WEBVTT 00:00:01.506 --> 00:00:07.927 - We will call to order the Monday, September 28th, 2026 meeting of the Elstville Town Council. Chief, 00:00:07.927 --> 00:00:14.475 - prayer. I have the Father again become before you when he asks that you be with us tonight to make the 00:00:14.475 --> 00:00:21.024 - decision to defect this little town. Mr. Wilson, always we thank you for the blessings you've bestowed 00:00:21.024 --> 00:00:28.017 - on every one of the representatives here. We ask that you say in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance 00:00:28.017 --> 00:00:30.878 - to the flag of the United States of America. 00:00:31.170 --> 00:00:41.989 - And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice 00:00:41.989 --> 00:00:53.237 - for all. Roll call, please. Here. Dan Swafford. William Ellis. Here. Trevor Sager. Here. Pamela Samples. 00:00:53.237 --> 00:01:00.414 - Action for minutes of the 914-2026 town council meeting. So moved. 00:01:01.474 --> 00:01:07.882 - Motion second all those favors say aye aye any opposed any abstaining Acts to pay accounts payable vouchers 00:01:07.882 --> 00:01:13.934 - and payroll vouchers. So moved second motion second also favor say aye aye any opposed any abstaining 00:01:13.934 --> 00:01:20.164 - This is a little bit of an unusual council meeting and that there are no resolutions There are no orders 00:01:20.164 --> 00:01:26.395 - on first reading their orange is on second reading. There's no old business which takes us to the bottom 00:01:26.395 --> 00:01:27.166 - third of our 00:01:27.906 --> 00:01:35.730 - Little synopsis here and we'll start with area 10 agency on aging executive director I'm the new director 00:01:35.730 --> 00:01:43.333 - for area 10 agency on aging and rural transit. Thank you for letting me speak to you this evening area 00:01:43.333 --> 00:01:50.935 - 10 rural transit has been honored to serve your community and we understand that this service has been 00:01:50.935 --> 00:01:52.190 - an important and 00:01:52.866 --> 00:02:00.928 - resource for riders traveling to work, medical appointments, shopping, and essential daily activities. 00:02:00.928 --> 00:02:09.068 - We know that losing this service will create challenges for many, and we want all of our riders to know 00:02:09.068 --> 00:02:16.347 - that this is solely due to required funding loss for area 10 rural transit. The 2020 census, 00:02:16.347 --> 00:02:21.278 - as you may know, determined an urbanized area for Ellitsville. 00:02:22.274 --> 00:02:29.823 - And because Area 10's rural transit operates with funding from NDOT's Rural Transportation Grant, we 00:02:29.823 --> 00:02:37.447 - were advised that we would need to stop providing transportation for the urbanized area. The only way 00:02:37.447 --> 00:02:45.295 - rural transit is allowed to continue serving the urbanized area of Ellitsville is if the operating costs 00:02:45.295 --> 00:02:49.854 - are paid for and funded by other entities. So I'm here today 00:02:50.338 --> 00:02:57.688 - to request that the town of Ellisville consider funding public transportation for the urbanized area 00:02:57.688 --> 00:03:05.038 - of Ellisville. There has been a 2% increase in ridership each year for the past three years. So with 00:03:05.038 --> 00:03:12.606 - this projected increase in ridership for 2027, we estimate the cost for providing public transportation 00:03:12.606 --> 00:03:17.118 - for the total urbanized area of Monroe County to be $200,000. 00:03:17.634 --> 00:03:26.017 - Ellitsville ridership has been consistently 70% of this urban transportation so far in 2026. So we're 00:03:26.017 --> 00:03:34.318 - requesting 140,000 from the town of Ellitsville to help support rural transit, public transportation 00:03:34.318 --> 00:03:43.358 - for the urbanized area. I hope you've received my little handout, kind of broke it down a little bit for you. 00:03:45.442 --> 00:03:52.185 - I'm happy to answer any questions, or if I can't answer them right now, research and get figures to 00:03:52.185 --> 00:03:59.265 - you if you'd like. Any questions from council? I just want to say we have tried to get funding for rural 00:03:59.265 --> 00:04:06.210 - transit. The county currently collects a food and beverage tax from Ellitsville, and the county fought 00:04:06.210 --> 00:04:13.156 - us on taking that tax and using it for rural transit. So until that changes, I mean, I'm just speaking 00:04:13.156 --> 00:04:14.302 - for myself here, 00:04:14.914 --> 00:04:24.592 - We can't be in the transportation business. There's just no funding to scale up for that Other questions 00:04:24.592 --> 