- March 9th, 2026, meeting of the Russell County Council. Chief, prayer? I have to follow just one more
- time. We've come before you, and again, thank you so much for the big blessings you just showed on this
- little town, the families represented here. We ask you to be with us, that we serve this community better.
- We ask the same to you, 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. Scott Oldham. Here. Dan Swofford.
- William Ellis. Here. Trevor Sager. Hannah Sample. Here. Approval of the minutes for 223 of 2026.
- So moved. Second. Motion to second. All those in favor say aye. Aye.
- Any opposed or any abstaining? Next is motion for action to pay accounts, payable vouchers and payroll
- vouchers. Sorry. So moved. Second. Motion second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Abstaining.
- Resolutions this evening is one resolution 05, 2026 surplus of equipment for Department of Public Works.
- This is a slide in type unit.
- that slides into the back of a bed of a pickup truck and makes a regular pickup truck into a normal
- dump truck per se. And we don't use it anymore and we're getting smaller, the smaller type built dump
- trucks. So I'm asking to surplus this by gov deals. Okay. Questions from council?
- Motions from Council. I make a motion to accept resolution 05-2026, surplus of equipment, DPW. Second.
- Motion second. You ready, please? Yes. William Ellis? Yes. Pam Samples? Yes.
- passes. There are no ordinances on first reading or second reading. Under old business is election of
- a citizen member to serve on RDC. I might have one, but it will be next meeting before I know for sure.
- Heritage Center. I think I'll talk about it. So we would like to read and pause dealing with
- insurance instead of a $500 deposit. We think trying to deal with insurance coverage to rent a heritage
- center is cumbersome. It's hard to decide if it's valid or it covers what we need covered. And at the
- end, if there's a, if the people that have the insurance have a
- High deductible. Thank you, high deductible that we're not sure how to operate if the insurance doesn't
- pay the high deductible and then how do we go after the people. The $500 seems to be adequate for almost
- all things that we would like to use a deposit to cover and so I just don't see
- that the insurance clause needs to be in there and we'd like to remove it. Okay. Anything from your
- side of the house? One thing we also discussed was what if we do go to make a claim and the insurance
- denies it. And so far, everybody's been paying the deposit. We've been renting it pretty well. Have
- we had an event there already?
- We're getting a lot of requests probably get dozen Yeah, we've been reading now I think up through maybe
- June July graduations busy So far nothing in the evenings during the week But it's been on Saturdays
- and in this weekend was the first time we had Saturday and Sunday both were in it
- Just again, I'll ask the question to be sure there is a clause in there that the marshal or the fire
- chief can end whatever is going on there instantly if they judge it to be a danger, correct?
- I don't know. I think that goes for anything in town, right? I want to be very clear in the rental fee
- that if there's too many people and or if it becomes too big of a problem, either the marshal or the
- chief can end it.
- Yeah, I thought we had something to and if that happened, they would no longer be allowed to rent. The
- Heritage Center for future. Yeah, shut it down. We can double check the verbiage, but certainly change
- it. Mr President, our board met tonight and agreed with removing the. The insurance from the from the
- application.
- And originally I pushed for the insurance because I wasn't clear if that was covered in the town insurance,
- but it is if something big happened. But unfortunately, insurance won't cover somebody who leaves in
- a mess. I mean, you can't do an insurance claim for that. The deposit obviously could. But I agree that
- we need to have stipulations in there. And I mean, Darla, do we need to outline that if they do damage,
- we have the right to sue them?
- Let's add to paragraph 29, disorderly, unsafe or illegal behavior is grounds for immediate termination
- of the event without refund, period, and add the sentence, police and fire personnel may terminate an
- event for disruptive behavior and no refunds will be given.
- Let's also add a paragraph at the end, 32. Damages not covered by the damage deposit are the responsibility
- of the renter, and that gives you an out to sue them in small claims if you really want to. Is that okay?
- Discussion from council on this? Yeah, I do have one question. So on the disruptive, is that also, should
- something be put in like, like let's say it holds 50, but they try to sneak and cram in 75? Wouldn't
- that be a problem? Yeah, that's where I was intending is that if there's something that's disruptive,
- if it's not what they represented to begin with, if they're representing a small card party and a thousand
- people show up,
- Yeah, I mean, but we get into that. Well, it'll hold 50, but you got 51. You're done. We're not going
- to go count. I mean, but if it's obvious from going down 46, there's 500 people there when you said
- there's going to be 10. Exactly. So that language would cover Pam's concern too, correct? I think so.
