- Now call to order the joint meeting of the Richland Township Board and the Town Council of Ellensville,
- Indiana, Monroe County. This is May 27th, 2026. We'll now do the roll call for members of both organizations,
- starting at the far end. Jay Thrasher, Richland Township. David, we're all in Richland Township.
- John Donnell, Richland Township. Scott Oldham, Ellsfield. William Ellis, town of Ellsfield. Trevor Sager,
- town of Ellsfield. Candice Wofford, town of Ellsfield. Now the Pledge of Allegiance, please. 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. Dear Lord, bless this meeting. Bless us with the wisdom to make the
- right decisions for the people we represent. And bless us with humility and wisdom. In your name, amen.
- Ms. Brown.
- since last November 10th and on that date the Richland Township Board passed a resolution indicating
- a willingness to explore a reorganization of the town of Ellensville under the Government Modernization
- Act. The town responded on November 24th by passing its own resolution agreeing to explore a reorganization
- of the town. Thereafter each ward appointed
- representatives to form a reorganization committee, and that consisted of seven members. And over this
- past winter and spring, the reorganization committee held several public meetings to discuss what a
- reorganization between the township and the town might look like. Early on in the process, subcommittees
- were formed from a cross-section of citizens, township employees, and town employees, and each subcommittee
- took responsibility for taking one aspect of government and preparing a subcommittee report on that
- one aspect of government and how that would look if the reorganization passes. And each subcommittee
- prepared written reports. They were presented to the reorganization committee at the end of March, 1st
- of April. These subcommittees included finance, local governments,
- public safety, planning and zoning, parks, recreation, cemeteries, street department and road maintenance,
- water, sewer, and stormwater, and services provided by the former township. And in each of those reports,
- the subcommittees looked at budget and staffing, addressed some capital improvement projects, what the
- new government would look like if it passed, how many town council members, how the transition planning
- and zoning from a town,
- to 6,000 to a town of 15,000. And I know I said this at a previous meeting, but I'd like to reiterate
- that I thought the subcommittees did an excellent job on the reports. I thought they were very thorough,
- and I liked everything about them, the language, the graphics, the maps, everything. And I liked the
- history that was put in some of those reports. So in any event, the subcommittees present their report
- to the reorganization committee.
- The reorganization committee approved a draft plan of reorganization on April 9th, and that has been
- on the ellisvillerichlandinfo.org website since about that time. And as you're aware, that's a recommendation
- to both boards as to how the reorganization can move forward, because ultimately the obligation to draft
- the reorganization plan rests with both the governmental boards. And throughout this entire process,
- Baker-Tilley has
- greatly assisted us by attending meetings, giving PowerPoint presentations, coming to Ellensville to
- meet in person with town employees, township employees, and answering multiple questions over the phone.
- And Baker Tilley has presented a fiscal plan, which is what you're going to be looking at this evening.
- And so we are here in our series of final meetings, and the purpose of this evening's meeting is to consider
- preliminary approval of a fiscal plan, and the Indiana Code requires the boards, the reorganizing entities,
- to approve a fiscal plan prior to adopting a reorganization plan. So what you have in your packets are
- proposed resolutions to be considered by the Township Board and the Town Council, and if those are passed
- this evening,
- Those resolutions will go to the Department of Environmental Finance along with the draft of the fiscal
- plan for the DLGS review. So Paige Sandstone from Baker Tilly is here, and I believe she has
- two presentations. The first of which is a PowerPoint presentation on reorganization generally, what
- that looks like for the citizens, and then the fiscal plan, which will go to the DLGS. And
- if your reorganization plan is adopted, that will be part of your reorganization plan.
- Okay. Questions from this part. Okay. Baker Tilly. Thank you. My PowerPoint presentation that will actually
- summarize that fiscal plan, but there is a separate separate plan document.
- that goes along with that. But I've tried to incorporate it into this presentation. So really, the intent
- of the presentation really is to present the fiscal plan to you. But we felt that it was very important
- to provide some background and some context. So I am going to summarize the reorganization plan for
- you as well. So starting on, make sure this works.