00:04:34.179 - from council Thank you, ma'am, okay, I appreciate your time Next we'll move to a presentation from disc 00:04:34.179 --> 00:04:44.318 - golf club Colin Frank I'll try to be quick. So for those of you who don't know me, my name is Colin Frank and 00:04:44.738 --> 00:04:50.619 - I'm proud to live in Ellitsville. I'm also a proud member of the Bloomington Disc Golf Club. I'm proposing 00:04:50.619 --> 00:04:56.115 - that we add a disc golf course to the Ellitsville Town Hall Park. I was here two years ago and gave 00:04:56.115 --> 00:05:01.722 - a very similar presentation, but we've definitely refined things, and this is a much better plan than 00:05:01.722 --> 00:05:07.603 - I initially had. So what is disc golf? So for those of you who are not familiar with it, it's very similar 00:05:07.603 --> 00:05:13.374 - to golf. Your goal is to try to throw a disc, or you can think of like a thinner frisbee, into a basket, 00:05:13.506 --> 00:05:19.614 - and as few throws as possible. It's playable by all ages. So recently, there's the World Disc 00:05:19.614 --> 00:05:26.242 - Golf Championships. The oldest competitor was 88 years old. The youngest was 13. In our club, we have 00:05:26.242 --> 00:05:32.870 - a member who's four years old who shows up regularly. So this is a very accessible sport. It's a very 00:05:32.870 --> 00:05:39.563 - affordable sport. You only need one disc to start. Discs typically sell for $10 to $25. So this is not 00:05:39.563 --> 00:05:40.798 - a high-cost entry. 00:05:40.994 --> 00:05:46.433 - It can be played all year round. So we play in winter. We play in the summer. Doesn't matter what the 00:05:46.433 --> 00:05:51.872 - weather is. We're out there. It's one of the fastest growing sports in the world. So the Professional 00:05:51.872 --> 00:05:57.524 - Disc Golf Association 2025 reported that there were over 1100 new courses worldwide. So this is something 00:05:57.524 --> 00:05:58.430 - that is growing. 00:06:00.098 --> 00:06:05.989 - So what would a disc golf course look like? So typically disc golf courses are nine to 18 holes. People 00:06:05.989 --> 00:06:11.766 - typically think of wide open holes, but they can be placed in a large variety of outdoor settings. So 00:06:11.766 --> 00:06:17.657 - on your screen there is a picture of a hole from Ellettville, a disc golf course in, or sorry, Edgewood 00:06:17.657 --> 00:06:23.491 - disc golf course at the elementary school. Disc golf courses can be designed for a variety of players. 00:06:23.491 --> 00:06:27.966 - So it can be designed for beginner players, advanced players, or professional. 00:06:28.130 --> 00:06:34.017 - You can use multiple, that should say, T positions to offer a variety. So you can have a short T to 00:06:34.017 --> 00:06:40.199 - make the whole easier. You can have a longer T to make it more difficult. And then just to kind of offer 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:46.263 - some comparative courses. So Edgewood is the closest course, but it is closed during the school hours, 00:06:46.263 --> 00:06:52.210 - so it is not publicly available for most of the day. And then you have Carson Farm Park, which is on 00:06:52.210 --> 00:06:57.214 - the southwest side of Bloomington, and then Crestmont Park, which is in Bloomington. 00:06:58.594 --> 00:07:05.567 - So just some benefits of a disc golf course. So it provides a recreational activity for Ellitsville. 00:07:05.567 --> 00:07:12.540 - It's a low-cost, high-return investment. So a course typically costs $10,000 to $20,000, which we'll 00:07:12.540 --> 00:07:19.582 - talk about that a little later, which is significantly cheaper than something like a basketball court 00:07:19.582 --> 00:07:20.894 - or a tennis court. 00:07:21.314 --> 00:07:27.331 - It provides a social activity for youth and adults. So disc golf is typically a social game, if you 00:07:27.331 --> 00:07:32.927 - can't tell from all my supporters who came out tonight. With youth, it's really important to 00:07:32.927 --> 00:07:39.005 - offer recreational activities that they can play with their friends that don't cost a lot, right? So 00:07:39.005 --> 00:07:45.383 - this is something that gets them out, gets them away from their phone, gets them offline, enjoying nature 00:07:45.383 --> 00:07:49.054 - and enjoying their community. We also have community events. 00:07:49.186 --> 00:07:55.729 - There are tournaments that we host throughout the year. And there's a lot of community engagement. So 00:07:55.729 --> 00:08:01.952 - you can think of like golf scrambles at a golf course. We have fundraisers as well in Disc Golf. 00:08:01.952 --> 00:08:08.880 - So in 2026, we hosted the Wintry Indiana Frozen fundraiser event or what we call WIFs. And all the proceeds 00:08:08.880 --> 00:08:14.910 - went to the Hoosier Hills Food Bank. So we do support local businesses and charitable groups. 