[1:00] Uh we're going to start with the pledge of allegiance.

[1:05] » Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[1:11] republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[1:17] justice for all.

[1:22] All right, we'll now All right, we'll now have a moment of silence.

[1:32] Okay, starting at the 8:30 um public hearing. Uh the first item we have up is

[1:38] 2027 budget for Hancock County. I'm going to open the uh public hearing.

[1:47] Does anybody in the audience have any comment about the most important part of

[1:51] our job, which is the budget?

[1:57] » All right. Does anybody on the council have any comments about the 2021 budget?

[2:01] » Uh, just to comment, if you uh use the uh summary sheet, it was changed just a

[2:07] little bit from the last one that you got, but it didn't change it

[2:11] significantly. So, I move we approve. There's there's no vote today on the

[2:18] It's next month. >> This is just a public hearing.

[2:20] » Just a public hearing. >> All right. If that's all the comments,

[2:23] then I'll close the public hearing and I'll move on to the next public hearing

[2:27] item. >> Thank you.

[2:29] » Uh next public hearing item is the Hancock County Solid Waste Management

[2:33] District. I open the public meeting. [clears throat]

[2:36] Does anyone have any comments about the budget for the Solid Waste Management

[2:40] District?

[2:43] Anyone on the council have any comments? All right, I closed the solid waste

[2:48] management district budget meeting and we'll have a vote next month on it.

[2:53] Uh, the last one for the budget is the Hancock County Public Library. I open

[3:01] the public hearing for any comments from the audience about the budget for the

[3:05] Hancock County Public Library.

[3:11] Anyone from the council have any comments?

[3:15] All right, I will close the public hearing for the public library budget

[3:19] and we will vote on that I believe next month.

[3:22] All right, the next ones do have uh we will be voting on which is the public

[3:26] hearing additional appropriations. The first one which we've discussed before

[3:29] is fund 7201 food and beverage to appropriate $150,000.

[3:34] I'll open the public hearing for any comments from the audience or anybody in

[3:37] the public.

[3:40] Anybody from the council have any comments?

[3:44] Not hearing any, I'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion.

[3:47] » I'll entertain the mo or I'll make the motion for fund 7201 food and beverage

[3:53] for $150,000. >> So moved. Second.

[3:57] » I have a motion, a second. Any comments? All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose?

[4:01] Same sign. Motion carries. >> All right. The final item for the public

[4:06] hearing is fund 8892 title 4E foster care in the amount of $6,400. I open the

[4:12] public hearing for any comments.

[4:17] Anything from the council? Not hearing any, I close the public

[4:21] hearing and we'll entertain a motion. >> Motion to approve the public defender

[4:27] juvenile poverty expense for $6,400. >> Second.

[4:32] » I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Same

[4:35] sign. Motion carries. That concludes our public hearing items for 8:30.

[4:40] » [clears throat] >> Next up, 8:45, we have Fortville Area

[4:45] Resource Mission Farm Update. Kelly Griffy,

[4:50] hope I said that. Come on forward.

[5:00] » Yeah, can

[5:12] Thank you.

[5:19] » Thank you.

[5:29] [snorts]

[5:38] Thank you.

[5:54] » Hi.

[5:59] » Ready to go. Okay. Hi. My name is Kelly Griffy. I'm the board president of the

[6:03] Fortville Area Resource Mission [clears throat] and this is Aaron Flick.

[6:06] She's on the board and she's also our daytime pantry coordinator. Um we're

[6:10] here today just to um to talk to you guys about what impact farm is having on

[6:15] our community and what our future plans are. So our mission is simple. It's to

[6:19] enrich our community physically, mentally, and spiritually. We want to

[6:22] help the um community build a future of hope, dignity, and nourishment.

[6:28] So we exist to ensure that families in Hanokai County, [cough] Engles and

[6:32] Pendleton have reliable access to nutritious food, compassionate support,

[6:36] and the love of Christ. We believe that addressing hunger is only the beginning.

[6:41] We want to uh do more than just hand out a bag of food. We want to provide that

[6:45] physical support by giving the food but also emotional support um by having

[6:50] various support groups like mental health support groups, grief support and

[6:54] help with that resource navigation, helping them um get in contact with

[6:58] other organizations that can help them with other needs that they have. And

[7:01] then spiritual support. We want to make sure that we're showing the love of

[7:04] Christ in everything that we do through the prayer and just that connection that

[7:08] we have with our guests that come in. And uh we al during our social hour we

[7:12] have um um people that come in and give testimonials or devotions, that kind of

[7:16] thing. And then we have Bible studies that people can join.

[7:21] So where we've been, we've come [clears throat] a long way in I guess

[7:24] now it's six years. Um we were started by um Flory May, our Vernon Township

[7:29] trustee, and five area churches got together to form a joint food pantry.

[7:34] And um during COVID we uh were outside at Fortville Christian Church providing

[7:39] lots of food there. And then along the way we um had our board we got our board

[7:43] together. We um hired executive director. We uh got all of our policies

[7:48] and procedures into place. Uh developed a leadership team, started uh hosting

[7:52] treats on Maine in Fortville. Um you know, lots of different things that

[7:56] we've done all the through the years. And then last year we had our first

[7:59] annual farm banquet. And then at the beginning of the year, we became our own

[8:03] 501 um 3C nonprofit organization. We were a DBA under Fortville Christian

[8:08] Church, but now we're our own organization. And then our executive

[8:12] director um decided she wanted to work more in a voluntary position. So then I

[8:16] stepped in to take on her responsibilities.

[8:19] [clears throat] Um some farm facts. As we were talking

[8:23] to people, a lot of people like, "We didn't know you did that or what? We

[8:26] don't know what you do." So we just put some things together. We are a free

[8:29] choice food pantry, so folks can come in and pick what they want. We have a meal

[8:32] before each distribution, which is Tuesday lunch and then Thursday dinner.

[8:37] And we provide that social interaction and uh presentations from other

[8:41] nonprofits during that social hour. We help with the resource navigation. Uh we

[8:46] provide and deliver uh prepack bags to local campground. Um and then elderly or

[8:51] other folks that can't get out, we deliver food to them. Uh we provide

[8:55] weekend food bags to Mount Vernon uh school corporations to students in need.

[9:00] Uh right now I think we're doing 61 bags a week um that we're giving out. Uh we

[9:04] host various volunteer groups for service projects, Girl Scout troops, um

[9:09] school groups, you know, that kind of thing. And then we receive a lot of

[9:12] fresh produce from Fortville Community Garden and local farmers. That's been

[9:15] really great lately. And then again, we host Treats on Maine, downtown

[9:18] Fortville.

[9:22] And we're by no means doing this alone. We have a lot of commu community support

[9:26] which is great. Now we have nine partner churches that help um and they provide

[9:31] volunteers. They provide uh monetary and inindations.

[9:36] Uh we have a lot of great community partners that we work with. Uh gleaners,

[9:40] Midwest Food Bank, Town of Fortville, Vernon Township Trustees, and the

[9:44] Community Foundation of Hancock County has really um you know played an very

[9:49] important role in what we've been able to do. And then we have a lot of

[9:52] nonprofit collaboration. We have n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n

[9:54] n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n nonprofits that come in and talk during

[9:56] social hour and then we refer folks to the to them throughout uh Hancock

[10:00] County. And then we have our oversight. We have our board of directors and then

[10:03] we have a capital campaign campaign team that I'll talk to you about.

[10:11] All right. So I'm going to share with you kind of the impact of this

[10:15] partnership with so many community partners. And um Kelly, I did want to

[10:20] say feel free to ask us questions. Um and this this slide is probably one

[10:24] where you might have some questions. So um yeah, don't worry about interrupting.

[10:28] We're happy to answer anything. So um we've been tracking data since 2021.

[10:35] Like Kelly said, in 2020, we became kind of like a COVID relief site and then

[10:40] realized like, oh, we need to be, you know, tracking who's coming and going

[10:44] and especially for grants and that kind of thing, knowing um numbers. So, we had

[10:49] a full year of data for 2021. So, that's where this starts. And um you can see in

[10:56] 2025 alone here on the this side we impacted over 7,000 children, 3,400

[11:04] seniors and over a thousand veterans that we were able to reach. So excuse

[11:09] me, our numbers are really really growing. Our total number of individuals

[11:14] served um in 2025 was 19,262. So that that's a lot of people that we

[11:22] were able to touch and most of those just right here in Hancock County. Um as

[11:27] you look through our chart of you know across the years how many people we've

[11:31] impacted you'll see in 2024 we definitely had a dip in numbers and what

[11:36] we realized is we needed to set some limits on who could come and visit our

[11:41] pantry. um where we sit, we're very close to the Madison County line and um

[11:48] we had been just, you know, if if a person came, we served them, but we

[11:54] realized like we want to focus mainly on Hancock County. So, we put in our

[11:59] service restrictions of Hancock County and then they can also come to us if

[12:03] they live in Engles and Pendleton because that's very close to where we

[12:07] are. Um, so once we put in that service area, our numbers did dip. Um, but we

[12:14] were we were okay with that because we feel like that's more the people were

[12:18] wanting to impact and wanting to serve. And then in 2025, um, so we operate

[12:24] currently out of Fortville Christian Church and they had let us use their

[12:29] worship s their worship center for food distribution. Um and we you know we

[12:35] distribute on Tuesdays and Thursdays that was becoming a lot. So they were

[12:39] very generous and said well you can have our fellowship hall. So then we moved

[12:44] back to fellowship hall at the end of 2024 and you can see in 2025 that was a

[12:49] smaller space. And so we also can see some numbers dip because we're just a

[12:54] little more crowded and um we have long lines. People like coming to us. They

[12:59] like the food that we give out. But um sometimes standing in those lines are

[13:03] hard. So that's um the explanation of why some of those numbers are a little

[13:07] lower, but we know with um eventually a bigger space uh we will have capacity to

[13:13] serve quite a bit. Um but we have noted the amount the value of the groceries

[13:20] each household is getting has gone up significantly each year. Um, and and

[13:26] really honestly, so 2025 was 155 a week is kind of what we estimate.

[13:31] We're giving fresh meat, fresh produce, milk, eggs. I think this year it's

[13:37] probably almost even close to $200 a week worth of food that they're getting.

[13:41] Um, and our guests are allowed to come once a week. So, uh, that's impactful.

[13:47] Um, our inind donations have gone up significantly as we've added partners.

[13:53] We have more volunteers, more partner churches. Um, now we partner with

[13:58] gleaners in Midwest, so we're able to get a lot more um free items. So last

[14:05] year we had over a half million dollars of inind donations of um food, hygiene,

[14:12] cleaning products, that kind of thing. And then our number of volunteers has

[14:16] gone up significantly, too. So, but these aren't just numbers. their

[14:21] families that were, you know, that are trying to make ends meet. Children who

[14:25] need consistent meals, seniors choosing between food and medication, and every

[14:31] week we have the opportunity to step inside those stories. Our programs are

[14:36] continuing to to expand as we meet those needs. Um, we'll talk a little more. We

[14:42] serve a meal before every distribution so they can come and have fellowship

[14:46] time. Here are our speakers during fellowship time and have that meal. And

[14:51] um like Kelly said, we partner with local schools. We're providing we call

[14:55] them backpack sacks. Um the food bags that go over the weekend home with the

[15:00] kids. So farm is becoming more than a food pantry. It's becoming a central hub

[15:05] of support and connection.

[15:11] So, here are just some kind of fun fun pictures. Um, this uh the first picture

[15:18] there with like the wooden backdrop. That is where we do our fellowship hour.

[15:23] Again, that's um in the multi-purpose room at Fortville Christian Church.

[15:28] They've given us that space, but we can have up to I I mean 80 maybe even 100

[15:33] people if we really squeeze in there. Um, and so I think this picture was a we

[15:38] do a Christmas in July. Um, and so that's what was happening in that. And

[15:42] then just some of our guests. Um, we also have pictured some volunteers. We

[15:48] have Girl Scout groups, a lot of local church groups, all sorts of people that

[15:53] come. Um, the Mount Vernon Honor Society, they are often their kids are

[15:59] coming and helping us with things. So, and then again just some guests and

[16:04] volunteers. Um, so a lot of a lot of fun things

[16:09] happen. And I'm just going to read to you a couple quotes. We uh asked um some

[16:14] guests and volunteers just, hey, what do you think of farm? And I have two guest

[16:19] quotes. Uh, female says, "Farm helps me with food for my family, but being here

[16:25] with other people, my friends, and feeling closer to God is what means the

[16:30] most. I'm in such a better place here. I've learned so much with the guest

[16:35] speakers and Bible studies." And then one of our male guests says,

[16:41] "It's supplemented my groceries and helped me out so much. The people here

[16:46] are very friendly and that has ultimately kept me coming back. This is

[16:50] above and beyond a food pantry with social hour food and devotionals. So

[16:56] that that's what means the most to us is that you know people are coming they're

[17:01] lonely they need social interaction and they're coming and they're finding that

[17:05] here.

[17:09] So we know the demand is rising. I'm sure you have heard that too. Um, pantry

[17:14] visits have increased over the years, but also so is our community support.

[17:19] Um, so the numbers are are telling this story of incredible community support

[17:25] and trust in farm. Since 2021, our inind donations have increased um,

[17:33] drastically. Our volunteer base has tripled. And this growth isn't just

[17:38] data. It represents thousands of bags of food of groceries, hundreds of prayers,

[17:44] and a community that really says we care.

[17:51] But we know there's a growing need. We work very closely with the Vernon

[17:55] Township trustee um that she that's currently Flory May. Um and so Vernon

[18:01] Township is McCordsville and Fortville. and um they've identified that they have

[18:10] 1,870 people that rely on SNAP just in Vernon

[18:15] Township and these were 2025 numbers. So I imagine that went up. Um the Mount

[18:21] Vernon schools, we work closely with their counselors too and they're telling

[18:26] us so many families in need. Um and so just the need is rising and then you

[18:33] know food costs are rising, housing costs are rising, cost of medication is

[18:37] rising, all of that and um it's really making it hard for people to to make

[18:43] ends meet. So the Vernon Township Trustees reported that in 2025

[18:48] they helped with like household assistance or they helped assistance

[18:53] with 70 households in Fortville and 88 in McCordsville. And that was really

[18:58] interesting. They're seeing their McCordsville need increase greatly.

[19:03] Um so food insecurity leads to all sorts of other problems. They're feeling, you

[19:08] know, alone. Um isolation, anxiety, but farm is there along with other

[19:15] nonprofits that partner with us and just providing a really comprehensive safety

[19:19] net to meet that need.

[19:24] So, we want to be able to address the increase and be there and have that

[19:28] capacity. So, we know we have a bottleneck. So, our current space, um,

[19:32] you know, it's the Fortville Christian Church has been very generous, but we've

[19:35] outgrown that space. So, it limits how much food we can safely receive, unpack,

[19:39] sort, and [cough] distribute. Um, we have a lot of older uh, volunteers, and

[19:44] it's really hard for them to, you know, get everything where it needs to be. Um,

[19:47] it limits our service area. We would like to not have to have any limits. uh

[19:51] creates long wait times in crowded areas. We have a lot of folks that'll

[19:54] wait outside because they can't be in a crowded area or maybe not even come. Um

[20:00] and we lack that private space for, you know, like any confidential kind of uh

[20:04] conversations and that prayer in the um quiet areas. And then it limits space

[20:09] for other nonprofits to come and provide their services on a routine basis.

[20:14] [clears throat] And just recently um we had a community needs assessment done.

[20:18] Um, we had a college student reach out that they needed to do a project and um,

[20:23] so she did this for us and it was really awesome. Um, she did two things. One

[20:26] thing was just looked at all the zip codes of all of our guests and kind of

[20:29] analyzed uh, who was coming. So we served Fortville, McCordsville,

[20:33] Pendleton and uh, Greenfield are the the biggest, you know, areas where people

[20:38] come and then she um, asked all her guests that came um three questions. We

[20:42] had a survey one, what are some positive ways farm um the farm pantry serves you

[20:48] that should be um that would be important to include in the new building

[20:51] and then what are some areas we could improve on and then just anything in you

[20:55] know in general. So what the guests value most where mo a lot of them just

[20:59] said you're doing a great job don't need to change things. Um some like our

[21:03] volunteers are very uh friendly and welcoming. Um ability to choose their

[21:08] own food had a lot of gratitude and appreciation. Uh they like the guest

[21:12] speakers and the testimonials and the social hour. Some areas for improvement.

