WEBVTT 00:00:04.642 --> 00:00:12.871 - Father, we just thank you for this beautiful day. Thank you for all the people here tonight who care 00:00:12.871 --> 00:00:21.345 - so much about our community and really care about not just our community today, but well to the future. 00:00:21.345 --> 00:00:29.492 - It's been a lot of hard work by a lot of people to get to tonight's meeting. But Lord, we know that 00:00:29.492 --> 00:00:33.566 - the job's not done and we just pray that you will 00:00:33.698 --> 00:00:42.438 - be with us as we carry on and pray that we're always doing your will. Bless this meeting tonight. In 00:00:42.438 --> 00:00:51.265 - Jesus' name we pray, amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the 00:00:51.265 --> 00:01:00.697 - republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Recording 00:01:00.697 --> 00:01:01.822 - in progress. 00:01:06.466 --> 00:01:24.254 - Any of the board members need a printed copy of the draft? I do. Thank you. 00:01:29.538 --> 00:01:35.783 - The main order of business tonight is to consider the draft plan that's going to be presented to the 00:01:35.783 --> 00:01:42.151 - Richmond Township Board and the Ellsville Town Council. But before we do that, do we have some minutes 00:01:42.151 --> 00:01:48.395 - we need to approve? We do have minutes. I'm going to call the roll real quick and then we'll proceed 00:01:48.395 --> 00:01:55.073 - with the minutes. So Mr. Henry, present. Kevin Farris, here. Mike Corman is absent. Jerry Sanders, present. 00:01:55.073 --> 00:01:56.062 - Scott Reynolds. 00:01:56.258 --> 00:02:05.208 - I hear Don Durnall here and William Ellis here. I make a movement that we accept the minutes for the. 00:02:05.208 --> 00:02:13.982 - April 1st. Board meeting second. I'll give that second to dawn. She was a little faster on the drop 00:02:13.982 --> 00:02:22.142 - here. You guys had a big minutes. I haven't seen any corrections. Any discussion on minutes? 00:02:23.234 --> 00:02:32.313 - OK, motion to approve the minutes of April 1. I vote yes. Kevin, yes. Dr. Sanders, yes. Scott, yes. 00:02:32.313 --> 00:02:41.755 - Don, yes. William, yes. OK, motion passes. Thank you. OK, any public comment to get us started tonight? 00:02:41.755 --> 00:02:50.924 - Yes, sir. I want to follow up on something that was brought up last week, Dr. Sanders. Yeah. My name 00:02:50.924 --> 00:02:52.286 - is Paul Quick. 00:02:52.578 --> 00:03:01.284 - I'm the president of Smithville Communications. And I understand we got into a little discussion last 00:03:01.284 --> 00:03:10.075 - week about fiber. So I wanted to come to this group this evening and make sure that you guys knew from 00:03:10.075 --> 00:03:18.781 - a fact-based perspective exactly what the fiber situation is in Ellisville Township, in Bean Blossom, 00:03:18.781 --> 00:03:21.342 - and in Richland Township. OK? 00:03:22.338 --> 00:03:32.515 - And because this is confidential information, upon the completion of my presentation, I will retrieve 00:03:32.515 --> 00:03:42.591 - this information. I understand I probably need to leave one copy for the record, and we are prepared 00:03:42.591 --> 00:03:51.870 - to do that. I'm joined this evening by Chad Hawkins, who is our leader of plant engineering. 00:03:52.098 --> 00:03:59.313 - So what you have in front of you right now is really a picture of the... So actually, if you're too 00:03:59.313 --> 00:04:06.600 - close, the mic is short out. Oh, it's short out. How about now? Too powerful, yeah. So what you have 00:04:06.600 --> 00:04:14.247 - in front of you is really a map, and as I was saying, a map can be your friend, but it gives you a visual 00:04:14.247 --> 00:04:21.534 - of Ellisville, Bean Blossom, Richland Township, and those lines that you see on there are not roads. 00:04:21.954 --> 00:04:31.726 - That's fiber. And that's fiber that is provided by Smithville. So in this upper area, again, you've 00:04:31.726 --> 00:04:41.596 - got Bean Blossom. Here in the blue is Ellisville. And then this area down here is Richland. And this 00:04:41.596 --> 00:04:50.782 - area outlined by orange is AT&T's legacy property, legacy property. So AT&T covers that area. 00:04:52.002 --> 00:04:58.857 - Down here in the left-hand corner, you'll see a different color, and that's not fiber, that's actually 00:04:58.857 --> 00:05:05.513 - copper. So what we wanted to do is we wanted to get on the record, because we understand there were 00:05:05.513 --> 00:05:12.235 - some questions last week about is there fiber available in this combined area? And what I will share 00:05:12.235 --> 00:05:20.222 - with each of you tonight is we have fiber for any residents, any small and medium business, or any enterprise customer, 00:05:20.418 --> 00:05:27.747 - that would like to do business within this footprint. Now, we're gonna be responsible about how we build 00:05:27.747 --> 00:05:34.867 - that fiber. So we're gonna do it based on demand, based on return on investment, based on what's best 00:05:34.867 --> 00:05:42.196 - for this combined community if that comes to pass. Okay, so that is the real picture of what fiber looks 00:05:42.196 --> 00:05:48.478 - like for you. The other thing you should know is in addition to this being our footprint, 00:05:49.058 --> 00:05:55.206 - AT&T provides some fiber in this area, as well as Comcast. So from a consumer's perspective, 00:05:55.206 --> 00:06:02.016 - you have choice. Now, of course, we want you to choose Smithville, and we think we're the best you can 00:06:02.016 --> 00:06:08.825 - find. But in the event you decide to choose someone else and not have superior service, you can choose 00:06:08.825 --> 00:06:15.700 - the other guys. I'm always doing a commercial. Come on, guys. But no, we have superior service. We have 00:06:15.700 --> 00:06:19.006 - superior product. It is about product leadership. 