[0:00] My goal is to meet the needs of today
without compromising the needs of future
[0:06] generations by balancing economic
growth, environmental stewardship, and
[0:12] social well-being.
>> [clears throat]
[0:14] » This past summer,
a member of my HOA
[0:18] discussed seeking a grant to remove
invasive plantings from our
[0:23] neighborhood.
While this would provide some personal
[0:27] benefit to myself and my neighborhood,
the broader purpose and benefit would be
[0:34] to the entire community.
A member of the administration took
[0:40] issue with this discussion and privately
accused me, in writing, of using public
[0:46] resources for private benefit.
This individual suggested that the
[0:52] proposed ethics ordinance apply to
councilors to ensure I did not obtain
[0:58] such private benefit.
While I respectfully disagree with their
[1:04] characterization,
I appreciate [clears throat]
[1:06] the opportunity to turn their comments
into a constructive educational moment.
[1:13] Environmental projects, such as removing
invasive plants and restoring native
[1:19] species, provide benefits well beyond an
individual property owner or
[1:24] neighborhood by supporting biodiversity,
improving habitat, and contributing to a
[1:31] healthier community.
I also want to reaffirm my support for
[1:36] the proposed ethics ordinance and for
applying clear, consistent ethical
[1:42] standards to councilors, city employees,
appointees, the city clerk, and the
[1:49] mayor alike.
My commitment is to transparency,
[1:55] responsible public service, and helping
ensure that our citizens can truly live
[2:02] longer in Lawrence.
I remain steadfast in my belief that a
[2:08] healthy environment is fundamental
[clears throat]
[2:11] to a healthy community
and protecting it today is an investment
[2:17] in the quality of life and well-being of
generations of Lawrence residents to
[2:23] come.
>> Thank you very much Councillor Mazoore
[2:26] for those comments. Thank you so much.
>> [clears throat]
[2:29] » Is anyone else with any comments?
>> Yes, Councillor Wells.
[2:33] » Uh, thank you, sir. Uh,
I just wanted to give an update on uh,
[2:38] Tom Burns
uh, who is a member of our park board. I
[2:42] think I told or made the announcement
here
[2:45] a few meetings ago that Tom uh,
sustained an injury in his home
[2:50] uh, very serious one.
Uh, I spoke with him over the weekend.
[2:53] He is back home and going to rehab and
doing
[2:57] uh, pretty well. Uh, he's got a little
bit of a road to hold
[3:00] uh, in getting back 100% but uh, it
looks like he's going to do quite well.
[3:06] Uh, the next thing that I wanted to
bring to the attention
[3:11] was I think about a week or so ago on a
Sunday we had a big car show over Larks
[3:16] Park and uh,
I had uh,
[3:20] I was out of town but I had numerous
phone calls mainly from people that
[3:25] lived in Harrison Park which
for those are not familiar with Harrison
[3:29] Park, it is right adjacent to the Larks
Park uh, to the south and uh,
[3:37] apparently I mean this event obviously
was huge and uh, from what I was told of
[3:45] it I don't know that uh, Larks Park has
ever seen such a huge event even
[3:51] including the 4th of July events, Uh, uh
maybe didn't compare to this event.
[3:58] The uh
complaints or the calls that I got were
[4:02] complaints about people that were
parking in Harrison Park on the streets,
[4:07] which is
totally legal. Uh but they also were
[4:11] parking in front of people's driveways.
One lady called me and told me who was
[4:17] on uh
uh
[4:20] Patton on Patton Drive, which that
street, the houses, the backs of them
[4:25] are
right against the park property. People
[4:29] were going up her driveway and going
over her fence to get into the park.
[4:33] And uh
the uh
[4:36] And I also was told that Franklin Road
was a complete gridlock. There was just
[4:41] no getting in or out of Harrison Park or
the other uh neighborhood uh there on
[4:47] Boy Scout Road because of the traffic.
Uh people were parking in where the old
[4:53] Mars parking lot, they were parking
basically anywhere they could park.