- And as Mike Farmer pointed out, I think under the police and fire
- powers. I think they can shut it down even without the language in there, but that just gives the renters
- an extra right now. Reminder that rule 30 kind of covers it too. Our personnel like to stand on where
- they can point to in the contract going right there. It says you might have someone arguing with you,
- right? The paragraph you did was police and fire. Was that police and fire or police or fire and fire
- personnel? How about or?
- Okay. That way, if Jimmy takes care of it, he can take care of it. He doesn't need fire to, you know,
- oversee it too. Or if it's a major occupancy issue, that would probably be you guys that would, whoever
- gets there first. If it's real bad, I'll call him anyway. Okay. Is there a motion if there's no discussion?
- How should the motion read, approve the Heritage Center updated agreement as amended? As amended, and
- is the council inclined to take out the language about the certificate of liability insurance as well?
- Removing the certificate of liability insurance. And adding the language suggested. And adding the language
- suggested. For paragraphs 29 and 32. And paragraphs 29 and 32. We did good now. Thank you.
- Motion to second. Motion to second when you're ready, please. Scott Oldham? Yes. William Ellis? Yes.
- Pam Samples? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. The next under new business is the Full Motomy MOU between
- BPD and EPD. Again, we find ourselves lacking the necessary quorum, since I'm going to set this one
- out. Or are you comfortable with just two people voting for it? Actually, I think two people can vote
- because it's not an ordinance.
- You have a quorum, so if a majority of the quorum approves it, I think that's fine. I would say, though,
- that this is not what you have before you. It's not the most recent version of the phlebotomy agreement.
- And I'm sorry you don't have the updated one, but if you take out paragraph two, the command structure,
- move all the other paragraphs up, and put two T's in Ellitsville, you got it. So you could pass this
- one as amended, too. As amended, and I would request that it go with the vice president or
- another councilmember's signature, not mine.
- The town manager's fine as well. So under new business. You wanna talk about this, Jimmy? The phlebotomy?
- If everyone's comfortable, if not, then we'll wait. We've used it quite a bit. I mean, we were probably
- once or twice, maybe a week, but at least four or five times a month we're using it. Can I make a motion
- to accept the phlebotomy?
- MOU between BPD and EPD. Should I say as amended, since you're taking that? Yes, please. Thank you.
- As amended. Second. Scott. Upstain. Yes. Pay him samples. Yes. Motion passes. First business is mass
- gathering permit discussion. I don't think we need to talk about that after the department had meeting today.
- We had some concerns about whether we should run this by the board when we have a mass gathering request.
- And we've decided that from past discussions that you left that to the police and fire. Actually, your
- ordinance says that the town employees first look at it and then it comes before the council for a vote
- on the permit. Within 30 days of the application date.
- We could block, we could okay the blocking of the road without council approval. Yeah, it's more of
- a notification and approval than it is a permission and approval. Okay. All right, so we'll move on
- from there as long as that satisfies Ms. Brown. I do just have a question. It's kind of related to spin-off,
- but the fall festival, somebody's asked, with the construction, are we not gonna be able to do a parade? We are.
- Yeah, I actually was down during some flooding issues. I talked to their superintendent and they do
- realize that they have the date and they're gonna try to make it but it's gonna be close and right now,
- you know, they had to take a couple steps back because they had to take their check dam out and so they
- was putting it back in today and it's maybe rain again tomorrow night, but they are going to try
- to be out of there before the parade. And I think they tried the last time when it was eastbound and
- they made it happen. I told them there's a lot of pressure this year because the Wienermobile may be
- in the parade, so there's a lot of pressure. It's also the 250th anniversary of the country. Well, that
- is true. At some time, not just us, but I don't... Is that the theme this year? I don't see a lot of
- people talking about that. That should be a big friggin' deal. Yeah, I don't even know if... If any
- of you were around during 1976,
- But most of the people here. That was major and I don't I mean it just seems to be lost in the noise.
- Well it would be hard to have the parade if they're still working on. It'll be close. It'll be something
- we'll know a lot better by August. Route.
- Go up to the green. Union Valley and down they've broken out and the other lane come through. Down if
- they have one lane open. I think we held the semis on the highway. We'll let it pass and we'll see what
- we did with them. Just held the semis up. You can't do the semis out. Make that turn and make it grow.
- We can be creative later if we need to. We can be creative. Yep. All right.