[21:17] Um the sound system, we can work on that. Um we have long wait times, live

[21:21] improvements, uh more space. They would like some additional items like pet

[21:25] food. We don't get that very often, so we're working on ways to maybe get some

[21:29] pet food in in there. Um accessibility, we do have some folks that are in

[21:33] wheelchairs and it's really hard for them to get around. um and more

[21:37] specialty items like for diabetics and glutenfree kind of things. So, we're

[21:41] trying to figure out where we can get those kind of things. Um so, it's really

[21:45] good that this this aligns what we were feeling as the volunteers and uh staff,

[21:50] but then also we see that our our guests are filling it too. So, you know, our

[21:55] needs align there. Um so, this this was just a really good exercise for us to to

[22:00] make sure we are meeting the community needs.

[22:04] So we have a vision, a new home for farm. Uh Fortville Christian Church has

[22:08] graciously given us the land and we um envision this new new building. Um we'll

[22:15] have expanded storage. We'll have refrigeration and freezer capacity will

[22:20] increase and as well as other storage. Um dignity first design. We want it to

[22:25] have easy navigation. We want to make sure it has includes those um warm

[22:28] gathering spaces, you know, that that fosters that connection and community.

[22:32] And it's more than a it's going to be more than a warehouse. It's going to be

[22:35] a community hub. We want to have space for other nonprofits to come and provide

[22:40] their services. You know, it's sometimes hard for people in Fortville,

[22:43] Mccorsville to get all the way to Greenfield, and that's where most of the

[22:46] nonprofits are. Um so we they'll come to us. So we already have uh seven letter

[22:51] of intents that if they have the space, they will bring their services to the

[22:55] building. So, um, and just recently, like actually right before the floods

[22:59] happened, we were working with Hancock County Co- to figure out what we can do

[23:04] when there's an emergency. Fortunately, we were a little bit late because we had

[23:08] a meeting like right before the floods like so, we didn't really have a good

[23:11] plan, but we were able to um provide donations to Anderson and then to our

[23:16] surrounding um trustees. But we want to have a better plan. We want to have a

[23:20] plan for now how we can serve the community and then how this building

[23:24] could be of use when there's a when there's an emergency like that or some

[23:27] you know some other emergencies. So we're working on that.

[23:33] So where we're going um in 2026 we've started our capital campaign and we've

[23:38] hired an architect. We're working with them right now. Our our plans are

[23:41] actually pretty pretty final and we're going to be start looking at builders

[23:45] and hopefully decide decide on a builder this year and then in 2027 we'll

[23:50] continue our capital campaign and then we'd like to break ground sometime next

[23:53] year.

[23:59] Okay. So, in order to make this new building happen, um we are in the

[24:04] process of raising $2.5 million. And we're really excited about that. that

[24:09] this building that you know you saw the picture I don't know just looking at

[24:13] that we were fearful it would be a whole lot more but two and a half million is

[24:18] is reasonable and we can do that. So um to build this future we've already

[24:24] launched our campaign and um just kind of the breakdown of where this money is

[24:30] going 2 million is the construction cost. So, um that is, you know, the

[24:37] entire building. Then we've um been working with the Hancock County

[24:44] Community Foundation and they've they suggested we build in operating cost

[24:50] into our capital campaign, which is really nice. Right now, um Fortville

[24:56] Christian Church hasn't really charged us much as far they don't charge us

[25:01] rent. we help with some electric cost and that kind of thing. Um, but we

[25:06] realized like, oh, well, it's probably is going to be a a big chunk that

[25:10] operating cost. So, we appreciated um that advice and we've put that into our

[25:15] campaign. And then 250,000 is for additional equipment. All the equipment

[25:21] we currently have will move into the new building, but we would like a walk-in

[25:25] freezer. We're going to need, you know, different forklifts, just all all sorts

[25:29] of things. Um the the [clears throat] kitchen there will look different. We

[25:33] have plans to make that a spot where we can do cooking classes and people can

[25:38] come in and learn canning or or whatever. So um you know just it'll

[25:43] cause a lot more equipment. And our goal is to do all of this totally debtree. Um

[25:49] we believe that's biblical and um you know we don't want to be paying interest

[25:54] on a loan. So we're waiting as the money comes in. you know, we're not going to

[26:00] build until we know we have this funded.

[26:08] So, um, in closing, um, you know, we just want to reiterate that farm is

[26:12] serving, um, you know, families in Hancock County. We're working we're um

[26:16] already collecting and distributing the hundreds of thousands of pounds of food

[26:19] every every year and working with uh businesses and organizations, you know,

[26:24] stepping in and helping families with unexpected hardships. Um and then like I

[26:29] said, the recent flooding really reminded us that needs aren't always

[26:33] predictable and we need to be ready. When a disaster happens, people can't

[26:36] wait. They need help. And so we want to build that capacity and be able to step

[26:41] in and help. So, we are asking the Hancock County Council to partner with

[26:45] us and invest in this project. And it it's not just a investment in a

[26:49] building. It's an investment in Hancock County, you know, and Hancock County

[26:53] families. Um, our request to the Hancock County Council is $250,000.

[26:59] We recognize that this is a significant investment, but we believe it reflects a

[27:03] significant role this facility can play in serving Hancock County um and you

[27:08] know help respond to um these um unexpected hardships and also community

[27:13] emergencies. We would you know welcome the um opportunity to work with the

[27:17] council on how that investment could be structured, but we would be really

[27:21] honored to have Hancock County stand alongside farm um as a partner in making

[27:25] that happen. So, we really thank you today for taking the time to listen to

[27:29] us and considering this investment in the people of Hancock County. If you

[27:32] have any questions, we would welcome those. And then also in your packet, we

[27:36] um attached a letter of support from the commissioners and uh town of Fortville

[27:41] and Flory May the Vernon Township. >> I do have a question and it may have

[27:45] been in here a lot of information. I just

[27:47] » It's a lot. Sorry. >> Where is [clears throat] the location of

[27:49] the land? >> Um Fortville Christian Church which is

[27:53] um on 200, >> right? Yeah.

[27:55] » So, right behind there's two parsonages there. The back one's going to be torn

[27:59] down soon. So, it'll be right there. >> So, it'll be in Fortville.

[28:02] » Yeah, it's Fortville. >> That's very close to Mount Vernon

[28:06] schools. >> Yeah, just down the road.

[28:07] » I know. >> How much have you raised so far? And

[28:10] then how much has given been given by Fortville Town, McCory'sville Town in

[28:14] Vernon Township? >> Okay. So, um, so far we're at $400,000

[28:19] and that is mostly um from the board and volunteers and we had some um anonymous

[28:25] donors that gave um currently we are working with Fortville um to look into

[28:31] the okra um funds that are available. They they said they would sponsor us in

[28:36] that. So, right now they have not actually given us any money for it, but

[28:40] working with them on that. >> What about Mordsville? [clears throat]

[28:44] » Township in McCordsville. Yeah. Yeah. Um so the township trustees, McCords, the

[28:50] town of McCordsville, we've met with them, but um

[28:54] don't have um any financial, you know, um

[28:58] » anything pledged. Um and the way the township trustees work, we have a

[29:03] contract with Vernon Township Trustees where then they can give us contracted

[29:10] funds for food, but not towards the capital campaign. What?

[29:14] » Um, and we're also been working with Thomas Lopez um from Center Township

[29:20] here in Greenfield. Similar um we go out to Mohawk Campgrounds. There are people

[29:26] living there >> and we deliver there every week and

[29:29] that's in Center Township and so Thomas Lopez was very interested in helping

[29:36] support us. But again, that would be like a contract for food,

[29:39] » right? Right. It has to be. >> Well, go ahead. I'm assuming that you

[29:44] said you um have a lot of the uh Mount Vernon school children that you're

[29:50] servicing that live in McCordsville. Um so you're not getting any

[29:56] participation from McCordsville in the project?

[29:59] » Not yet. >> Yeah.

[30:01] » Not not yet. They've been really good to try to connect us to some of the new

[30:05] businesses going in. Um and that's really nice. there's, you know, rumored

[30:10] of some new grocery stores going in and that kind of thing and they're getting

[30:14] us connected with um that. We also have Meyer and IU Health and and Ninstar and

[30:22] I mean so I see Nin Star is probably already participating,

[30:26] » but yeah, you're you're probably going to have to tap [clears throat] the the

[30:30] really big um ones that are I know I use new there and uh

[30:38] » contact there that we've been trying to get with someone. Mhm. If any of you

[30:42] know like, hey, talk to this person at IU Health, we'd be happy to have that

[30:46] contact. >> You can ask Walmart, too.

[30:48] » Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] >> Yes. There's a Walmart going in. Um,

[30:52] it's I think it's kind of slow going, but it's actually in Engle.

[30:56] » There is a Walmart going service area. >> Absolutely.

[30:59] » Yeah. >> Have you talked to any township trustees

[31:03] over the county line? I saw you serve zip codes that go outside Hancock

[31:06] County. Have they been supportive? >> Yeah. Um, so Greg Valentine is the

[31:10] township trustee for Green Township in Madison County, which is Engles and a

[31:16] portion of Pendleton. And we serve a lot of his people. And um, we share data

[31:21] with him, but um, as far as like a contract, we haven't done that with him.

[31:28] Um, he knows to reach out to us when he has people in need. So, but yeah,

[31:32] they're definitely aware. Do do the senior services uh service

[31:38] quite a number of the PE I notice you've got them down as a a supporting um or a

[31:45] participating uh >> yeah we we um you know we will refer

[31:50] people to them >> and I think we have some folks in in

[31:53] Fortville that use their transportation system

[31:56] » but um is that what you mean or >> Well we we finance that for the county

[32:02] and Um, most of the people that use it now are in Greenfield, but some are

[32:09] outside. I just wonder if you if we if you do this, is that going to increase

[32:14] the amount of uh service that the senior services will be? Yeah, they're

[32:20] » will be coming back to us to finance. Um, we've talked to them and I think

[32:27] Kelly can speak to that, but um, we've even said, you know, hey, we could be a

[32:32] hub in this new building. They could park cars out there because, um, it's my

[32:37] understanding that some of their volunteers like live out, say,

[32:41] Fortville, and McCordsville, but then have to drive all the way into

[32:44] Greenfield to pick up the the vans and that kind of thing. And so we've said,

[32:49] well, >> they'd be welcome to keep them, you

[32:51] know, there and that would be a shorter drive for their volunteers.

[32:55] » Would probably end up expanding [clears throat]

[32:57] senior services probably. >> Um, their their comment just maybe a

[33:02] reminder to us and to the public is that uh uh I know you have an ask of 250, but

[33:07] uh to let you know that we did help in the past the food pantry here for

[33:12] 100,000. So that's kind of our I think the max we've ever gone. So, just to put

[33:16] it in perspective, so you know, 250 is pretty high up there for us to do. And I

[33:21] understand that's how you [laughter] ask. That's how you ask. That's how we

[33:23] do as politicians. We ask for a larger number than you get. So, I I get it.

[33:26] » Yeah. [laughter] We we share notes quite a bit with the Hancock County Food

[33:31] Pantry. Um I mean, it really all the food pantries in Hancock County are

[33:36] good. Um we do a food rescue provider call um every other month with all of

[33:40] them. And um I I did kind of mean to point out and I know Kelly noted, but we

[33:45] are also a free choice pantry, which is something that so many of our guests say

[33:50] they appreciate and that that's different than many of the other food

[33:54] pantries is they can come and do their own grocery shopping basically, not a

[33:59] preack bag, you know, um they get that free choice. So that's important.

[34:03] » Is it income restricted? >> Nope.

[34:06] » Okay. You don't. The thing is Hankai County Pendleton our only restriction.

[34:11] » Oh, okay. For residency, correct? Pan County,

[34:14] » but no income. They don't have to verify income at all.

[34:18] » And then if someone comes that's outside of our um service area, we'll let them

[34:21] go through once and then we give them information about other pantries in

[34:24] their area. Oh, the forville has its own RDC

[34:29] redevelopment commission and u the restrictions on redevelopment commission

[34:35] tiff money um has to be in using it in the area to support the area of the tiff

[34:43] and I would assume that that the tiff money for Fortville is

[34:49] um capable of providing capital funding for something like this too. So, if you

[34:55] haven't haven't went to the redevelopment commission in Fortville

[34:59] yet, our ours is too far away probably to to um um

[35:06] » justify >> justify to make that jump for for the

[35:10] local government [clears throat] finance, but Fortville's probably is

[35:12] not. >> Okay. Okay. We'll check into that. Thank

[35:15] you. Yeah, because that's where any of the new factories or any of the

[35:20] commercial stuff that's going in up there around there. Um that's where

[35:25] their tax revenue gets held up >> and and that's something we would talk

[35:28] to the town of Fort Phillip. >> Um the there's a redevelopment

[35:31] commission. They have their own tiff district. So

[35:33] » their own meetings. >> They have their own meetings or

[35:35] everything. So yeah, you would you would approach them. But if if you see a new

[35:39] warehouse go up somewhere, that's where that tax revenue goes into that fund.

[35:43] » Okay. And then um >> your location would be in or serving

[35:47] that tiff district, >> right? And you're right, close. We've

[35:50] had to turn down volunteer fire departments that were east side of c

[35:54] county because they weren't, you know, close enough to say that they were

[35:58] priority for for that. I mean, because it's Mount Comfort is where and Maxwell

[36:03] is where our tiff districts are. And so it has to has to prove that it's serving

[36:08] to that. But capital funds are one of the big things that they can use money

[36:12] for, not operational stuff. >> Okay. Awesome. Thank you.

[36:15] » Does your tiff cover mohawk? >> The the budget the the money derived

[36:19] from uh the commerce within [clears throat] the tiff district. That

[36:23] budget is managed by the redevelopment commission, not the town council, you

[36:27] know, at this point. So that's a separate that's going to be a separate

[36:30] they probably appoint someone, but they don't control that budget.

[36:33] » Okay. Awesome. >> Yeah. Yeah. Were you seeking another um

[36:37] letter of recommendation or did the commissioner's letter suffice for the

[36:41] county or were you uh requesting another letter of recommendation?

[36:46] » Um another one would be great. [laughter] Um but I don't know I don't I

[36:50] guess I don't know for sure if that commissioners one would cover that or is

[36:53] two separate entities or how that works. But

[36:56] » us money versus they were wanting another letter.

[37:02] I mean, if you guys think it would be helpful,

[37:03] » well, I mean, I think the only time a letter would be helpful would be is if

[37:06] we want to do a letter, if we want to make an offer in the future, we don't

[37:08] have to decide today, but to say that we'll match up to a certain amount

[37:12] whatever Fortville Town gives and Mccordsville Town gives.

[37:17] » Up to a certain amount. >> Yeah,

[37:19] » we could do something like that to to try to push them to to donate,

[37:23] » right? because we have a we have an issue where we provide a lot of services

[37:27] for the whole county and we're not getting any of these support like from

[37:30] 911 or from anything else from the towns or the cities and so that's a um

[37:37] » animal control >> animal control that's a tough deal for

[37:40] us >> senior services

[37:41] » yeah because pays nothing for animal control they don't pay anything for 911

[37:44] they don't pay anything and county picks all that up and uh we've we've struggled

[37:49] to get the cordsville them to participate And senior services is the

[37:54] big one right now. It's costing us hundreds of thousands a year to provide

[37:58] that transportation service for the whole county. And the unincorporated

[38:02] areas that we get our money from, it's only a small portion of what they do.

