[0:10] council

[0:19] meeting on October 13th. Like to start us off with a quick prayer. Father God,

[0:23] we thank you for beautiful day. Thank you, Lord, for our community. We pray

[0:26] for vision and direction in this meeting and pray you'd help us be successful in

[0:30] Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen.

[0:32] » Okay. And let's stand and do the pledge of allegiance.

[0:39] Pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which

[0:44] it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice

[0:50] for all.

[0:54] » Okay. Few changes

[0:58] to our agenda. Um like to move Randy McCoy up to new

[1:05] business or before new business actually. So he's here to give us a cat

[1:08] cat update. So uh like to move him up uh here. Um

[1:16] and um we're also going to get a housing grant

[1:21] update on new business. And then Hannah from Barnes & Thornberg

[1:25] is here. She's going to update our geo bond. So um

[1:31] » let's start with the public hearing. >> Yeah. Okay. I mean public hearing first.

[1:35] Oh yeah, there it is. Public hearing. Additional comments. So and then also

[1:37] this is actually the public hearing for our budget.

[1:40] » Additional appropriations. >> I'm sorry. Okay. Um public hearing for

[1:45] additional appropriations. So um is there any comments now? Hannah, is this

[1:51] something that you're going to talk >> for the bonds?

[1:52] » This is for the bond. Okay. Okay. Do you want to go ahead and do you want to go

[1:55] ahead and uh that would be great. Thank you.

[1:58] Good evening, Hannah Clintenning, Barnes & Thornberg. I'm here in place of my

[2:01] colleague Kim Blanchett. Uh we've been serving as bond council to the city for

[2:05] the proposed geo bonds. Um so this is the second stage of the required

[2:10] approvals um legally speaking. So the first one was done back in um I think

[2:16] August we were last here and that was just the introduction of the bond

[2:19] ordinance. Now, we're asking that we open a public hearing tonight and hold

[2:23] this and allow the public to come up and have questions, comments, what have you.

[2:27] Um, both to educate the council and the public on what's being proposed here.

[2:32] Following the close of the public hearing later in the meeting, we would

[2:34] then ask you to consider two separate items. One would be the bond ordinance,

[2:38] which authorizes all of the maximum terms. So, that would be a $400,000

[2:43] amount as the highest possible amount that could be issued. um a maximum of 6%

[2:49] for the interest rate and then I think it's a four-year term. So the final

[2:53] maturity would be no later than 2029. So again, these are all just maximums. It's

[2:58] very likely that the city would issue less than that depending on when they're

[3:03] issued, pricing, that kind of thing. Um but it's designed to have a lot of

[3:06] flexibility for the proposed project which covers I think a lot of different

[3:10] things. It's um fire department improvements. Is that right? um parks, a

[3:15] school, the former elementary school. >> Elementary school. Yeah.

[3:18] » Um so yeah, and then the other resolution would be the additional

[3:21] appropriation, which is just because this was not originally provided for in

[3:25] the budget for the year. So I'm happy to answer any other questions, but that's

[3:29] just kind of the big picture of what we've got on the table today.

[3:33] » We actually voted on this last month, >> but we didn't sign the bond order.

[3:38] » We didn't stand the bid or so that's why we had to bring it back up again this

[3:42] month. Um

[3:44] but um any questions or anything we want to talk about?

[3:53] Okay. Do a motion then to approve again? I guess do we need a motion? We already

[3:58] approved it once I guess. Did we Margaret? Do we need

[4:00] » Yeah, we can consider it the second reading. Did

[4:02] » you say the interest rate max was 6%. >> 6%.

[4:08] » These days we've been seeing closer. >> Okay.

[4:14] Do do we need to vote on this again? >> Um,

[4:18] yeah. Let's >> Okay.

[4:20] » For the second reading tonight. >> Okay. All right. So, John, did you going

[4:23] to >> Well, we got to close the public hearing

[4:25] and then get into vote on >> All right. Okay. Um, I guess uh do we

[4:28] have a motion to close the public hearing?

[4:32] » I'll make a motion to close the public hearing.

[4:34] » Cory motions. Okay. >> Travis second. All in favor say I. I. I.

[4:39] Okay. >> All right. Very good.

[4:43] Since we're on the bond subject, what do we have a motion to approve our our geo

[4:48] bond?

[4:52] » I'll make a motion to approve the geo bond.