00:06:19.394 --> 00:06:26.953 - but we wanted you to see what it really looks like on a map. Thank you. Looks pretty good. Yeah, actually 00:06:26.953 --> 00:06:34.441 - does. Yeah. I do have a question. Yes. In those areas near Whitehall, the Stone Richland Township that's 00:06:34.441 --> 00:06:41.572 - still got copper cable, are they upgradable? Is there a plan to transition them to fiber? Actually, 00:06:41.572 --> 00:06:44.638 - we have started work in the Whitehall area 00:06:45.250 --> 00:06:51.910 - Chad, would you like to speak to that at all? Because I know we've started in that area. You can speak 00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:58.440 - to it. But we've started it not all fiber, but we've started some work there. Yeah, that's right. In 00:06:58.440 --> 00:07:05.035 - order to kind of start from a place where we can maximize the return on the investment as we get that 00:07:05.035 --> 00:07:11.694 - area, we've started in sort of the Whitehall proper. This is all already built and then getting turned 00:07:11.694 --> 00:07:13.246 - on right now, actually. 00:07:13.602 --> 00:07:20.759 - come north a little bit on Howard Road and toward Bloomington a little bit on Highway 48. So really 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:28.273 - the areas that are left are the majority of Howard Road, Mallory Road, if you're familiar with the area, 00:07:28.273 --> 00:07:36.002 - and then like the west end of Vernal Pike. So those are areas that are left. They're definitely upgradable. 00:07:36.002 --> 00:07:42.014 - That's just something that will come in the future. Does that answer your question? 00:07:44.738 --> 00:07:51.727 - Any more questions? In the event that at any point in time you need more information, more insights, 00:07:51.727 --> 00:07:59.061 - questions about the map, we're going to leave one copy here for the record. But if there's any questions, 00:07:59.061 --> 00:08:05.496 - please call me directly. I think Dr. Saunders, you know how to reach out to me. Mike Farmer, 00:08:05.496 --> 00:08:13.246 - you do as well. But we'd be glad to answer any questions that anyone has related to fiber and superior service. 00:08:14.242 --> 00:08:21.135 - Okay, now I do have to ask you one question, one favor. Can you all pass all those documents around 00:08:21.135 --> 00:08:28.235 - to Mike Farmer? And I'll pick them up. We will leave one copy for the record. Who's the record keeper? 00:08:28.235 --> 00:08:35.336 - You're the record keeper. I never lose anything. I've lost so many things, I've lost track of how many 00:08:35.336 --> 00:08:36.990 - things. Copy number 11. 00:08:43.170 --> 00:08:52.249 - So I'd just like to ask, thanks Paul. I'd just like to ask the committee here how you would like to 00:08:52.249 --> 00:09:01.691 - proceed. Would you like to have Darla provide us with areas that she would like to have some more input 00:09:01.691 --> 00:09:11.678 - in or how do you want to proceed? I'd say anything that we've not already discussed that you need answers to. 00:09:11.970 --> 00:09:20.226 - Why don't you ask those? Okay. So the reorganization committee has already approved the subcommittee 00:09:20.226 --> 00:09:28.481 - reports with few revisions. So I have included language from the subcommittee reports into the final 00:09:28.481 --> 00:09:36.818 - report and I changed very, very little. And what I sent an email out to the board earlier with a list 00:09:36.818 --> 00:09:41.886 - of questions that I have about the board's intent because it, 00:09:41.986 --> 00:09:50.035 - wasn't clear to me from the meeting or from the subcommittee report what the recommendation is. So we 00:09:50.035 --> 00:09:58.479 - can start with number two from my email, which is it wasn't clear to me how the two township board members 00:09:58.479 --> 00:10:06.608 - who fill out the seven board, how they would be chosen. And so I just put that it would be the two who 00:10:06.608 --> 00:10:10.238 - received the most votes in the last election. 00:10:10.690 --> 00:10:19.585 - Is that all right? That's on page eight. Is that all right with the board? That is what I would call 00:10:19.585 --> 00:10:28.920 - a discussion. Page nine, discussion of who votes for the council members. Again, the way that Ellitsville 00:10:28.920 --> 00:10:37.374 - elections are run currently, everybody in the whole town can vote for the town council members. 00:10:37.634 --> 00:10:44.800 - the council member has to be a member of the district or the ward in which he or she is running for 00:10:44.800 --> 00:10:52.395 - office, so do you still want to have that system where the whole town votes for the town council members, 00:10:52.395 --> 00:10:59.705 - or do you want to have the votes, only the voters who live in that district, each district voting for 00:10:59.705 --> 00:11:06.942 - the council member who's running from that district? I'd say at large. I'd say the whole town. Okay. 00:11:09.954 --> 00:11:20.063 - This one, vacancies on the council, page 11. As I stated, I don't know that we need to hash this out 00:11:20.063 --> 00:11:30.373 - tonight, but the language I put in the plan with regard to vacancies for town council states that they 00:11:30.373 --> 00:11:35.678 - should be filled by caucus. It's not clear to me how 00:11:36.770 --> 00:11:43.944 - If there's a vacancy with regard to a former Richland Township Board member, how that vacancy should 00:11:43.944 --> 00:11:51.687 - be filled. And again, I don't know if we need to hash that out tonight or it may be a statutory requirement, 00:11:51.687 --> 00:11:58.932 - but just I threw that out in the email