- So the purpose of the reorganization is to improve government efficiency, enhance the coordination of
- services, increase flexibility and local control, and improve planning and transparency. It will further
- support growth throughout the community. So this is intended to support the long-term goals of your
- community. The overall concept is to create a more coordinated and sustainable local government structure while
- preserving the representation and service responsiveness for both the urban and rural proportions of
- the area. So at its core, the proposal would reorganize Richland Township and the town of Ellisville
- into a unified government structure. If approved by voters, the reorganization will become effective
- January 1st of 2027. This means the current
- separate township government structure would transition into the consolidated governmental model administered
- through the town. Today, the town and the township operates as separate governmental units with separate
- budgets for administration and services. Under the proposed structure, there would be one unified government,
- one governing body,
- in a more coordinated budgeting and administrative structure. The intent is to reduce duplication, improve
- service coordination, and create a more streamlined approach to governance. The proposed governance
- structure includes a seven member town council. This would include five district seats and two at large
- seats during the transition period.
- The township government would be dissolved, but representation for both the urban and rural areas would
- continue through the district structure. The goal is to maintain local representation while improving
- coordination across the consolidated area. The reorganized government would continue providing key local
- services, including police and fire protection, roads and public works,
- parks and recreation, planning and zoning, and public assistance services previously administered through
- the township will continue to be provided by the town. The intent is to not eliminate services, but
- to improve coordination and long-term service delivery. The proposal establishes two primary service
- districts, an urban district
- in a rural district. The urban district would generally reflect the current town boundaries and continue
- to receive the full complement of municipal services. The rural district would include former township
- areas where service delivery would remain tailored to the lower density rural conditions and needs.
- The structure is intended to balance fairness, service expectations, and tax impacts. This slide outlines
- which services and tax bases would apply across the different service areas. Certain services such as
- police and debt service would remain specific to the urban district.
- Other services including fire protection parks and recreation and general administration would apply
- across the broader consolidated area. This framework isn't is again intended to align taxes more closely
- with the services that are currently provided. So why two districts.
- The two-district structure serves several important purposes that I've reiterated or I'm going to reiterate
- here. It matches the taxes with the service levels. It allows phased growth and expansion. It preserves
- the rural character and expectations. And it supports long-term infrastructure planning. This approach
- recognizes the urban and rural areas often have two different service demands and infrastructure needs.
- So these next slides that we'll go through summarize several plan service enhancements and operational
- updates. So some of the public safety enhancements include increased police staffing over time, additional
- firefighter staffing, maintaining and improving response times, and addressing growing service demand.
- The proposal also includes unified planning and zoning authority, updated land use,
- planning, coordinated development policies, and expanded responsibility for roads and infrastructure
- maintenance. The township services will include public assistance programs, and that will continue.
- Cemetery maintenance and community services would remain in place, and township staff would transition
- into the town structure where appropriate.
- There are no immediate changes proposed right now for utilities or stormwater operations in 2027. This
- slide summarizes the proposed staffing additions associated with the reorganization. The largest investments
- are focused on fire, police, streets and infrastructure, planning, parks, and public assistance administration.
- The total estimated annual staffing impact is approximately $2.7 million. These additions are intended
- to support the future growth, improve service delivery, and strengthen long-term operational capacity.
- So now we're getting into more of the fiscal impact analysis portion of this presentation. The next
- few slides summarize the financial analysis supporting the proposed reorganization. So slide 15 compares
- the current or town and then the township rule property tax rates and levies. So you can see from this slide
- slide that the town currently levies a rate of .6160, which generates approximately $3.3 million of
- property tax. The township levies a rate of .1644, which generates approximately $1.3 million in property
- tax. So that's the current structure.
- We also need to let you know about any outstanding debt that is property tax supported. So Richland
- Township does not have any outstanding debt that's property tax supported. The town does have two debt
- issuances that are property tax supported. One is a lease rental bond that matures in 2033, and the
- other is a general obligation bond that matures in 2036.
- But it is very important to note that these existing town debt issuances will remain with the current
- town taxpayers and township residents would not assume any existing town debt obligations. The projected
- combined budget for this reorganized entity is 11.3 million.
- This analysis assumes that there will be a reduction in administrative duplication. There will be increased
- investment in public safety and infrastructure. There will be continued township services and conservative
- revenue growth assumptions. Based on current assumptions, the proposed funding plan
- is sustainable as supported by the projected revenue. So here on this slide we do have a four year kind
- of net cash flow graphic that shows that it is a sustainable budget. There are enough revenues that
- will fund the plan of reorganization.