[38:07] You know, they get mostly out of the towns. And so

[38:12] » would I if the county council did um ponder this and decide to pledge uh any

[38:20] amount since they have a lot of fundraising

[38:23] left to do. Would we retain the funds in house up to the point that they had

[38:29] their other funding secure? >> You can do you can set it however we

[38:32] want. That's why I say we don't have to decide today. We can think about it

[38:36] » because it just got presented all this information today. Yeah, I'll probably

[38:40] need to digest

[38:43] » answer more questions >> and I can help you all. Last week was

[38:46] the Indiana Hunger Summit and Rachel Brandenburgg from ISDA is the food

[38:50] distribution leader. So, she can probably help connect with others that

[38:54] have done what you're doing or trying to do to get some best practices. Um, and

[38:59] then Okra, I'm on the ISDA Department of A is on the same floor as okra. So,

[39:04] » I can certainly walk across the floor and help connect there. So, uh, but I

[39:08] think Rachel would be really good just not only with what she knows about other

[39:13] food banks, but being very involved with the Indiana Hunger Summit that was just

[39:16] last week that there may be some people that know a lot more about this than I

[39:20] do, but that I can help connect you with and she can to help get this to gain

[39:26] some steam because I I just know a lot of people struggling to raise money. I

[39:30] mean, just looking at that growth of the ink kind donation, that shows that

[39:33] you've got something going here and there's obviously a need and so I want

[39:37] to be able to help out where I can. >> So, do you have clerk's information?

[39:41] » No. Yeah. [laughter] >> I I've got your I can reach out to you

[39:44] or if you have a card, >> but uh yeah, I have one in my my back

[39:48] there. I can get to that. >> I just want to commend you. This is a

[39:50] wonderful program and it's the basic feeding people. You can't get any better

[39:54] than that. So, you know, you you all have done a great job. Very impressed.

[39:59] Yes, you have. >> All right. Thank you for coming and make

[40:03] sure you get your information to Clark so he can help you out.

[40:05] » Yeah, I'll go get that real quick. >> Thank you.

[40:07] » You're welcome. >> All right. Next up for the 9:00 a.m.

[40:10] time slot was request for additional appropriations. John Chakantis

[40:17] and he's not wearing a tie. >> No.

[40:19] » You let me down, John. >> Tie. [laughter]

[40:22] » Don't let that fool you. >> He's got to be asking for six figures to

[40:26] put the tie on. [laughter] We just ask you for

[40:28] » I mean it is it actually is. So >> we have some shortages that are coming

[40:34] up before the end of the year and so I have five line items uh from fund 1235

[40:41] which is our 911 lit which is very healthy um to ask for the approval to

[40:49] advertise for the additional appropriations.

[40:53] is 1235 the fund where we raise the basis points. So it will be Yeah. Yeah.

[41:00] There's plenty. It's Well, that was part of that's actually three of the line

[41:04] items were because we moved a position from 1222 to protect it into 1235. We've

[41:10] been bouncing back and forth between those two in order to protect 1222.

[41:16] And and is your uh group insurance request of 138,000 in addition to the

[41:22] 650? >> No, no, no, no. That's what it gets up

[41:26] to. Um >> what's it 650 now?

[41:29] » It [clears throat] was 500,000. We we left the original amount in for the 2025

[41:33] budget for some reason. >> But I mean, you're asking this for the

[41:37] 27 budget, right? >> No, this is for this year. Otherwise,

[41:40] I'm not going to get >> right now. Right now that your budget

[41:43] 650 for medical. >> Yeah.

[41:49] » For 12. >> That's a 27.

[41:51] » For 27. >> No. No. This is for now.

[41:54] » He's saying 26. >> Yeah. 2026. There's only 500,000.

[41:58] » 26 to make it through 26.

[42:02] » Yes. >> Correct.

[42:03] » Yeah. These are all for 2026 to get through.

[42:05] » And we knew he would probably come up short.

[42:07] » What's that? >> I said we knew you would probably come

[42:10] up short. I we knew this from after the budget was approved, but I wanted to

[42:13] wait. >> I wanted to wait to ask for the

[42:16] additional because of the fact we did close the gap by about

[42:19] » $40,000 because of we're still have two open spots. So that we haven't been able

[42:25] to fill unfortunately for seven eight months now. So

[42:30] » um you're looking for a thumbs up to

[42:33] advertise. >> Do we have a thumbs up to advertise for

[42:37] the appropriations? All right. Um, before you leave, I have a question. I

[42:42] know you're going to come to RDC tomorrow.

[42:44] » Yes, I am. >> If everybody remembers, we talked about

[42:49] funding um eventually funding a person out of the

[42:55] RDC for 911 because we had these vacancies. You had to move people around

[43:00] and stuff like that and >> Right.

[43:02] » and uh can you update us on that because we'll be make hope hopefully we'll be

[43:07] making a decision. And I know the the commissioners have already heard it, I

[43:10] think, and and everything and we make a decision tomorrow on that. I want

[43:14] everybody to be comfortable with it. >> This one this one is actually for the

[43:17] new position, the the program or public safety program manager. Um we

[43:25] like I said, we that's and that's the only position we're asking for out of

[43:29] RDC. So, um, but I know Gary had programmed in about 110,000,

[43:37] I think, into the RDC budget and it fits. We have a little bit of a

[43:43] shortfall with the group insurance that will make up on the 12 out of the 1235

[43:48] fund. So, >> is um what else is the RDC funding 911

[43:53] on? Anything? >> Nothing.

[43:56] » Okay. Yeah. Cuz >> you want if you want to give me more

[43:59] money. >> No, no, no. I'm just always cognizant of

[44:02] the percentages and everything that >> that um we have to live under uh and

[44:07] all. So um >> and we checked this out with Lisa if it

[44:11] was >> Yeah. Yeah.

[44:12] » Yep. We were able to do that. >> Yeah. I think the way the job

[44:15] description was written, it fits within the uh within the RDC budget. So,

[44:19] » and then we still have the one person that's on medical leave, but we're also

[44:24] going to have uh three others on long-term leaves here shortly. So,

[44:30] » well, >> my overtime is going to go from here to

[44:34] » there. >> So, but we're good there. [snorts]

[44:39] » Anything else? >> Thank [clears throat] you.

[44:41] » All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. the 9:15 which is magistrate Kums

[44:46] he is on the bench till 9:45 so we will uh interrupt at 9:45 and if once he gets

[44:51] here to have him come on because he's on the bench from 8:30 to noon today so

[44:55] he's going to take a break to come here for that so we'll skip to the 9:30

[44:59] environmental pollution policy Brian Breeze come on up

[45:12] » morning everyone Morning. >> Um,

[45:16] like to discuss a uh environmental policy for the

[45:21] county. I've presented it to the commissioners and they gave a favorable

[45:27] 300 vote to go ahead and come to the council and in the packet um

[45:35] what the proposal is for, we move to a self-insured retention program on the

[45:40] county's insurance. And so we're we just got high deductibles and there was

[45:45] limited pollution in the last one. Um when I ran a search on the county for

[45:51] underground storage tanks, it showed zero. um through the research of putting

[45:56] this together. There is one that was newly installed at the and that's the ID

[46:01] IDM IDM uh database, but we have one it's a water oil separator at the

[46:07] highway and then we have one for diesel tank at the um new uh the old jail, the

[46:15] um community correction building now on over here. But um and then we were in

[46:21] the process of purchasing Jack and Son's property and with that

[46:28] that just brought up some more flags. We do have through the solid waste

[46:32] management district the collection events and although we've required all

[46:36] of the vendors to provide insurance which includes pollution coverage. I

[46:41] just thought the county overall we should just go ahead and put in a most

[46:48] most policies exclude pollution so it's always going to be a standalone and what

[46:52] you have in front of you is what they call site pollution uh proposal and at

[46:58] the time of the last meeting that I proposed um I didn't have all the county

[47:06] u data as far as how much ground and so what you see is a proposal for the

[47:11] locations that we [snorts] have. Um the very bottom one where it says not

[47:16] offered, that's the vacant farmhouse on 40 uh by the um gun range or across from

[47:23] the sheriff's department. And so that one because it's a vacant building and

[47:27] not utilized there there's no coverage for that right now. the um there is a

[47:33] lead exclusion for the gun range on the policy and that's just due to obviously

[47:38] the ammunition that's fired there. But on the [clears throat] on the proposal

[47:43] and what the commissioners approved it was for 5 million. The carrier offers

[47:49] two types of payment structure. If you do it annually, uh the pricing was a

[47:53] little higher at um 38,478. Whereas if we um do a three-year policy,

[48:03] it's um 67,57415.

[48:07] That's what they favored um in the and voted for in the meeting. And kind of

[48:13] the reason behind that was uh the cost per year is lower. And the only caveat

[48:20] in going with the three-year policy is that if there is an event first year,

[48:26] um that would lower that 5 million and if it were totally exhausted, we would

[48:31] have to buy a new policy. But the annual you would be reloading even if there

[48:36] wasn't an event 38478 38 478 38478. So there's quite a bit of savings with

[48:43] the three-year proposal. On another note, um when you talk about claims, a

[48:50] lot of times your defense costs, your attorney fees are inside the the uh

[48:55] limit. Uh these are actually outside. So there's a 1.25 million of coverage that

[49:01] is outside of the policy. So really, you're getting 6.25 million of coverage

[49:07] including uh defense costs. the um underwriter and I went through um you

[49:14] know kind of all the county angles and I brought up we own a lot of parcels which

[49:20] are just like strips of ground in front of different property right away right

[49:24] away sections and the auditor's office was able to help me and they gave me 630

[49:30] acres is the total amount I didn't have that at the time of presenting this and

[49:37] giving um the presentation to the commissioners. So, I did get that number

[49:42] back and we can add all of that additional ground. It would go up to

[49:47] 86,139 for the three-year uh 5 million limit,

[49:52] but um I just haven't been able to get back in front of them and present. When

[49:56] I presented this to them, they said, "Did you talk to the council first?" I

[49:59] said, "Well, no. I thought I needed to come here first." So, kind of in that

[50:04] mindset, I'm going to let you know what I'm presenting today. They said, "Well,

[50:10] this is would be outside of our normal budget, so if you can present to the

[50:14] council, um Jim, I know you're familiar with the uh Jack and Suns because the

[50:20] Jackson oil is next to it." And I hit that hard because I said, "All right, if

[50:26] that's not included on here yet because number one, we don't own it. But if we

[50:30] do buy it, they want to see the phase one and if there's a phase two, I'm not

[50:34] sure which of those are if there's just a phase one. It's easier to add if

[50:37] there's a phase two. And then I even showed the lady um through street view

[50:42] and aerial views the Jackson oil because those are above ground storage tanks.

[50:46] There's less there's less worry on that property having leaks because they would

[50:51] be if they're leaking above ground, they're going to be caught quicker. So

[50:55] if they were all underground storage tanks, there might be some worry about

[50:58] bleed off of on that. But we could add those once we or any property for that

[51:04] matter if we had one that we were trying to add at a later date that had any kind

[51:08] of pollution issue as long as it was cleaned up. And so um the policy again

[51:14] is a site pollution. Um with Dee, I've worked with her a lot lately on the uh

[51:20] collection events. This policy would also include so if we have one at the

[51:24] church or if we have one at the junior high um it'll give us it'll extend

[51:28] coverage for the county there uh in transportation so as the vendors leave

[51:33] and haul it away if there was an accident or something and it was our

[51:38] event that was involved it would provide protection for the county there and then

[51:42] also at the end use or end location we would have coverage for that as well and

[51:48] um uh with the pricing the carrier I worked worked with shop multiple

[51:52] companies and this one came back most favorable um on all the above and um

[51:58] I've even included the two underground storage tanks in this with the highway

[52:03] department and the jail. So those are factored in. Um

[52:07] and then the property um on Jack and Sons whenever that's

[52:14] added they just have to review the phase one data and FA if there is a phase two

[52:19] they have to review that. But um does anyone have any questions for me on

[52:26] » Well, Brian, now [clears throat] the way I understand it is this is just

[52:31] insurance for uh pollution. >> Yeah. [clears throat]

[52:35] » Like you talked about um transportation. It it wouldn't cover anything but the

[52:41] pollution caused by >> auto accident would not be covered like

[52:45] the vehicle uh damage. But if there was pollution per se, we the county has um

[52:53] risk transfer practices in place where any vendor we use um should have 1099.

[52:59] If they file a 1099, they should have a COI on file with us. And I've worked

[53:03] with DD to make sure every vendor, whether it's the tire person, the

[53:07] household hazardous waste, uh the paint, we we make sure we have all their

[53:11] certificates on file. And we do require pollution for those vendors as well as

[53:16] automobile, general liability, uh workers comp.

[53:21] [clears throat] >> Um and did our old insurance

[53:26] » it was limited coverage and with the county because the solid waste

[53:31] management district is so small like if you look at across the county our budget

[53:35] for the size of the county and the and the she she's really more of a educator.

[53:41] She goes out and teaches. She does 128 uh presentations a year to schools.

[53:47] » So, um but we don't have a landfill. We we really outside of again outside of

[53:54] the couple of underground storage tanks and then the collection events, we don't

[53:58] have a lot of exposure. But if we ever had somebody

[54:03] dump on a on a property, that's where I just felt the adding the 630 acres, we

[54:10] have a complete coverage. And um and then the other thing I like about this

[54:15] company is that any property can be added. Even though I had concerns about

[54:19] Jacks um bringing it on, what's what's there? It's been a junkyard as long as I

[54:26] can remember. So Salvageard. So, um, I just thought if we're bringing that on

[54:32] and as the county [clears throat] grows, Dee's mentioned Republic working with

[54:35] them on adding a collection site where people can drive through and drop stuff

[54:40] off. So, I just felt we really need to expand on this. And we did make changes.

[54:46] We we monitor a lot of risk within the county and uh this is just an area we

[54:51] really need to um bring up to speed and with the growth um and the additional

[54:56] things that we're doing. I think it's just time that we um put this in place.

[55:04] » Well, I think we need coverage. >> Well, [clears throat] I I think we need

[55:08] some coverage. I'm not sure if it makes sense to cover rideaways and stuff that

[55:16] in order for us to get a claim from a rideway, we would have had to dump our

[55:21] own material on the rideway. If there's a traffic accident and fuel or oil or

[55:28] anything has spilled into that rideway, then the people involved in the traffic

[55:33] accident have to pay for that. Okay? IDM goes specifically after those people. Um

[55:39] I'm I was personally involved in a oil spill at a rideway and then I was

[55:45] responsible for for that not the county or the city or anybody else.

[55:50] » And there's [clears throat] hundreds of acres she's saying of right away

[55:55] and things like that. So and then like the there's a lot of things on here that

[55:59] may not make sense and I know they charge by the acre or they they you know

[56:04] environmental uh insurance is not is not cheap. I've had to have some of it

[56:08] myself in the past. Um, if if there's at the at the shooting range, if lead

[56:16] is not uh uh if lead contamination to an adjacent property is not covered under

[56:22] the insurance, then why would you have insurance at all at the shooting?

[56:25] Because they're not doing anything else out there but shooting. You know,

[56:28] there's not vehicles on that property. There's not anything that would cause

[56:32] cause you to have a a claim. Um, and then if Jackson Suns is not in this,

[56:38] that's going to be a scenario of its own. It's not going to probably pass a

[56:42] phase one or phase two after you say they're done and then they would review

[56:46] it. It's not it's probably not ever going to happen. Um, so that's kind of a

[56:52] mute point to this, but that's on in addition to this. So, I I may I may

[56:57] think it's just too comprehensive for every single little bitty thing that the

[57:02] county has to have um environmental insurance on. Um [clears throat]

[57:09] I've just seen as drug in other uh cases, not not pollution, that the

[57:16] county uh has big pockets and we tend to get drugged into

[57:22] uh lawsuits. No, I don't. >> It just hasn't happened since I've been

[57:26] here. That's maybe or I I don't I'm not familiar with

[57:30] » cases like that. Um >> the the waste management district um

[57:36] stuff I I don't think you can blanket all of

[57:40] their issues or all of their stuff on through this. I I don't think then they

[57:45] would have a blanket coverage. I I mean that almost has to be sight specific to

[57:52] through to through our solid waste management district and even if we have

[57:56] to increase funding to them to handle all the coverages cuz because that's

[58:01] going to be a moving target. They do not have a thing set up with Republic. Okay.