00:08:15.874 --> 00:08:21.691 - Other benefits, so it doubles as a walking and biking trail. So here's another hole from the Edgewood 00:08:21.691 --> 00:08:27.394 - course. So you can see the trail going up through the woods. If someone's not playing that hole for 00:08:27.394 --> 00:08:33.381 - disc golf, there's nothing stopping you from just enjoying a nice walk out in the woods. It also reduces 00:08:33.381 --> 00:08:39.255 - crime in the park. So these are typically areas where you don't have a lot of people, which adds spots 00:08:39.255 --> 00:08:44.958 - where people could engage in illegal activity. So you are adding surveillance throughout your park. 00:08:45.058 --> 00:08:51.041 - It improves forest health, so part of this project is removing a lot of undergrowth as well as invasive 00:08:51.041 --> 00:08:57.023 - species. That introduces a lot of disease and decay within your woods. So by going through and removing 00:08:57.023 --> 00:09:03.006 - that, you actually improve the health of the mature trees. And then to improve utilization of the park. 00:09:03.298 --> 00:09:09.501 - Speaking a little bit more about utilization, there is a disc golf app called UDisc. It allows you to 00:09:09.501 --> 00:09:15.582 - track your disc golf rounds, so it keeps your score for you. But one of the really nice things that 00:09:15.582 --> 00:09:21.785 - it does is it provides reports on courses. So Karst Farm Parks would be the most comparable course to 00:09:21.785 --> 00:09:28.110 - one that we'd put in here. In 2025, there are 4,200 rounds. UDisc estimates that it captures about half 00:09:28.110 --> 00:09:29.022 - of all rounds. 00:09:29.154 --> 00:09:35.654 - When I play, I don't always use UDIS, so this is probably pretty accurate. Assuming that, that's 8,400 00:09:35.654 --> 00:09:42.090 - rounds a year, which means 24 people per day, regardless of weather or snow or cold, go to Karst just 00:09:42.090 --> 00:09:48.843 - to play disc golf, right? So that's 24 people per day that would be coming to this park. And then, another 00:09:48.843 --> 00:09:55.216 - really interesting fact is they show distance that people traveled. So over 300 people traveled more 00:09:55.216 --> 00:09:58.750 - than 30 miles away. So now, you are bringing new people 00:09:58.914 --> 00:10:05.959 - to Ellitsville. So why this park? So disc golf courses are fairly large. Here's a picture of the property. 00:10:05.959 --> 00:10:12.873 - Half of it has already been cleared, and you guys have plans for most of that. But half of it is wooded, 00:10:12.873 --> 00:10:19.984 - so there's about 22 acres of wooded hilly land that's really not suitable for other buildings or activities 00:10:19.984 --> 00:10:27.358 - other than trails, but we already talked that this would double as a trail. So we need about one acre per hole. 00:10:27.618 --> 00:10:33.878 - so we need about 18 acres, you have 22. Currently in Eltsville, there is no course publicly available 00:10:33.878 --> 00:10:40.137 - during school hours, so this would add a recreational need, once again, and then it would fit in with 00:10:40.137 --> 00:10:46.336 - all the other current plans, so it wouldn't impede anything out in the open. So what would that look 00:10:46.336 --> 00:10:52.657 - like? So here is a proposed design for the 18-hole course. So I have actually been out in those woods, 00:10:52.657 --> 00:10:56.830 - walked up and down, found different areas where we could put holes, 00:10:56.994 --> 00:11:02.618 - The course would have beginner tees and advanced tees. That way, new players could come out here and 00:11:02.618 --> 00:11:08.187 - enjoy the woods, but then advanced players would have a little bit more challenging of a course. We 00:11:08.187 --> 00:11:13.866 - would initially just have one pen placement. In the future, we'd have other spots where we could move 00:11:13.866 --> 00:11:19.658 - the basket, which adds variety to the course, but it also allows some of that land to take a break from 00:11:19.658 --> 00:11:25.337 - things like erosion and different things that come with having a course. So what would implementation 00:11:25.337 --> 00:11:25.950 - look like? 00:11:26.178 --> 00:11:31.938 - So once again, this is another hole out of Edgewood. Basically, we'd have to remove underbrush along 00:11:31.938 --> 00:11:37.926 - our fairway. Some saplings