- We're gonna call to order the Monday, August 25th meeting of the Ellisville Town Council. Chief, if you'll start with a prayer. I have the Father once again, we come before you this evening, we thank you for the many blessings you've bestowed on this little town. We ask you with us tonight to make the decisions that affect people that live here and people that work here. We thank you for saying 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. Noelle, roll call when you're ready, please. Scott Oldham. Here. Dan Swaffer. William Ellis. Here. Trevor Sager. Here. Pamela Samples. Action to approve minutes from the August 11th meeting.
- Second. Motion second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstaining? Action to pay accounts payable vouchers and payroll vouchers. So moved. Second. Motion second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstaining? There are two resolutions this evening. The first of which is resolution 24-2025, the fiscal plan for Blackwell Contractors Incorporated Annexation.
- on the agenda tonight, blackboard contractors and value book construction, both of which came before the planning commission at its August meeting, and both of which passed by unanimous vote to send it to the town council, urging approval of the annexations. But in any event, as you're aware, fiscal plans have to be passed for each of those
- Annexations and the first one is Blackwell contractors. So this is 1.003 acres It will be general business zoning and the fiscal plan should be part of your packet So there's no estimated
- The estimated tax rate would increase from .5673 to .5645 in the year 2025-26. There's no outstanding debt tied to the income. Questions for council? Yeah, it looks like it's going from, I just wanna make sure I'm seeing this right. It's going from residential to general business, right?
- Community Development Residential, yes, it's going from CB to General Business C2. Recommend and support me, annex this property.
- to approve resolution 24-2025, fiscal plan for Blackwell Contractors Inc. annexation. I'll second. Motion to second. Roll call, please. Trevor Sager? Yes. William Ellis? Yes. Scott Woodham? Yes. Motion passes. Next resolution to see is resolution 25-2025, fiscal plan for value-built construction LLC annexation.
- Again, this pass, the annexation passed the Plan Commission by unanimous vote. This is a request by Ernest Shee from Value Built Construction to voluntarily annex a parcel. Looks like two parcels on the GIS, but it's approximately 3.33 acres of land. It's located at 4599 North Thomas Road, and it is going to, again,
- be zoned residential R1 if the council approves that zoning and that's the recommended zoning from the Plan Commission. There will be no outstanding Monroe County debt tied to the income taxes and the estimated tax rate in terms of effect on taxpayers in Ellsville would increase from .5673 to .5645 in 2025, 2026. That should be decreased, shouldn't it? Yes, probably, yeah.
- Yes, I'm sorry, an estimated change in tax levy per taxpayer will be minimal. Any questions for council? I'd just like to make a comment to the general public when they always think, well, you're growing, we're going to have more taxes because of that. Just for this small parcel, it's not much. I mean, negligible. $11 per year for a $200,000 home. But if you do this multiple times over the course of the year,
- people see tax savings. So when I say that growing actually can help save, you know, you on your tax dollars, those people that are anti-growth, well, if you want their taxes lower, those two things are, they don't go together. I mean, you actually have to grow to lower your taxes. And this just shows it there. Comments from town manager, supervisors? Support this annexation
- Anything from the public? Seeing no one rise in chambers, no one online, we're back to the council. Make an motion to approve resolution 25-2025, the fiscal plan for value-built construction LLC annexation. Second. Motion second, roll call please. Scott Oldham? Yes. William Ellis? Yes. Trevor Sager? Yes. Motion passes. This evening there are no ordinances on first reading, there are however three on second.
- First of which is ordinance 25-18, imposing a wheel tax and motor vehicle license excise tax. And Scott, this is a public hearing on this. Yes. This was introduced at the previous town council meeting and I was asked to prepare a wheel tax and municipal surtax ordinance. If the council approves this, the wheel tax fund will be $5 per vehicle. The excise surtax will be $15 per vehicle.