- This analysis also assumes gradual levy growth, which all taxing units get in the state on an annual
- basis, static debt service, so no change in debt service, conservative revenue assumptions, and an annual
- operational inflation adjustment for the expenses.
- This slide shows the projected property tax levy and tax rates of the reorganized town. So this is what
- the setup would look like. So basically the property tax rate in the urban area would be .7028. The
- tax rate in the rural area would be .2776.
- These tax rates would generate approximately $6.1 million in property tax revenue for the reorganized
- town of Ellisville. So one of the important questions is how the reorganization may affect taxpayers.
- The estimated average impacts are
- a 6.9% increase for properties located in Richland Township, a 3.5% increase for properties located
- in Ellitsville Bean Blossom, so the portion of Ellitsville that's in Bean Blossom Township, and then a 4.1%
- increase to the portion of Ellitsville that's in Richland Township. It's important to emphasize that
- some properties may see
- smaller increases or perhaps even little to no increase, depending on if the property is hitting the
- property tax caps. So in this slide, we've illustrated the potential impact to some sample properties
- here. So for a residential property ranging from 150,000 to 300,000,
- If that property is located in Richland Township, we're expecting an increase between $5 to $12 per
- month. That's a monthly increase. For the town of Ellitsville, the increase could be anywhere between
- $3 to $5. However, again, I want to reiterate that if your property is at the property tax caps, there
- will be little to no increase in your tax bill.
- We also have an illustration of the farmland and residential rental properties, and we just picked a
- value between $500,000 and a million dollars. Those increases in Richland Township would range from
- $18 to $89, for Ellitsville Town between $6 and $29. And then the last classification of property is
- commercial and all other property, which would include personal property, the same price range,
- thousand to a million, you're looking at between a $47 and $94 increase for Richland Township, Ellitsville
- $36 to $72. So you probably wonder, okay, well, how can I estimate my property tax bill? So we have
- an easy three-step process if you wanna estimate how this might impact you. So one is,
- find your current property tax bill. And to do that, you can go to the Monroe County property tax portal,
- or you can review the most recent statement that you received in the mail that would show what your
- property taxes are due for this entire year. So for this illustration, just for example, we're going
- to say that
- Your property tax bill is $1,800 currently before reorganization. So now you need to identify where
- is your property located? Is it in Richland Township unincorporated? Is it in the portion of Ellisville
- that's in Richland Township or the portion of Ellisville that's in Bean Blossom? Those are three different
- taxing districts. There is a corresponding percentage change to your tax bill depending on which taxing
- district it's located.
- So 6.9% for Richland, for example. 4.1% for Ellitsville, Richland, and 3.5% for Ellitsville, Bean Blossom.
- So once you figure out where it's located, now you just take that current tax bill, 1,800 as an example,
- and apply the appropriate percentage. So if we assume that this property is located in Richland Township,
- and the bill is $1,800 right now, we're gonna apply that 6.9% increase or,
- 0.069, so 1,800 times 0.069 equals an annual increase of $124. If you divide that by 12, that's $10
- per month. So anyone should be able to use this three-step process to determine the impact on their
- property tax bill.
- Now we need to look at the next few slides, which will explain how the property tax caps here in Indiana,
- also known as circuit breaker credits, may affect both the taxpayers and the overlapping taxing units
- in these three taxing districts. So this slide just shows a summary of the property tax credits here
- in Indiana. We have three classifications of property tax credits. One, Homestead.
- So your residential, your main residential homestead property is capped at 1% of the gross assessed
- value. Other residential property and farmland is capped at 2% of your gross assessed value. And the
- commercial property is capped at 3%. So as an example, if I have a $100,000 residential homestead and
- my cap is 1%,
- I shouldn't pay more than $1,000, but there are a few exceptions. If schools have a voter referendum
- to approve a new debt, I could perhaps pay above that because those are exempted from Circuit Breaker.
- So how this works is if when the county calculates the tax bill, if it exceeds the cap, then a credit
- is applied so that my tax bill does not exceed the cap.
- Since reorganization reallocates the property tax levy, it may cause an increase in property tax rates.