[58:06] They may never get a thing set up with Republic uh for an ongoing thing. We've

[58:11] been trying that something like that for years. [cough] and [clears throat] their

[58:15] locations that they have their stuff changes also uh by who allows them to

[58:19] have places there. But um I I'm not throwing cold water on everything,

[58:25] Brian. I just want us to realize the and this is ongoing. This is like hiring

[58:32] another person. Okay. Once you start this, you never quit. So

[58:36] » you're suggesting it might be money better spent to focus more intricately

[58:40] on the things that are are of higher risk rather than blanket something

[58:46] » the rather than blank any piece of well there is high-risk scenarios. There is

[58:52] uh the county highway building um and things like that that need to be covered

[58:56] and and the old jail and stuff like that probably. But I don't know, as I said,

[59:01] if we pull in every little bitty piece because I'm sure they're charging

[59:06] us for all those other things that that may not ever have a and haven't had in

[59:13] the past uh a scenario. Um

[59:17] » so will the price be cheaper then if we limit what what we cover to the

[59:22] high-risisk areas? >> There is a a locationbased rate. Um, I

[59:26] would have to get, you know, a revised total, but just to kind of counter a

[59:31] little bit of what you said, Kent, what about if you, you said if you were able

[59:34] to identify who dumped it, what about if it's somebody that just pulls up, dumps

[59:38] in the middle of the night, and takes off and there is no um accident report

[59:43] to move it or if that person if that company or individual that has a loss,

[59:48] say it's a farmer with Anhydrris and they have a serious accident and that

[59:53] their pollution limit either they didn't have it or it was exceeded and then the

[59:57] county is kind of stuck there. We'll be brought in on it with that um because

[1:00:02] it's our property. Um a majority would fall on the land owner, I'm sure, in

[1:00:06] those areas, but we're still going to have our piece. So, that's the only

[1:00:10] thing I disagree respectfully with you on on the on the on coveraging covering

[1:00:15] everything. And then the difference between the solid waste management

[1:00:18] district and this DED has a office that's technically rented for at the

[1:00:24] Purdue. So, she's more of a contractor uh pollution type risk where she's out

[1:00:30] and on the move. So, the solid waste district doesn't have the amount of

[1:00:34] property or land that the county does. And that's where we're talking two

[1:00:38] different coverages. This is a site uh pollution policy. And then the where Dee

[1:00:44] is involved, that's more of a contractor's pollution type policy

[1:00:47] because she has her office space. And then other than that, she's whether

[1:00:53] she's at Republic, whether she's at the schools, whether she's at the collection

[1:00:58] event itself. And she does two big ones, April and September, and then she has a

[1:01:03] couple of smaller ones that uh bounce between New Pal, Fortville,

[1:01:07] McCordsville. So there's there's other locations there that she's at as well.

[1:01:11] But um what I put together was just you could go a million if you wanted. What I

[1:01:19] would recommend instead of backing off locations would go down in um go from a

[1:01:25] five million down to a three or one million policy or whatever number. But

[1:01:30] that's where you could shave premium but still have the comprehensive piece.

[1:01:34] There's also coverages within it does exclude POS which are

[1:01:40] you have shoes that are waterproof. They have spray on them that's a POS. So,

[1:01:44] there's so many things that are POS type, but um mold or bacteria, things

[1:01:49] like that. There's things like that that could be in the buildings that would

[1:01:52] that could potentially be picked up with this as well. So, it's not just the dump

[1:01:56] of gas or antifreeze or something like that. It's um covering the buildings in

[1:02:02] um in those areas as well for pollution. Well, I it's going to be

[1:02:10] it it's with the things that aren't included in it that we're going to have

[1:02:14] to add to it. You're talking about um it's not 67. It's going to be 80 some

[1:02:20] thousand. If we eventually add um jacks to it, we're talking $100,000 every

[1:02:26] three years. Um >> I don't think it would be that much

[1:02:30] because the the 630 acres was the 20. That was a big 630 acres is a big number

[1:02:37] over just the buildings and the and the property they sit on. So, um

[1:02:42] » that covers all of the the Hancock County farm, right? Both sides.

[1:02:47] » Well, and we have the new park um off 100 South between 40 and 100 South. Um

[1:02:53] the Ninstar Park. We have Yeah. the the farm. When I talked to the assessor's

[1:02:58] office, I said, "I need all of the ground that's owned by the county." and

[1:03:03] they gave me 630 acres, >> right? And

[1:03:08] the 100 acres that's not been utilized right now is we've, as far as I know,

[1:03:12] we've never had environmental insurance on the farm ground.

[1:03:16] And >> well, the county's owned it and had it

[1:03:19] farmed for hundred some years, >> almost 200 years or 1850.

[1:03:26] » So are what are we asking of Brian? Are we asking him to show us premium prices

[1:03:32] for one and threeyear? Are we asking him to

[1:03:35] » mean one or three million >> or I'm sorry 1 in 3 million or are we

[1:03:39] asking him to change the >> right now it's 5 million right that's

[1:03:44] the >> quote presented and that's what again

[1:03:46] I'm presenting what was favorably I gave the commissioners the one and five and

[1:03:51] they voted 30 with a favorable recommendation to come to you guys with

[1:03:55] that so they were >> three is not an option

[1:03:58] » they were wanting the 5 million in that meet from that

[1:04:03] I can tell you one other thing that's a quick example. You just had water come

[1:04:07] in over here and there was silica exposure that um um happened right out

[1:04:12] here in front of the building. And that's just on a simple um back u from

[1:04:17] excavating. So, there's another type of coverage where another time where you're

[1:04:22] lucky that the contractor stepped up and paid it, but that could have gotten into

[1:04:27] where we would have had a $65,000 uh bill. So, that you know, it's not

[1:04:33] » we have a deductible of 50,000 though. >> We do.

[1:04:36] » Okay. >> But, um I'm just giving another quick

[1:04:39] example of where it comes into areas you just don't think of. Um it can happen in

[1:04:44] areas where we don't think of. And with the new policy, the self-insured, I just

[1:04:49] felt the pollution piece, we we were limited before and kind of like you're

[1:04:54] saying in the in the in the mindset, it I kind of saw it the same way like,

[1:04:59] well, we don't have a landfill, we don't have all these different things. We're

[1:05:01] getting the certificates of insurance, but looking into it, and I talked to

[1:05:06] many people um I've talked to many people on this in different departments

[1:05:11] to get a picture in my head of what all do we have. So that's why I presented

[1:05:15] this and I presented the 1 million in the meeting, but they felt the five was

[1:05:21] the premium. If you look at it, I know you're you're you're saying, "Oh, it's

[1:05:25] going to be 20 more if we go with the other one." It's really divided by three

[1:05:29] years. So we're talking about 22 23,000 a year. Uh 67 69 be 23,000 a year. So

[1:05:37] current the current proposal and then if you go to the 86 it's still under 30,000

[1:05:44] a year and that would encompass again as of today all the property that we own.

[1:05:50] If we add jacks it's not going to be a significant amount. It just um it's not

[1:05:55] going to be another 30,000. >> Well they they wouldn't pick it up

[1:05:58] unless it was clean probably. >> It's kind of like bringing a wreck car.

[1:06:02] I use this example in the commissioner meeting. you bring a wreck car to

[1:06:04] somebody and say, "Hey, give me full coverage on it." Well,

[1:06:06] » so the county will phase phase one, phase two, whatever on that property and

[1:06:11] then whatever's located, then the county will be responsible for cleaning that up

[1:06:15] prior to the insurance company taking it over. So, you're right. It may not be

[1:06:20] that big of an addition, but we're going to have initial outlay of of of stuff to

[1:06:25] get it to the point. But [snorts] um >> I thought there was an initial

[1:06:29] assessment that led us to believe that the property was not

[1:06:34] of significant concern regarding contaminants.

[1:06:37] » I can't Gary could speak on that but I can't speak.

[1:06:39] » You also have funds from the groundfield act that's up to 400,000 for that

[1:06:43] location. Okay. >> Um that the city I think was awarded but

[1:06:46] in the purchase was going to be shared towards that and that included the phase

[1:06:50] one phase two. I reached out to our district 5

[1:06:55] IDM rep and didn't get a call back, but I just was going to inquire on that a

[1:06:59] little more, but um the there are that's outside of county funds. Am I Gary? Am I

[1:07:06] misspeaking on that with the brownfield act?

[1:07:09] » Is it brownfield money? >> Brownfield grant.

[1:07:11] » Are [clears throat] we capable of getting any of that grant money?

[1:07:13] » We got grant money and we removed a a leaky underground storage tank from the

[1:07:18] park by me. So, we had the state pay for that. And we have a grant through

[1:07:21] Greenfield to clean up >> um jacks. We also have anhydra spills

[1:07:26] every year. We clean them up. >> Um or the farmer cleans them up. Um

[1:07:32] that's kind of common in farming. Um that's so yeah, the feds I apply for

[1:07:38] grants to get those brown field stuff and we've been we get them. Um,

[1:07:43] » so you wouldn't have on the on the hand andhydrris spills though you're talking

[1:07:47] about. Would we ever use the insurance? We have a $50,000 deductible.

[1:07:51] » Well, generally the farmer cleans them up. If we do them, usually case takes a

[1:07:54] couple thousand dollars of a spill kit. >> We've been doing them.

[1:07:59] » Well, I I mean I I'm just then I need to know where the money is going to come

[1:08:04] from, too. You know what I mean? This outside the purview of everything we've

[1:08:07] got. Um >> but to answer your question, yes, we get

[1:08:11] the grants from the feds for large stuff and then local stuff is not it does cost

[1:08:16] money if we have something to come up is not.

[1:08:18] » But you're thinking that um Jax is not going to be a uh you're not going to

[1:08:22] come to us say we need a half a million dollars out of food and beverage to fix

[1:08:26] JS. >> I don't believe so.

[1:08:27] » Okay. >> I'm asking other people for that money.

[1:08:30] [laughter]

[1:08:34] Uh Brian, was there um an option of a a greater um uh greater than $50,000

[1:08:43] deductible? That made sense. >> Yeah. Um that was what they um I didn't

[1:08:50] get any number on that. Again, that's just where they said the

[1:08:54] » typically the policies are for county municipalities are at 50. So I was

[1:08:59] trying what I was trying to do is we have a 300,000. I was trying and I was

[1:09:03] trying to keep it down to where if we did have an event, we're not getting hit

[1:09:07] with the 300. We've we've done really well um with claims being lower after we

[1:09:13] went to that program. And so we're trying to keep that money in that

[1:09:16] [clears throat] coffer. So part of it was in thought of if we did have any

[1:09:21] kind of event um have a lower lower out of pocket but

[1:09:28] and [clears throat] as far as paying for it if we do the three-year I think we

[1:09:33] just take it from food and beverage and I mean it's a it would become a in the

[1:09:39] long term would become part of general fund expenditure but

[1:09:45] » yeah I know that's what I'm saying where's where's this is like um once you

[1:09:50] start you never you never stop it there is something in the back of my mind

[1:09:55] saying we've owned three 200 or 150 acres out there for 200 years and never

[1:10:01] had it on it and um I don't see in the change for us to to to cover that much

[1:10:09] ground for for a reason but um that's why I was trying to figure out how to

[1:10:15] make this less punitive to us. You know, when you're

[1:10:19] talking 80 $90,000 over three years, you know, is there a way we could

[1:10:26] take the deductible up because I there is a chance somebody could dump

[1:10:31] something and do it. It's never happened.

[1:10:34] Okay. It's never happened. So, but there is a chance. There's a chance of a lot

[1:10:38] of things, I suppose. But, [clears throat] so is there a way that

[1:10:41] the deductible can increase it, bring the premium down? there's a way that we

[1:10:45] could go to 3 million instead of 5 million um and bring the premium down. I

[1:10:49] I I I don't I think common sense tells us we're not going to have a $5 million

[1:10:57] thing we've never never had before. >> Well, that's what I could ask him is,

[1:11:00] you know, what's the typical claim in this area? What's the average claim

[1:11:04] amount >> or paid paid amount, I should say, not

[1:11:09] just claim, >> I guess. I mean, it takes one. I don't

[1:11:14] have data on the average claim for pollution, but I mean there are cases

[1:11:20] that can be laser claims too. I mean for um I I just would have to go back and

[1:11:27] get that number for you. But um you know the limits we carry on our liability. Um

[1:11:35] I I think regardless if it's 5 million or less, the countyy's in a we're

[1:11:41] growing to a point we need it and um as the solid waste management district

[1:11:48] goes on its own and kind of grows from there. Um they'll have their coverage

[1:11:54] for for their events, but that protects that individual governmental unit at

[1:12:00] that point. we can we can put them on as an additional named insured

[1:12:06] right now uh because they're still part of the county. So, I'm going to have

[1:12:09] them as an additional insured on this policy through they're getting their own

[1:12:12] legs and walking on their own. But, um again, that's a different type of

[1:12:18] risk because it's a contractor risk point versus the site pollution. So,

[1:12:25] um, I thought the premium was reasonable because 630 acres is a lot of ground to

[1:12:30] expand coverage across all of it. And it's in my mind, I just don't want to be

[1:12:36] the one that pinpoints and says, "Well, we're probably not going to have

[1:12:38] anything here, here, here." Um, the difference between 200 200 acres and the

[1:12:44] additional 630, it was 76,000 for 200 acres. And to get up to the 630, it

[1:12:51] added 86,000. Uh it went up to 86139. So it was less than $10,000 to add that

[1:12:58] many acres. I know you say Ken that hey it's going to continue to add add. I

[1:13:03] don't think it's going to be that bad. This is we're we're moving it a long way

[1:13:08] down the road to cover everything now. the incidental things that we bring on

[1:13:13] whether it's a salvage art or you know whatever they have pro they have the

[1:13:17] right to say no if you bring on a property that they don't feel because

[1:13:21] they're going to review the reports and make sure they meet underwriting

[1:13:24] criteria but um I still um with the limit and the you know the county does

[1:13:32] 90 over 90 million in revenue I mean we're we're a big county

[1:13:38] so I felt like the pricing is favorable. >> Uh, you know, I'm not against generally

[1:13:45] speaking ensuring against pollutants. My biggest concern is that someday

[1:13:49] something we have something in Hancock County that we feel the county needs to

[1:13:54] address that is not necessarily specific to our

[1:13:59] owned parcels. And you know, with what's provided here,

[1:14:04] I I don't I can't say I have a really um clear

[1:14:10] view on what we are and aren't covering. I don't know. For the sake of today,

[1:14:17] do you guys want to ask Brian to produce some of these things? You're asking

[1:14:19] about some of these variations, higher deductibles, different properties. Do we

[1:14:24] want to take this under advisement and move it to the next agenda? Yeah, I was

[1:14:28] thinking of we can I I mean unless there's a deadline, we can move it to

[1:14:32] the September 29th joint meeting. >> And that gives everyone time to inquire

[1:14:36] on variations. >> Yeah. I don't know if I don't know if

[1:14:38] any of you out I know I talked to Brian for quite a while about it, but I didn't

[1:14:42] know if any of the rest of you had. So, >> one thing I'd like to see and the food

[1:14:47] and beverage is fine maybe for the first payment, but I would like for it to be

[1:14:50] in its own fund so that those that come after us will be able to um track it.

[1:14:57] That's that's the importance of it being in a fund. You can track, you know, that

[1:15:01] it hasn't gone way up and and none of us are here. And um

[1:15:06] » well, it seems to me >> people don't realize I

[1:15:08] » I do think if solid waste management is its own entity and the risk is different

[1:15:13] with contract versus county that maybe you are talking about two separate

[1:15:18] policies. I don't know if that's a cost concern. And then ultimately, it sounds

[1:15:23] like it belongs in the commissioner's budget to me because the commissioners

[1:15:27] want the coverage. Commissioners have a budget, a substantial budget, and I

[1:15:31] believe that's where it lives, which is funded through the general fund.