to tell you I wasn't clear about that. So we can work that out 00:11:58.932 --> 00:12:05.822 - later. Since Township Board is voted on by the entire township, I would say if there's a vacancy 00:12:06.530 --> 00:12:14.339 - The normal caucus procedures would follow for any other, any of the districts, but the at-large positions, 00:12:14.339 --> 00:12:21.929 - it would be the same as what the township board currently, the entire township, the precinct commitment 00:12:21.929 --> 00:12:29.373 - of the political party of whichever one's elected. I wouldn't see any difference in that. After 2030, 00:12:29.373 --> 00:12:35.358 - when everybody, after that election cycle, all the board members will be voted on 00:12:36.162 --> 00:12:44.259 - by all of the voters in the town. I guess my concern was if you had a vacancy in a position that was 00:12:44.259 --> 00:12:52.836 - formerly held by a township board member prior to 2030. Yeah, I would still say the whole township because 00:12:52.836 --> 00:13:01.414 - the whole township currently votes on the. So by caucus? Yes, by caucus, just like yes, if there's vacancy 00:13:01.414 --> 00:13:05.502 - in the township board now. Now what if, so what if 00:13:06.466 --> 00:13:15.412 - If somebody moves from one district to another, you forfeit that position. You forfeit that position 00:13:15.412 --> 00:13:24.270 - so I can create a vacancy. Shouldn't that seat be filled from that district? No, it depends. If the 00:13:24.270 --> 00:13:34.014 - residency has to be in the district, but the normal caucus procedures are still applied to what they are now. 00:13:34.626 --> 00:13:41.777 - This wouldn't change caucus procedures. I'm always in the past. It's been from that. The district. Yeah, 00:13:41.777 --> 00:13:48.723 - that would be the same way. I mean, it was wards back then. Well, yeah, just a different title. Yeah. 00:13:48.723 --> 00:13:55.738 - So there'd be no change. So it would be from the district. That'd have to be from the district. Right. 00:13:55.738 --> 00:14:03.774 - But I'm saying that's no change to what it is now. OK. I did have a related question. In the reorganization proposal, 00:14:03.874 --> 00:14:10.242 - on page 11, it says town council members are required to be residents of the district from which they 00:14:10.242 --> 00:14:16.486 - are elected and shall forfeit the office if they no longer are residents of the district from which 00:14:16.486 --> 00:14:22.292 - they are elected. Do we foresee any possibility that the reorganization of districts as part 00:14:22.292 --> 00:14:28.535 - of reorganization would cause a currently elected member to be not in the same district anymore and 00:14:28.535 --> 00:14:32.094 - would that cause them to forfeit their seat immediately? 00:14:32.802 --> 00:14:38.711 - I don't think that's going to be a problem. But you have a good point. Maybe I'll fill that out with 00:14:38.711 --> 00:14:45.089 - a sentence to make it clear that we're talking past the interim year, past 2027. I understand your question. 00:14:45.089 --> 00:14:50.998 - That would be helpful, and that would resolve my question. Okay. And keep in mind, I mean, just kind 00:14:50.998 --> 00:14:57.083 - of the housekeeping things. We don't put in information that is not germane to the reorganization plan. 00:14:57.083 --> 00:15:01.822 - Do we need to include that? Because that's normal state law, as it is right now. 00:15:01.986 --> 00:15:08.670 - If we move out of the district, we vacate the right. But if the district moves out from under you, he's 00:15:08.670 --> 00:15:15.226 - talking about, I think if the district, if the reorganization passes and you've got that new district 00:15:15.226 --> 00:15:21.975 - map, if somebody theoretically is unseated or current town council members unseated as a result of that, 00:15:21.975 --> 00:15:28.466 - the only ones impacted were districts one, two, and three. And those are up next year. So they would 00:15:28.466 --> 00:15:31.230 - have to run under the new districts. Okay. 00:15:31.362 --> 00:15:39.110 - So they wouldn't have to forfeit their seat immediately and have that filled by caucus. Usually, I think 00:15:39.110 --> 00:15:47.079 - you have to fill out the, serve out the term. I mean, that's happened in the state house and redistricting. 00:15:47.079 --> 00:15:54.679 - Eric, don't think you'd finish out the term and the new rules apply with the new election. That's how. 00:15:54.679 --> 00:15:58.590 - Not if you've moved out. No, no, with the districts. 00:15:58.914 --> 00:16:05.183 - We're not talking about if you move, but if the districts have changed, if you've lived and you finish 00:16:05.183 --> 00:16:11.452 - out your term there, you just won't be able to run. You'll have to run either in the new district when 00:16:11.452 --> 00:16:17.843 - your term's up. In other words, you don't vacate the seat immediately. If we're thinking the same thing, 00:16:17.843 --> 00:16:24.051 - yes. Yes. We can put that in there. I have no objection to it. I just don't want to confuse people to 00:16:24.051 --> 00:16:28.190 - think that it's a function of the reorganization that would happen. 00:16:28.770 --> 00:16:35.915 - Right now, the reorganization does not change any of the current. It expands the districts to include 00:16:35.915 --> 00:16:43.129 - more people, but it doesn't change district lines to for a current elected person or those running for 00:16:43.129 --> 00:16:50.133 - election, which would change. So because the districts are expanded and not narrowed, you don't see 00:16:50.133 --> 00:16:57.278 - it. You don't foresee a problem. I wouldn't because they're still they still live in those districts. 