- The wheel tax is generally for commercial vehicles. The municipal surtax will be for passenger vehicles. What you have before you is an amended version of the ordinance, and the reason I amended it is because your clerk treasurer has to upload certain documents to the BMV portal on the Gateway website, and there are certain forms that the Bureau of Motor Vehicles wants to see, and in the
- Excise Wheel Tax Rate Designation Form prepared by the BMV. It had a couple of categories, extra categories, that are not included in 6.3.5-11 or 6.3.5-10. Specifically on the BMV form, they include for hire buses, not for hire buses, and they also include semi tractors. There's no definition of not for hire bus or semi tractors under 6.3.
- 3.5-11 or 6.3-10. However, I don't wanna argue with the B and B. So I figured it doesn't hurt to include it and I was hard pressed to even think of a not for hire bus because if it's a not for hire bus, it's probably going to come under one of those exceptions. Under subsection D, it's gonna be a church bus, a school bus or something, but in any event,
- It's what the B and B included on their spreadsheet. So on page two of the ordinance under 33.93 wheel tax and fund, I amended buses to put a parenthetical in there that says includes for hire and not for hire. Under semi-trailers, I put parenthetical language. It says includes farm semi-trailers, and I added a category for semi-tractors. Parenthetical includes tractors used in combination with a semi-trailer. So you should be covered no matter what.
- I did not change the amounts to be charged per vehicle. Questions, comments from council? Darla, for the recreational vehicle portion of it, do we know, just off the top of my head, is that gonna be like RVs, UTVs, ATVs, all three of those? Certainly RVs, in all honesty, Scott, I don't know about ATVs, but RVs for sure.
- I ask because there's a lot of dialogue happening right now at the county level about opening up county roads to UTV usage, and that may certainly be effect for us. I would just say this is not something I traditionally would support, but I have, over the last couple years, we've seen the road funds
- shrink and shrink. I mean, cigarette tax used to pay for a lot of that, luckily, less people are smoking now. And to be clear, I think I mentioned at the last one, this wheel tax is necessary for us to get grants from a larger fund. So if you see those roads being paved on Sale Street, if you see in the neighborhoods roads being paved, just work being done, it's because we've gotten those grants. Where does that grant come from?
- tax money that you've already paid to the state. So if we don't pass this, basically we're saying the tax money you're paying and the gas tax and other taxes that go towards the community crossing grants, we're not going to be responsible in getting back to Ellitsville. I've been racking my brain to think of other ways other than passing this tax. And if people do not want to pay the tax, I deeply ask them, give me an alternative.
- I'm begging for an alternative to this, but it has to be a yearly thing that covers the cost of all the money we'd be losing, which would be about, Kip, about what percentage of your road, if we don't get any community crossing grants, what would that do to your road fund? Well, it'd probably cut it by two thirds. Okay. Because I only paid one for three quarters.
- So I'll only pay one quarter for every one of these streets out there. The town only pays a quarter of that grant, paid that street. And last year, the matching fund portion was $250,000, I thought, if I remember right. Yeah. I mean, over the years, and I don't remember, you took that paper together, but since 2016, it was over a million something that the town has gotten from the state.
- And in the future, we're not talking about a little money. We're talking about millions of dollars. Right. Yes, sir. And Noel, I think you were mentioning to me earlier, we're not the only ones going through this to pass a wheel tax due to SB. I don't think it's SB 1, but one of the other bills passed that ties it to grants. Aren't there other communities, quite a few? Correct. There's 12 right now that are in the process to get before the September 1st deadline. Because others already had it. Yes. Yes.
- Yeah, that's not counting the ones that already currently have it. And that's well over 20. And I hate the stacks onto the county wheel tax. But the original legislation said it would not stack. And at the last minute, they pulled that out and said, you got to pay both. But we have to protect for our residents our roads and our critical services for our town. That's all.
- Tom Andrew. Okay, this is the public hearing. So anyone from the public wishing to speak concerning this tax or actually this ordinance? Seeing no one rise in chambers, no one online, we're back to the council. I'll make a motion. I have one question. Who would you? Okay.
