would be appointed by the council under,
I mean, obviously we did not do enough research because we did not realize that the township trustee
could still be an elected position. We were working off the assumption that that position would become
then appointed by the new town council.
So we have some clarification still to pursue on this question. And the governance committee has no
issue as this committee makes that determination? We were just presenting options and the main purpose
for our scope was to ensure that the board had continuous service and that the representation from the
township was adequate. Okay.
For lack of a better word, the township trustees not sitting on council. No, okay. But you would have
two township board members from the township board sitting on council in both of these options. Well,
when you say two from the township. Because it would come from the board. The current, it would come
from for that first
The newly elected board. The newly elected board. Yes, yes, yes. Transitional. Transitional. The interim
government. Yeah, that's a better term. And the districts will change with the maps, and so that'll
open it up to more township residents also for one, two, and three that have to run in 2027. As it should,
because there's more people. And theoretically, we could end up running against each other, current
council members.
That'd be slick, I'd like to see that. Yeah. Yeah. Anybody else have any questions? Good job.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I know that was a tough one. Mike, you want to do streets and sewers
and water? No, I don't. We really haven't.
had any direct contact as far as utilities. I think that's what you meant. And currently, the township's
served by four different water companies. And also, there's two different sewer organizations, Eastern
Richmond Sewer Corporation, which is a rural sewer system that feeds into the Ellesville system. We
do their billing, and we treat their sewer.
The wastewater, we have a relationship with Eastern Richland. We've been talking to them about all this.
Van Buren Water is one of the water companies that serves the southern portion of the township. And
so I'm gonna go to their meeting next Thursday and let them make sure they understand what's going on.
And Beanblast and Patrick Bird on the west side
They serve water into Ellisville, and as we grow, there'll be more of their system in our town. So there's
been a lot of questions. Will we change who provides our sewer or our water? No, it's not possible
economically, and it's not anything we need to concern ourselves with. We are all working together pretty good now.
mantra is we work together so we can be in line when there's economic opportunities to serve. And so
we don't care who serves just as long as it supports what we're trying to do in our community. So,
I mean, that's the long and the short of it, so. Darla and Eric, for the main report, do we need, we
need to include though what Mike just said or something, correct?
that has to be addressed. There will be some language in there about that. I guess one of the questions
that I'd have is if this happens, if reorganization happens, and development takes place outside, in
what's now the township, who determines who services what? Well, when it comes to water, I mean,
The water system is already in place. It's pretty much in place when it comes to wastewater. We're working
through a five, 10, and a 20-year plan currently about how we expand our sewer system. We are currently
working with the Aviation Board, Monroe County Aviation Board, to perhaps serve their area of the sewer
that had some difficulties getting
city of Bloomington to acknowledge that they need it and say they'd serve it so they're really looking
to us to work with them so we've already come up with a plan and we've already made an informal commitment
and it has to do with economic development on their properties at 400 acres they'd like to develop and
so we have the ability as you know we're a small community but we
We're not just a maintenance utility, we're a construction utility too. So we have the ability to act
fast and to expand our system as needed in a short amount of time. I mean, always finance has something
to do with it, but that always works itself out. So 2016, when we had to do another secondary water
line into Ellisville, the town of Ellisville,
did the work in-house, saved a lot of money and it went a lot quicker. There was no change orders and
a lot of hoops we didn't have to jump through because we did it ourselves. So we're in a position planning
wise and to be able to project, we're in a good position where we can react to current needs and future
needs. Feel real strong about that too.