[4:57] And I called and I finally got a hold of
one of the police officers, who told me
[5:03] that they were supposed to park over at
the finance center. Uh apparently
[5:09] I'm not sure whose responsibility that
was, whether it be the administration's
[5:13] responsibility or the promoters of this
car show, that there should have been
[5:19] signage,
uh
[5:21] should have been flyers, uh something
put on social media about the
[5:26] instructions as to where to park, cuz if
obviously there were a lot of people
[5:30] that had no idea where to park. And uh
the uh
[5:35] the front of the Lawrence Park, the main
parking lot was shut off or blocked off
[5:40] where you couldn't park in there because
that was supposed to be an overflow, but
[5:44] I I think most people were aware of that
either.
[5:47] So,
>> [clears throat]
[5:49] » with that said,
I also would like to know and and I'm
[5:54] asking Eric, I see you're here and
Jamie, I see you're here.
[5:58] Between [clears throat]
the two of you or one of you, I would
[6:02] like to know
as councilperson,
[6:06] what
exactly did that car show cost the city
[6:12] of Lawrence?
You know, bearing in mind
[6:15] most everybody knows I you know, I'm
very familiar with the old car and
[6:19] classic car culture as I have a few
myself and have had for a long time.
[6:24] Uh I probably would have been there had
I not been out of town.
[6:27] But I still as a councilman like to know
what did that cost the city of Lawrence?
[6:32] I was told by the police officer that I
spoke with there were 15 police officers
[6:38] and Lawrence police officers in addition
to the IMPD officers that were hired by
[6:43] the
event coordinators.
[6:45] Um
and now we're also I was told that there
[6:49] was a huge
uh
[6:52] mess to clean up uh on park property and
the next day. So, how much additional
[6:59] expense did that cost from our our park
maintenance people?
[7:04] Um
and uh
[7:07] and the additional 15 police officers
and any other expense that may have
[7:13] occurred from that. Um
I mean, I would assume that this event
[7:18] might be a yearly thing or it maybe it's
a one-off thing. I haven't heard. But if
[7:23] we're going to do it again, I would
certainly like to know, you know, who's
[7:27] responsible for this planning and how
much exactly does this cost the city of
[7:32] Lawrence.
Thank you.
[7:35] » Thank you for the comments.
>> [clears throat]
[7:38] » Um
I can tell you that I have a couple
[7:41] answers for you personally but oh,
sorry. Let's
[7:44] We'll talk offline and I'll be able to
answer your questions some of those
[7:47] after the meeting.
>> Oh, I want to know.
[7:49] » Huh?
Oh, you would like to I'll tell you
[7:51] guys. Um
Councilor Jennings.
[7:54] » Yes. Um
I had a constituent uh contact me
[8:00] yesterday evening
um about uh 56 and County Line Road
[8:06] right there.
Um she and almost got into a car uh
[8:10] accident.
Uh someone barreled through the the
[8:13] intersection right there. Um
uh and she wasn't exactly sure if that
[8:18] was uh Hancock County's responsibility
or ours or the city of Indianapolis. Uh
[8:23] uh she so uh
part of the reason why I was
[8:27] late to the first meeting was because I
wanted to go by there and see for myself
[8:31] what that street looked like and there
was the uh two things. There was the um
[8:37] a couple of police I mean the stop signs
were bent over
[8:41] almost out of view of um
uh
[8:45] uh
if someone's coming down they they would
[8:47] miss they would miss the the stop sign.
So, it definitely needs to be fixed. Uh
[8:52] I'm not sure if that's DPW or DPW or
Indianapolis or or even can Hancock
[8:57] County. Um but it definitely needs to be
looked at. Um
[9:01] Oh, and also
the while I was there I did see that the
[9:05] mirror sign looked like there was some
construction done and they they may they
[9:08] may have bent the mirror sign.
>> [cough and clears throat]
[9:10] » It should have been put back.
>> Excuse me.
[9:13] » All right. Uh
>> [clears throat]
[9:14] » Councilor Freeman.
>> Uh yes. So, uh one of my constituents um
[9:20] asked me about um a chicken coop in our
subdivision which is not zoned for. So,
[9:27] our HOA had already [clears throat]
voted on it and voted it down and I
[9:31] wanted everybody to be aware of that.