- If the calculated tax bill, as I stated before, is above the cap, the taxpayer does not pay the full
- rate increase because the tax cap limits the bill. That's why I said earlier, some taxpayers may not
- even be impacted by this reorganization.
- But those taxpayers that are impacted, there is an impact on the overlapping taxing units. So when circuit
- breaker credits increase, meaning more taxpayers receive credits, local government may receive less
- property tax revenue because there's larger credits that are applied. And overlapping units such as
- schools, libraries, and counties can also experience revenue impacts as well.
- So our fiscal analysis does include estimated impacts to the overlapping taxing units, and it also includes
- future scenarios as well. So in slide 26, you can see the units that are impacted, and you can see that
- Ellisville town will be impacted the most, not surprising. Ellisville is the one that is reorganizing,
- along with Richland Township. So that is the,
- The credits for Ellisville will increase by about 145,000, meaning there's gonna be a reduction in property
- tax revenue of that amount. We've built that into the analysis. The reorganized town will be able to
- compensate for that, but it's something that the town needs to be aware of. If you look at the other
- taxing units, it's somewhat minor increases. For the school, we would expect an increase of those credits
- of about $23,000.
- For the county, it's about $8,000. So you can see there are really minimal increases except for the
- town, and the town is aware of those increases.
- And then we've tried to project that out in future years only because it's not that you're phasing anything
- in. We know that this would start in 2027, but you need to see the future years because of the legislative
- changes that phase in through 2031. So we wanted to kind of give you a feeling for what might happen
- to the circuit breakers going forward in future years, not caused by
- by the reorganization just simply caused by the phase in of homestead credits and other property tax
- credits throughout the years. So what's next? The next phase of this process includes several important
- milestones. One is a public hearing.
- There will be some legislative approvals. We are going to submit the fiscal impact analysis to the Department
- of Local Government Finance for their review and ultimately a public vote in November of 2026.
- And of course, if this is approved, then it would be effective January 1st, 2027.
- It's important to note that a separate majority approval is required for both town voters and township
- voters. In other words, both groups must independently approve the proposal for it to move forward.
- Some key takeaways to summarize the proposed reorganization and the fiscal plan is that, again, this
- reorganization creates one
- coordinated local government entity. It preserves the representation for both urban and rural areas.
- It proposes to improve public safety, roads, planning, and community services. It reduces administrative
- duplication. It supports long-term financial sustainability, and it positions the community.
- and it positions the community for future growth and infrastructure investment. So while we know there
- are estimated taxpayer impacts associated with this proposal, this analysis indicates that those impacts
- are generally modest for many property owners, particularly when the tax caps are considered. Now I do have
- a copy of the fiscal impact analysis. I've covered a majority of it in this presentation, but just quickly,
- we did review this to ensure that this does meet the requirements pursuant to the Indiana Code. It has
- all of the relevant data that is needed to be in this fiscal plan, and again, it was summarized in the
- PowerPoint. In fact, most of the graphs were in the PowerPoint.
- So that concludes my presentation. Just one for clarity. You kept referring to police. Just for everybody's
- consideration, that does not mean the police will only respond to current town limits. They will still
- be responding the entire township. It's just the funding stream to make things easier for everybody
- will come from the urban component of this.
- Maybe fully anticipate that the sheriff's department will continue to respond to the rural areas as
- well So let's reorganize that. Okay, then we need do you need to make an update? Now, let's make that
- change Okay So that's gonna be an issue that we need to deal with Because again, we were taking it over
- so sheriff's department doesn't respond to a municipality So we need to do some refigures here
- I think that needs to be taken under advisement of the Public Safety Committee. Any other questions?
- Okay, thank you. Where do we go from here, Ms. Brown? We were gonna go to public comment. If you would
- like to, yes.
- All right. Well, we'll entertain our members of the public. You have a three-minute time limit. Just
- as a reminder, this is for your comments, not question answered with the council, but definitely something
- we'll take into account. So if there's anyone in chambers who wish to speak, please step forward. If
- you're online, please raise your hand using the raise hand function.