would have to be removed, so that's small trees, four inches or less at chest 00:11:37.926 --> 00:11:43.743 - height. We would not touch mature trees. Mature trees actually help your course. It helps define your 00:11:43.743 --> 00:11:49.617 - course. We would have to dig a hole for a basket, and we'd have to place the basket, put cement around 00:11:49.617 --> 00:11:53.438 - it. We'd have to level an area for a tee pad, and same for a sign. 00:11:54.754 --> 00:12:00.236 - You may be wondering what all that cost. Like I said, typically it costs between $10,000 and $20,000 00:12:00.236 --> 00:12:05.664 - to put in a disc golf course. Not included in that is all your labor cost, right? And this is a big 00:12:05.664 --> 00:12:11.308 - cost, and it's something that we really need to consider. What I really want to drive home is that this 00:12:11.308 --> 00:12:16.953 - is a community-driven project. Like I said, I'm a member of the Bloomington Disc Golf Club. I have many 00:12:16.953 --> 00:12:19.070 - more members back there with me today. 00:12:19.746 --> 00:12:27.122 - One of our missions or our goals is to increase access to disc golf. We already have a full set of 18 00:12:27.122 --> 00:12:34.353 - baskets. We had fundraised for another local course and improved their baskets. We took the baskets 00:12:34.353 --> 00:12:41.802 - that we took out of the ground, and now we want to create another course. So that lets us avoid almost 00:12:41.802 --> 00:12:48.382 - 80% of the cost. In terms of labor, we have 1,100 members in our Facebook disc golf group. 00:12:48.610 --> 00:12:54.757 - I currently have over 50 signatures of people who are willing to help put in the labor to put this course 00:12:54.757 --> 00:13:00.672 - in place. And we already have experience doing this. We already do a lot of the maintenance work over 00:13:00.672 --> 00:13:06.587 - Edgewood Disc Golf Course and at Crestmont Park. So that leaves about $2,000 left. Usually what we do 00:13:06.587 --> 00:13:12.502 - is we do some sort of fundraiser where someone can sponsor a hole. So on that sign for the hole, just 00:13:12.502 --> 00:13:15.518 - underneath it, it would say sponsored by so and so. 00:13:16.130 --> 00:13:22.332 - We'd offer those for about $150, and that would cover the remaining cost. So to taxpayers, it wouldn't 00:13:22.332 --> 00:13:28.533 - cost a dime. Future projects. So if this project goes well and the town wants to invest in it, you can 00:13:28.533 --> 00:13:34.674 - always add more money into things. Sometimes, holes get busy, and you have to wait a little while, so 00:13:34.674 --> 00:13:40.876 - benches would be a really nice amenity. Some of the land back there gets a little rough, because there 00:13:40.876 --> 00:13:42.622 - is a creek going through it. 00:13:42.786 --> 00:13:49.090 - So adding a small bridge in the future would just help with accessibility. Trash cans strategically 00:13:49.090 --> 00:13:55.647 - placed throughout the course would just de-incentivize any sort of littering. Our group is usually very 00:13:55.647 --> 00:14:01.951 - well at picking that up, but it would help. Eventually we would upgrade the baskets, do kind of the 00:14:01.951 --> 00:14:08.382 - same thing. So we'd fundraise, replace the baskets, take the old baskets, try to create a new course. 00:14:08.546 --> 00:14:15.248 - And then, you can always get really fancy. You can always add things like retaining walls or elevated 00:14:15.248 --> 00:14:22.016 - baskets or different tricks to the course. So just takeaways, this is a prime location for a disc golf 00:14:22.016 --> 00:14:28.653 - course. It's 22 acres of woods that really can't be used for other things. It would offer a low-cost 00:14:28.653 --> 00:14:35.290 - social recreational activity for the community. It fits within the current plans for the park. There 00:14:35.290 --> 00:14:37.918 - would basically be no cost to the town. 00:14:38.466 --> 00:14:47.398 - and then it would significantly improve utilization of the park. I'd like to thank you for your time 00:14:47.398 --> 00:14:56.684 - and consideration in this project. Do you have any questions? Questions from council? I like it. I mean, 00:14:56.684 --> 00:15:05.528 - I'll comment that. So I don't really have a question. Do you want to weigh in? Well, I would say, I 00:15:05.528 --> 00:15:08.446 - had a warm up to it and it took, 00:15:08.578 --> 00:15:19.008 - meetings and we he Collins come over a couple three times and after looking at the proposal and thinking 00:15:19.008 --> 00:15:28.942 - about our mission to expand our parks and create new amenities that'll Get people out and recreate. 