And then the other one, the residents of
[9:36] the Lawrence Village came before the
council back in June of this year with
[9:41] concerns about the purple line in their
area.
[9:44] Each council member had a seven-page
[clears throat]
[9:46] write-up of concerns that was mailed out
to us back on August the 15th.
[9:52] » Mhm.
>> And your concerns have not been ignored.
[9:57] It's just a lot of moving parts and that
needs to be looked at regarding your
[10:02] concerns.
I just want everybody to be aware of
[10:05] that.
And that's about it.
[10:08] » Oh, no, great. Thank you for the update.
It's a great I'm glad you did that.
[10:12] Thank you very much, Councilwoman
Freeman.
[10:14] » [clears throat]
>> Go ahead.
[10:15] » Here we go. Oh, yeah. Now it's
Councilwoman Ford.
[10:17] » Good evening. I just wanted to update
that Danita and Curtis Quickmore had
[10:21] come in. Her husband is profoundly deaf
and had the whole issue with the
[10:25] mailbox. He did reach out to me over the
weekend [clears throat]
[10:29] to advise that
uh the accommodation was in progress and
[10:35] that the [clears throat] uh post office
agreed to move the mailbox onto the same
[10:40] side of the street as their home uh and
they encouraged her to reach out to a
[10:44] contractor to dig the hole. And so,
she's just keeping me updated. I wanted
[10:48] to make sure the council was aware of
that.
[10:50] » Okay.
Anyone else? Um also, if there's no one
[10:54] else, I also wanted to give the city a
shout-out. Um
[10:57] the Jamie put together a very nice music
um a movie night. Um it was very well
[11:03] done. Uh highly attended. Uh beautiful
night in Lawrence. Families. Uh it was
[11:08] just a really really good thing. Um I
think those are sorts of things that our
[11:12] city should build on. So, commend Jamie
for putting that together and uh look
[11:17] forward to more [clears throat]
opportunities like that. I think also
[11:20] too, Heartland, I don't want to forget
about them. I think they were a partner
[11:24] um in that. And so, um they've been an
asset to the community. Look forward to
[11:28] seeing more more out of them and us. So,
I think that was a good thing.
[11:32] All right, any other comments for the
good? All right.
[11:35] » [clears throat]
>> Let's move right along then.
[11:38] Okay.
[11:41] I do we announce it? Sorry. The next
approval [clears throat] of minutes of
[11:46] the mid-month meeting. Do I have a
motion?
[11:48] » So moved.
>> All right, do I have a second?
[11:50] » I'll second.
>> All right, motion Councillor Wells,
[11:55] second Councillor Mazour.
>> [clears throat]
[11:58] » Um, do you get a vote? Um,
are we doing this electronically?
[12:02] » Yeah, you could do that. I'll just have
to vote for you.
[12:04] » Okay, so everyone can go ahead and vote
electronically.
[12:09] » [clears throat]
>> It's showing It's showing your request
[12:10] to speak.
>> Hm?
[12:14] Mhm.
>> It's showing request to speak.
[12:16] » Oh, it is? Oh, it's not showing what I
hit. Oh, here we go.
[12:19] » Yep.
>> All right.
[12:21] » How do we vote?
The minutes.
[12:23] » We need to vote for the minutes.
>> From the 19th.
[12:26] We did.
[12:35] » All right, good.
All right.
[12:38] 8-0, [clears throat]
motion carries. Minutes passed. Thank
[12:41] you, Councillors.
Um,
[12:45] » [clears throat]
>> okay.
[12:47] I'm sorry, I'm catching up with my
little notes
[12:51] All right, do we have any approval of
minutes from the special meeting? Um,
[12:56] can I get a motion for approval?
>> So moved.
[13:00] » So moved,
second. All right.
[13:02] » Because we have Shuron just It's She
motioned it on
[13:05] » Yeah, that's our voting system, so I
have Shuron
[13:08] » That's fine. Motion Motion
Councillor Freeman. Um, second
[13:12] Councillor Jennings.
Um,
[13:15] are there any are there any questions or
comments?
[13:20] Seeing none,
um, let's proceed to vote.
[13:28] » [clears throat]
[13:36] » Thank you very much counselors. Motion
carries.