- Perry would like to speak if we can unmute him and begin his time, please. I think we have a great internet
- system and the sound from the chambers doesn't come through very well, so it's a little bit difficult
- to hear. But I sent the Aliceville town councilors a memo earlier today last year with the town manager
- and also with the clerk president. So you all have copies of the three issues
- And we, myself, and Mr. Sharma, they're present at the meeting today, I believe. Oh, I can't see who's
- in the audience, but I believe he is. And we raised three issues. One was related to the projections
- on the fiscal impact, to the projections related to the wheel tax and other revenues
- Another was where the projections of the Woolcloth income tax, and the third was whether there should
- be something built into the plan to be more responsive to the shore on the rainy day, which this has done.
- I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. Are you finished? I'm finished. All right. Thank you, sir. I just wanted
- to call attention to the contents, the mental open. The mental open was even more detailed. All right.
- Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Online or in chat? Seeing none, we'll move now to the resolutions.
- I would note that just in order to save paper, I didn't duplicate copies of the exhibits. The exhibits
- that would be attached to the resolutions are the same for each one. So that would be one. A, the township
- resolution authorizing the township board to move forward with a reorganization. Exhibit B is the town's
- response and its resolution authorizing moving forward with
- So the first item on the agenda is the Township board's resolution dated May 27, 2026 to preliminarily
- approve the fiscal impact analysis for the proposed reorganization. Before we do that, may I ask a question?
- Sure. Paige, with the police protection, we're higher still
- The public safety plan is hiring three additional officers, correct? And six, I think three right away.
- And we're going to, right. And the plan for that, we would still be the first responders for the whole
- township. We would still manage and maintain with the sheriff would be for emergencies like they would
- be for the city of Bloomington.
- provided to me is that the only the urban would be taxed the police. Oh, that's correct. Right. If you
- all want to continue to provide police protection, town police protection outside of the current urban
- area, that's up to you. Is there anybody from the Public Safety Committee here today? No. I do know
- that that was when we talked about it and the intention was always for us to cover the whole township.
- What our fiscal analysis shows is the tax rate for the police will only be in the urban area. OK. So
- that's not saying just because the tax rate's there. But you can't respond outside of there. Does that
- answer your question a little bit better, Scott? You have a concern? As long as they're getting the
- people they need, because this, again, guys, it goes to fairness. Right.
- Stream is coming from the urban I can support that but just to put out there. Well, we're gonna do all
- this and the sheriff's still gonna respond That's disingenuous. So we can't go down that road So we
- need to make it clear to everybody that police protection will be for the entire township because it'll
- be one unified town So it's not like we're gonna segment off. You're gonna get this service. You're
- not gonna get this service That's not fair either. So just in the interest of fairness I needed to bring
- this up because
- Otherwise, it's being disingenuous up front and calls into question everything else we've done. So for
- everybody's understanding, all services go to all members of the new town, not just segments thereof.
- So fire will respond to the entire township, police will respond to the entire township, public works
- will respond to the entire township. So it's not, even though there's two different taxing rates, that's
- to get everything fair to begin with, not withholding services or providing services
- if that makes sense. Am I correct in that? Everything from the Public Safety Committee, Darla, that's
- your understanding too from the Public Safety Committee, correct? They did not partition and say that
- public safety stops at town borders or anything like that? No, I think that's correct. Right. And that's,
- if we were just going to maintain the town and rely on the sheriff, which, I mean, that's not fair to
- do, we would not have needed to hire any policemen.
- For the purpose of going through the entire township, okay? No, sorry. I just wanted to make The town's
- not available to share and agency some Yeah, all right. Yeah, that's where we're getting community
- Right. And I wanted to clarify that for everybody and not that we have an expectation that sheriff is
- going to respond to everything outside the current town board. Okay. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So the mutual
- aid agreements, that's what they're just for fire. No, it's for all of us. Yeah. So, I mean, you're
- not going to lose any protection, but we're not going to rely on the sheriff's department to be your
- first point contact and the first officer. Correct. So my question then,
- I mean, was this taken into consideration? Because I kind of hear conflicting issues here, I mean. So
- as part of the fiscal analysis, what was taken into consideration is that the police rate, the property
- tax rate for police will only be charged to the current taxpayers within the current town of Ellsville.
