[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.] [0:00] Good evening. Before I call our first public hearing this evening, I'd like everyone to stand and say the pledge with us, please. [0:15] United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Welcome, everyone. Tonight we're going to start off with public hearing. [0:34] This is a public hearing of our fiscal year budget 2027, and I'll kick that over to AD to get us started. [0:42] Thank you, Mr. President. [0:44] Again, my name is AD Stone-Syfer, clerked treasurer for Town of Clarksville, and if we have it on screen, [0:50] for those that are streaming live or streaming after the fact, you are welcome to contact my office [0:56] and request visuals for this notice to tax payers. [1:01] This notice to tax payers as prescribed by the Department of Local Government of Finance was published online via budgetnotices.in.gov on September 4th at 836 AM. [1:17] That gave us the full required 10 or more days notice to the public. [1:22] And we are now doing this for you, the public. [1:25] So we will now briefly review. [1:27] This is a bird's eye view of all the statutory funds. [1:32] And an opportunity for the public to ask questions or make remonstrances. [1:39] Notice this hereby given to taxpayers of Clarksville Civil Town, Indiana that the proper officers of Clarksville Civil Town will conduct this public hearing now. [1:47] Following this meeting, any ten or more taxpayers may object to a budget, a tax rate, or tax levy. [1:52] By filing an objection petition with the proper officers of Clarksville, that is my office. [1:57] Not more than seven days after the hearing. [1:59] The objection petition must identify the provisions of the budget tax rate or [2:04] tax levy, to which tax payers object. [2:06] If a petition is filed, Clarksville should adopt with the budget a finding concerning the objections in the petition and testimony presented. [2:13] Following the aforementioned hearing, the proper officers of Clarksville will meet to adopt the following budget. [2:19] So, just to be clear, this is a preliminary public opportunity for comment or remonstrates. [2:31] For those of the public that wish to review this document, just briefly identifying the [2:36] columns, we have column one that identifies the statutory fund. [2:39] You can think of each fund as being a separate silo due to different revenue streams by state [2:44] statute, column 2, the estimated total not to exceed spending requests sought for 2027. [2:51] Column 3, the share of the total requests that would come from property owners, the [2:55] general fund, and of course the fire territory where we're sending the woodseek to collect, [3:01] as you can see, more while someone be seeking to collect less. [3:06] The column 4 does not apply, we're not doing any appeals of levy excess or seeking excess [3:13] just levee with appeals, column 5, the current tax levee for this calendar year, and then [3:20] a column 6 shows you the difference between what is sought versus what is for this calendar [3:26] year. [3:28] To wrap it all up, I'll quickly run through the budget estimates for each of the statutory [3:33] funds and then wrap up with brief overview of the totals. [3:37] For fund number 101, the general fund budget estimate sought for [3:42] 2027, 21,632,939, of which 11.2 million would be sought by Levy. [3:51] Number 341, fire pension, budget estimate 572,325, of which 92,000 would be sought to be raised. [4:01] 342 police pension fund estimate 440,193 of which 33 350 to be raised. Fund 706 local [4:12] road in streets, budget estimate of 585,000. By the way, some of these are funded purely [4:21] by excise taxes or income taxes, therefore there is nothing else to report. These are based [4:27] based on estimates from the state. [4:31] Fund number 708, the Motor Vehicle Highway Fund, 1,875,423. [4:37] Fund 1303, Parks District, 4,284,525 at which 3.9 million would be raised. [4:48] Fund 1390 cumulative park and recreation, 130,000 of which seeking to raise 181, 635. [4:57] Fund 2202 building. [5:00] Demolition. Estimate of 95,550, looking to raise that amount exactly. Fund 2391, the cumulative [5:09] capital development fund, estimate of 725,000, looking to raise 526 in 257. Fund 8604, Special [5:19] Fire Protection Territory, operating budget for the fire territory. Estimate of 8,841,226, [5:33] This would be the largest year over your increase as we know looking to take care of that operation deficit. [5:42] Fund 8692, Special Fire Protection Territory Equipment, Estimate of 330,000 looking to raise 296,711 of that. [5:52] The following funds are of course economic development income tax. [5:55] We are estimating $2,749,200. [6:00] Fund 9502 is the local law enforcement, it helped me out chiefs