00:16:58.242 --> 00:17:03.409 - Let me think about it. I'll come up with a sentence. I don't object to putting in there. I want to make 00:17:03.409 --> 00:17:08.774 - it clear. So whatever. As long as it's not contradictory to the state stuff, it's going to hold everything. 00:17:08.774 --> 00:17:13.792 - Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure I understood what forfeit actually entailed. Is it immediate? 00:17:13.792 --> 00:17:18.462 - Is it at the next election cycle? How does that work so that there's clarity upfront on that? 00:17:29.122 --> 00:17:35.381 - All right, next point. Two meetings ago, the board discussed appointing an advisory board. So on page 00:17:35.381 --> 00:17:41.700 - 11, I added a paragraph about an advisory board. And I just picked some language. Five member advisory 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:48.082 - board to provide citizen information, review and recommendations to the council and town administrative 00:17:48.082 --> 00:17:54.217 - staff. At least three seats shall be set aside for citizens of the former township who are also not 00:17:54.217 --> 00:17:58.942 - residents of the town. One year terms, meet is required by the town council. 00:17:59.874 --> 00:18:14.021 - and the board shall be phased out after a period of two years and the town manager shall make the board 00:18:14.021 --> 00:18:18.782 - appointments. I did, I circled it. 00:18:19.106 --> 00:18:24.324 - Is that typical for a town manager to make appointments to an advisory board of the town council? No, 00:18:24.324 --> 00:18:29.900 - Mr. Cook and I talked about this, and the reason we said the town manager should make the board appointments 00:18:29.900 --> 00:18:35.016 - is because if the town council makes the appointments, you have a board within a board, which means 00:18:35.016 --> 00:18:40.132 - that special advisory board is subject to the open door law, which means they're gonna have to post 00:18:40.132 --> 00:18:45.401 - notice, their emails could be subject to the Access to Public Records Act, the board members will have 00:18:45.401 --> 00:18:46.782 - to have special Eltsville, 00:18:47.458 --> 00:18:54.080 - IN.gov emails to keep them separate from their personal emails, so on and so forth. But if the appointments 00:18:54.080 --> 00:19:00.395 - are made by somebody other than the legislative body, those board meetings are not subject to the open 00:19:00.395 --> 00:19:06.526 - door laws. You don't have to worry about quorums. Three of them can get together and speak with one 00:19:06.526 --> 00:19:12.719 - another without violating the open door laws. So that was why, if you don't want the town manager to 00:19:12.719 --> 00:19:15.294 - make the appointment, pick somebody else, 00:19:16.578 --> 00:19:25.529 - why we landed on that option. Does that make sense? Do we want five? As opposed to 30? I mean, the only 00:19:25.529 --> 00:19:34.825 - reason for this is to represent the township. Correct. I understood this was the reorganization committee's 00:19:34.825 --> 00:19:43.518 - compromise. Because you couldn't do nine. Because you couldn't do a nine member council. So this was 00:19:44.258 --> 00:19:49.865 - a way of getting over that. Yeah, they don't have a vote or anything like that, but I don't know why 00:19:49.865 --> 00:19:55.528 - there would need to be two from the town. Does that make sense? Well, it doesn't say there need to be 00:19:55.528 --> 00:20:01.080 - two from the town. It says at least three shall be reserved for members of the township who are not 00:20:01.080 --> 00:20:06.798 - also members of the town. There's no reason it couldn't be four or five township members as I read it. 00:20:06.798 --> 00:20:12.350 - I do like the, I mean, I can see some value in making the group smaller if the goal is to basically 00:20:12.706 --> 00:20:21.556 - hit that compromise from not being able to have the nine person overall board. And now if there is only 00:20:21.556 --> 00:20:30.150 - three and three wanna get together, how does that affect? It won't, the open door law won't apply so 00:20:30.150 --> 00:20:38.744 - they can meet whenever, wherever, however. Whenever. And they're saying five. If there's only three, 00:20:38.744 --> 00:20:40.446 - that still applies. 00:20:40.834 --> 00:20:47.192 - Correct. It has to do with how they're appointed, not the number. So if Mike is going to appoint the 00:20:47.192 --> 00:20:53.172 - people, I guess the question is, is this how much do we have to C4C for being on this? I mean, 00:20:53.172 --> 00:20:59.970 - is it valuable? Would it be valuable to have people from the town? Or is it really more about the township? 00:20:59.970 --> 00:21:06.328 - I thought that the spirit of it was to make sure the township was represented. So it's almost like a 00:21:06.328 --> 00:21:09.790 - voice of the township board, if you want to informally 00:21:09.954 --> 00:21:17.741 - I agree. I like that. And three is a lot better normally, but five is what you probably need. This is 00:21:17.741 --> 00:21:25.987 - a new startup, and there'll be people that'll either drop out or can't attend. And you'd be more guaranteed 00:21:25.987 --> 00:21:33.698 - to have three at any meeting at any time. I mean, I know how boards work. It's demanding. That first 00:21:33.698 --> 00:21:39.806 - year is probably really going to be demanding. And it just gives you that wider 00:21:40.386 --> 00:21:47.298 - brush or swath of people that can help with getting us to the point where. Consensus or something. That 00:21:47.298 --> 00:21:54.011 - first year, getting us to the point where indeed we're all have been represented well. Everybody had 00:21:54.011 --> 00:22:00.657 - to say, well then, then that raises the question, would all five be from the township? A minimum of 00:22:00.657 --> 00:22:07.902 - three would. But again, I don't know why anybody from the town would have to be on it. It almost defeats it. 00:22:08.290 --> 00:22:15.806 - Because if you get, it's all perception. So if you've got five that are representing the town now, two 00:22:15.806 --> 00:22:23.103 - that are representing the township, now you put three from the township that even though they don't 00:22:23.103 --> 00:22:30.911 - have a vote, they've got a voice and you've got township perspective from five people and town perspective 00:22:30.911 --> 00:22:37.406 - from five people. It dilutes the intent. So you're saying we should have five townships. 