[13:42] » [clears throat]
>> All right.
[13:44] Okay, the next thing on the agenda is
the signing of vouchers, approval of
[13:47] claims, and authorizations of payment.
Any any discussion?
[13:53] » Yes.
Before we make a vote, I would like it
[13:56] to be known that I had made a request
for a copy of the second agreement
[14:01] update for
Catalyst Public Affairs.
[14:06] And I would like to
I just want that to be a matter of
[14:09] record that that request was made before
we vote on the claims.
[14:13] » All right. So, if anyone here that
both of her counselor Robinson made a
[14:18] request for Catalyst claims, additional
information. All right.
[14:23] » [cough]
>> Any uh
[14:26] Any other further discussion?
All right. Do we have a motion to
[14:30] approve the signing of vouchers and
approval of claims and authorizations of
[14:33] payment?
[14:37] » I will make a motion. Oh, sorry.
>> I'll get you there. It's not a fair So,
[14:43] we have a motion. Motion counselor
Freeman.
[14:46] Second counselor Jennings. All right.
[14:53] Okay, we'll now proceed to a
Yeah. Now we'll proceed to a vote.
[15:03] All right.
[15:06] Seven
>> [clears throat]
[15:07] » seven to one. Thank you.
Uh motion carried.
[15:11] » I'll call for roll call.
>> Oh, because it was an actual call for
[15:13] roll call. Thank you so much. Counselor
Wells?
[15:16] » No.
>> Counselor Boyd?
[15:18] » Yes.
>> Counselor Robinson?
[15:20] » Yes.
>> Counselor Giles? Yes. Councilor
[15:22] Jennings?
>> I.
[15:24] » Councilor Freeman?
>> Yes.
[15:25] » Councilor Crown?
>> Yes.
[15:26] » Councilor Mazur?
>> Yes.
[15:28] » All right. Motion carried 7-1.
[15:32] Okay. Next item on the agenda is uh
the reports of committees.
[15:40] Um
do we have any reports from committees
[15:43] this evening?
There was a committee of the whole that
[15:48] did occur
this afternoon and this before this
[15:52] meeting. And what came from that was
proposal number one and proposal number
[15:58] three have been tabled and are still in
committee for further for further work.
[16:07] All right. Any other committees?
Reports?
[16:11] All right. Seeing none.
>> Call it.
[16:13] » Oh, sorry. Yes.
>> I just wanted to just make a public
[16:16] request that the finance committee does
more [clears throat] frequent meetings.
[16:21] Since we're getting into budget season,
might be a good idea.
[16:24] » Duly noted. I take that suggestion. I am
the finance chair. And upon the request
[16:31] of the council I will get with and get
with
[16:37] with the
clerk Latrice and get this
[16:42] and get and get something on the
schedule.
[16:43] » Thank you.
>> All right. So, we appreciate that. Thank
[16:45] you so much, Councilor Jennings, for
that suggestion.
[16:49] All right.
[16:53] Okay. We are at Oh, we are at unfinished
business.
[16:58] Um
So, proposal Oh, let me just do proposal
[17:02] number one. It's still in I'm sorry,
y'all. So, catching up.
[17:05] » We did the reports of committees, so so
now we're good.
[17:08] » Okay, we are getting It's been a while,
guys. I've been on the saddle here for a
[17:11] while. See. All right. So, here we go.
Unfinished business, proposal number
[17:14] one. Clerk, if you if well, Clerk, if
you can read it by title, please.
[17:19] » Proposal number 1 2026, an ordinance of
the common council of the city of
[17:23] Lawrence, Indiana, amending title 1,
article 1, chapter 2, section 12 of the
[17:29] municipal code regarding common council
approval on expenditures of professional
[17:34] service contracts.
>> Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Um at
[17:38] this time, that is still in committee
of a whole.
[17:43] All right.
[17:46] Expiration.
>> [clears throat]
[17:48] » Next item
um is proposal number three. Um Madam
[17:53] Clerk, can you read that by title, as
well?
[17:58] » Proposal number three 2026, an ordinance
of the common council of the city of
[18:02] Lawrence, Indiana, adopting title 1,
article 3 of the code [clears throat] of
[18:07] ordinances of the city of Lawrence,
Indiana.