not here. [6:07] It's for training, et cetera, we're expected to, we're expecting $25,000 to out of that. [6:16] 9504 is the local option income tax. [6:19] We're anticipating $1,438,996 of which most of that goes to fire and [6:25] police currently. And then fund 90, 95,05, tax increment financing districts [6:30] overseen by your appointed redevelopment commission estimate for next year of [6:36] 12,884,592, and of course keep in mind they have over 6,000,000 in bond debts [6:42] to pay each year. I want to stress this is a balance budget for 2027. [6:47] However, it does leverage savings from this year as well as reserves in [6:51] in order to balance overall, across all statutory funds, estimates for next year of 56,568,969, of which we are looking to levy and raise 50%, or 28,267,310, for next year. [7:12] Increase overall year over year spending is 8.42%, which is understandable, given that the consumer price index is still at around three and a half. [7:25] So with that, you can present that to you, Ms. President, as official, notice the tax payers in public hearing, and now I believe we open the floor up for comments. [7:37] at this time I will open the floor if there's any resident or anyone in the [7:43] audience that would like to speak in regards to the budget. [7:53] Seeing none, [7:57] the [7:57] public hearing is now closed for this evening. Thank you. Thank you sir. [8:07] Yep and due to the way we advertise the meeting we will take an adjournment. We [8:12] will adjourn until 630 and we will start right on the nose at 630. Thank you. [8:18] our regular meeting of the Clarksville town council and at this time no [8:27] recognitions or appointments this evening and no one had signed up for public [8:32] comment so at this time I'll move right into our consent agenda tonight we [8:38] have items five dot one through five three we'll be looking at the minutes of [8:45] the Joint Town Council regular meeting, work session and executives, claims of town current [8:52] and pre-written, waste water sewer, current and pre-written, waste water sewage bonds, grants [8:58] and payroll, and the acceptance of minutes and placement in the file. [9:04] Make a motion. [9:05] Thank you. [9:06] Mr. Stots and Ms. Anderson's second. [9:09] All those in favor? [9:10] Aye. [9:11] Any opposed? [9:13] Seven. [9:13] No, thank you very much. [9:16] Unfinished business, item 6.1. [9:24] Like [9:27] ordinance 2026B01 main and clerk project. [9:35] This is coming back from, of course, last meeting, [9:37] there was not a unionist vote, [9:41] so it's coming back for a second vote. [9:44] At the August 18th town council meeting, [9:46] cornerstone group presented details [9:48] of their main and Clark project. [9:50] This is a 67-unit mixed-use building located in South Clarksville [9:54] at the corner of Main Street and South Clark Boulevard. [9:57] The land is owned by Cornerstone Group. [10:00] On August 25th, the Redevelopment Commission approved Resolution 2026R-11 pledging South Clarksville allocation area number one tax increment and approving a tax payer agreement. On August 28th, the Clarksville Economic Development Commission held a public hearing and approved Resolution 2026 EDC-1 approving the issuance of bonds for the project, along with a project report proposing financing of the Economic Development Facility for [10:30] cornerstone group. [10:31] The total cost for the construction of the project is presently estimated to be approximately $21 million, $47,845. [10:43] This bond ordinance requests the issuance of bonds in the aggregate principal amount not to exceed $4.6 million. [10:50] And maturing no later than 25 years from their date of issuance. [10:54] This amount, not to exceed, is based on the TIF request of 3.8 millions from the developer [11:00] along with bond issuance costs, debt service reserve, and a purchaser's fee for the sale [11:05] of the bonds. [11:06] I know there were some questions about the fact that the ask for the project is 3.8 million, [11:12] but that not to exceed 4.6 includes the fees that come along with issuing bonds. [11:17] The staff recommends the Council approve ordinance 2026b-01 main and clerk bond ordinance. [11:25] Make it motion. [11:27] Who was the first? [11:28] I'm so sorry. [11:29] Mr. Stott. [11:30] Councillor Envoynier with a second. [11:33] All those in favor? [11:34] I'm sorry. [11:35] I'm sorry. [11:36] And one abstain. [11:37] Six. [11:38] One abstain. [11:43] Thank you for that. [11:47] Item 6.2 is our ordinance 2026-g-16. [11:51] as 16, amending the rental inspection program. [11:56] Sir, I'll go ahead and, did you want to say something, or? [12:00] Okay, I'll go ahead and kick this off, and I came here, [12:05] and I basically said I was going to look at everything I could