[1:15:37] » That's [clears throat] probably where it would go, wouldn't it, Mary? If we did

[1:15:40] its own fund, it'd go in the commissioners.

[1:15:42] » Yes. >> And and

[1:15:43] » I'd like to see the the cost of $100,000.

[1:15:47] » I would definitely take a higher deductible.

[1:15:49] » Higher deductible. Get a set. >> And is 3 million capable or is it just

[1:15:53] they don't do that? They don't do that much.

[1:15:55] » You can do 1 2 3 4 5 million. >> Huh?

[1:16:00] » And and you and then yours >> uh my insurance goes up about 15% a

[1:16:07] year. [laughter] >> U maybe because I'm just a a a dweeb in

[1:16:13] this scenario. But so this is >> is this insurance going up like

[1:16:18] everything else every year to the the point too cuz um this locks us in. We

[1:16:23] don't have increases. >> We're locked in for three years.

[1:16:26] » Three years. And but you you do have to realize that could be 30% more.

[1:16:30] » Yeah. >> I mean if we're going to do something

[1:16:32] I'm favorable to the three-year commitment based on these numbers. It

[1:16:35] looks like the discount that provided for three versus one [clears throat] is

[1:16:39] worth >> I agree. If you're going to if you're

[1:16:41] going to do it, you do it for the three years. But I would definitely take a

[1:16:43] higher deductible. I would leave the 5 million and put us on the hook for a six

[1:16:48] figure number. So it's just cat catastrophe mitigation.

[1:16:53] » Jim likes to spend food and beverage cuz he's going to be gone.

[1:16:56] » Yeah, we are trying. >> Whenever restaurants are still going to

[1:16:58] be here, he's going to be gone. So we could care less what happens, you know?

[1:17:02] So [laughter] it's like that's not sustainable.

[1:17:04] » It will always be big. You'll always have enough.

[1:17:08] » No, you're not. >> People just keep eating. And

[1:17:10] » you're all kid every day, aren't you? >> [laughter]

[1:17:13] [snorts] >> The only thing I'll say on the

[1:17:16] three-year that I want to make sure everybody's clear on, it's a three-year

[1:17:19] locked premium, but the bene the uh uh liability limit of 5 million, if we have

[1:17:25] an event and it spends down on any of that, including the um 1.25 on the

[1:17:31] defense cost, whatever spent down on those, we would have the remainder for

[1:17:36] the time being. So we could get hit right at right at the time the policy

[1:17:40] issued a few months in and we have a major loss. Then we would have to buy a

[1:17:45] new policy at that point because the renewal where the policies renew on the

[1:17:50] annual not the three-year. You're paying that higher amount every year for that

[1:17:54] full 5 million. And so there could be a diff there could be a caveat like I said

[1:17:59] where we have an event and there's any money paid out then that amount carries

[1:18:04] forward the remaining period of that first three year.

[1:18:07] » Well what was the per incident limit? >> Well we have 5 million is the limit with

[1:18:12] a 50,000 deductible. But say we had an event that was million and a half that

[1:18:17] would go down at whatever point that is and then through the remaining.

[1:18:21] » So it's 5 million total for three years. >> Yeah. And if you do annual, it's not 5

[1:18:26] million a year. >> It's renewing at 5 million every year.

[1:18:29] » But if but if year two you spend the five million, okay, you spent 60 70

[1:18:34] grand, you cashed in on 4 million of coverage, you have to go buy another

[1:18:39] policy, >> right? Yeah.

[1:18:40] » Right. >> And I mean, I know you guys are thinking

[1:18:42] back some of our um exposure could be in the transportation side where um we have

[1:18:50] an event uh or end use. I mean, I just think it's time to get something in

[1:18:56] place and then as we go forward because we're going to continue the collection

[1:18:58] events from talking to DD, that area is going to expand and whether it's

[1:19:03] standalone or not, the county will still be tied to that because it's a county uh

[1:19:07] collection process. So, um and then along with the growth of

[1:19:13] just the county in general, uh we're going to add buildings and things like

[1:19:17] that. those things would come on in time. But

[1:19:18] » September 20th >> um to add 200 or yeah to add 430 acres

[1:19:24] it was less than 10,000. So I don't think it's going to be a Halloween's

[1:19:29] number if we add Jack >> the savings [clears throat] are going to

[1:19:32] come if we add the if we increase the deductible or

[1:19:35] » yeah I've got a note here for the 100k uh

[1:19:38] » maybe to 3 million and see and >> and the 3 mil. Okay.

[1:19:41] » Yeah. And see what that is and then we'll compare to what the expense is. So

[1:19:45] the commissioners have a meeting next week. I can have that and present to

[1:19:50] them. Do I need to go and get that? Like what should my process be? So

[1:19:54] » well you you the the meeting you're talking about, Scott, is joint, right?

[1:19:57] So >> joint September 29th.

[1:19:58] » Yeah, on the 29th. >> That'd be the right time to do that.

[1:20:01] » Yeah, it would. That way we can get >> that we don't have to go twice.

[1:20:03] » And then the only other thing my question I guess would be then say I

[1:20:07] come back with whatever that is at the 29th. Do you guys approve it at that

[1:20:11] time or is it still >> they can

[1:20:14] » we can >> it could be approved at

[1:20:16] » Yeah. >> And Keela, you mentioned something about

[1:20:19] the exact coverages. I'll get a list of that for you for

[1:20:23] everybody. And what's the best way to get that to you? Just go to Amber or

[1:20:28] » if you send it to the auditor's office and request it be distributed. They'll

[1:20:32] send it to everybody. >> Okay. And then um

[1:20:35] » the only other question I have would be the collection events. the 26th. We did

[1:20:41] a standalone policy for it before. Um, and I don't know if I need to talk to

[1:20:47] the commissioners on this or not or you guys, but that's the 26th. And if this

[1:20:51] meeting is the 29th, it's going to over it'll be over after we talk.

[1:20:58] » Right. So, you need to do another standalone for that one.

[1:21:01] » Okay. >> Yeah.

[1:21:02] » Okay. >> And just same as the last time it would

[1:21:04] go through the solid waste management. >> Yep. because we added the county to that

[1:21:08] policy and it [snorts] covered uh covered them through that.

[1:21:12] » Okay. >> Thanks, Brian.

[1:21:14] » Thank you guys. Appreciate your time. >> Thanks.

[1:21:17] » Thank >> All right.

[1:21:18] » That went that went a little longer than I anticipated. So,

[1:21:20] » sorry about that. >> Well, hey, you know.

[1:21:23] » So, I'm going to uh next up, I got to go back to Magistrate Kums because he's off

[1:21:26] the bench and he's here right now. So, I'll have him come on up and talk about

[1:21:29] the magistrate administrative assistant. >> Thank you. Thanks for uh um changing my

[1:21:36] time for court. We have a very busy court morning this morning. Um we have a

[1:21:40] simple request. We got the magistrate assistant position that uh when we set

[1:21:43] it up, we set it up as a split position between the clerk's office and the

[1:21:46] court. Um when we set the position up, we told the council, we'd let the

[1:21:50] council know when the position needed to be moved over to the court if we became

[1:21:53] that busy. And we're at that spot where we need to move the position out of the

[1:21:57] clerk's office and entirely under the uh the court's umbrella. So, we're just

[1:22:01] looking to reappropriate. I believe the uh the budget uh is the position is

[1:22:06] funded through the clerk's office. We just want to move that over to circuit

[1:22:09] court spirit 2 or spear one um to cover that position. We are overhauling how

[1:22:14] the courthouse works for next year. We need to create additional docket space

[1:22:18] and in order to do that we need to run four courtrooms at a time. And so that

[1:22:22] magistrate assistant position which we it took a few months to get that filled

[1:22:27] because it is a really hard position and the way it is currently set up it is a

[1:22:31] very boring position and it it's one that we actually for a couple weeks gave

[1:22:34] up on filling because we couldn't find anybody to fill it. We have been able to

[1:22:38] fill it but we need to modify how it works. The assistant position is going

[1:22:42] to be a reporter position and that assistant is going to follow the

[1:22:46] magistrate wherever the magistrate goes and the magistrate will run the

[1:22:49] magistrate's own docket for a couple days out of the week. So we'll have four

[1:22:53] judges taking a court taking the bench at a time in order to uh make the courts

[1:22:57] more efficient. But that's not going to work if we have an assistant that's only

[1:23:01] 50% of the time with the courts um and can't follow that magistrate assistant

[1:23:05] around and we don't have enough reporters with the other courts in order

[1:23:08] to make that system work. So, it's kind of a this is really the the move we've

[1:23:13] got to make in order to get the courthouse more efficient. Um,

[1:23:15] » so you're wanting to amend the budget for next year.

[1:23:19] » Yeah. >> Yeah. I'll refer that to Mary. I've got

[1:23:23] multiple >> advertised. We can't do that till the 1

[1:23:26] of >> January. But if we're done,

[1:23:28] » yeah, the budget, >> does the salary ordinance specify that

[1:23:32] position uh as being under the under the clerk? And so the salary ordinance will

[1:23:37] need amended to move it under a different department.

[1:23:40] » You're talking current and then moving forward for next year.

[1:23:43] » Well, just next year, we'll keep it in the clerk's office.

[1:23:47] » So, currently it's in county general and the clerk's office. next year.

[1:23:51] » Which court do you want it? Do you want it?

[1:23:53] » It doesn't matter. We've been talking about circuit, but I don't think it

[1:23:55] matters which one. >> We would prefer it be in one court just

[1:23:59] to make it easier for payroll purposes. >> Yeah, let's just throw it in circuit if

[1:24:02] that's okay. >> Okay. As long as Judge Cirk's good with

[1:24:05] that, that's fine. >> He's okay.

[1:24:06] » That's fine. >> Yeah. And Miss Manship and Judge Cirk

[1:24:09] are all on board on this and they in they're insistent we need it to work. We

[1:24:13] need this to happen in order to make the courthouse function, right?

[1:24:16] I I'm glad you're asking for the other half of a person you already have and

[1:24:20] not a whole new person. [laughter] So tell me where

[1:24:22] » trying to make this easy for y'all. Somebody's losing

[1:24:25] » I think [laughter]

[1:24:28] that they >> What is the clerk's office going to say

[1:24:30] about losing half a person? >> Uh Lisa is also insistent she she wants

[1:24:35] the position moved. [laughter] >> Losing that employee's

[1:24:39] problem next year, so we'll worry about that later. Are shaking his head? Yes. I

[1:24:43] don't I think she's at a conference today, I believe. Otherwise, she'd be

[1:24:46] here adamantly arguing on behalf of this request. She knows she wants it down.

[1:24:51] » I think the auditor, Pro Tim, [laughter] until tonight has um um an issue that

[1:24:59] she needs. >> No, actually, that is not going to be

[1:25:01] that difficult of a problem because it's already in county general.

[1:25:05] » We're just going to be changing from one department to another.

[1:25:09] » Okay. >> I actually don't see that as being an

[1:25:11] issue. We're not increasing the budget, >> right?

[1:25:14] » It's staying the same. It's just going to change from one location.

[1:25:18] » Do you need it formalized in a motion or is this banter sufficient?

[1:25:22] » I would like a motion, please. >> I'll make a motion uh that beginning in

[1:25:27] January 2027, the position shared uh between the clerk and courts be moved

[1:25:34] into the circuit court budget. >> Second.

[1:25:38] » All right. I have a motion and a second on the table. Is there any discussion on

[1:25:41] this? >> Just as long as the clerk agrees.

[1:25:45] » Okay, >> we got a thumbs up back there.

[1:25:48] » All those in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose? Same sign. Motion carries

[1:25:52] unanimously. >> Thank you all. Thanks. Really

[1:25:54] » welcome. >> Thank you.

[1:25:56] » All right. Next up from 9:45 >> request for additional appropriations.

[1:26:01] Gary P. Come on up. >> Dusty is a new

[1:26:04] we had a gas tax reduction this year which you might be aware of. Okay.

[1:26:07] » The state has sent money to the county from the excess from the state surplus.

[1:26:14] Um, of course, that went into a different fund. So, I can't use it to

[1:26:17] replace that gas tax money that was. >> So, I'm asking for from the fund

[1:26:22] $371,000 to be appropriated to line 23,000 to be used for road materials.

[1:26:29] » All right. Thumbs up to >> advertised

[1:26:31] » 371,000. >> All right. It'll be advertised and then

[1:26:34] we'll vote next time. >> Thank you. Thanks, Gary.

[1:26:37] » Thank you. >> Thank you.

[1:26:39] » Uh yeah, we're almost Yeah. Resolutions for non-compliance. Nicole Berley.

[1:26:51] » Good morning. Um actually, I'm going to kind of collaborate with Scott. So last

[1:26:55] month we had two CF1s that were denied for 26 pay 27. Well, there needs to be a

[1:27:03] resolution to terminate those in the way that you want them terminated. So, Scott

[1:27:09] drew up a a resolution for termination of abatement. If you could review to see

[1:27:15] if this is something that you would like to use um and then we can send to the

[1:27:19] two non-compliant abatements.

[1:27:27] Uh just I'm no attorney but the verbiage here says the council decided the

[1:27:32] abatement will be denied for the year 2026 but the extor could return in 2027

[1:27:36] and reapply. I mean is reapply the I thought we said

[1:27:41] that they're not going to apply for a new abatement right they can come file

[1:27:45] another >> CF1 and try to have it reinstated is

[1:27:50] reapply appropriate verbiage >> we can we can work with that a little

[1:27:55] bit. um exit uh I've been in contact with and I think they wanted to speak

[1:28:00] during the public comment uh period today and I don't is Matt Kein

[1:28:07] is here who's the attorney for know that'll

[1:28:10] » yeah that's not that's not the proper time to right

[1:28:13] » the public comment's about Walmart it's not about extor now is this something

[1:28:17] we're have to bring back and have a resolution

[1:28:19] » we're going to yeah we're going to have to we're [clears throat] going to have

[1:28:21] to reo this and have the appropriate procedure procedures implement. It's

[1:28:26] first time to do it. >> Okay. [clears throat] So then we could

[1:28:29] have him speak before we vote on that. Correct. And he can always

[1:28:33] » I will say on that what they are looking at is maybe providing you some more

[1:28:39] proof that there's going to be a tenant there such as potentially an executed

[1:28:43] lease or something like that. >> And there supposed to be are there two

[1:28:46] of these or is this just do we had two? is really this is one that would be used

[1:28:51] for exit but there it's kind of a sample of what we would do going forward if we

[1:28:57] have to do these we also you know have to send a letter preparatory to this

[1:29:02] that has by statute some other requirements so we we're work Nicole and

[1:29:08] I are working together to to make sure that that process is done the right way

[1:29:12] » right >> but this is just a this this is an

[1:29:15] example but it was drafted for exit but we're going to have to go back.

[1:29:22] Um, but they did I'm just giving you the information. They did approach me.

[1:29:27] Matt's here today. Um, about getting reconsideration of that. So, I'm just

[1:29:33] letting you know that we don't have to do today,

[1:29:35] » right? >> Um, and I agree it's not that's not the

[1:29:38] time we normally entertain those things. >> And he can he can send an email and and

[1:29:42] and or contact each of us uh individually. Um, I mean, he just like

[1:29:47] the public can. I mean, he has that right to do that and and and meet with

[1:29:51] any of us if you wanted to, if any of us willing to meet with them. Um,

[1:29:54] » all true. Right. >> So,

[1:29:57] » you're just here to notify us that there will be further action necessary. Yes.

[1:30:02] You're notifying us. This is a sample. We're not voting on anything today.

[1:30:06] » Not today. >> Well, we're going to this is way that

[1:30:09] all that'll happen going forward. We'll actually execute a resolution on the day

[1:30:14] that you make that kind of >> Yeah, I think that's an excellent idea.

[1:30:19] » I have to do it. >> I say I would like to be put on next

[1:30:22] month's agenda. So, I would like to try to get this wrapped up and get letters

[1:30:25] and information sent out to these two businesses.

[1:30:29] » Okay. So, do you need a motion or anything to no to go forward? Oh, you

[1:30:32] just the approval that we're >> This is just for information purposes.