00:22:39.170 --> 00:22:47.140 - Well, I don't necessarily disagree with you. Like I said, the intent is to represent that first year 00:22:47.140 --> 00:22:55.268 - and have voices in there to ensure that the- Everybody's heard. Yeah, that everybody's represented and 00:22:55.268 --> 00:23:03.395 - it's not all one, it's not heavy laden with the town. And so I don't know why you'd even have one that 00:23:03.395 --> 00:23:07.262 - was from the town. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. 00:23:07.682 --> 00:23:14.080 - If there is three, you're appointing them. It's not something that's elected, okay? You're appointing 00:23:14.080 --> 00:23:20.353 - them. If it's three and somebody gets sick, bad sick, okay? Cancer or something like that. And say, 00:23:20.353 --> 00:23:26.939 - I gotta- They win the lottery, that's what we say. I gotta step down, okay? Then you could have somebody 00:23:26.939 --> 00:23:29.950 - already in mind, I don't know, to fill the gap. 00:23:34.658 --> 00:23:40.889 - Okay, so you're thinking five from the town. Yeah, I don't see any, you know, it sounds like a lot, 00:23:40.889 --> 00:23:47.119 - but it's not a lot of people, especially at first year. Okay. People, you know, other things happen 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:53.848 - and you'd really like to think you at least had three that could be active at any time that felt necessary. 00:23:53.848 --> 00:23:59.518 - I have no objection to whatever the township representatives on this committee want to do. 00:24:00.578 --> 00:24:08.099 - they want them all town or not? I think they should probably be all township just to preserve the intent 00:24:08.099 --> 00:24:15.405 - and go with five. Yeah. Yeah, I prefer five and I'd be fine with three, four or five township members 00:24:15.405 --> 00:24:21.278 - on that advisory board. So is there consensus, five members, all former township? 00:24:26.018 --> 00:24:35.677 - So next change is on page 14. Darla, did that change require a motion? No, I think we should do a motion 00:24:35.677 --> 00:24:44.967 - at the end to cover them all. I can just say as amended. So page 14, there's a discussion about when 00:24:44.967 --> 00:24:51.774 - properties classified, reclassified to town for rural, I added a sentence 00:24:52.066 --> 00:24:57.280 - or category to include new or expanded commercial or residential development because I think 00:24:57.280 --> 00:25:02.942 - that development's going to be the main driver whether or not it gets classified from rural to town. 00:25:02.942 --> 00:25:08.603 - I think that's a good idea. Pardon me? I think that's a good idea. I don't know what the rest of the 00:25:08.603 --> 00:25:13.985 - committee thinks. What is it, the adoption? No, she added this line, new or expanded commercial 00:25:13.985 --> 00:25:18.526 - or residential development could be a thing that would trigger reclassification. 00:25:21.282 --> 00:25:27.818 - it's not a guarantee it will, but that would be something that could be possibly reviewed. Just one 00:25:27.818 --> 00:25:34.812 - of many things that would be considered. Scott, does that seem like a plausible addition? Yeah, I actually 00:25:34.812 --> 00:25:41.806 - was going to I had some thoughts about the whole rural versus town thing, not to open up that conversation 00:25:41.806 --> 00:25:48.734 - again, but more to clarify what I was trying to say last week. And I could either say them now or I could 00:25:50.018 --> 00:25:57.402 - or we can do it at the end. The night is young, let's do it. Go for it. So I want to thank Donald and 00:25:57.402 --> 00:26:04.859 - Eric in particular for their work on the report, just because I think it helped clarify some confusion 00:26:04.859 --> 00:26:12.315 - that I was working under last time we met, because and I think it was because the whole concept of the 00:26:12.315 --> 00:26:18.686 - town district and the rural district were introduced in the planning and zoning report. 00:26:19.490 --> 00:26:25.773 - But they're not really doing any planning and zoning work. And in fact, and the reason I said thank 00:26:25.773 --> 00:26:32.119 - you for the way that you drafted it is because you introduced that concept and under the category of 00:26:32.119 --> 00:26:38.905 - service provision. And I think that's the more accurate one because really at this point, the two districts 00:26:38.905 --> 00:26:45.189 - are just a classification for taxes. Correct, as opposed to zoning. Right, and service levels. They 00:26:45.189 --> 00:26:47.262 - don't do anything with land use. 00:26:47.618 --> 00:26:54.154 - I think I was a little, again, I think I was confused a little bit because of the way they were presented 00:26:54.154 --> 00:27:00.505 - in the Planning and Zoning Report and also because it does say one of the stated purposes of the rural 00:27:00.505 --> 00:27:06.671 - district is to preserve rural character, which, you know, tends to suggest that we're talking about 00:27:06.671 --> 00:27:13.022 - land use and zoning. So just to be, so I wanted to say this really just for the record because I don't 00:27:13.250 --> 00:27:19.838 - have any further objections on this, but I had raised some objections last time and I wanted to clarify 00:27:19.838 --> 00:27:26.299 - why I was able to ultimately be okay with the language. So as far as I understand it today, those two 00:27:26.299 --> 00:27:32.696 - districts, rural versus town, talk about taxes and they talk about services. One point I should note 00:27:32.696 --> 00:27:39.220 - is that I don't think that we actually defined in the plan the exact difference in services that we'll 00:27:39.220 --> 00:27:41.374 - find between those two districts. 