[18:10] » This proposal remains before the
committee of whole for consideration and
[18:13] recommendation to the council of will be
brought to the council when appropriate.
[18:16] So, it is still tabled in committee.
All right.
[18:20] Um
new business.
[18:23] Uh the next agenda item is new business.
There's no new business this evening.
[18:27] Comments of the administration.
[18:36] » Good evening, councilors. Good evening.
Thank you for your time. I first wanted
[18:40] to say we've had quite a few events
since we were I've last been up here.
[18:43] So, we had community safety day, which
we moved to Lee Road Park, and it was a
[18:47] huge success, as well. We had a lot of
of new faces that we saw. We gave out
[18:52] over 1,000 hot dogs and over 200 bike
helmets to the kids for the community.
[18:56] So,
that was an excellent event. We did have
[19:00] our films at the fort with Heartland.
Um that was amazing, as well. I think we
[19:05] had about 175 people out there for that.
And then, yes, we had our Mike's Epps
[19:10] car show that we partnered with Mike's
at Mike's Epps. And so, I would love to
[19:13] answer some of your questions for you. I
can't give you exact numbers, but I can
[19:17] tell you that
Mike Epps Foundation paid for 10 of
[19:21] those police officers. They did not come
from our budget. The five police
[19:25] officers did come from police budget.
Um cleanup [clears throat] crew came
[19:29] from Keys to Work on Monday morning to
help clean up the park and worked with
[19:34] the park guys to clean that up. That was
at no cost to us as well.
[19:38] » Excellent.
>> Um but we did have some labor that we
[19:41] had to put into it, of course, as part
of the partnership. We did provide the
[19:45] stage. Those guys came out and worked
with that. And then throughout the day
[19:49] even, we had um members of Mike Epps
Foundation and his team that came out
[19:55] and was cleaning up trash and putting
trash away throughout the day. So, the
[19:59] park guys were there still, but the a
full I don't can't give you a an exact
[20:04] amount, but they were there and um paid
just like if it was a city event.
[20:09] » So, the 15 police officers, the Lawrence
police officers, that was paid by the
[20:14] 10.
>> 10 of them were paid by Mike Epps
[20:17] Foundation, five by our police
department.
[20:20] » And the maintenance staff
for park cleaning, that was also paid by
[20:25] the promoter.
>> We had a group come in. I requested that
[20:29] a group called Keys to Work come in
on that Monday to help clean up the
[20:34] park. So, they were there Monday. I
don't know how long they were there. Do
[20:38] you know how long they were there?
>> About 6 hours.
[20:40] » So, they were there for 6 hours to clean
up the park on Monday morning.
[20:44] » And that was volunteer?
>> The So, they are a foundation that's a
[20:47] re-entry program. So, they um
that organization pays them them to come
[20:53] and they have
asked on several occasions if there's
[20:56] ever anything that that they can do for
us, let them know.
[21:00] » And the owner are Lawrence residents as
well.
[21:03] » And the loners are lo-
Just a little bit north.
[21:06] » [laughter]
>> THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE.
[21:09] ARE WELL KNOWN in the Lawrence
I'm sure, but they
[21:12] always said if there's anything that
that we can do, they came out and helped
[21:15] for clean up day. They brought a crew of
about 30 on clean up day and cleaned up
[21:20] a section and they always said that
there's
[21:22] ever anything that they need that we
need to call them and sure enough they
[21:26] came with a bus full of people to help
clean up the community department.
[21:31] » Mhm. I'm just curious
could they basically
[21:35] rented the entire park I take it for the
entire day?
[21:38] » They did and it's also our first it was
the first one that we've had together
[21:42] with them. So we're definitely a lot to
learn. There was a lot of notes to take
[21:46] and there's definitely if you could
allow us just a learning curve. So if we
[21:50] do this have this again in the future,
we know some areas that we need to
[21:54] change. We definitely learned a lot with
this event. Yes, it was it was a huge
[21:58] event. We did close down the whole park.
There was there was signage outside.