[4:53] » Gary motions. Michael seconds. All in favor say I.

[4:56] » I. >> Opposed.

[4:58] » Okay. Right. Thank you. >> And then I just want to make sure. So

[5:02] there's also the appropriation resolution.

[5:04] » Yes. >> Got the resolution.

[5:07] » Resolution number 202504. This is for the additional 400,000 for

[5:12] the budget >> that has to be approved separately than

[5:16] the bond. >> Yes.

[5:17] » Okay. >> Okay. All right. Okay. Okay. Do we have

[5:20] a motion to approve our resolution um

[5:25] for for 400,000 up for addition

[5:29] appropriations for our geo bond that we just approved?

[5:32] » Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve. >> Okay. Travis motion.

[5:35] » I'll second. >> John second. All in favor say I.

[5:38] » I. opposed. Is that everything?

[5:42] » Okay. Well, thank you. I think >> I'll get them sent in the morning.

[5:46] » Okay. We will sign them and send them. So, um

[5:57] just squiggles. Yeah.

[6:01] We'll get to it. >> Uhhuh.

[6:11] That was short name.

[6:16] Yes.

[6:19] All right.

[6:23] Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the agenda as shown?

[6:28] » With >> with the changes I've I've suggested.

[6:30] » Amended. >> As amended.

[6:32] » I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as amended.

[6:35] » Okay. John motions. >> I'll second.

[6:37] » Michael seconds. All in favor say I. >> I.

[6:39] » I. I. >> Opposed. Okay. Um,

[6:45] a motion to approve our minutes as presented.

[6:49] » I'll make a motion we approve the minutes from October 6.

[6:53] » Okay. And September 8th for September 8th. Apologies.

[6:57] » Okay. And yeah, we got two of them there. Um. Okay. Travis motions.

[7:02] » Yep. >> I'll second. Okay. Okay. Cory second.

[7:05] So, all in favor say I. >> I

[7:07] » opposed. Okay. And uh Randy, would you want to step up to the mic there and um

[7:13] » whatever. >> Just you you want to just tell us about

[7:17] your cats and any any episodes or any experiences you had with them or

[7:22] » There's a lot of them. Yeah, I tell you that. Cuz every cat I caught was within

[7:27] five spots. >> Really? Wow.

[7:30] » And that's just just right from >> the speedway.

[7:34] » Yeah. to the apartments to even my shop and I only known the cat.

[7:39] » Wow. >> But um u they they went good. I mean I

[7:44] caught quite a few of them. Yeah. >> 20 or 21. I can't remember exactly how

[7:48] many I caught. >> Yeah. Well,

[7:50] » hook up. And >> uh

[7:53] » um >> and would have had more if people

[7:56] wouldn't have turned them loose. >> I had a lot of cages that you could tell

[8:00] people would open them up and let the cats out cuz it had hair in them. And

[8:03] yeah, >> if it's got hair in them, there was

[8:05] something in them. So, >> yeah. Wow.

[8:07] » But >> um and there's more out there, but like

[8:11] I said, I just was right here in in just a little circle right here and caught

[8:16] that many, >> you know. So,

[8:18] » yeah, there's a lot out there. But yeah, do you have any uh any bad ones that

[8:22] gave you a hard trouble, hard time? >> Yes. Oh, yeah. Bunch of them.

[8:27] » Didn't like caught. >> There was one that was a small one. I

[8:30] mean, look like it was just as cute and cuddly until you went to do anything.

[8:35] Even get close to the cage, you'd stick a pole through and try to get you. Even

[8:39] the ladies at the vet said, "Now you could tell that's a feral cat."

[8:44] » Oh my. >> And it was cute though. I I I thought,

[8:47] "Oh, that's a cute and picked it up and it did. It stuck its claws out and got

[8:52] me on the arm." >> Wow.

[8:53] » And I I knew right then and but >> I did get a lot of the males. Yeah,

[8:58] » I did get four or five big males. >> Yeah. So,

[9:01] » Well, good. Well, >> uh that'll stop quite a few of them

[9:05] because they travel everywhere, you know. So,

[9:09] » well, I wanted you to hear more for uh for more than just the update. I I

[9:14] wanted to we wanted to say thank you. You know, you have

[9:17] » No problem. Give me something to do. >> You know, you did this for free and did

[9:22] it with your I mean, even took the cats to the vet for free and we just we just

[9:26] want to say thank you. just gives me something to do. Trouble

[9:29] » and thank you for um you know your the kids program you put on for the and the

[9:34] Baldin Park and and all the tickets you gave away and everything.