00:15:28.942 --> 00:15:36.094 - I think this is a good good proposal Again, I think it's a good idea if 00:15:36.194 --> 00:15:43.070 - as long as it's not costing taxpayers any money. But I'm not so sure this is something that's best directed 00:15:43.070 --> 00:15:49.756 - to the town council. It's probably better directed to the parks board than rather it is for the council. 00:15:49.756 --> 00:15:56.378 - I agree with that. And I would say that I'm prepared to utilize some of our equipment for clearing when 00:15:56.378 --> 00:16:01.726 - this, if this takes off and I, you know, if we're going to have a golf course here, 00:16:02.114 --> 00:16:09.456 - Again, I don't think any of the three of us and I speak for my colleagues have an issue with this Just 00:16:09.456 --> 00:16:16.870 - what's the appropriate venue for and what are the the liabilities that we have to make sure that we're? 00:16:16.870 --> 00:16:23.998 - Come here first and sure in Fill you out take your temperature and you need a vote from a star list 00:16:23.998 --> 00:16:25.566 - specifically I do not 00:16:25.762 --> 00:16:31.409 - It's going to go before the Parks Board. I think consensus of the councils, we are completely good with 00:16:31.409 --> 00:16:37.057 - it. Right. We can get it to the Parks Board. Collin came to the Parks Board about a year ago, two years 00:16:37.057 --> 00:16:42.595 - down, and we indicated that we were in favor of that. I think we're probably gonna need a little more 00:16:42.595 --> 00:16:48.242 - formal from you guys at this point to make it happen. Well, we'll be meeting the sixth, so. Okay. Okay. 00:16:48.242 --> 00:16:50.686 - Thank you so much. There are no other items. 00:16:53.922 --> 00:17:00.348 - There are no other items on the agenda, so now we'll move to privilege of the floor and having business 00:17:00.348 --> 00:17:06.588 - for council that's not part of the normal agenda. Seeing no one in chambers and no one online, we'll 00:17:06.588 --> 00:17:13.076 - now move to supervisor comments with the town manager being first. Okay, I just want to remind everybody 00:17:13.076 --> 00:17:19.440 - we're gonna have a public hearing on Monday, October 5th to introduce the budget and there'll be first 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:23.518 - reading and then on October 19th will be the adoption meeting and 00:17:23.682 --> 00:17:34.077 - that both meetings are at 6.30. There are special meetings too, by the way. I'm sorry, anything else? 00:17:34.077 --> 00:17:44.269 - No. Chief? I'd like to take a moment to recognize I got to work the Peden Family Farm Festival this 00:17:44.269 --> 00:17:50.078 - year. Trevor was there as well. And the fire department. 00:17:50.498 --> 00:17:57.622 - A lot of people was representative, but it's their 72nd year of having that festival for a bunch of 00:17:57.622 --> 00:18:05.245 - second and third graders. I just, Joyce and Joe and their family have done that for 72 years and I thought 00:18:05.245 --> 00:18:11.870 - it was worth mentioning. The thing I'd like to mention too is I'm not sure who has more fun. 00:18:12.418 --> 00:18:20.217 - if the peons have more fun or the kids have more fun, particularly Joe. I'm not sure. And there's a 00:18:20.217 --> 00:18:28.173 - lot of older gentlemen and ladies that come and volunteer. Everything out there is volunteer. There's 00:18:28.173 --> 00:18:36.362 - no charge. It's just America at its best. I agree. Chief? We should be taking delivery of our new engine 00:18:36.362 --> 00:18:41.822 - tomorrow or Wednesday. And yes, it's blue. And one could always hope. 00:18:42.466 --> 00:18:49.767 - The goal is maybe the next council meeting will have it come up here But we're hoping that it'll be 00:18:49.767 --> 00:18:57.141 - in service middle of October by the time we get all of our equipment and the radios and stuff put in 00:18:57.141 --> 00:19:04.588 - it and which Which unit is it replacing? It's replacing the station engine that's here in town So the 00:19:04.588 --> 00:19:12.254 - current engine will go to a backup position Anything else that's all I've got. Thank you. I have nothing 00:19:13.602 --> 00:19:23.068 - So I wanted to thank Elena Allen of Blackwell Construction. She coordinated a house they were going 00:19:23.068 --> 00:19:32.533 - to demolish to be used by local law enforcement and their canine partners for practice and they had 00:19:32.533 --> 00:19:40.958 - use of it for about three weeks. So I just wanted to thank them for doing that. No, sir. 00:19:42.818 --> 00:19:44.382 - Seeing no further business, we're adjourned.