- Moving on now to septic dumping rate discussion. Oh, exciting. So the current rate is $4 per thousand
- gallons. We have two types of trucks that dump there, 2,500 gallon tanker trucks and 5,000 gallon tanker
- trucks. Obviously, I guess we also have 4,000 gallon tanker trucks. So you can do the math. It's $12
- or $10 currently for
- 2,500 gallon tank or truck. The bottom is the math, it's real simple. We spend almost $2.3 million a
- year to treat that many gallons. And if you do the math, it comes out to about 0.006 cents per thousand
- gallons, which comes out to $6 per thousand gallons. And I propose that we raise it from four to six.
- which means a 2,500 gallon truck goes from 10 to 15, and a 5,000 goes from 25 to, am I doing it right?
- Or 30, I'll have to do better than that. 20 to $30. And it also proposed that we raise the sludge that
- we dispose there from 30 to $35.
- The money that we make up all the dumping is usually between $75,000 to $100,000 a year, and it pays
- for all of our slugs to be landfill for the tipping fees. So basically, everybody in town, that sludge
- gets dumped for free. It kind of neutralizes that expense. Okay, discussion? So yeah, I don't know if
- this is not a rate ordinance for
- customers per se, it's just tipping fees for septic colors. Do we need to do anything special with this?
- I don't think so. I think when we discussed this before, I don't think we put it in ordinance form,
- did we? No. I think it was just the council approving the rates. I have a question. Yeah. Who all dumps
- there? I mean, do we have like surrounding counties? I mean, no, we have currently we have allow for
- Entities to dump there and I can tell you that we don't need to take on anymore We've taken in as much
- as I think we should be taken in So those people can they Some of its local and but the majority of
- I mean not the majority of but I'd say 50% of it Comes from out of County and that is they have to they
- have to put down Where it can't originated from every load has to be?
- itemized on their sheet they send to me. And then I turn it into the office and they turn around and
- bill them back. So we don't be a few has no don't touch any of the money. This money all goes straight
- to Eltsville. So yeah, some of it does come from out of county. Here's the unique thing. Unfortunately,
- I put a lifesaver in my mouth for my turn to talk. Us and Bloomington are probably
- two of the only entities. I know Bedford accepts some, they're limited as well, kind of like us. And
- then I don't know of any other, I think you'll have to go all the way to Washington to know. So Green
- County Regional Sewer District is currently building a brand new wastewater plant to probably be online
- in a year or so, a year and a half. I've encouraged them to start accepting it because
- If they can't find a place to dump it, unfortunately some of these people dump it where they're not
- supposed to. They will find a place to dump it. A lot of times they have to go all the way to Indianapolis
- to dump some things. I'm sure Tara Hope takes it in places like that. Sideways for the people who are
- having to get pumped. That's correct. So I mean that's pretty simple math.
- I mean, that's what it costs per thousand to treat it, and I just kind of used that number. I'm sure
- that if we wanted to spend a bunch of money that somebody like Baker Tilly would come up with their
- own equation. I don't know if it'd match mine or not, but you get to set the rate, and that's my suggestion.
- I would just – does this have to be done tonight, or can we wait until the next meeting? Because I
- would just like – because it was advertised as discussion. Nobody knew.
- And I did that, yes, and I would like to, I can initiate the rate whenever you pass it, but I was thinking
- April 1st. I had a meeting with all the septic haulers and discussed this and they seem to be fine.
- Well, yeah, but downstream it affects. Believe it or not, I've had a couple people email me about this
- today in Richland Township, so. Well, it will affect the homeowners.
- but very minimal. No, I get that. But I'm saying I'd just rather say I'm 100% transparency. Yeah, I'm
- comfortable. Yeah, I'm comfortable with these increases. I don't think they're that much. Okay. No,
- and I think they barely do what it needs to do. But I would just rather wait two weeks to vote on it.
- So that way the public can see. I was gonna be my suggestion. Okay, that that's that gets me to April 1. And if
- or good, I'd like to implement them on the 1st of April. That way, I don't have to do multiple mass
- in a couple of months. So I don't have reservations about the numbers. I just want to tell you that.
- I just. Since this is a discussion, are you comfortable with us just moving on? That's fine. Thank you.
- Other questions or discussion on this? No, we'll move the privilege of the floor. Anyone having business
- for the council, not part of our normal agenda?
- Seeing no one rising in chambers, no one online, we'll now move to supervisor comments with the town
- manager. I have a comment, actually. So I had sent around to the council on Saturday, I think, a revised
- MOU between Rogers Group, the township and the town for the construction of the new fire station, or
- it's the sublease, and Katie Stenberg counseled for Rogers Group after she received our
- signed copy said she wasn't sure we could do a 99-year lease. She says, I think we can only do a 50.