[9:38] » 68 tickets away this year. >> Yeah, that's that is that's awesome.

[9:41] » Turn 68. >> Gosh. Wow. Well, we just want to say

[9:44] thank you by giving you a Mont Player sweatshirt. Says great place to call

[9:48] home and certainly your your presence makes player a great place to call.

[9:51] » Oh, sure. Wear it. >> Perfect weather for it.

[9:55] » Yeah. All right. >> Well, thank you. And like I say, you

[9:59] need any more cop, just all you got to do is holler.

[10:02] » Okay. >> Give me something else to do.

[10:05] » Thank you. >> Thank you very much.

[10:07] » You have a nice day. Fantastic.

[10:14] » Okay. Well, well, I I tell you I appreciate him. I you know there was a

[10:19] time where I wasn't sure who was going to catch or catch for us and uh Sh and

[10:24] he and he stepped right up and and was awesome and I really appreciate it.

[10:28] » So we met our our max on that >> 20 was our max. I think he did catch 21

[10:33] um and you know went over so we're but but uh yeah so that was so we might want

[10:38] to do more. >> What is our what's our budget remaining

[10:41] with like our >> kind of animal fund that we had from the

[10:45] beginning >> for the animal fund? We took about

[10:47] 20,000 from that. Um, >> we could try to find

[10:53] » more for this year. >> I mean,

[10:56] » we appropriated what, a,000? >> $2,000.

[10:58] » Yeah, I think I think we two, I think. Yeah, I think we did. Yeah, about $100 a

[11:02] cat. Yeah, >> because I didn't know how much maybe we

[11:05] had left before the end of the year. If there's

[11:08] » I'd have to look >> if it's possible.

[11:11] » I mean, even if he catches five more cats, that's still going to make a

[11:14] difference if there's that money

[11:18] » available. >> We'll find it. I can tell you that deal.

[11:21] » Yeah. Well, so do you want to do another five or 10 or something?

[11:25] » Let's see what we got first. Okay. >> Next meeting.

[11:28] » And uh Yeah. The next meeting have that. >> Okay.

[11:31] » He sounds like he he's ready to go. >> Yeah, I know. Oh, he's he's great guy. I

[11:36] really appreciate him. Um so, yeah. So, yeah. Um okay. and

[11:44] see we got the Okay, I guess next on our list is uh JP

[11:49] Doorway's quote. Um this goes back to a um public safety seminar that um Smith

[11:58] Insurance organized for us and it basically

[12:04] we sat through I think was it two hours of basically uh shootings, public

[12:09] shootings of people come walking in public buildings and just shooting up

[12:12] the place and and they recommended that you have uh doors up and so they

[12:19] basically so we came up to idea that we better put doors in our

[12:22] openings here so that we can open and close them being closed during the day

[12:27] and open, you know, like during meetings and um um JP doorways uh would do that.

[12:35] He would also put in uh take out that window that's over here. Um, we take

[12:40] that out and drywall and then also put a new window in for Michelle with a with a

[12:44] speaker in the a little slot so that um, she can have a little more of a um,

[12:50] protection there as well. Um, he did give us a a bid. He's a local person. He

[12:55] lives on Jefferson. His bid is 10,500 for two new doors, the framing and

[13:01] everything, drywall and everything goes with that. Putting in the window and uh,

[13:05] or taking out the window and putting in a new window there. Michelle's um

[13:12] what what do you guys think?

[13:16] Did we just put a window in there though?

[13:20] » Oh over Michelle Oh, you meant out here. >> Oh, I'm I'm not talking about the doors.

[13:26] I I'm >> No, I mean the window. Didn't we just

[13:28] put in that window out there? >> That one out there? We're talking about

[13:31] Oh, you're talking about this one. >> Yeah, the inside. Okay, I got you.

[13:35] » Yeah. Yeah, that's Yeah, that's that was put up for CO. It's just a um flimsy

[13:39] piece of plastic. >> Yeah. Okay. I thought you were talking

[13:41] about that one out there. Like we just put that in. Why are we tearing

[13:44] » We can think about it or but that's that was suggested that we might want to just

[13:48] run our own protection. >> Did you get any other quotes?