00:27:41.858 --> 00:27:48.010 - In other words, it leaves open the possibility that the rural district will have less services, but 00:27:48.010 --> 00:27:54.286 - we don't actually say anywhere exactly what that means. I thought that was in one of the subcommittee 00:27:54.286 --> 00:28:00.500 - reports. I think it may have been road and streets, that just the current town boundaries would have 00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:06.837 - leaf collection and brush collection. Which is OK, but I just want to make that's the only difference. 00:28:06.837 --> 00:28:09.790 - I think that was addressed there. I'm not sure. 00:28:10.050 --> 00:28:17.846 - Utilities, water and sewer are different in different areas of the township and the town, so. How the 00:28:17.846 --> 00:28:26.254 - money's collected. So I'm not saying we need to do anything about that right now. I think the only difference 00:28:26.254 --> 00:28:34.050 - was the leaf and brush collection, and that was the only difference. The only difference in services, 00:28:34.050 --> 00:28:37.566 - because police and fire will be for the whole 00:28:38.594 --> 00:28:44.949 - reorganized unit and plowing the whole reorganized unit. Yeah, there is a section that says residential 00:28:44.949 --> 00:28:51.304 - brush and leaf programs interim year service area, interim year note, brush and leaf pickup are limited 00:28:51.304 --> 00:28:57.660 - to the town urban area for the interim year and will be evaluated by the reorganized town council under 00:28:57.660 --> 00:29:04.015 - the town eligible code. Rural area systems will be focused on post weather event response. Right. Well, 00:29:04.015 --> 00:29:06.398 - and I appreciate you guys noting that. 00:29:07.010 --> 00:29:13.562 - I'm not saying we should do this now because I think it's not necessary for the plan, but I could imagine 00:29:13.562 --> 00:29:19.991 - maybe down the road some supplementary material that just says services in the rural town and then just 00:29:19.991 --> 00:29:26.173 - have a little table, you know, where we make that in one place. Absolutely. Right. So in any event, 00:29:26.173 --> 00:29:32.478 - just to complete my thought here, as we're looking at this tonight, I just want to make it clear that 00:29:32.478 --> 00:29:35.198 - the rural district doesn't actually control 00:29:35.618 --> 00:29:42.501 - Anything, nothing we are saying here controls what can be built or how the land is used. That is going 00:29:42.501 --> 00:29:49.452 - to be the thing that is addressed through the UDO and the comprehensive plan process. So this plan does 00:29:49.452 --> 00:29:56.202 - not answer what zoning districts are going to apply in rural areas on day one. It doesn't answer the 00:29:56.202 --> 00:30:03.486 - question about any safeguards in place to protect rural areas from being rezoned. It doesn't do any of that. 00:30:04.034 --> 00:30:10.336 - Those are things that would be addressed through the UDO comprehensive plan process. But I do think 00:30:10.336 --> 00:30:16.827 - that the fact that this plan doesn't do those things does reinforce the need for real concerted effort 00:30:16.827 --> 00:30:23.632 - between now and November to do as much of that work as possible so that people know what they're ultimately 00:30:23.632 --> 00:30:30.312 - going to be approving. You don't want to say we have to pass it so we can find out what's in it? Exactly. 00:30:30.312 --> 00:30:33.022 - Because right now, if we couldn't do that, 00:30:33.122 --> 00:30:39.049 - the voters had to vote tomorrow, that would be a major gap. And we don't want that gap to exist. That's 00:30:39.049 --> 00:30:44.863 - all I needed to say. I just wanted to make it clear as to why I no longer have any objections to this 00:30:44.863 --> 00:30:50.790 - rural versus town concept. I think it is very helpful to note, though, that the way this reorganization 00:30:50.790 --> 00:30:56.547 - is being proposed, there aren't any major changes to zoning taxes or services that are automatically 00:30:56.547 --> 00:31:01.790 - triggered the instant reorganization happens. The process for them will still be a process. 00:31:02.210 --> 00:31:12.166 - with public hearings and ordinances, it's not that on January 1, everyone wakes up and up is down. Right. 00:31:12.166 --> 00:31:21.933 - Thank you. Thank you. Page 29, I simply added a sentence that reads, pursuant to Indiana Code 36-7-2-1, 00:31:21.933 --> 00:31:28.414 - this plan of reorganization authorizes the reorganized town exercise 00:31:30.754 --> 00:31:41.260 - I think that was sort of implied in the plan, but just to make it crystal, so. Page 29, under town planning 00:31:41.260 --> 00:31:50.987 - and zoning law, a plan commission consists of seven members and a BZA consists of five. So I wanted 00:31:50.987 --> 00:31:57.310 - to make that clear. Actually, it's page 30. And then on page 29, 00:32:00.450 --> 00:32:06.716 - actually page 30, there was some language in the report for planning and zoning that says members of 00:32:06.716 --> 00:32:13.044 - the APC and BZA shall continue to serve without compensation unless otherwise determined by ordinance 00:32:13.044 --> 00:32:19.310 - of the council. I would just suggest redacting that and just let the council determine who gets paid 00:32:19.310 --> 00:32:25.886 - and when and all the plan commission members do get paid with the exception of the two that are appointed 00:32:25.886 --> 00:32:29.918 - by the council. So I don't think that needs to be in the report. 