[22:03] There was signage at the park stating
where to park where cars were to go in
[22:06] to register where public was to park. We
can't control what public does, but we
[22:11] can control in the future where we can't
say this is where we would like you to
[22:16] park cuz we wanted them all to park at
D-Fast and then the front of the park
[22:20] would have been overflow.
Clearly it didn't work like that, but
[22:24] again it was a learning experience and
we are learning a lot from this first
[22:28] event with them.
>> It was a successful event.
[22:31] » Very successful successful event. We
didn't have any issues inside the park
[22:35] at all. The there were some issues
afterwards. As soon as we learned of
[22:39] those, IMPD and LPD went went right into
motion and and started shutting it down.
[22:45] » I didn't even hear about it so whatever
it was it must have been really minor.
[22:49] Thanks to our
our public safety for nipping it in the
[22:52] bud. It did not get in on the Facebook
no gossip circle.
[22:57] » [clears throat]
>> Jamie, I want to say it was very well
[22:59] attended as you all know and I it was
marvelous. I was there. Did a lot of
[23:04] walking. Did a lot of walking. But it it
it was nice overall. I do want to say
[23:09] there was a sign on Franklin.
>> Mhm.
[23:13] » At the community park and I live right
there. And it was there earlier in the
[23:17] week.
>> That's right.
[23:18] » said Epps parking, okay? And I'm saying,
"Oh my god, we going to be we I won't be
[23:23] able to get in and out of my community,
right?" The sign was removed
[23:27] » Oh.
>> prior to the event day. It was removed.
[23:31] So we knew we couldn't park there. I had
gotten an email, so I knew to go around
[23:35] to the
to Post Road to to come in. But there
[23:39] was plenty of parking. Plenty of parking
for people if they had just followed
[23:44] suit.
>> We just got to do a little better.
[23:46] » social media posts as well.
>> Just got to do it.
[23:48] » There were social media posts. There
were flyers on post social media. We
[23:51] posted and reposted several different
times. So there was a lot of
[23:56] communication that had gone out
regarding it. Mike Epps team posted
[24:00] several times as well. So I mean, I went
to the concert the Saturday before our
[24:05] car show here and
it was pretty [clears throat] much the
[24:09] same thing. There's parking out through
the neighborhoods. There was police
[24:12] presence. So this is their third year,
so they have a little more knowledge and
[24:16] know-how of what they wanted to do over
there. They weren't expecting our crowd
[24:19] to be as big. I'm excited that it
brought so many people to Lawrence cuz
[24:23] that's exactly [clears throat] what we
want, right? We want
[24:25] » Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.
>> not just a drive-through. So we we are
[24:29] bringing as many events as we possibly
can, including Barbecue and Blues on
[24:33] this Saturday.
From 4:00 to 8:00 at Fort the Fort
[24:37] Benning Cultural Campus.
>> Mhm.
[24:38] » I tell you one other thing I want to
also take note to is the using
[24:41] [clears throat] of our stage. That may
have been the best advertisement for our
[24:44] city. The stage had our whole flag on
the top, City of Lawrence. And this
[24:49] because of the star power,
this was able to go viral. I also think
[24:53] it's important to also note this. Now,
this ain't further north.
[24:57] Unless he sold. Last I knew Mr. Epps is
also a person that owns owns land and
[25:02] property also in the city of Lawrence.
So, it's not an outsider. It's a
[25:06] Lawrence resident. So, that's something
that is also important um for folks who
[25:11] may not understand or may not know the
significance.
[25:15] Um but uh
it was big. Hollywood was in Lawrence.
[25:19] » Very much so. These are precisely the
type of event that we have.
[25:22] We want to grow our businesses,
restaurants. You know, after events like
[25:27] this, they could just file into
restaurants. Uh
[25:29] » Well, this he also owns clubs, bars in
Detroit. There was conversation about
[25:34] where he going to do it in Indiana.
Right? So, you got to um
[25:41] invest in others. Be a place of opening
for development to come. But, there are
[25:46] three two successful comedy clubs,
restaurants across the country. And
[25:51] [snorts] uh hopefully he can uh he's
listening to me.
[25:54] And um he'll put one over here on the
fort.
[25:58] » Yes.