[13:50] » I we didn't. We asked. But uh >> couldn't find anyone right away. But

[13:54] yeah, >> you got to remember a lot of his cost

[13:56] those are specialty doors to close both of these.

[14:00] » They're only four foot high, but >> they're four foot wide.

[14:03] » Four foot wide. >> Yeah.

[14:07] John wouldn't fit. >> How tall is it?

[14:10] » It's Oh, I uh >> I thought that's what it said for

[14:14] height. >> It's probably 89 in.

[14:17] » Yeah. >> Well, that is a good question. Let's

[14:19] see. Oh, yeah. Two 98 inch. 60. Wait, they're 60 by 98.

[14:28] Um, >> so yeah, there would be uh they'd be

[14:31] pretty big. >> I think he's got his nine eight

[14:33] backwards. >> Oh. Oh, you think so? Oh, okay. All

[14:37] right. Well, so anyways, they're they're going to be they're going to be big

[14:40] enough. They should be >> special order.

[14:44] » Um, so, um,

[14:47] » so they'd be putting them on both sides. >> Both sides and basically then allow um,

[14:52] yeah, allow us to shut the doors during the day so that people just can't just

[14:55] walk right in and have immediate access to everybody. And we would keep all our

[14:58] doors shut. Um, and uh,

[15:04] so we solicited for more quotes, but no one

[15:10] » I haven't found anyone really. >> We could try to get a few more.

[15:15] » Yeah, >> I'm fine with that.

[15:18] » Yeah, I >> think that's pretty cheap.

[15:22] » I'll make a motion to approve the $10,000 for the doors. Okay.

[15:25] » If it's got to do with our public safety, I'm I'm all for that.

[15:28] » Okay. Okay. Uh Gary motions and Corey seconds. All in favor say I.

[15:32] » I. >> I.

[15:34] » Opposed.

[15:37] » Okay. All right. The long-term goal or long-term

[15:41] » a minute. >> What? Oh,

[15:45] » you guys have you guys passed it. I don't know. I'm just still thinking

[15:48] about it. But >> Okay. So,

[15:49] » well, you guys got you got a four. No, you're good. No, you're good. I'm

[15:54] » abstaining. >> Okay. All right. Well, did you do you

[15:56] want is there some comments you have or do you

[15:58] » I I mean I mean I mean yeah I I was just thinking like I know he's door door door

[16:04] specific so if anybody's going to do it he's probably going to be

[16:08] » Yeah >> the best to do the job probably because

[16:12] he's familiar with what we actually need and stuff.

[16:15] » He did put in the front doors. >> Yeah. Yeah.

[16:18] » He's one of the fire truck the fire department as well. So, um,

[16:21] » so I mean I was thinking >> Well, that's that's why I asked if you

[16:24] solicited for quotes and no one's given you any.

[16:28] » It's only been a week since we got the quote. So,

[16:30] » yeah. >> You want you want to wait or we can see

[16:33] if Do you have some ideas or somebody else you want to ask?

[16:35] » I I don't I mean, how how quick would it be that he would have this completed?

[16:41] » Oh, it's going to be a while. The doors may take him up to six weeks.

[16:45] » Is that what he said? >> No, but that's my back door took six

[16:48] weeks. Okay. >> Plus more. Okay. He He's pretty good

[16:52] though. Pretty quick. But uh he and he does excellent work. I thought I've just

[16:56] found he did the front doors, he did this door, he's done the fire

[17:00] department. Um I' I've I think his work is excellent. Um and he's done for

[17:07] Margaret's house. >> But um

[17:09] » Nope. No, >> I will say he did my front door and I

[17:12] got four different quotes from four different people and he was like $5,000

[17:16] less than everybody. >> Yeah.

[17:18] » Just for my front door. So, I mean, his prices are

[17:22] » I mean, he's doorway specific. So, I I guess yeah, I I I would I'll say I'll

[17:29] vote yes on that then. John, if you like to stay abstained.

[17:32] » I'm stay abstained. It's fine. Okay. >> Okay. Okay. Well, motion carries.

[17:36] » Maybe I just want to talk a little more about it. I don't know.

[17:40] » All right. Okay. >> That's good.

[17:42] » Okay. All right. Okay. All right. >> Get some drama on YouTube.

[17:48] getting ready to flip a table.