00:32:31.106 --> 00:32:38.830 - So until otherwise, unless you're a council member, you're gonna get paid. And. Page 37, that's the 00:32:38.830 --> 00:32:46.863 - next one, right? Page 37, the street department report said that the town will enter into an interlocal 00:32:46.863 --> 00:32:54.742 - with Monroe County. No, right. And I didn't. Mike, is that correct? I had heard that was not going to 00:32:54.742 --> 00:32:59.454 - happen and so, okay, so I'll take that out. So those are my. 00:33:00.162 --> 00:33:07.792 - Suggested changes if the board approves. I think it would be appropriate to make a motion to approve 00:33:07.792 --> 00:33:15.422 - the plan as presented. I have to ask before we do, what is the implication of there not being an air 00:33:15.422 --> 00:33:23.278 - local agreement with the rural county about roads at point 10? There is, I mean, we will be taking over 00:33:23.278 --> 00:33:29.246 - those cities. And that was part of the, that was part of the road street plan. 00:33:29.602 --> 00:33:36.171 - So there had been discussed early on if the county still wanted to do that, there'd be a way that we 00:33:36.171 --> 00:33:43.000 - could pay them or contract them. But the road funding will go to us and we'll use that to maintain those 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:49.829 - roads. And that was addressed in the road street. So it's kind of a... It was a spillover from the Adams 00:33:49.829 --> 00:33:56.527 - and Sheridan consolidation. There was some verbiage in there about that. But that fell through anyway. 00:33:56.527 --> 00:33:59.454 - Yeah, yeah, that fell through there as well. 00:34:02.082 --> 00:34:09.227 - So I think if the board approves, I think it would be appropriate for someone to make a motion to approve 00:34:09.227 --> 00:34:16.372 - the plan and forward it to the Richland Township Board and the Ellisville Town Council with the following 00:34:16.372 --> 00:34:23.315 - changes on page 11. Add a sentence to make it clear when a town council member forfeits his seat. Also 00:34:23.315 --> 00:34:30.190 - on page 11, the special advisory board will consist of five members all set aside for former township 00:34:30.190 --> 00:34:31.134 - residents and 00:34:32.162 --> 00:34:40.600 - On page 37, delete the paragraph with regard to an interlocal with the county and also on page 29, delete 00:34:40.600 --> 00:34:48.799 - the paragraph that states that plan commission members will not be paid. Does that motion have to have 00:34:48.799 --> 00:34:56.759 - all that or can we just say as amended? You can just say so moved. So moved as Darla said. So moved 00:34:56.759 --> 00:35:01.694 - as Darla said. Then I make the motion that we accept the plan 00:35:02.146 --> 00:35:13.069 - amended. I'll second. Any further discussion? Do we want to ask for any public comment at this point 00:35:13.069 --> 00:35:23.991 - before we go back? Would anybody like to make a public comment before we take a vote? This is my mom 00:35:23.991 --> 00:35:29.182 - used to say, speak now forever hold your peace. 00:35:30.882 --> 00:35:38.811 - But you'll still have more opportunities. There's plenty of opportunities after this. And then I'll 00:35:38.811 --> 00:35:46.739 - vote. Hearing no further discussion or public comment, I will call the vote to accept the reordered 00:35:46.739 --> 00:35:54.826 - proposal as amended in this meeting. I vote yes. Kevin? Yes. Dr. Sanders? Yes. Scott? Yes. Dawn? Yes. 00:35:54.826 --> 00:35:59.742 - William? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. All right. 00:36:00.130 --> 00:36:17.207 - Anybody from the public like to make a statement? Valerie Duarte, I'm talking to you as a member of 00:36:17.207 --> 00:36:27.966 - the Ellisville Chamber Board. Congratulations on your actions. 00:36:28.450 --> 00:36:37.392 - And now that you have decided, the board would like to know what kind of talking points you can develop 00:36:37.392 --> 00:36:46.075 - that business and community members from both the township and the town can be informed by us using. 00:36:46.075 --> 00:36:55.017 - And that if you would see to it that the board could have those as well, we would look at doing as much 00:36:55.017 --> 00:36:57.854 - as we can in support. Thank you. 00:37:03.714 --> 00:37:12.055 - Yeah, I think that that's actually an interesting, I mean, kind of raises the question and I, or at 00:37:12.055 --> 00:37:20.646 - least maybe raises a point worth making, which is like, this committee is done. Right. So now the plan 00:37:20.646 --> 00:37:29.320 - goes to all of the, to the township board and to the town council. And ultimately whatever anybody does 00:37:29.320 --> 00:37:32.990 - as far as promoting it or otherwise that's, 00:37:33.986 --> 00:37:44.443 - That's on their own. We're not gonna be taking any further action. Can we kind of review the timeline 00:37:44.443 --> 00:37:55.105 - again? Within the next 30 days to six weeks or so, the town council and the township board need to meet 00:37:55.105 --> 00:38:03.614 - and finalize the plan. There has to be at least two meetings by each board whereby 00:38:03.746 --> 00:38:11.011 - The resolution to adopt the plan is read into the record, and the plan is discussed, and there has to 00:38:11.011 --> 00:38:18.133 - be at least one public hearing. So the public