possibly look at. [12:09] And this program I did not feel was paying dividends for the town, [12:15] and it required a lot more work from our code enforcement. [12:18] then I felt we were getting usage out of this agreement and, or sorry, this ordinance. [12:24] And I needed them out more looking at the properties because all of you are doing that part of the job for me. [12:32] And I really need those folks to be able to go out there and look at this. [12:36] I don't feel it was a good use of money because the changes or the state requirements in this program took the teeth out of the program. [12:46] So the recommendation was to remove all of that, where we're doing the inspections and keep the part where we have every business that is running a rental property to be able to register. [13:01] And so that's the change to the ordinance as it is there. This is the second reading. [13:09] Okay, we have the second reading and I'm looking for a motion at this time. [13:14] for item 6.2 please make the motion. Thank you, Ms. Henderson. Second. [13:22] Second. [13:25] Mr. Ramsey, a second. All those in favor raise your right hand by saying aye. [13:31] Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Stain? One abstain. Thank you. [13:37] Six with one abstention. [13:42] Okay. Next item is our new business. We have item 712 and item [13:47] From 7-3 has been pulled after a need for more discussion after speaking with our town manager, we're going to pull that. [13:56] So 7-1, Resolution 20, 26-R, 15, amending South Clarksville allocation area 1, please. [14:07] South Clarksville allocation area number 1 must be expanded in order to provide economic incentives to the development of main and clerk. [14:15] and to make infrastructure improvements previously adopted by the Commission in its plan. [14:21] The expansion of the area will include portions of Main Street and South Clark Boulevard as shown in Exhibit C. [14:29] The redevelopment Commission approved Resolution 2026, R-12, amending the commercial economic development plan to expand South Clark's full allocation area number one on August 25th, 2026. [14:42] On September 2nd, 2026, the Plain Commission approved Resolution 2026, R-2, approving the RDC's Resolution 2026, R-12. [14:54] and I wanted to explain the... [15:02] This is called Exit at C, shows the map of the area connecting the South allocation number one property, which is the current 812, to connect physically to the main and clerk project. Jennifer being on the plan commission, if you look at the pink page, it shows the different you had question then about the George. We had talked about that allocation area. So I verified with Jacob Arbital, who does our GIS, and he added those other two, those other [15:31] two lots, I guess that's, was it a lot, two and three of South Clarksville show those allocation areas. [15:39] So there are two more, the Georgia already has debt taken out on it. [15:43] On it, current 812 does not. [15:45] So in order to do the bonds for the Main and Clark project, this resolution is connecting the South [15:53] location area number one up Main Street to South Clark Boulevard to connect to Main and [15:59] Clark because they physically have to connect in order to issue bonds. [16:04] And that is going to generate enough revenue to still have more available and to get better [16:09] rates for the bonds. [16:11] Discussion please. [16:12] Yes. [16:13] The new allocated area that you're intending to have, is that to help also connect Colgate [16:22] to another tiff district if needed when they become full-fledged. [16:27] Yes, so this is connecting up Main Street, it will connect to the main and clerk property, and it's going to include the entire South Clark Boulevard width from Main Street to that block there. [16:40] As you see in the exhibit C, and it's connected to the clock clock works property, so if we need to do any kind of infrastructure improvements there, we'll be able to use that access revenue. [16:50] Thank you, Jennifer, for asking because that clarifies that there's more than just this project we're looking at and we're going to take care of it all at one time. [16:57] Yeah, the long term use is something I'd missed out on. [17:00] Yes, yes, that's why I was trying to make it a little clear of just how that all works. [17:05] Thank you. [17:06] In the other discussion. [17:09] Staff recommends that you approve resolution. [17:12] Thank you to make a motion. [17:14] Mr. Stotz with the motion. [17:16] Second. [17:16] Second, Mr. Ramsey. [17:17] All those in favor? Raise your right hand and say aye. [17:20] Aye. [17:21] Opposed? [17:21] Seven, aye. Thank you. [17:25] Next up is items 72, which is an ordinance, 2026G-17 establishing non-reverting fund for building and construction