>> I don't know.
[25:59] » We'll be debriefing sometime in the next
week or two. So, we will be able to
[26:02] discuss some of the issues that we saw,
some of the successes that we saw. So,
[26:06] we just want to continue to grow.
There's no guarantee that this will be
[26:09] back. Do we hope that it'll be back?
Absolutely. But, there's no guarantee.
[26:12] So, we don't know if it's a one-off or
if it's going to be an annual thing.
[26:15] » [clears throat]
>> But,
[26:16] we do know there was a lot of learning
to do. We and we did.
[26:20] » Thank you again.
>> Thank you.
[26:21] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[26:24] » Thank you.
[26:26] All righty. All right, next thing on the
uh comments of citizen comments.
[26:32] Um
>> [clears throat]
[26:34] » Citizen comments shall be limited to
five uh or what is
[26:37] » Three. Three.
>> Three. [snorts] Three minutes unless
[26:39] unless extended by the presiding uh
officer. Um first name is Mr. Rapp.
[26:46] You going to let the Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Um the second name is uh
[26:52] Mary Lee Hensley.
>> Please come up and state your address,
[26:56] name and address, please.
>> Hi, I'm Mary Lee Hensley. I live at 6622
[27:00] Sparrow Wood Drive.
And I am one of the officers of the
[27:05] Sparrow Wood Homeowners
Board.
[27:08] And we have a major concern with
our parking. And what we're requesting
[27:15] is
two
[27:18] no parking signs in specific areas. We
live in a circle if people haven't been
[27:24] to Sparrow Wood. It's just the 60 homes
and all there is is one one way in and
[27:29] one way out. And what is happening is at
the very front of our subdivision,
[27:37] there is an area where
trucks and their their trailers and
[27:46] houses people that don't even live in
our community are starting to park
[27:51] in Sparrow Wood.
And it's causing a big cluster in that
[27:56] area.
And what is happening is when people
[28:02] speed into Sparrow Wood,
they've got
[28:07] the the roads are so close together.
We're afraid of someone getting hurt
[28:13] because I personally have been in a
situation where I was stopped there cuz
[28:17] people couldn't see me because there's
so many cars parked in each direction
[28:22] that
I almost had a head-on.
[28:26] Okay, because the person just came in
and didn't even see me and come
[28:29] barreling around and it's on
[clears throat] the corner where there's
[28:32] a curve
in the road.
[28:35] And now with all those cars that are
parked there in the very front of
[28:40] Sparrow Wood,
there are already signs on one side, but
[28:45] on the other side, we have people from
another community
[28:50] parking
there now, too.
[28:53] So, that even makes it even harder to
see the stop sign, to see the cars
[28:56] coming around the corners and all that
kind of thing.
[29:00] Um I have tried previously to try to
resolve one of the stop signs.
[29:07] Um I have contacted my my councilman.
Um and that started back in October of
[29:14] last year. I did receive one comment
from him saying, "We're doing the budget
[29:20] right now."
I guess the impression I got was that
[29:24] was more important than my concern. So,
he um he said, "When we finish with all
[29:30] the budget work, I will get back with
you." Well, here it is almost
[29:36] a year later and I've received no other
comment. I did follow up with him once.
[29:43] And
um
[29:45] then I sent another one saying, "Hey,
don't forget about me." You know, that
[29:49] kind of a comment there. And he's never
received you know, returned any of my
[29:53] comments or any you know, any resolution
to the sign that I was requesting.
[30:00] So, that and that's what we're asking
for. We're just asking for two signs
[30:04] that will um
clear that area so there's not a cluster
[30:09] of vehicles there. And it'd be for
safety just in case an emergency vehicle
[30:15] needed to get in there because the way
they're parked and the roads are narrow,
[30:19] I'm not sure if an ambulance could get
in there or a fire truck or anything
[30:24] like that. So, there's concern in that
area and we just want to get that
[30:28] remedied.
>> Thank you very, very much. And stick
[30:31] around after the meeting and uh I think
some folks will probably try to see if
[30:36] we can come to some sort of resolution.
Thank you.
[30:41] All right. Let's wrap.
>> Councilor Giles.
[30:43] » Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah.