- We did not see your hand raised, Mr. Perry. Go ahead. I'm not quite sure how I do that. Yeah, there's a function on there, but go ahead, you have three minutes. Could somebody address the issue of sort of the net revenues from this new initiative? Because there's an administrative cost, I presume, and I'm not quite sure how it's administered.
- The revenues are estimated at $89,000. Could you say that again, Michael? I said if we implement the tax throughout a year, we would receive approximately $89,000. And it's to be... Does that include the administrative costs? No, it doesn't. Is there an administrative cost we have to pay as a town?
- The administrative cost is going to be on the BMV largely because they have to collect it and once they collect it, they have 21 days to get it to the town and then Noel has to keep track of it. So that's an internal administrative cost and obviously when the town wants to use the money, the town has to do an appropriation. So I mean there's some administrative costs but just like you have with every other fund, you won't need any outside contractors or anybody to help you
- calculate this, so. I'm wondering, you said this is a result of administrative or legislative decisions in the last legislative session. It is. Yeah, I'm wondering maybe whether somebody ought to go back to the legislature and say that it's penny wise and pound foolish to sort of institute another tax. We nominate you.
- Well, it also has a cost to it that somebody's paying. Well, I interrupted you. I'm sorry for that, but we could nominate you to go up there and talk to them. But two things. The wheel tax that we... Okay, great. We can give you some background. But the wheel tax that we are implementing is at its lowest
- So we could have went a lot higher on a wheel tax and the board wanted to go with the lowest numbers we could. So we did the tax because we have to, because we want to protect the community crossing grants, but we did impose a tax that was at its lowest limit.
- And keep in mind, one thing about a wheel tax that actually is a benefit long-term is property taxes take three to four years to really, for us to really get the full property tax revenue from new assessments. But a wheel tax, as soon as people move into town, we're gonna need those roads built. And guess what? They're paying for it. So existing, one of the things I hear time and time again from residents, we don't wanna pay for new growth.
- Well, guess what? This is one way you're not going to be paying for the new growth. Yes, it's a hit now, but long term it's putting us on a financial footing that you're not going to have to. Those new roads, they're paid by the new residents. Okay, real quickly, Mr. Ferri, you have about a minute left. Actually, time's expired, but we spent some time that wasn't yours talking amongst ourselves. Do you have any other comments?
- when I heard the timer go off, because I was watching it, because I was unclear how he was able to unmute himself. So Mr. Perry, if you're still listening and you'd like to unmute, you have about another 30 seconds. One argument I might make is to sort of set the minimum higher. And that relates to Michael's point.
- I can also understand why you may want to keep it at a minimum. Okay, thank you. And yeah, we are trying to keep it at a minimum because we don't know what else is coming. So we're trying to wait in a little bit of time. Anyone else having questions or comments, actually comments? Again, seeing no one, we're going to go back to council.
- I'll move to approve ordinance 2025-18, imposing a wheel tax and motor vehicle license excise tax. As amended? As amended. Second. Motion, second. Roll call, please. Trevor Saver? Yes. William Ellis? Yes. Scott Oldham? Yes. Motion passes.
- Next ordinance this evening is reflecting what we did earlier under another resolution, actually the next two are. This is resolution 2025-19, the voluntary annexation of 3750 West State Road 46, Bloomington, Indiana 47404. That's me. At the August 7th Plan Commission meeting, the petitioner Blackwell Contractors received a unanimous favorable recommendation with a vote of six to zero.
- to annex one parcel totaling approximately 1.003 acres of land located at 3750 West State Road 46. This is a super voluntary annexation in a 71% contiguous to town of Eltsville. Parcel is currently zoned CD Community Development Residential by Monroe County and the plan commission's recommendation includes a zoning designation of commercial to general business upon annexation.