related items. [17:37] Thank you, Jacob. [17:40] All right. In 20, 20, I know who you are. [17:45] I appreciate that, I got to make one mistake tonight, you know that. [17:52] All right, in 2026, the Indian and legislature passed HB101, which contains new regulations [17:58] and reporting requirements for local governments, mostly surrounding housing construction. [18:03] One provision requires that, quote, any fee assessed and collected by a unit must be maintained [18:08] in a special fund dedicated solely to reimbursing the costs actually incurred by the unit relating [18:14] to the imposition of the amount of the fees. [18:17] Each fund shall be maintained as a separate line item in the units budget. [18:21] Money in the fund may not at any time revert to the general fund or any other fund of the unit in quote. [18:27] This is an effect turning all building planning and code enforcement departments in the state into enterprise organizations. [18:33] This non-reverting fund must be in place by January 1st, 2027. [18:37] In order to make sure there is money in the fund, staff are proposing to create the fund now, [18:41] allowing revenue from the fourth quarter to accumulate and be in place for January. [18:47] So staff are recommending approval of ordinance 2026G17 regarding the creation of a new non-roverting fund. [18:52] Make the motion. [18:54] Thank you, Mr. Boenier. [18:55] Seconded. [18:56] Mr. Stotz, a second. [18:58] All those in favor. [18:58] May I call for discussions, being a financial matter, just a point of. [19:03] Oh yeah, go ahead. [19:05] I just, if it please the council, I'd like to suggest that if this is approved, [19:10] that we would start October 1st. [19:12] That would be easiest for us to implement out of my office. [19:16] That's all. [19:17] No objection from, okay. [19:19] Let me change my motion to, [19:20] I'll make a motion to recommend approving ordinance 2026G17 [19:24] regarding the creation of the new non-reverting fund [19:26] starting October 1, 2026. [19:29] Thank you. [19:30] Seconded. [19:30] And the second. [19:32] Oh, those in favor? [19:33] Please raise your right hand and say aye. [19:35] Aye. [19:36] Seven, no. [19:37] Could I have that motion and second again, please? [19:39] Absolutely. You got motion. Thank you. We have a proper motion in second. All those in favor? Right hand saying aye. [19:46] Aye. Thank you. That carries. [19:51] No miscellaneous clerk treasurer's report, please. [19:53] Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, just some financial comments. Just want to reiterate to those taxpayers watching tonight. [20:21] So, we've certainly have a bold and balanced budget, but I do want to stress to the council that we are going to be using savings and [20:29] reserves and so I do encourage the council that looking to 2028 and beyond any measures taken [20:37] by this council now or soon to find additional savings would be very, very prudent. [20:46] And I'll leave it at that. [20:49] We did have a meeting this morning, our second MUST committee meeting. [20:53] That is the state requested meeting of clerk treasures throughout Clark County meeting with Councilman Lindford of the Clark County Council. [21:03] There was a good exchange and we had some good comments provided by the school districts and attendance. [21:09] Mr. Adams as well, Mayor Treva Hodges and we had a good discussion. [21:16] What we can report to you and I can email you some data tonight. [21:21] There is some discussion of maybe doing a county-wide 1.5% lit rate. [21:30] From the county's perspective, that would in essence make us whole, but it wouldn't, given all the new homestead credits that are coming. [21:41] So Mr. Adams and I will be working with Mr. Lindford to run some more computer scenarios. [21:49] There's also, of course, talks about us all going our own way and adopting our own municipal lit rate, which, of course, I would prefer not to do. [21:57] And of course, that would require more than the 1.2% to make us whole. [22:04] Interestingly enough, Mr. Lever did present a scenario where if the county adopted a rate of, I think it was 0.89, and we all did our own lit rate. [22:15] The county would have an additional $6 million with which to turn around and [22:20] rebate back to the schools to try to make them whole, which I thought was very, [22:26] was thoughtful in a clever solution. [22:30] So certainly we'll continue the dialogues. [22:33] The next meeting I think is set for Monday, September 28th. [22:39] Again, most likely at 10 a.m. [22:41] Although that is subject to change. [22:44] The state wants all the treasurers to take a vote of some kind by the end of the month and then report on it. [22:52] But that requires all of us to be in attendance and that has proved to