Can we get some type of report though to put on the website for the public to look at? Because there's
an expectation of that. Same with roads and streets. I don't see Kip here. We'll throw one together
tomorrow. Well, I mean, yeah, I can put something together, but I'm not sure what you would want because
our reaction would be to where the need is. We don't have the ability to just populate
the whole township with sewer tomorrow. I guess that it would be, how do you address the growth? Like
Kevin said, who determines who gets it? If it's already kind of decided areas, put that in there. But
like stormwater fees, how are they collected? Well, the stormwater fees will change from the county
to the county. And just like we,
I had a question today, we annexed some new property and they said, well, will they have the Elixir
of stormwater fees? And the answer is yes. They're not gonna have wastewater because they wanna act
now. It's a small minor subdivision and they ask if they could use septic. So we're very adaptable and
we're flexible about how we go about our business. To put that into a plan would dictate that we say
things that would change tomorrow
depending on the circumstances. Well, I, good example though. Yeah. I know the funding switches from
the County to us, but collection, you know, what's our method for collection? The County's building
property taxes. And we'll be billing like it's our stormwater fees or our stormwater fees now are on
our water survey or on our water bill. Cause some people don't.
perhaps who are. But for those that don't have any. They'll just receive a bill. I mean, right now that's
our plan. Okay. But monthly, then just like. Yeah. Okay. Anybody else have any questions? I've got a
question that has to do with planning. Okay. The TIF district. How's that shakeout?
If reorganization takes place, that money's gonna be collected the same. That have just recently been
established by the town? No, I'm talking about the Westside TIF. I don't think that changes the TIF.
So the monies that come into that stays, of course, in that district, but that's, who would govern that?
Would that be the county still governing that, or would they? The county doesn't govern it now. Yeah,
they do. The Westside?
Yeah, the West Side TIF is county. Oh, I thought you were talking about the West Side. No, no, no, he's
not talking about R. Oh, okay. He's talking about... Yeah, where GE used to be and Cook and everybody.
Right, that's the counties. Nothing changes. Nothing changes, so that money still comes in the same,
still goes into the county coffers and for infrastructure in that TIF. It will change when the TIF expires,
though. Correct. And what about if the TIF expanded?
That's beyond what I could tell you right now at this meeting. My understanding from being on the RDC,
TIFFs can't really expand. They have to redo the TIFF to add up. No, that's correct. So if they did
that, I don't think they could. That would be us. Different organization passed. Yeah. I don't know
if there'd be any way to do that because they would be expanding to another municipality.
Probably true, but I'd want to look at the statute. Again, I'm not an attorney. I'm not trying to act
like one. This is just my thought process on it. Come on up, please. Hi. Kathy Weller. I live in the
township. First of all, I wanted to thank the committee and all the subcommittees for all the work you've
done. A lot of clarification is going on this evening. I see you put in a lot of maps and charts like
I asked for last time.
So that's very helpful. My question, maybe you were gonna address it at the end of the meeting, but
where do we go from here? What's the schedule of your consideration, public comments, the vote? Could
you go over that timeline for the process from this point on? We need to meet. So now the board takes
all the subcommittees recommendations. They put that in a form that
they can live with and then hand off to the lawyers. Yeah, but I think to address this real quick,
I'll say. It's too early for public comment because you haven't come up with a final draft yet. And
so what is the approximate timeline for that when it will be available for public comment? I think we
need to make a decision right now on whether we meet weekly. I keep bringing this up, so I think now's
the time that we need to start meeting weekly.
And I'll make that motion that we move to weekly meetings. Okay. I will second. Okay. And the purpose
of moving to weekly meetings would be because we now have to synthesize all this subcommittee material.
There are a number of additional questions that it raises because a lot of these things have overlapping
implications, but the subcommittee reports are not themselves binding.
We don't have to find a way to make every single puzzle piece fit. You have to take the recommendations
from each one and find a balance to craft a proposal that we as a board feel meets the goals and needs
of the community. Obviously, we're gonna try to have that draft done as soon as possible, as soon as
we can get remaining questions answered. Darla, I believe we had an April 1st deadline to submit a draft.