- The property will be located in Council Ward 4, and petitioner is present if you have any questions. Okay, questions, comments from Council? Town Manager? I just recommend that we annex. Anyone from the public? Seeing no one, back to Council.
- Yes. Yes Scott yes motion passes. Next ordinance this evening is orders twenty twenty five dash twenty. Voluntary annexation of two parcels forty five ninety nine north Thomas road Wilmington Indiana. Four seven four zero one.
- Sorry, attending that meeting was petitioner with value-built construction LLC. It received a unanimous favorable recommendation with a vote of six to zero to annex two parcels, totaling approximately 3.33 acres of land, located at 4599 North Thomas Road. This is a super voluntary annexation and is 38.7% contiguous to town of Ellisville.
- Parcels are currently zoned CD, Community Development Residential by Monroe County. And the plan commission's recommendation includes a zoning designation of residential one, single family residential. The zoning of the neighboring parcels within the town of Eltsville are zoned residential one as well to the north and agricultural to the east. Property will be located in council ward five. Questions from council or comments?
- Town manager. Annexation is a perfect fit, I recommend it. From the public. Seeing none, back to council. I'll move to approve ordinance 2025-20, voluntary annexation of two parcels, 4599 North Thomas Road, Bloomington, Indiana, 47404. Second. Motion and second.
- Yes. There is no business on the agenda. New business on the agenda this evening is updating certification list for planning. I'll take this one. So the federal government makes flood insurance available to the citizens of Ellisville. We have to follow certain guidelines.
- and have ordinances that are tied to all this. And then now the new, I think a new law is that we have to have a certified community floodplain administrator. And so Denise has become certified and we wanna add it to the list of certifications that will allow for $250. And I just recommend that we do this.
- so we can get her the money and make sure it's on the list for planning. Okay. Questions from council. So all these the five surface is it's a maximum of how much per year or can they get 250 for each of these things? Yeah, go ahead. The council has
- traditionally approve the police and fire, and that's why I don't list them all on the salary ordinance, because there's several for each department. So the clerk treasurer department with all the certifications and the planning can get an extra $12.50 a year with these certifications then? No, so the clerk treasurer would get. If you got all of them.
- No, because under the Clerk Treasurer's Department, there's only one, two, three, four, five. Correct. So yes. Sorry, I heard 12,000 for some reason in my brain. Yeah, it's highly unlikely. Sandy didn't even have every one of these. She only had
- So like the CMC and the MMC, you don't carry those at the same time because the CMC is first. So now that I'm thinking about it, no, you cannot carry. So the most you could have would be 500. The most would be $750, which is currently what Amber has. And what about planning? Do any of those stack like that?
- I cannot say with, for my knowledge of the planning, I do not know. Yeah. Cause you're a certified grant administrator, correct? Yes. The ERC shouldn't really be on that. That's just one afternoon of listening to them. So that shouldn't be on there. That should come off. But no, I can't.
- I can only see probably having three at one time. I think somebody else in my office should be the certified ADA coordinator. And Kip, for yours, is Master Road Scholar, does that replace Road Scholar? Or are those two separate certifications? Okay. And right now it's just Jenny and myself that has them two right now.
- questions I have. And this is internal, so motions. Make a motion to approve the updated certification list for planning. Did we want to strike number three on Denise's suggestion? We can, certainly. Yeah. As amended. I'll second. Motion. I second, please.
- May I get the name of the certification for the minutes? Employee and responsible charge ERC. The one that we're adding. Oh, we're adding. I do not know the name of it. I'm not sure which one we're adding. Certified floodplain manager. The certified floodplain manager has been on there. I did not know what to call the updated one. So I initially sent this to Darla because I wasn't sure how to
- for the council to approve. These are the current ones that the council has already approved. Okay, so then what are we asking? To add another certification that's different. I just don't know what the name of that is. That would be Denise, because you received the certification. What's the name of the certification? It just says certified floodplain manager on the certificate, I believe.