be very, very challenging to get all of us especially given I'm not there is one other that is part time that is the board and clerk treasurer is part time like myself. [23:07] So we'll continue the dialogues, any questions feel free to, or thoughts or ideas, please reach out to me, and we'll continue updating you as we know more, but I will share a data report with you tonight. [23:20] I think that covers it. Thank you for your time. [23:22] Thank you. Any other department head at this time? [23:25] Do you follow this, please? [23:30] Can you hear me? [23:32] Two things. [23:33] The first thing, and they won't likely see this, [23:36] but Judge Kroffa and Judge Rieger came by the station today [23:40] and they're circuit court judges. [23:43] And in my 20 years of being around here, [23:45] I believe this is the first time that we've had circuit court judges [23:48] go for a road game and show up at the police station [23:52] to just fill the answers and questions [23:54] from the police department and I have a lot of respect for them for being willing to do that because some of the conversations were tough. [24:03] So in the event they were to hear this, I want to make sure they know of my appreciation. [24:09] Sunday morning we had a [24:13] gruesome [24:16] situation that happened that's been talked about and made the news with the stabbing. [24:23] By all accounts, the victim was just trying to break up an argument and was caught in [24:33] the middle of a really bad situation. [24:36] And my son and others know this guy very well and he said to be the victim is the sweetest [24:42] guy you'd ever know. [24:43] And it looks like he's going to make it. [24:47] that the whole day, as it unfolded, just was incredible police work, but that particular [24:55] morning, I just want to acknowledge some people that were involved, and I will... [25:02] I try not to, it [25:06] was gruesome. And I want to make sure that, that these guys who were there and perform, I don't know if it's probably beyond life-saving measures. Joe Sellers, these are from, these are my guys, Sam Hannon, Andrew Byerley, Colton Forman, Sean Hodge, who responded within moments. [25:32] and held this young man together, literally. [25:38] The fire department showed up. [25:42] Dennis Bristbier, Stephen Park Hill, Andrew Clark, [25:48] and Heartland EMS, Marco Blanios, Jackson Paul, [25:52] and Josh McKayla. [25:56] What they did Sunday is incredible, [26:00] this young man's alive. He was able to give interview today, speak with officers. [26:06] And I just, I would struggle to not give them this credit for what they did [26:12] Sunday, along with the detectives who it led into multiple search war. [26:17] Several search warrants have been written over the past couple days in that case [26:20] progresses. And there's some things I can't talk about now. You know, it led to [26:25] another unbelievable arrest that was involved with this case that it led to. But I [26:29] just want to take a minute you know tonight to make sure that these guys were [26:34] credited for the work they did. Thank you very much. Chief good anything from [26:41] Tammy? [26:49] Last minute last week if you remember 1904 Tennyson was the house that [26:54] was property that was donated to the Salvation Army for the Pathway of Hope [26:58] Program. They had a ribbon-cutting actually for the home it was it was very [27:04] short notice, they were trying to hit some deadlines for the program, so they [27:08] haven't gotten their certificate of occupancy. They didn't go inside, they just [27:12] did everything outside because they wanted to just check all the boxes and [27:18] acknowledge the program and the homeowner and Neil, Kaylee and Kendall. No, [27:23] Kendall was, Neil, Kaylee and Harrison attended and got some pictures and it was [27:29] a really nice event and I'm glad that they could go to that and if you're [27:34] heading around 1904 Tennis and take a look at the house it's it's very nice [27:37] and we're um thank you for doing that for them it was a great program and then [27:42] if I can get feedback from them once they move in I'll share that awesome thank you [27:47] very much uh council comments mr. Ramsey no comment no comment mr. Munich [27:56] Same. [27:57] Mr. Stiles. [27:59] Come on. [28:00] Okay. [28:01] So I keep it real brief. [28:03] We had the summer concert series this past Saturday and it was fabulous. [28:08] It's a beautiful day. [28:09] I like to thank the Haines. [28:10] They're all here. [28:12] Father and son. [28:13] So it's a rare occasion when Mr. Haines is in town and with us. [28:17] So we like to thank you, Sir, for letting us use that facility. [28:20] And your sons are doing a great job. [28:22] and we really had a great show, we had over 800 people