- So since it's been before council before, you've approved it. I have no problem with going off agenda.
- But that is the only change to that contract is, I think it was in paragraph two, from 99-year lease
- to a 50-year lease. OK. Can we do an auto renewal without objection? Evergreen? I can't remember what
- the language says. I don't know, Scott. Maybe not. OK. Well, if we can't begin, it's still 50-year.
- I don't think anybody in this room will be present to deal with it. I plan to be robotic. It may just
- be a couple of lights that flash by that time, but hey. I think it's just a flat 50 years, Scott. Okay.
- Do you need us to vote on it? Yes, please, if you would.
- comments chief. Any motions. I make a motion to approve the updated. An amended. Lease from.
- Rogers group and. And the township of Richland in the town of Ellisville. Second. Scott. Pam samples.
- Yes. William Ellis yes motion carries.
- Well, I was just going to say we have a reorganization meeting Wednesday. I think from now on, we're
- going to have them every Wednesday until we finalize our plan. People should come to the meetings, get
- involved, find out what's going on. The simple idea is that we
- take Richland Township in the town of Ellisville and reorganize into one entity. There's a lot of reasons
- why we think it's a good idea. There's a lot of moving parts. There's gotta be 100 questions you could
- ask about it and I think we have most of the answers. We're moving towards a complete plan and it would
- be good for people to come and be interested. After the meeting at six o'clock,
- We have another meeting at seven o'clock for fire territory hearing. And so they could stay and get
- involved in that as well. So people need to come out and start asking questions and get involved. And
- hopefully they'll be excited about what we're trying to do. That's all I got. Chief. It's my understanding
- fire territory meeting will be the same as it was the last time. Yeah. Okay. No, I have nothing else.
- Thank you. Except that what I would like
- to happen is for the boards to discuss the resolution to be signed by the township, the ordinance to
- be signed by the town, the agreement, and the prospective equipment replacement fund ordinance so that
- we can pretty much get it lined out at Wednesday's meeting because I will be zooming in for the last
- meeting on the 25th. So I'd like to get the agreements pretty well lined out before I leave for vacation.
- Last Saturday, Seven Oaks hosted the Battle of the Badges basketball game again, and the Fire actually
- pulled this one out and won it. So I'm not sure that the proceeds all went to Pantry 279. I've not heard
- how much they brought, but the auditorium was full and everybody was good game. It was close back and
- forth the whole time. So it was a lot of fun. It was intense.
- One with the oxygen tank So I myself as well as a couple of the foreman with the DPW we've been Talking
- with Mike We are needing a vehicle for the fleet manager to be able to run parts and and
- and such, so under, and I got with Darla, and under the ordinance that we have, or not the ordinance,
- resolution, I guess, it's less than 50,000, so we got three quotes, and I just wanted to let you all
- know that we was gonna get a 2025 Ford Ranger, it's a crew cab XL, just a plain XL model is what we're
- gonna get.
- and the lowest quote came from Capital City Ford up on Washington Street in Indianapolis. I don't know,
- I guess that's all I need to do is just let them know what we're doing. I just add that Cody being the
- fleet manager for the whole town is really working out well with that and the new DPW building and the
- facility, it's just working out even better than we thought it would. Cody is kind of,
- funny in a way, but if I'm out in the garage and he goes to get in a truck, somebody's running out there
- going, no, no, no, no, I gotta go to this job, I need that truck, and Cody will go to another truck,
- and so that's what it is. He just don't have something to be able to run parts, so now Cody can say,
- that's my truck, stay out of it, so. Back for council comments. I just wanted to say, if on
- the reorganization that Mike mentioned,
- If you go to ellitsfillrichlandinfo.com, there's all the information we have on it in one place with
- links to every place that has it. We have all the subcommittee reports that have details with the exception
- of roads and streets. Okay, and sewer. So, and utilities, sewer, stormwater, whatever we phrased it.
- And this Wednesday, we also have a presentation on the new districts for voting.
- with maps that people will be able to, that public and the reorganization committee can actually visualize
- where the new voting districts will be. Probably some of the best information or the most important
- information to date that we have is how people will be able to be represented in the future.
- I think there's just a generic thing that says subcommittee reports. And if not, that won't be that
- shouldn't be a problem. But I keep it short and sweet because we have a hard stop at 10 till 7. We'll
- stand adjourned.