>> Would you ask them to state the district
[30:47] after they state their address?
>> Okay, that is good to know. Okay. Some
[30:51] people don't know though.
He's a five. Okay.
[30:55] » Thank you.
>> Okay.
[30:57] Yeah, a lot of us don't know it though.
Mr. Rapp, I'm sorry. Mr. Rapp, could you
[31:00] please come up?
>> [clears throat]
[31:07] » Councilor Boyd.
[31:12] » Daniel Rapp, 5718 Wallingwood Drive.
Three items tonight. Accountability,
[31:20] affordability,
and
[31:23] parliamentary
procedures. The first one on
[31:27] accountability, when I checked the city
of Alachua webpage, I did not find
[31:33] the July financial or the monthly
[clears throat] financial report.
[31:39] I am requesting that it get posted to
the webpage immediately, like close of
[31:45] business tomorrow.
I don't understand how you people
[31:49] approved the signing of vouchers for the
month of August not knowing what was in
[31:54] July.
Second item is the budget review and
[31:58] approval process that's coming out.
Again,
[32:02] July is already passed.
I request that also that the month of
[32:07] August be posted in accordance with city
ordinance.
[32:12] That's first one.
Next item is affordability.
[32:16] Item to trigger this is the motor
vehicle license excise surtax.
[32:22] That it go in 2027, it's going to go
from $25 to $100. 400% increase.
[32:31] Big picture on affordability,
it was said in the meeting that was two
[32:37] three million dollars worth of
tax revenue come to the city of
[32:42] Lawrence. I look at from
my point of view.
[32:47] That's two to three million coming out
of the community that they will no
[32:51] longer have to pay to go to a restaurant
or buy food.
[32:57] But that's the big picture. Two to three
million coming out of the community is a
[33:02] big chunk.
Small individual plans.
[33:07] Landscapers. I'll just use them as my
example.
[33:11] Their license fee for that truck is
going to go from 25 to 100. $75
[33:17] increase. That utility trailer, less
than 9,000 ton, uh, 9,000 pounds, it's
[33:24] also going for 25 to 100. So, that
landscaper is going to incur a $150
[33:30] increase. So, mowing your yard next year
is going to cost more.
[33:36] I am saying this so that the city, the
residents of Lawrence, will know that
[33:43] things are getting more expensive for
the city of Lawrence. Next thing I know
[33:47] is the water and sewer bills are going
to go up.
[33:51] I'm just waiting for that one to happen.
Last item, parliamentary procedures. I
[33:57] have a heartburn with the 19 August
common council meeting that took place.
[34:05] The
YouTube video
[34:09] has proposal number four, proposal
number five being voted on.
[34:16] But when I look at the city of Lawrence
webpage and I look at the agenda, there
[34:21] is no
new business
[34:24] for proposal number four or proposal
number five. So, I ask the question.
[34:32] How can the city council
or common council vote on something that
[34:37] is not on the agenda that is posted on
the city of Lawrence webpage? Yes, I
[34:42] looked at it right before I came.
Yes, I have sent two emails requesting
[34:48] is it
in error that the real agenda didn't get
[34:54] posted? No reply to my two emails.
So, at this point
[35:01] I am requesting an investigation
on parliamentary procedures that
[35:07] everything that was done on proposal
number four and proposal number five at
[35:13] the special meeting be revoked because
it is null and
[35:18] void
and
[35:21] no.
So, with that being said
[35:26] I am requesting that investigation
because
[35:30] the agenda
[35:33] is not right.
It does not agree and I would ask the
[35:37] question on the minutes that you just
approved
[35:42] for
19 August, was there a proposal number
[35:46] four and number five voted on that it
was tabled if what the video said?
[35:52] Those were my three items.
I will add a fourth one.
[35:56] » Mr. Mr. Mr.
The bell went off. I just wanted to give
[36:00] you all the time. So, if you can leave
it with three, I'd really appreciate it.
[36:02] » you.
>> Okay, thank you.
[36:05] » [clears throat]
>> All right, any other comments for
[36:08] council?
Can I get a motion for adjournment?
[36:11] » Motion.
>> So moved.
[36:13] » Second.