- How the town decides to provide the service, that's up to you. So if you want to continue to provide
- that service outside the town, that is totally, that doesn't have anything to do with the fiscal impact
- analysis. That would probably be deeper within the public safety committee's analysis. It's part of
- the draft plan to do for the whole township. I will note, though, that all taxpayers within the county
- pays the rate for share of services. So they could technically respond anywhere within the county. So
- I was simply saying that the sheriff
- That was always the intention and it was taken into account from day one either we've never wavered
- from that So that means that we do have enough staff to handle that. Yeah, correct And would that be
- all six in the first year or
- And it's easier to on board three and then keep your working your way from that point forward. And with
- the amount of calls, three would suffice while we get those up to. Currently, yes. Right. Currently.
- Well, you know, I know we have a current problem of officers on duty during all three shifts. I mean,
- this just to me, that's been
- Okay. We have a couple problems with on leave and whatever else. As we expand our city four times the
- size, is just one extra officer per shift going to be able to handle all this? From what police is advising,
- yes, they feel that they can manage it. Here's what we said, or here's what the Public Safety Committee
- said in its report, which is in the draft report that was approved by the re-organization committee.
- To ensure adequate law enforcement resources exist in a reorganized town, the police department recommends
- the addition of 13 full-time positions, 12 full-time sworn officers, and one full-time civilian. And
- then the next paragraph says the reorganization can be recognized as the significance of the financial
- impact created by the addition of 13 new positions and suggests a phase-in approach over the next five
- to seven years. The immediate need is the addition of three full-time sworn officers.
- And that would give actually more coverage, or at least the same, to what they currently have, because
- the sheriff doesn't have, they're responsible for all the unincorporated areas, right? Well, guys, this
- is a bigger issue, but to bring it out, how do I say this appropriately? The number of officers, assuming
- this were to go through, the number of officers on duty on January 1st, 2027, when this were to take
- effect if it's voted on,
- will be no different than what they are right now tonight. Will not change. Will not change. Now that's
- gonna include staffing from Ellisville, gonna include staffing from the county, include staffing from
- the city, include staffing from the state police, include staffing from the Indian Department of Natural
- Resources, from the Steinsville police. It's all one big homogeneous group as it were when it comes
- to emergencies. Yes, if your mailbox got knocked down it may take an extra hour before somebody comes
- to talk to you.
- But if your home's getting broken into, rest assured, the response time will be the same because the
- numbers will not change. What we're changing in the draft concept, and that's why I was so hot about
- this, is we're adding more to those numbers over time. Now, that may not reduce the sheriffs at all,
- so you may have more at that point. It won't reduce the city at all, won't reduce the state at all,
- won't impose natural resources at all. We're proposing to add more and more and more as time goes on
- in order to adequately staff the current town and township.
- That's why it was so important to me to bring out the clarity of, no, it's going to be Ellitsville police
- responding to the new complete governmental body, not some people get one, some people get the other.
- I'll be honest with you right now, depending upon what's going on in the rest of the county, you very
- well may have Ellitsville police responding to something in Steinsville and the county responding to
- something in Ellitsville or vice versa because of the way the fluid flow works. It's the same with the
- fire department. If Ellitsville's out on something major,
- Then Monroe Fire Territory backs them up. City of Bloomington backs them up and vice versa. So your
- emergency services will not change. And that was the important part for me to get across here is we're
- not changing anything as far as the current numbers. We're proposing to add two over time. That work,
- that make sense? Yeah. You said two, three, right? Three immediately. Three immediately. Okay, and then
- two more over. Well, three more.
- a lot more than. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
- yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
- to a non-emergency police issue, what are they saying about maintaining roads and snow removal? It would
- be the same thing. Again, the town would have to take on that responsibility because it would be one
- town. It will not be town and township. And that's in the plan, too? It's in the plan. They have a plan
- to cover all the township roads outside of the current town limits. Equipment and personnel?
- everything's been talked about, and we do have a plan. So the town has a Department of Public Works,
- not just a street department and utilities department like they used to. So that way in the wintertime,
- for example, if some of the utilities employees are needed, they can switch over to the roads to help
- get them cleared.
- And there is a plan to add some personnel, so it's not like we're going to try to do it with the existing
- staff. Right. Do we have any numbers of how many people were looking at adding? I think there was actually
- somewhere in there. I think it's two. Two. And I understand what Jay's saying, too. I just don't see
- how two people can handle the increased size of this. I just. That's why.