- It's recent legislation that requires training for each community's floodplain administrator. It's already on there. Well, the certified floodplain manager from the notes that I have in there is a two-year certified course. So when I looked it up, it wasn't the same as the certificate that you gave me. So it was a class in that certification, so I was unclear
- I just read administrator, so I guess I got the title wrong. So once a two year course, what's the difference in the one that you did? This one was mandated by FEMA slash DNR. We had to have it done by June 30th. And if we didn't have a certified floodplain manager,
- the community couldn't get any floodplain insurance. I guess I'm saying the different and getting certified for it. What's that? I mean, did you have to go to classes? Was it something online? I could have gone to Emmitsburg, Maryland for I think a week or two weeks, I remember. But I chose to do the online. Yes, I'm confused because it sounds like this was already out there. But it's a different one, I guess. Or is it?
- I don't know in all honesty. So I think it's probably not a bad idea if you're going to have these certifications to have a resolution or something, just so you have a paper trail of what you're voting on. So if you are inclined, you could table this and I'll get with Denise and Noel and we'll figure out actually what the correct title is and that it can come back before you. Yeah, that's fine. I'll amend my motion. I'm going to table the updating the certifications list for planning.
- I'll second. Motion to second to table. Trevor Sager? Yes. William Ellis? Yes. Scott Oldham? Yes. Motion to table. Next is privilege of the floor. Anyone having business with the council that has not been part of our normal agenda this evening? Seeing no one online or in chambers, we'll move to supervisor comments beginning with the town manager.
- I just want to thank the department heads for hanging in there during the budget process. It was a pretty grim task this year. And I especially want to thank Noel and Amber. They worked their tails off on this. I mean, it's back and forth and trying to catch up with all the rules and trying to make sure that we cover our rear ends.
- as we move forward and don't make a mistake. And so I really thank everyone. Noelle, Amber, I really thank you. Is Amber still here? Yes, she's not. And then also, the town is always in flux. There's always annexations going on, resolution, ordinances. There are always deadlines. Sometimes we wait too long. Sometimes we just pile it on. And I'm pretty sure I heard Darla blow a whistle and say,
- 15 yards piling on. But in between all that, she always gets the work done. And we just look like we're really, really good. And it's really a lot has to do with how Darla gets this all straightened out and puts all this together all the time. So thank you, Darla. You're welcome. That's all. Chief? Lucky. Or lucky you.
- need to discuss funding options for the roof repair. The amount that was awarded was $116,589, and we need to decide whether we want to finance it or pull it out of existing funds. Do you want to address this? I want to make it clear, the financing paperwork
- public sees it's gonna look like we're paying $8,500 in finance fees, but that's not the plan, correct? Correct. Your plan is? That's if it goes the full three years. Right, but we're not planning to go the full three years. Correct. We just need some wiggle room where we're not depleting our reserve funds, and as anyone watching our budget session knows, those are under pressure. Do we have any paperwork on this? Because it wasn't on the agenda. That's correct, because we're not sure whether we need to do
- additional appropriations for a CB&E line or whether we need permission to do the funding paperwork through. I will tell you, after hearing that it's going to be paid and the impact will only be about $1,500 worth of interest, I agree with Scott who has said that we should not probably put those pressures on those funds and so financing it, yes. Any disagreement?
- Charlie, do you want to vote on that? I think it wouldn't hurt just so we have a record. Is there a motion? In the minutes. I'll make a motion to finance the 116,000. What was the total amount? $116,589.15. $115,589.15 to finance that through People State Bank. Motion and second. Roll call when you're ready, please.
- Yes. William Ellis. Yes. Trevor Sager. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. I was just going to add that I will get with the chief and People's State Bank and hopefully we should be able to get that ready for the next meeting if Darla agrees with that. Now we're down to council comments. Anything?
- I've already topped myself to death today. Okay, I have nothing either. Seeing that, we have no further business. Motion's adjourned. Sorry, the meeting's adjourned. Yes.