April 1st is when Baker-Tilley wants the draft, and then,
Hopefully the reorganization plan will be finalized within a month or so after that, and then the public
hearings will take place into May 1st of June. Okay, thank you. Noel, yes. On our website under
reorganization, there is a Baker-Tilley presentation on there called Proposed Governmental Reorganization,
and on page three, it has the reorganization rough
It doesn't have exact dates, but it lays everything out from start to January, start to finish, January
1st of 2027. Awesome. Well, if you meet, I guess you're going to meet every week now, is that that's
going to be open to the public? We moved in Saturday. We're not going out yet. But yes. OK,
I'll go wait. So still stick with the Wednesdays, 6 o'clock? Yes. Yes. OK. For some meetings, that will
mean we have a hard stop at 6.50.
on certain dates. So it won't be necessarily as long an open-ended meeting as this. It will have to
be a little bit more concise, but. We just have two of those, just March 11th and March 25th. Great.
Donna, I know those dates by heart. And I don't think there'll be quorum the 18th to have a meeting.
Hopefully there will be, but we'll see. Okay. Darla, would there be any problem if we did not have quorum
of just having
a working session or some kind of public meeting on that date to receive questions and feedback from
the public rather than initially saying we're going to have a meeting this date and then yanking that
meeting. I think if it's advertised as a work session, that's okay, but you won't be able to vote or
make any decisions at that meeting. So I won't be able to make a motion and force that meeting every
other day. Daily meetings. Daily meetings, yes.
For the March 18th where we're concerned because right because of because of various travel plans enough
board members may be absent that we might not have a form but the motion is to move to weekly meetings
on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. Moved by William seconded by me. Are we ready to call the roll? Yep. Starting
next week. I vote yes. William. Yes. Yes. Yes. Dawn. Yes.
Thank you, motion passes. Well, I think Scott. Oh, Scott. Scott. We adopted an electronic policy, Scott.
Yes, great. Thank you very much. Scott, do you have any additional questions or anything? Nothing that
I need to ask right now. No, thank you for checking. Okay. And to address the broader question,
when's a good the public comment all of it all now and I mean so all the public input on this the draft
of most of these subcommittees are on the website if there's a concern don't hesitate bring it up to
us now yeah any questions you have Kathy the sooner we know them the more thought we can give them and
the more time we could spend tracking them down
Awesome and our email addresses are all on the website at what's over from info dot org I think I just
need a clarification more than anything, but you're talking about the stormwater Now we pay that on
it on our tax receipts property tax receipts twice a year and
We don't pay that again on our water bill, do we? No, if you're in a county... You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, if you're in a county, we're not billing you right now. Okay, okay. Yeah, I mean... Okay. I figured
so, but... We try to pay attention, but the individuals really pay attention so that if it ever happens,
we know about it immediately. But with reorganization, you have to pay the bill and not have it on your
property taxes. Right. That would be a change, yeah. You have to go and cycle it. Yeah, I was, yeah.
And the other thing, and you don't have to get into this, maybe I'll talk about this another time, but
just real quick while you're talking about that work with airport for sewage, what watercourse would
you discharge your fluid into down there? Oh, it'd be pumped back down at the wastewater plant.
You would? You'd pump it? Yes. Okay. You got that capacity? And I'll say this to you, but for everybody,
I was planning on calling you and saying I could go into length about
the overall plans as it relates to reorganization and at Elstil in general. And so it's worth, I think
it's worth the conversation to hear our plans for the future. So I'd be glad to come see you. I usually
bring this great big map that's getting pretty ratting out because I've opened it up so much. And it
gives you a real good 30,000 view of how all this relates.
So be glad to be glad to come see you. Thank you. Thank you. And especially if you can get some of your
neighbors at the same time. Well, it's always a struggle. But OK, you did answer my question as far
as as far as you know, the pumping. Yeah, as far as you know. No, I know it'll be. Yeah, we already
have a plan costs and route everything.
Good answer, thanks a lot. That's it. Anybody else from the public? Nope, anybody from the board? So
next Wednesday at six o'clock? Yes, and there's a hard stop at 6.50 because we have the third and final
public hearing on the fire protection territory. Okay, hard stop at 6.50. Ladies and gentlemen, that
adjourns the meeting. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, everyone.