- You hired us to take care of it. Yeah. Logistically, it just doesn't make sense. I mean, how many people
- does the county have in the township right now? None. They're all centrally based. No, they do take
- care of the township. I know. They're all centrally based. Right. But they're not going to take care
- of Elksville proper, I guess, after this. I mean, so we're going to inherit all those streets and roads.
- Right. But it's, again, it's the
- And this is the concept of the police that is the same fires a little different because they've been
- doing it for 40 years. But the county just doesn't have two people assigned just to this township. Those
- two people may have to work in Bloomington Township Benton Township Salt Creek whatever that day they
- may not be immediately available to the township. He's proposing to add to immediately. There is room
- for some other hires as well. Anybody we hire is going to be able to plow snow so.
- there'll be more than two people added to the roster of who plows at night. You'd be surprised what
- we can do with the crews we have now. We've always taken care of you and we will in the future. No buts.
- We talked to them. They said they do not want to take care of us and we should expect
- to plan on taking care of ourselves. And so, I just explained we're going to have some other hires and
- when we hire, we usually hire thinking we have one more plow. That's the whole thing behind the Department
- of Public Works. We're going to hire two more people, but our plan says we're only going to hire two.
- So we are going to hire more.
- The plan also says we have room for contractors. So that's the other thing, too. That's what Sheridan
- Adams Township did. So if we have a major snow event. For instance, if we hire somebody for parks, there'll
- be planned snow, too. What's going on right now? I mean, it's all hands on deck. When we had our big
- snow storm, all of our crews worked and
- We combined the utilities in the street department. If I remember right, we was plowing sparks at the
- end of the day, we'd get the job done. But those concerns were heavily weighted and addressed. We talked
- to, I mean, Kip was involved with it. And I mean- We're definitely not gonna let our mouth over load
- our butt, so. No, and I mean- We thought about it.
- Like I said, it gives us flexibility also to hire contractors until we can, if we need more people.
- And Jay, I didn't mean to cut you off. Go ahead and finish it. I make a motion for the Richland County
- Trustees Board to accept
- to approve the resolution for the financial impact analysis for the proposed reorganization of the township
- and the town of Ellitsville. I'll second the motion. Oh, no, I'll do it, because I'm the secretary.
- Sorry, we do it different than they do so.
- I call myself Don Durnall. I vote yes. David Willoughby? Yes. Jay Thrasher? Present. I think we need
- a vote, don't we? You want a vote? Yeah. No.
- Moving to the town of Ellsville, and I'll call as a resolution 1026, a preliminary approval of a fiscal
- impact analysis proposed reorganization. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Motion to second.
- Scott Holdom? Yes. William Ellis? Yes. Trevor Sater? Yes. Dan Swaffer? No. Motion passes.
- So both motions have passed. Any comments from anyone before we move forward? I would say almost every
- one of these concerns raised are in the plans. So I would encourage everybody to look at those plans.
- Those concerns have been addressed by the subcommittees. And just to be fair for everybody, this is
- a preliminary approval of a fiscal impact analysis to move forward.
- This is not the vote to combine both of them That is much later before we ever send it to the taxpayers
- if it gets sent to the taxpayers So it'll be plenty of times for public comment from this point forward
- The draft plan is available. Is it not William? I would encourage everyone to read it bring forward
- any questions or concerns In its in its final form, it's it's available now
- final draft form I apologize yes subject to modification still correct but yeah it's been out there
- for anybody okay I mean those are good concerns but the subcommittees they did their job to address
- those concerns and make sure that they were sure addressed
- So we have two other meeting dates that are currently listed June 10th 2026 at 630. This is a joint
- public hearing on a plan of reorganization June 26. I'm sorry June 22nd 2026 at 645 note the difference
- in time a joint public meeting on the plan of reorganization. This is where the boards will either reject
- or approve said motions and move them forward. And at that point assuming they are voted up it will go to the
- Voters as a whole on the November ballot if they are voted down by either board then the motion essentially
- is over and it will not move forward to the taxpayers Anything further miss Brown mr. Cook anything
- for you anything from you Special thanks to page for
- always being diligent and getting all this put together. It really makes a really hard process a lot
- easier because of their work. Any more board comments from anyone? Seeing no further, we stand adjourned.