[1:30:35] » Okay, that's fine. And then we'll set you you get on the calendar for next

[1:30:38] month. And then when you do get on a calendar, do set a time for them to

[1:30:42] speak. >> Okay.

[1:30:44] » Before we do a vote, make sure they're included.

[1:30:46] » Should I send a letter to Red Rock? I have had no contact from Red Rock on

[1:30:51] » Is that one of the denials? >> Yes, it was one of the denials.

[1:30:54] » Yes. Yes. Okay. Uh certified mail or something of that sort.

[1:30:56] » Yeah, we have to follow the statute on that, too. We can talk about that.

[1:30:59] » Okay. All right. Thank you. >> I just want to thank you, Nicole. We've

[1:31:02] kept you busy the last couple months and this is the least favorite part of my

[1:31:06] job is drafting these and getting approval since I'm not a an attorney,

[1:31:09] but I have to send several of these out. So, thanks for your patience, but thanks

[1:31:13] for all your work on this. >> Thank you.

[1:31:16] » All right. At this time, I will uh take a break and then we will wait and then

[1:31:23] uh we'll reconvene and do the public comment and deal with Walmart. All

[1:31:26] right. We're

[1:31:28] » journ for now. [snorts] Break.

[1:47:05] All right, I'm going to call the meeting back to order. Uh before we do the start

[1:47:10] the public comment, I'm going to have Eric come up briefly here. Um I I wanted

[1:47:15] to ask him a question. Uh we had gotten some emails. Obviously, we got a lot of

[1:47:18] emails on data centers, but we got I got an email on Walmart, and I was going to

[1:47:22] want to ask you um cuz it was a good question. We should have asked last

[1:47:25] week. Um how many of your uh associates that work at the warehouse currently are

[1:47:31] on public assistance or get I don't have a specific number, but I can tell you

[1:47:35] [clears throat] it's extremely rare in the distribution centers in particular

[1:47:39] because of the hourly rate. Now, with 2.1 million associates in the United

[1:47:44] States and across the planet, um we do have some rare circumstances

[1:47:52] where associates choose to manage their hours based on their own specific needs

[1:47:58] for them, their family, the structure that they have. A number of associates

[1:48:03] choose not to work additional hours that they're provided specifically to not

[1:48:08] trigger some federal thresholds, but those are personal decisions that they

[1:48:13] make on behalf of themselves and their families. They are very rare

[1:48:17] circumstances with the 1.7 or so million total associates we have in over 4,500

[1:48:23] facilities here in the United States. >> Okay. Um, I I say if anybody else has

[1:48:28] any questions before I say that, we're going to do the public uh when we do the

[1:48:31] public comment, then I'll bring Eric back up if there's follow-up questions

[1:48:34] from what you've heard from the public, unless somebody has another question.

[1:48:38] » I think there are some questions that got sent over that just clarify before

[1:48:42] public comments so they knew what they wanted to speak on. But like one is, you

[1:48:46] know, retail orders, what kind of just quickly elaborate,

[1:48:51] will there be public retail orders or is this all kind of fulfillment? So for for

[1:48:56] IND3 in particular, um the way that system is set and it again we we invite

[1:49:02] anyone that wants to come in and see it. Um council members, we we'd love to host

[1:49:06] you again. That facility runs retail orders for the entire country. So

[1:49:14] those.com orders that you think of that are placed whether they're here in

[1:49:18] Indianapolis, here in Indiana, as far as away as Utah or West Virginia, where it

[1:49:23] may come from, that facility processes retail orders. So in that document I

[1:49:28] shared with you last week about the number of the total number that we

[1:49:33] collect and remit, for example, in sales taxes here in Indiana because of the

[1:49:37] sales and use tax program that we've we fought. one of the legislative

[1:49:41] accomplishments I had in Michigan and Ohio and some of the other states on

[1:49:44] behalf of the corporation. Um, now all of us engaged in those online sales

[1:49:49] collect and remit taxes to the respective states that those sales are

[1:49:54] generated out of rather than when I started at Walmart and it was just those

[1:49:59] of us that had a quote physical presence in your state that collect and remitted

[1:50:04] those sales. So all of those are retail sales, but we are not open to the public

[1:50:08] for retail sales. You can't just walk into one of our distribution facilities

[1:50:12] and purchase, you know, the new whatever Apple might be offering or whatever one

[1:50:17] of our online platforms might be offering for you.

[1:50:20] » Uh another thing on the application was part of the employees were technical and

[1:50:24] vendor roles. Just kind of explain associates and technical vendor roles.

[1:50:28] » Trevor alluded to this last week um and in part of his comments as our general

[1:50:33] manager. So, we've got kind of a three-pronged approach going on

[1:50:36] currently. We have Indie1 that's coming online over in Planefield that's going

[1:50:41] to transfer some of the existing associates here in Hancock County back

[1:50:46] over to the facility that they started from. The second wave is of course

[1:50:50] holiday season is upon us and we do ramp up with temporary positions during the

[1:50:56] holiday season. So the application before you does not include those

[1:51:01] temporary associates. It's specifically for full-time associates that we expect

[1:51:06] to be as part of the expansion. So I think that number list we have listed is

[1:51:12] at 400. Now, as we hire these temporary associates here in the short term, we

[1:51:18] certainly hope that those individuals want to stay with us, do well, exceed at

[1:51:24] their jobs, and are able to roll over then into those full-time positions, but

[1:51:29] they are completely separate than what we're doing right now. So, the

[1:51:32] application that you have before you is for those full-time positions. Um, and

[1:51:38] then a few of those, of course, are salaried, as Treasurer alluded to as

[1:51:42] well, in addition to the hourly rates that we talked about.

[1:51:46] » I'm going to try to make these last two into one question. Uh, but essentially

[1:51:51] part of the application process is declaring it, working with us an

[1:51:55] economic revitalization area. So, just comment on Walmart's thoughts of, you

[1:52:01] know, why this area? Why did you think it was an economic revitalization area,

[1:52:05] somewhere to invest? And then also, you know, previous a lot of I think of our

[1:52:11] last one that came before us, small business, they were looking to get an

[1:52:15] abatement before they built. We all thought it was a great addition to the

[1:52:19] community. You guys bought a building. I I think that's probably why you didn't

[1:52:24] come before us to get the abatement and then do all this. But I just want to

[1:52:29] make sure I want to get your thoughts on that.

[1:52:30] » Yeah. And just from a historical context again some of this was before my tenure

[1:52:34] enroll but um as my colleague as we came online specifically for the second

[1:52:39] resolution that you have before you for what we call IND6 that's the building

[1:52:44] that we have purchased. So in addition to the half a billion dollar investment

[1:52:49] we're making in what we call IND3 [snorts] for the expansion and the jobs

[1:52:54] associated with that facility. We also have Indie 6 coming online as well. And

[1:52:59] there's a separate resolution for them for a similar abatement structure, the

[1:53:04] same 50% over fiveyear that we've talked about. Um that abatement schedule for

[1:53:09] IND6 is for new associates that will be hired into that facility itself. Um when

[1:53:15] I talked earlier about how Indy3 and what we do there with our online and

[1:53:20] what that provides with retail sales and how that program works, right? Um

[1:53:24] whether you've ordered in Utah or West Virginia, how that works.

[1:53:29] The geography of where we're standing is really really important to not only

[1:53:35] to us but to all of the corporations that you see in this space operating

[1:53:40] here. Greater Indianapolis, Columbus, Ohio, you know, this kind of

[1:53:46] center center Midwest region provides us and don't quote me so

[1:53:52] forgive me. It's like 80% of the population of the United States is

[1:53:58] within 8 hours of where we're physically standing.

[1:54:00] » I think you're close there. I've heard that.

[1:54:02] » It matters. It really matters to be here. And of course, the opportunity to

[1:54:07] work in Hancock County. Um we wouldn't be looking at a half a billion dollar

[1:54:12] expansion if we didn't have a great working relationship with you all, with

[1:54:16] the county, and with with our associates. And the I I said it before,

[1:54:21] the better the county does, the better we do as a company, the better our

[1:54:24] associates do um because they live and work here in your community. So, but we

[1:54:29] do appreciate you guys having us and considering this today.

[1:54:32] » Thank you. Okay. >> I have one point of clarification. In my

[1:54:35] packet, I have three versions of the SB1. One is dated December, one's dated

[1:54:44] May, one's dated July. And while they are very similar, there are small

[1:54:49] variations. So, >> yeah. And and forgive me um

[1:54:52] [clears throat] to to get back as I I mentioned this and

[1:54:56] I kind of I wandered down a small little rabbit hole. Um and in coming in before

[1:55:00] my tenure, part of withholding after the purchase, um you all in the state of

[1:55:06] Indiana was going through Senate Bill one, right, which impacted communities

[1:55:12] property tax. So, as in the spirit of working together with the county, we

[1:55:18] kind of held back on the initial wave on um our initial application, particularly

[1:55:25] on the Indie 6 property and why we why we had not come before you. So, that

[1:55:30] might be why you're seeing a couple of different dates.

[1:55:33] » The one dated 731 [clears throat] is the correct one. Correct.

[1:55:38] » We're asking is the last one filed the correct one? It reflects salaries uh

[1:55:45] current current employees 1,805 salary 61,300

[1:55:52] number of additional employees 400 with an asterisk of include seasonal

[1:55:58] technical and mechanical. >> Yeah, there's exactly those seasonal

[1:56:00] coming on now and we're not we're not counting the the jobs that are currently

[1:56:05] underway there with the act physical construction installment of equipment

[1:56:09] and all that stuff that's >> let me hold that right here for a

[1:56:11] second. So the document drafted the resolution that should be signing it

[1:56:14] actually says plus 200 new employees on that one

[1:56:18] » that that's for Indie 6. That's the new per the new

[1:56:22] » that's I think that isn't this Indie 300 cuz it's 1,886

[1:56:27] existing employees plus 200 new employees. I thought the resolution said

[1:56:31] 400 employees that there were two separate resolution [clears throat]

[1:56:35] says >> the other the other resolution says zero

[1:56:39] existing employees plus 300 new employees

[1:56:44] » throw out the two >> and that's and that's what I thought was

[1:56:46] six >> that should be that if there's zero

[1:56:51] existing then that would be yes so this is the one that Keley's been

[1:56:56] talking about which is building three it currently has 1,886 existing plus 200

[1:57:01] new employees. And then she said that there's two different S.

[1:57:06] » Yeah. What's what we have attached to the resolution for consideration says

[1:57:10] you have 1,886 employees, 57,500 a year average salary with 200

[1:57:17] additionals. And then that [clears throat] is dated May 6. And then

[1:57:23] there's two other SB1s with the same address on uh West 500 North. One is all

[1:57:29] the way back in December of last year. Um and that other than some other than a

[1:57:36] lower salary, it's looks substantially similar, but the [clears throat] most

[1:57:40] recent one is July 31st and it has higher salaries and higher

[1:57:46] employees. >> That one should say 400.

[1:57:48] » It does. Right. >> So it's your intention to use the most

[1:57:50] recent one? Yes. >> 400 with the salary 61,300

[1:57:54] » for D3. >> So then on page two, uh, Scott Banky,

[1:57:58] legal council, page two, we have that changed to say plus 400 new employees

[1:58:03] on the resolution for that one. >> It does.

[1:58:06] » My version says 200. >> Yeah, this one.

[1:58:10] » See, our version says 200, >> Randy.

[1:58:13] » Yeah, >> absolutely support that amendment.

[1:58:16] » Okay. >> Completely.

[1:58:17] » We can include that. >> Say mine says

[1:58:20] a big deal. I just want to clarify since we have more than one

[1:58:23] » 300. Yeah, >> but it's 400.

[1:58:26] » Yours is red light. >> Yeah, but hers does say four.

[1:58:30] » Yeah, her version says 400. >> You just got two different

[1:58:32] » We have two different versions. We'll make sure the one we signed says 400,

[1:58:35] » right? We'll pass the one says 400. >> Thank you for the hopefully.

[1:58:39] » Oh, that's fine. >> Is that what your original says then

[1:58:42] » 100 is would be perfect. >> We don't have one that says 400.

[1:58:46] » Well, she does somehow. >> That's interesting. How did you get

[1:58:49] that? >> I just got yours from Randy, I believe.

[1:58:52] » Did you print it out? >> They just Yeah, I printed it, but they

[1:58:55] sent it to me and I got >> Oh, she printed it out. It's something

[1:58:58] they sent. >> No, mine was in my packet.

[1:59:00] » It's in Mine's in my packet. It's in the packet

[1:59:02] » yesterday. >> Oh, Randy sent it up to her.

[1:59:06] » Okay. >> So, she Okay. So, the one you sent out

[1:59:11] had the wrong version. It's good for them to

[1:59:16] » one is dated 731 >> 26 and it says 400

[1:59:22] » these numbers

[1:59:27] to show 400 >> and it also has the wrong

[1:59:31] » it just has to have the right resolution >> higher

[1:59:33] » yeah it doesn't have the correct salary either on my page two

[1:59:37] » that's fine the latest SP1 should have updated salaries and the correct number

[1:59:43] of 400 00 and then obviously yes we would appro if there's an amendment that

[1:59:48] needs to be offered to make sure that the resolution mirrors that 400 we

[1:59:53] certainly support your offer >> SP1 says 400 too they both do

[1:59:57] » but the um so the so the resolution we have in front of us I mean it's mostly

[2:00:01] right except >> 400 employees not 200 is the intention

[2:00:06] » and then the money amount >> the money amount is

[2:00:09] » and and it's 61,300 instead of 57,500

[2:00:16] » 61,300. And so then that number

[2:00:21] that'd be times 2286 employees

[2:00:28] 286 or 2,286 employees

[2:00:33] is 140,131,800.

[2:00:39] Feel free to check my math. Someone

[2:00:46] And and to be clear, we we certainly hope we exceed that number.

[2:00:51] » Mine says 200. >> Yes. Comfortable with my package says

[2:00:55] 200. >> Should this should this resolution

[2:00:58] specify 200 full-time and 200

[2:01:04] seasonal in contract? or you know he's someday they're going to come back later

[2:01:08] right with their CF1 and we won't be all the same people sitting here and I just

[2:01:13] want to make sure that we're differentiating as much as necessary

[2:01:18] that all 400 are not permanent year- round employees

[2:01:22] that's correct right 200 >> 200 are expected to be

[2:01:26] » we're we're comfortable with you doing 400

[2:01:29] » we're comfortable 400 saying that it's going to be more when they

[2:01:33] » bring the seasonal in >> it just picked have the wrong

[2:01:36] » Okay, we got it. >> All right. Anything else on clarifying?

[2:01:39] » Sorry, but that's not keeping you back on schedule.

[2:01:42] » That's okay. That's okay. >> All right. I'll have you take a seat,

[2:01:46] Eric, and then um All right. Now, at this time, we're going to open this up

[2:01:50] to public comment. Please understand this public comment section is about the

[2:01:56] Walmart personal property. Although, we will have another opportunity next month

[2:02:01] also talk about Walmart. But because we're voting today, we wanted to give

[2:02:04] the public a chance to speak. So, this is not the time. I know we've gotten a

[2:02:08] lot of emails and I believe all of us are reading them pretty diligently uh

[2:02:12] about data centers. This is about the Walmart uh

[2:02:17] property tax abatement for two buildings. So, who wants to speak? Mr.

[2:02:22] Overhouser, you like to go first? Come on up.

[2:02:28] Name is Paul Overhouser, correct? >> Yes.

[2:02:31] [snorts] Thank you, council members. I appreciate the opportunity to address

[2:02:34] you this morning. I think there are several reasons why this council should

[2:02:39] not uh approve these applications for abatement requests by uh Walmart. I have

[2:02:46] several reasons for them. The first two I think are really the most important

[2:02:51] because I think these abatement requests actually would violate the abatement

[2:02:57] statute that we have here in Indiana. Now, I did get a copy of the draft

[2:03:03] resolution for both of these uh abatement applications,

[2:03:09] and they have this sentence in them. They say, "The equipment is to be

[2:03:14] installed in real property improvement in an area previously declared to be an

[2:03:22] ERRA or economic redevelopment area." previously

[2:03:27] » paragraph you're referring to and >> uh it's the second whereas paragraph on

[2:03:32] the first page of the proposed resolution.