there, [28:26] as perfect weather. [28:28] I don't know if you all got to attend or not, [28:29] but it was one of the better ones I thought. [28:32] So, thank you very much. [28:33] And look forward to October, we have another one coming up. [28:36] It's a country one. [28:38] But I don't have that date. [28:40] Yeah, it's October 17th, thank you, Jennifer. [28:43] So, yeah. [28:44] But with love to have you all come out, [28:46] we're going to try to do maybe a car show that day as well. [28:48] So please, you know, try to make it time to come out, bring your family, bring your chair, and have a good time, and that's it. [28:56] Thank you very much. [28:57] I agree. [28:58] It's hard to pass. [28:59] I mean, you did a fantastic job because I was going to talk about the concert series as well. [29:02] So don't forget, just mark your calendar, save the date for October 17th. [29:06] Wear your boots and wear your hat. [29:08] We're going to have a good kicking up dirt time and try not to get too much dirt on the grass. [29:12] We promise. [29:12] And thank you for everybody being here this evening and all those who work for the town of Clarksville. [29:17] You're much appreciated and thank tally for all the things that you do. [29:20] And I do have one question. [29:22] I had a concern from a constituent asking about permits that they had some waiting. [29:27] Do you know if those have been cleaned up, Glenn? [29:29] Some of them have the problem is this is a contracted support. [29:35] And that contract had other commitments for this week. [29:38] So they're not here this week. [29:39] week. So we're trying to solve it remotely. I'm going to get the names for the people either [29:47] Sunday night or Monday next week for doing interviews and I'll set those up as quick as [29:51] I possibly can to get a permanent building commission. That would be much appreciated. Thank [29:55] Thank you. [29:56] Thank you. [29:58] Councilwoman Schiller. [30:00] I just want to tell you all, thank you, police, fire, everyone who was involved in that scene. So thank you all for your service, because I mean, for me, it was just a regular day. And, you know, staying in my kids, you know, going to church, volleyball, things like that, but the things that you guys go through day in and day out that keeps just everyone else in the community, you know, that's just a second thought. So thank you all for that. Another thing to, I know I've talked with the firefighters here, you're all a group. I still have one more. I know I followed up with chief just to let him know. I had to sit kids. I wasn't able to see the third group, but I did. [30:35] I'm going to put together a document kind of like a high level of like what we've done, you know, what things that are options that we're going to be doing. [30:43] Kind of like a project management type PowerPoint document that I'm going to give to Glenn I talk to and he's going to look over it. [30:48] Make sure I didn't miss any information that he's given us back in the email. [30:53] Get it up today and then get it sent out to you guys. Is that something that we can regularly keep up today. [30:57] So you guys have some sort of communication. [31:01] And I think that's all I have for you all. [31:03] I talked to you about it as well in Concert Series. [31:05] I don't have anybody able to make them [31:06] because I know I'm busy all the time. [31:09] But Bob, Bob, you guys do a lot. [31:11] And I really appreciate that you guys are there continuously. [31:13] And Jennifer, I know you showed all those. [31:15] And then the brother, everything you guys do. [31:19] Even before I was not on the council and just knowing developers [31:22] like within the community and then now being on the council, [31:25] So I can honestly say you all are the most invested developers I've ever seen. [31:31] You guys truly give back to the community. [31:34] You guys are part of the community and I really appreciate that. [31:37] Thank you guys for everything you do, and that's all about it. [31:43] Okay, and I just one note I have before I adjourned for the council. [31:47] We're looking at next Tuesday, the 22nd of September holding an executive session around our [31:56] town management recruitment. If you could get with Glen, if you have issues with that date, [32:04] is that that's a no-go for you? Yeah, can you make it like 5.30? [32:09] I can use an hour and a half and the RDC is at 6.30. [32:12] RDC is at 7. 6.30. Oh, they changed it, never mind. [32:18] Well, we'll work through that if you can see if we can do that and I'll give them a call. [32:23] any other? I see none. Thank you all for coming out tonight. We appreciate you [32:29] coming to our meetings. At this time I'll adjourn our September 15th meeting. Thank you.