will have plenty of opportunities. Yes, yes, and then 00:38:18.133 --> 00:38:25.398 - it goes to the DLGF after that. And I'm assuming that the draft, once you make all the changes to it, 00:38:25.398 --> 00:38:30.526 - that that'll be posted on? Yes. Okay. Yep. Before everybody can see it. 00:38:36.866 --> 00:38:45.484 - and we can get that up on the website as soon as we get the changes put on there. As far as coming up 00:38:45.484 --> 00:38:53.679 - with talking points, that would be the responsibility of the town council and the township. Yes, 00:38:53.679 --> 00:39:02.297 - but I mean, honestly, anybody that supports it, I mean, the thing is you need to boil down the things 00:39:02.297 --> 00:39:06.014 - you're excited about for it in pretty small 00:39:06.818 --> 00:39:13.369 - ways to explain it to people. Cause sometimes you only have 30 seconds to talk to someone about it. 00:39:13.369 --> 00:39:19.921 - So, you know, one, you know, my issues may be different than for promoting it may be different than 00:39:19.921 --> 00:39:26.669 - yours. So I think it's good that we're all kind of on the same page, not tripping over each other, but 00:39:26.669 --> 00:39:33.286 - at the same time, I don't see how we can with this. We just need to get it into a format that people 00:39:33.286 --> 00:39:35.710 - can really understand and digest it. 00:39:36.450 --> 00:39:43.290 - and not get in the weeds of people and stress that what we're talking about is what will change from 00:39:43.290 --> 00:39:50.197 - what you currently have. I mean, we can talk about how tax rates go up and all that stuff, and I love 00:39:50.197 --> 00:39:56.969 - doing that, but this doesn't change any of that. What is the impact of reorganization gonna be? And 00:39:56.969 --> 00:40:04.350 - we have to keep that in our minds. And like Scott has said, the big question that's still gonna be out there 00:40:05.058 --> 00:40:12.713 - and we still can't say definitively until after this is approved is really the planning and zoning. 00:40:12.713 --> 00:40:20.522 - But we can say this is what we've done so far. I think that would be, but we, I mean, we, I guess the 00:40:20.522 --> 00:40:28.254 - talking points, we all should tailor them to ourselves. We don't wanna sound like robots. Because if 00:40:28.254 --> 00:40:32.158 - we're really sincere about something, people wanna 00:40:32.578 --> 00:40:39.625 - They don't care how much you know, they wanna know how much you care. And if you really feel this is 00:40:39.625 --> 00:40:46.952 - good for the public, I think it's best to speak from your passion point on it. From this point on, we'll 00:40:46.952 --> 00:40:54.278 - be speaking as citizens, not necessarily members of the reorganization committee. That is correct. Mike, 00:40:54.278 --> 00:41:01.465 - did you have some time? I hope you all stay active. I mean, this whole effort, you're the spine of it. 00:41:01.465 --> 00:41:02.302 - And for me, 00:41:03.138 --> 00:41:12.981 - way to think about people that represent your township and your town, your community. This is perfect. 00:41:12.981 --> 00:41:23.111 - And so I hope you stay very active and will be vocal and continue to help. From experience, participation 00:41:23.111 --> 00:41:32.190 - by the public at board meetings actually makes a lot of difference. When there's nobody there, 00:41:32.738 --> 00:41:40.540 - It doesn't help the process at all. When there's a lot of people there, even people that are against 00:41:40.540 --> 00:41:48.419 - it, it actually helps create the atmosphere when everybody feels like it was processed correctly. And 00:41:48.419 --> 00:41:56.530 - so I hope you stay active and come to some of the board meetings until we see this through because we're 00:41:56.530 --> 00:42:02.014 - not done yet and we need everything you've brought to the table later. 00:42:02.114 --> 00:42:08.918 - It's not the end of it. And I would hope all the people this committee or email addresses are still 00:42:08.918 --> 00:42:15.859 - there. But if we get requests or you get requests to talk to communities, neighborhoods, you still do 00:42:15.859 --> 00:42:22.867 - that because you were still part of the formation of it. And I mean, I'll be working the polls for the 00:42:22.867 --> 00:42:27.902 - primary, letting people know that it's coming out in the November ballot. 00:42:28.290 --> 00:42:34.539 - I can work either ECC or St. John's. We need somebody at the other place. But I think, too, that would 00:42:34.539 --> 00:42:40.908 - be another great place to hand out information, some bullet points on what it means for them. So between 00:42:40.908 --> 00:42:46.975 - the time of the primary and the time where they have to vote in the general election, they can have 00:42:46.975 --> 00:42:53.163 - any questions answered, any concerns addressed, and feel comfortable with voting either yes or no for 00:42:53.163 --> 00:42:57.470 - this when it comes in November. But that's going to be up to us to do. 00:42:58.338 --> 00:43:07.250 - and it is okay for people to say no. Well, I'd like to just thank everybody on the committee. There's 00:43:07.250 --> 00:43:16.162 - a lot of people here that did a lot more legwork than I did and I just appreciate all of your efforts 00:43:16.162 --> 00:43:25.598 - and thank our legal counsel for all the hours they put in, our subcommittees and members of the public that 00:43:26.530 --> 00:43:37.076 - I've showed up meeting after meeting. It was a good process for our community. Definitely couldn't have 00:43:37.076 --> 00:43:47.418 - done it without our attorneys. Thank you. Anybody else want to say something? You said it. All right. 00:43:47.418 --> 00:43:52.894 - Are you ready for me to close the meeting? Adjourned.