[2:03:36] So the proposed resolution says that this area was previously declared to be

[2:03:43] an erra. >> It's it's the first paragraph Scott.

[2:03:47] » Yeah. I'm looking >> Oh, okay. Okay. I just want you know

[2:03:50] » you Sorry about >> I wanted him to clarify so everybody

[2:03:52] knows. Yeah. You go ahead, Paul. Uh but the the abatement statute requires

[2:03:59] a finding by the council that the land now has to be an economic redevelopment

[2:04:05] area. Specifically, I refer you to Indiana Code 6-1.1-2.1-1.

[2:04:14] And that requires that the definition of an economic redevelopment area be land

[2:04:20] that quote has become undesirable for or impossible of normal development and

[2:04:27] occupancy because of a lack of development, sessation of growth,

[2:04:32] deterioration of improvements or character of occupancy. age,

[2:04:36] obsolescence or substandard buildings.

[2:04:41] That does not describe either IND6 or IND3. Both those properties have brand

[2:04:48] new warehouses on them. The one on Indie3

[2:04:52] cost about $250 million. The one on Indie 6 cost, I think, in excess of

[2:04:59] hund00 million. So these are not economic revitalization areas that would

[2:05:06] allow you to grant an abatement for them.

[2:05:10] Second reason by the statute that I don't think these abatement applications

[2:05:14] can be be approved is because Walmart is a retail business.

[2:05:22] And I direct you to Indiana code 6-1 6-1.1-12.1-2

[2:05:30] sub A and that part of the statute reads and I quote however the deduction

[2:05:37] provided by this chapter that's an abatement the deduction provided by this

[2:05:42] chapter for economic revitalization areas not within a city or town shall

[2:05:49] not be available to retail businesses.

[2:05:54] Both these facilities are not in a town or a city, they're in the county. And if

[2:06:01] there's ever been a definition of a retail business, it's Walmart. And I

[2:06:06] think Mr. Angus testified just a few minutes ago how from these facilities,

[2:06:12] Walmart in fact does now and will in the future continue to fulfill retail

[2:06:17] orders. So under this statute, these facilities are not eligible for an

[2:06:24] abatement and I think there are other reasons why

[2:06:29] this abatement should not be approved today.

[2:06:33] Uh as the questions about the number of employees that are going to be there are

[2:06:40] are are insightful. This is the second time for the IND3 application that uh

[2:06:46] Walmart has come in and asked for an abatement on personal property. They

[2:06:52] found an application in 2025 and in that application they didn't

[2:06:57] identify any new employees that would be hired as a result of the installation of

[2:07:02] this equipment. And today they're coming back asking for

[2:07:07] an abatement on the same amount, $440 million worth of logistics equipment.

[2:07:13] And somehow this year they say they're going to have 400 new people. But as I

[2:07:20] think has been pointed out and there's some asterisks on this. They say that

[2:07:24] includes uh seasonal uh seasonal hires

[2:07:31] uh and vendors technical mechanical roles. So, I'm not It sounds to me like

[2:07:37] they're referring to uh technical or mechanical roles that [clears throat]

[2:07:42] would be employees of whoever Walmart may hire to maintain this robotics

[2:07:49] equipment that they want to install. Well, those aren't employees of Walmart.

[2:07:54] I don't think they count. Uh and moreover, there's no idea for any of

[2:07:58] these employees how many of them are going to be located in Indiana. The real

[2:08:03] purpose of these abatement statutes is to try to encourage the hiring of

[2:08:09] individuals in the county because if they're hired, if they have jobs in the

[2:08:14] county, they pay local income taxes to the county and that benefits the county.

[2:08:20] But even if they work at these Walmart facilities, if they live in Marian

[2:08:24] County or somewhere else, Hancock County doesn't get the benefit

[2:08:29] of that local income tax revenue. Uh so even if there may be some more

[2:08:36] employees what the statute weight baitman statute

[2:08:40] says you're supposed to consider is the number of employees

[2:08:44] and this this is let me quote you the statute again this one is 6-1.1-2.1-4.5

[2:08:52] sub A it says the abatement application has to include an estimate of the number

[2:08:58] of people who will be retained by the applicant

[2:09:02] as a result of the installation of the new manufacturing equipment or logistics

[2:09:07] equipment. >> Hey Paul, we Yeah,

[2:09:09] » I'm trying to limit about 5 minutes and I because I want to hear other people

[2:09:12] speak too. Is there anything else to wrap up real quick? Uh

[2:09:17] I will respect your time and uh >> the only thing I had my comments the

[2:09:22] only thing I had for you was uh >> to me when I was listening to the

[2:09:26] obviously being an attorney I understand the statutes that Indie 6 is an empty

[2:09:30] warehouse and so that I mean it's been empty for a while. That's that is a

[2:09:34] concern. It sounded like that was in the statute where that would make it one

[2:09:39] that we could by statute give a tax abatement. Well, the original Walmart

[2:09:43] building would have been deemed an ERRA back before you or I were even here when

[2:09:48] the Walmart got their first abatement, which is pre-exist, Scott, and Clark.

[2:09:53] Uh, so it's been an ERRA for a long time. It doesn't it's not becoming one

[2:09:57] now. >> Yeah. My understanding is that the

[2:10:02] statute requires that for you to give an abatement, you have to find that it is

[2:10:06] now an ERRA. Not you don't have to find whether it was an erra at some time in

[2:10:12] the past as is suggested by this draft resolution is irrelevant. You have to

[2:10:17] find that it's an economic development area redevelopment area today and it's

[2:10:23] not >> okay I appreciate that.

[2:10:24] » Thank you. >> Thank you.

[2:10:26] » Uh who else would like to speak? You speak either in favor or against it. It

[2:10:30] doesn't matter. All right. Mr. Bolander, come on up.

[2:10:33] Bill Bolander. [snorts]

[2:10:36] » It's good to see you all after these years. Um, I came to speak in favor of

[2:10:40] it. I think Walmart's the biggest employer in Hancock County and the

[2:10:46] biggest employer in the state. Uh, I would say a warehouse that you can't

[2:10:52] go get anything's not a retail store. I'd throw that out for I mean, I'm not a

[2:10:55] lawyer, but just saying. But anyway, um we'll make about I was looking at some

[2:11:02] of the figures. I think we will gain about $27,000 or $27 million in taxes

[2:11:09] and they'll save 10 million. So that seems like a pretty good deal because

[2:11:13] that'll go to the schools for the most part the way I understand. So I just

[2:11:17] think they're a great business. I think we want to show a positive uh a positive

[2:11:22] vibe towards business. We don't want to wind up like uh Richmond and Newcastle

[2:11:27] and be empty main street. I mean, if you look around here, things are booming and

[2:11:32] I'd like to see it stay that way. So, I won't blow on. I'll just sit down.

[2:11:37] » Okay. >> Thank you, Bill.

[2:11:39] » Any questions for him? All right. Anybody else that would like to speak?

[2:11:44] Um Leah Letterman, come on up.

[2:11:52] Now do I'm I'm not I'm roughly doing five minutes. So

[2:11:55] » this is quick. Um I want to start [snorts] out by saying uh at the last

[2:12:00] meeting the gentleman used the term community partner and I really

[2:12:04] appreciated that in terms of talking about abatements with developers. Um

[2:12:09] because good neighbor is tired and entirely inaccurate. Um and I appreciate

[2:12:15] Walmart sweetening the pot as they've come back for this abatement. um being

[2:12:19] willing to work with the county and these additional perks and additional

[2:12:23] benefits are nice. I do think they should have been attached to previous

[2:12:27] abatements, but that's not up to everyone here in front of me. So, just

[2:12:30] using that as an aside, but with these perks and additional benefits, I hope we

[2:12:35] keep this in mind with incoming projects, with larger corporations that

[2:12:40] can afford to provide Hancock County, not just with the trickle down to

[2:12:46] schools and police, and I understand that. That's great. but some immediately

[2:12:50] tangible benefits to the taxpayers. Um, and excuse me, I'm always nervous.

[2:12:58] Um, I appreciate that the abatement application has been approved. That's

[2:13:01] really great progress. Um, and here if this abatement is approved, um, we have

[2:13:07] the opportunity to be proactive rather than reactive. Um, and I'm talking here

[2:13:12] about the CF1s and the compliance issues that we've seen. um we have an

[2:13:17] opportunity here to set a new precedent in terms um of of enforcement and

[2:13:22] compliance with that. I know that there's a hesitation to to punish

[2:13:26] Walmart per se because of what they bring in. Um and and I get this

[2:13:30] logically, but with the optics there, I feel like it has the potential to send

[2:13:36] the message that we're not community partners, that we're kind of beholden to

[2:13:41] what the developers are willing to do. And um I think that

[2:13:48] we excuse me I don't want it to give the message that

[2:13:54] Hancock County tolerates sloppy or disingenuous developers. I think there

[2:13:59] needs to be um warnings or consequences in place already like hey if you if you

[2:14:06] don't do this or if this happens we're going to have to you know whatever

[2:14:12] the consequence is you guys that's your job but just that there has to be

[2:14:16] something in place because right now I feel like we're always playing catchup

[2:14:20] and I'd like to see us being more proactive

[2:14:25] and there's got to be a mural in there somewhere.

[2:14:27] » A mural. Thank you. [laughter]

[2:14:32] » All right. Is there anybody else uh for the public that wants to speak for it,

[2:14:36] against it, or neutral? So, I see people out there that don't

[2:14:42] always come to our meetings, so that's why I'm asking.

[2:14:46] » Yeah, I was wondering where you've been, George. [laughter]

[2:14:50] Okay. If there's no one else, all right, then I will then move it on to bringing

[2:14:55] Eric back up here so that he can answer any of the public concerns or or if we

[2:15:00] have any additional questions for him before we vote.

[2:15:06] » I I want to make sure that the uh [clears throat] the resolution for the

[2:15:11] 5259 West 500 North, the second page is

[2:15:18] correct. Is that the Is that building three? Is that ND3?

[2:15:23] » Yes. >> I can't tell which is which.

[2:15:25] » And I think that should read uh employment of approximately.

[2:15:35] I'm not sure.

[2:15:38] Uh the I guess the this shows 1886 existing but the SB1 shows 1805.

[2:15:49] So that should be changed I think to 1805 I guess.

[2:15:58] And so the employment approximately of 20

[2:16:04] uh 86 would be what? 1805 + 400,

[2:16:14] right? Is that right? Yes, sir.

[2:16:18] » Okay. So that would be 205. Did we do the math?

[2:16:23] » 2205.

[2:16:28] employees plus 400 not 200 new employees with annual salaries approximately

[2:16:39] » you you did that >> I had 140,131,800

[2:16:53] for that was on That was on the 2086 though. But you're

[2:16:58] saying that that the other one was 1805. So we need to alter that.

[2:17:03] » So 2205 is that what was on the 731?

[2:17:08] Yep. 2205* 61,300

[2:17:14] is [snorts] 135,166,500.

[2:17:24] Okay. And then that's [clears throat] uh the 57500

[2:17:28] would be 61300, right?

[2:17:31] » Yeah. That's what the July 31st SB1 has. >> And the 2,86

[2:17:38] employees would be >> 2205.

[2:17:43] » That's what mine says. >> 2205. Yeah.

[2:17:48] » Are we able to print that? >> We've got it. So for the record, you

[2:17:52] have the good one. >> We're increasing the salary. We are

[2:17:55] increasing the number of employees and we are increasing

[2:17:59] the total salaries paid. >> Yeah.

[2:18:03] » Not not making it more in Walmart's favor. It is more in the county's favor.

[2:18:08] » We had multiple drafts of the

[2:18:15] » And then auditor's checking it right now. Yeah, I was going to say I I've got

[2:18:19] that and mine came from the auditor. >> Mine's not.

[2:18:22] » We received like three different versions.

[2:18:25] » Okay. We'll get the right >> We're going to get the right We're going

[2:18:27] to get it done correctly before we vote. That's

[2:18:30] » But to your point, Keely, we're going with all the higher numbers.

[2:18:33] » These are high the res the numbers. >> Okay.

[2:18:37] » For the county. >> Can Can I read what I've got then?

[2:18:41] » We're going to circulate the back. Right. Oh, you know. Okay. So, you do

[2:18:46] have a typed up version that has all that.

[2:18:48] » That's fine. Questions more. Good. Make sure we don't sign the wrong one.

[2:18:52] » So, while they're while they're getting that ready, I know Kent wants to speak.

[2:18:55] » Uh, well, no, I just want to clarify a couple things that came up. Um,

[2:19:00] cuz I was involved in original Walmart abatement. Um,

[2:19:07] and I know the question about retail is has came up in in the scenario, but just

[2:19:11] because the company may have retail outlets doesn't mean the company uh this

[2:19:18] specific uh yeah >> warehouse is a retail outlet. It Okay, I

[2:19:23] know a lot of hospitals, big hospital scenarios that do their own

[2:19:29] [clears throat] medical waste. Okay. But just because they're a hospital doesn't

[2:19:34] mean they're a waste removal company. >> Okay. So,

[2:19:36] » well, it doesn't mean a patient's allowed to walk into the waste removal

[2:19:39] facility. >> And so, because we intentionally

[2:19:42] [clears throat] don't abate retail establishments,

[2:19:47] uh, strip malls, things things like that. I mean, uh, that's that's kind of

[2:19:51] the >> I mean, the reality is every one of

[2:19:54] those businesses in a warehouse is possessing a product ends up in the hand

[2:19:58] of a consumer at some point. The reason that they have to warehouse the product

[2:20:02] and move the product is because of a retail somewhere that's that's providing

[2:20:07] it which we are happy that Walmart's producing another retail store up north

[2:20:12] of Fortville >> uh because it's well needed with

[2:20:16] expansion stuff like >> be clear our store here does wonderfully

[2:20:20] » it's a great relationship with the town and

[2:20:23] » we've been abandoned by all the other national companies or all the other

[2:20:26] smaller we've been abandoned we have a a food

[2:20:29] uh you know desert here and and uh it's taking a long time for anybody to

[2:20:34] fulfill those things. So it would be a tragedy if if that but I I do appreciate

[2:20:39] you helping us go through and staying with us in the process here and not I

[2:20:45] don't want you to get a sour taste in your mouth. We do we do believe that um

[2:20:49] the partnership for the next 10 20 years 30 years is going to be a great one

[2:20:54] between us and and you guys and it's allowing us not to have to take on a lot

[2:21:01] of other uh large entities to try to uh solve our SB1 problems and solve all the

[2:21:09] other things. you know, it without Walmart then um we would be have to be

[2:21:15] much more aggressive in the other things that uh that we have to put out there.

[2:21:20] And um >> I do have a question not for Eric but

[2:21:23] for anyone including Scott. So over 25 years they'll pay about 76 million in

[2:21:29] taxes. So just roughly that's 3 million a year.

[2:21:32] » Well, hold on. Stop there. The full boatload of taxes over 20 year

[2:21:37] 25 years would be 77 million and change. With this request, they would pay 66

[2:21:43] million in change. >> So, you know, roughly 2 and 12 to $3

[2:21:46] million a year that they will pay since this is in a tiff district. Help me

[2:21:51] understand, is that more money that will come in that the RDC will capture?

[2:21:56] » Yes. or will this lower the tax rate for the

[2:22:01] » the it's the latter that this money does not go into the RDC. It goes directly to

[2:22:08] the taxing units and it will lower their tax rate.

[2:22:12] » The personal >> Yeah.

[2:22:14] » the school township. >> Yeah. And and it makes the schools

[2:22:19] actually the they're probably going to come along with the referendum. uh all

[2:22:25] four of them probably in the next two or three years it'll lower the rates so

[2:22:31] that >> their referendums will be more

[2:22:35] palatable. >> The thing that Hancock County is

[2:22:37] different in and it's RDC than all the other counties in the state. I'm

[2:22:40] assuming all of them absolutely collect personal property tax also into the RDC

[2:22:46] and we don't do that. Um, it's been asked multiple times to do it and things

[2:22:52] and we've we've neglected it time after time. 10 years ago, I I I sat in

[2:22:57] meetings neglecting to to let the RDC capture the personal property tax

[2:23:02] because of the school. And so the the personal property tax abatements go to

[2:23:08] the taxing units. It's not it's not captured in the test.

[2:23:11] » Yeah. So, I just want to make it clear just for my understanding and anyone

[2:23:15] who's kind of newer tuning in that there will not fortunately there will not be

[2:23:20] more money going to like Buck Creek Fire Department. I'd like to see that in the

[2:23:24] future, but this will directly help the citizens of Buck Creek Township by

[2:23:30] reducing their tax rate. Am I saying that correctly?

[2:23:36] » Okay. >> Yes, that is my understanding. Correct.

[2:23:41] » All right. Thank you. >> Yeah, I I'll just say for the record,

[2:23:45] you know, I was not in support of the request last year. It was for um more

[2:23:52] savings than what would be paid. I had my idea then of how big of a discount I

[2:23:59] thought was palatable and [clears throat]

[2:24:02] this you know after further discussion negotiation Walmart has come back and

[2:24:07] said we want to stay here and we want to do it and we will ask less uh in terms

[2:24:12] of tax breaks and to what Clark was pointing out uh they're asking to pay

[2:24:19] 66.3 million over 25 years instead of 77.4 4

[2:24:25] million over 25 years. I mean th those are fair numbers that I can live with. U

[2:24:32] so I didn't support it last year. I do support it in its current form and think

[2:24:36] it's very fair and makes a substantial benefit to the taxpayers

[2:24:42] especially for the lack of burden it creates for them to put equipment inside

[2:24:46] a building that's already standing there.

[2:24:50] » Yeah. So, so the the from here we go to a declaratory resolution

[2:24:56] » after if if it passes today. Yes. >> If it passes today,

[2:24:59] » one or both. Yeah. >> Right. So,

[2:25:01] » and that would be next month and there would be

[2:25:03] » have a hearing and and everything next month.

[2:25:05] » What is the uh ordinance or resolution number?

[2:25:09] » Resolution number would be 2026-9-2.

[2:25:15] » And what's and that's on the building three.

[2:25:20] Yes. >> Okay. And what's the resolution number

[2:25:22] for the ND6? >> That would be 2026-9-3.

[2:25:28] » Okay. Uh, did anybody else want to make a comment before I asked for a motion?

[2:25:34] » Clark, I think you made >> Well, I was going to more Whenever we

[2:25:38] voted, I assumed we'd do a roll call and explain my

[2:25:40] » Well, I don't know if we're going to do a roll call. Oh, I I mean my biggest

[2:25:44] thing is if you look at Walmart, they have the size to eventually potentially

[2:25:50] disrupt the retail food industry. If you look at what they did in Fort

[2:25:56] Wayne, I know that was 10 years ago with a dairy plant, but they did another one

[2:25:59] in Texas a year ago. Removing the middleman most often

[2:26:06] increases prices paid to farmers. If you look just today, if a farmer takes a

[2:26:11] load of corn to poet an ethanol plant, they can get $5.31

[2:26:18] without a basis. And the positive or negative is just neutral. If they go to

[2:26:23] a local country elevator, most likely they will only get paid $4.81 with a

[2:26:28] negative.50 basis. That's a dollar more per bushel on a truckload of corn that's

[2:26:34] usually around a,000 bushels. That's a thousand more dollars a load. you haul

[2:26:39] three loads, four loads a day depending on the line. That's significant more

[2:26:44] dollars in the farmer's pocket. We do want to stay an agricultural rich

[2:26:49] community. And if someday Walmart does decide to upend the a industry again,

[2:26:55] not not the a industry, the retail food industry, I would really like for us to

[2:27:00] be at the top of the list and look at Hancock County. Whether it's a dairy

[2:27:04] plant, who knows? Probably not a beef meat packing plant. And I don't think

[2:27:08] that would fit uh next to a neighborhood um especially one that's doing 3 or 4

[2:27:13] thousand head a day. But Walmart's pretty innovative at times or others

[2:27:18] they work with. There's any type of innovation that can help cut out the

[2:27:22] middleman and get farmers products directly to Walmart, directly to the

[2:27:26] consumer that will increase the value for farmers. I sure would like them to

[2:27:31] look here first and call us first. So because of that, that's why I'm pretty

[2:27:36] supportive of this because I want to be at the top of the list if they do decide

[2:27:40] to do any other type of a type building. And are you like, Clark, are you just

[2:27:47] thinking pie in the sky? No. Look at Texas. They did a huge dairy plant there

[2:27:51] last year. Look at Hancock County next time first, please.

[2:27:59] » Uh, does anybody else have something they want to say? I mean, the only thing

[2:28:03] for me was uh uh Indie 6. I'm looking at two different buildings. Indie 6, you

[2:28:08] know, I mean, it's a u empty warehouse. I know the public have been very much

[2:28:12] against we we're getting tired of the empty warehouses. So, the fact you're

[2:28:16] coming in buying it, bringing a tremendous amount of jobs, uh you know,

[2:28:20] with with good pay. Um you know, a different whole different thing when

[2:28:24] you're doing large like TVs and stuff because I've gotten a tour so I know how

[2:28:28] it works. And so, I'm really excited about that one. But for me, ND3, you

[2:28:32] know, I might be the only no vote up here on ND3. But, uh, I think you're

[2:28:36] going to do it no matter what. And so, that sometimes that's one of those

[2:28:39] things like if if an organization's going to do it, then why would you give

[2:28:42] an abatement? That's how I stand on that one. Just, you know, I mean, because I

[2:28:46] know you're already been working on it. So, that's just, you know, it's kind of

[2:28:49] one of those things like we always want this probably for the public more just

[2:28:53] Walmart. It's, you know, because I know people watch this and want to come for

[2:28:55] abatements. It's, you know, don't start doing something then come to us for an

[2:28:59] abatement. Come to us because the only reason you're going to come to us is is

[2:29:03] because you need the abatement to make it happen.

[2:29:07] [snorts] >> So, let's let's look real quick at

[2:29:09] history. And that's that's what I keep going back on. Um Walmart right now is

[2:29:14] going to be our largest supporter of of our county for for an single entity. Um,

[2:29:21] I grew up where we had a pharmaceutical company that was the largest supporter

[2:29:26] of our county. Um, the the county council did or the county commissioners

[2:29:32] did not support that that pharmaceutical company. They thought that they were

[2:29:35] going to be here no matter what and they pulled out. Okay. Just like you said,

[2:29:41] Clark, the things that happen in the future, that company is is a trillion

[2:29:47] dollar company today. They're four times larger than they were at the time.

[2:29:52] They're create they've created new products that require new facilities. If

[2:29:56] that company was still in Hancock County, we we would be a totally

[2:30:01] different looking county than we we are right now. And they had the property,

[2:30:05] they had everything all set up. And as soon as the county uh fathers turned

[2:30:10] them down on on a expansion or anything, they pulled out and and we lost

[2:30:17] um it's it's it's hilarious. We talk three or4 million, but I'm talking 30

[2:30:22] years ago, they were paying 20 million, okay, which is a hundred million today.

[2:30:28] And so, um, we are fortunate to get another, uh, company back that wants to

[2:30:35] partner with our county and provide jobs and provide taxes and and and it's a

[2:30:41] [music] clean partner. And so, [clears throat] I it's very important in

[2:30:45] the future, too. Like Clark said, there is things that come about that we don't

[2:30:49] know about that could sustain the county for a hundred years.

[2:30:55] » All right. Anything else? >> I'll move.

[2:30:56] » Not. Go ahead. Make a motion on >> I'll move we

[2:30:59] » one at a time. >> Yes.

[2:31:00] » Yeah. One at a time. Whichever. >> Resolution 26 2026-9-2.

[2:31:08] » So moved. I'll take second. >> Second on the approval of Okay.

[2:31:11] Resolution 2026-2-9. So I have a motion, a second for

[2:31:15] approval of resolution number 2026-9-2. This is for ND3 for those uh listening.

[2:31:23] Uh is there any discussion? All those in favor say I.

[2:31:29] » I. >> All those against I.

[2:31:32] » Motion carries 51. All right. Next motion.

[2:31:37] » I move we approve resolution 2026-9-3.

[2:31:44] » Second. >> All right. I have a motion and a second

[2:31:47] to approve resolution number 2026-9-3. This is for those in the audience.

[2:31:53] Indy6. Any discussion?

[2:31:57] All those in favor say I. >> I.

[2:31:59] » Any oppose? Same sign. Motion carries unanimously.

[2:32:04] » Thank you. Thank you. >> We will be back next month for the

[2:32:06] declaration. Yes, Mr. Sorell. >> There needs to be a a motion to set both

[2:32:11] of those for hearing and then set the public hearing.

[2:32:14] » Right. >> I'll I'll draft the notice.

[2:32:16] » When when do you need when's the public hearing going to be?

[2:32:19] » October. >> What do we have available? Uh, next

[2:32:22] council meeting is October 14th. >> Uh, we can do 9:00 a.m.

[2:32:27] » I move we set the the hearing and approve for the hearing and

[2:32:33] » second. >> Second. Okay. All right. I have a

[2:32:37] motion, a second to uh set the the hearing for October [clears throat] 14th

[2:32:41] at 9:00 a.m. >> and for approval of them.

[2:32:44] » Uh, all those in favor say I. >> Any oppose? Same sign. Motion carries.

[2:32:49] » Yeah, I'll get the notice. >> Okay. doing it to you.

[2:32:52] » Thank you all very much for your time. We appreciate it.

[2:32:54] » Thank you. You're welcome. >> All right. Next up is the budget meeting

[2:32:58] update.

[2:33:03] » Well, uh [clears throat] we reviewed all of the fund balances and found that they

[2:33:09] were very satisfactory.

[2:33:13] » Added needs uh for Scott Williams and Jeremy Tepen.

[2:33:18] set hearing for the lit ordinance for uh 9:29 the joint meeting. So we really do

[2:33:26] need to have a um a quorum of us for that meeting.

[2:33:31] » I I will be traveling that day. I will not be present at my

[2:33:35] » What day was it you said Jim? I didn't >> 29th.

[2:33:38] » 29th. Oh yeah. Okay. >> I think that's a Tuesday.

[2:33:41] » It's a Tuesday evening at 5. >> It's a Tuesday evening.

[2:33:44] » Okay. >> We'll need joint meeting with committee.

[2:33:47] definitely need a quorum. >> Four people.

[2:33:50] » Um, great.

[2:33:53] » And we talked about the sheriff's retirement plan funding

[2:33:57] uh changes and uh and we uh reviewed the Mus Group meeting and that was it.

[2:34:03] Unless you got something >> now, Key.

[2:34:07] » All right. Next action item, approve minutes for August 12th, 2026.

[2:34:11] » Make a motion to approve the minutes as written for August 12th, 2026. Second.

[2:34:16] » I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes for August 12, 2026. All

[2:34:20] those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Same sign.

[2:34:24] » Motion carries. >> Auditor business.

[2:34:27] » Okay. Auditor business. I have two items. Uh, last week I brought you

[2:34:31] invoices from MS Consultants for the county farm.

[2:34:37] We reviewed the minutes for the entire year of 2026

[2:34:44] and we could not find any discussion on where these invoices were going to be

[2:34:48] paid. So I'm not sure if that discussion occurred at maybe one of the county farm

[2:34:53] visioning meetings possibly. So I'm just coming back to find out

[2:34:58] where where you would like all their invoices paid from. The commissioners

[2:35:02] would have authorized the contract and we would have had to talk about the

[2:35:07] cost. >> Yeah, we had to.

[2:35:10] » We couldn't find any records in commissioner or council.

[2:35:13] » What's it? >> I would think that would come from

[2:35:18] economic development.

[2:35:22] » Maybe what what's the amount?

[2:35:26] » Uh the amount is totals there's several invoices. They total 99,676

[2:35:33] and 111. >> But by the time it's all said and done,

[2:35:36] I don't remember the final price, but I think it's in excess of

[2:35:41] » I don't remember. >> I mean, I think by the time it's all

[2:35:44] said and done, we were probably looking closer to 200.

[2:35:47] » I thought it was a hundred, but >> Oh, you did? may well that's what I

[2:35:51] thought but we wouldn't be paying in advance

[2:35:54] » cuz there's like drainage you know like they're studying topography and drainage

[2:35:58] and all that >> definitely economic development

[2:36:02] » huh >> said it's definitely economic

[2:36:04] » do we have uh funds appropriated in >> we do not we have we only have $11,000

[2:36:10] appropriated in a miscellaneous line >> do we have time to go through an

[2:36:13] appropriation and get that >> we do we could actually hold a public

[2:36:17] hearing at the joint Oh yeah.

[2:36:20] » To appropriate it. >> Yeah. Do we want to do just the amount

[2:36:24] of the invoices or do we want to do some excess so that if additional invoices

[2:36:30] come in they can be paid through economic development or do you just want

[2:36:34] to do another appropriation?

[2:36:38] » Why don't we find out what the commissioners um uh what that uh

[2:36:42] contract was for? I I >> Okay, we can look up the contract. But

[2:36:46] you'll have to list the current invoices for the appropriation. We'll have to

[2:36:50] have a dollar amount. >> Put in the amount.

[2:36:52] » Why don't Why don't we thumbs up to appropriate a 100,000 to deal with the

[2:36:56] current invoices and then Mary, can you report back on what their contract with

[2:37:00] the commissioner said? >> Absolutely. We can have that for the

[2:37:03] joint meeting. >> And that's a thumbs up for an

[2:37:06] advertisement, right? >> Yeah.

[2:37:10] » Okay. Okay. Okay. And then one last thing. Um

[2:37:17] the public defender had came oh probably a couple months ago now regarding the

[2:37:24] one-time bonus that the state prosecutors were getting. That was

[2:37:28] approved. I just have a salary ordinance amendment because we do need to add that

[2:37:33] in that that the public defender and the chief deputy public defender are both

[2:37:38] going to receive a $2,500 bonus onetime bonus.

[2:37:44] » So moved. >> So what's the or here number?

[2:37:48] » Yep. >> There you go.

[2:37:50] » Got it. Second. >> All right. So I need a motion. I need a

[2:37:54] motion uh to approve ordinance number 2026-9B

[2:37:58] uh regarding the public defenders onetime bon uh bonus for the chief

[2:38:02] public defender chief deputy uh public defender in amounts of $2,500 each

[2:38:07] » suspend the rules to sign it today >> and suspend suspend the rules to sign

[2:38:11] today. I need a motion. >> Well, he already said

[2:38:14] » motion motion for Mr. Shelby. Do I have a second?

[2:38:18] » Second. All right. A second from Mr. Smith. All those in favor of the

[2:38:22] ordinance say I. >> I. Any oppose? Same sign. Motion

[2:38:25] carries. >> I'll make a motion to I'm opposed.

[2:38:28] » Oh, opposed. Okay. >> So, that carries. 1 2 3 4 51.

[2:38:34] » You need a motion to suspend the rules. And

[2:38:38] » that was part of the original motion. >> It was part of the original motion.

[2:38:42] » He referenced it once I brought it up. Got

[2:38:47] my motion there.

[2:38:51] Okay, >> if it suffices for you.

[2:39:01] » Any more auditor business? >> That was it.

[2:39:04] » Did anybody schedule individually any additional public comment?

[2:39:08] » No. I believe the only one that I received this morning was a gentleman

[2:39:13] from Exitor, but I believe Scott Binky. >> Yeah, we we dealt with

[2:39:16] » has already talked with him, so we're good.

[2:39:18] » Okay. >> All right. And I will entertain a motion

[2:39:21] to adjurnn. I think you guys said that one.

[2:39:24] » So moved. We got a second for adjournment. Oh, second.

[2:39:28] » Motion a second to adjurnn. All those in favor say I.

[2:39:30] » I. All those against.

Hancock County, IN - 9/9/2026 Council Meeting

Transcript