[17:53] » But thank you. >> You're welcome.

[18:04] Keep this moving.

[18:09] All right. Okay. Next up, um, see budget order. So, okay.

[18:16] We have our our 2026 budget as published um

[18:25] that we >> we covered.

[18:26] » Yeah, we covered last month. >> All right. All right. So, basically this

[18:31] would be um Do we need another vote on that then or

[18:36] is that >> does I would ask if anybody had any

[18:41] questions or or >> Okay.

[18:43] » All right. Do we have any questions or um thoughts on our budget that we have?

[18:48] We have a motion then to approve as as stated.

[18:53] » We we actually covered this in September.

[18:58] Four of them.

[19:01] You can go over the totals if you want. >> You want I'll let you go over those.

[19:09] The totals for general debt service, local road and street, MBH,

[19:16] CCI, CCD and redevelopment is $1,499,898

[19:24] 1 million41,499,898

[19:30] and your edit riverboat LLCE

[19:35] public safety American Rescue Plan Fund. and which is

[19:40] zero tiff and MVH restricted is 2.25

[19:47] million. So a total of 3,4 a million or 3 million5

[19:59] and the adopted tax rate would be 1 61

[20:05] or 1.6076. 6076

[20:09] » was put together by Jim Higgins and Margaret. So, um

[20:16] » I'll make a motion to approve the budget.

[20:18] » Okay. Motion. >> I'll second.

[20:21] » Okay. Cory second. All in favor say I. >> I

[20:26] have to abstain from that because Yeah, but you still have to mark it up

[20:30] statement. >> Yeah, absolutely.

[20:36] All right. And um trick-or- treat hours uh um will

[20:44] be um October 31st from 5 to 8:00 p.m. So uh kids wanting to participate in

[20:50] trick-or- treat um 5 to 8:00 p.m. Um people participating, leave your porch

[20:55] lights on. And I I contacted Joe Orlando who's going to run our um

[21:03] she's got a lot going on actually on on October 25th, which is a Saturday. So

[21:08] there's the farmers market, the Gazebo Park. Um there'll be prizes. Um also

[21:13] she's also putting on a um um what was that called? A uh

[21:20] » no anything anything but a car show. So, uh, basically anybody can bring anything

[21:27] and and um and show it there and there'll be prizes for that set for uh

[21:34] prizes for most original and all kinds of prizes. And then a immediately

[21:39] following that will be hometown Halloween which will start at noon

[21:43] following the uh farmers market and trick or trunk or trunk or treat will be

[21:48] from 1 to 3:00 p.m. Uh the dream food truck will be there. There'll be prizes

[21:54] for the best decorated trunks and spaces for those who participate in trunk or

[21:58] treat. And Showtime, Showtime Dance Academy will have a flash mob. Uh free

[22:03] hot dogs will be available. Um so it's going to be a quite an event. So uh

[22:09] everybody can be there Saturday, October 25th. Um starts at 9 with our um farmers

[22:16] market and then it'll run till about 3 in the afternoon with everything else.

[22:21] So be quite a day. So hope everybody can make it.

[22:24] » I just want to add to that. So from 4:00 to 7:00, the fire department's doing

[22:27] their hall roast too after that. So kind of like we did last year

[22:32] » after they get done with the >> the uptown and they can come have

[22:36] dinner. >> Good.

[22:37] » Here if they'd like. >> Absolutely. Good. Good.

[22:40] » What time? >> 4 to 7.

[22:44] » Be a big day. And a big thank you to Joe Orlando for organizing all that. So

[22:49] » and trick-or- treats on the 31st. at trick-or- treats 31st and from 5 to 8:00

[22:54] pm. Got it. >> And anybody participating uh we'll leave

[22:57] a porch lights on. >> And um

[23:02] and Hands of Hope. Did you want to present?

[23:06] Okay. Okay.

[23:10] » My name is Linda Wilk and I'm director of Hands of Hope, which is part of

[23:13] Radiant Health and Radiant Health. So to give you a little bit of background um I

[23:18] have been with hands of hope or was family service society incorporated

[23:22] since 1994. So when I first started the agency family services had an office in

[23:27] Blackford County and so I was new. I had established in Grant was asked to start

[23:33] in Wabash was also here in Blackford and then our agency moved out of Blackford

[23:38] and so I moved myself out of Blackford because Muny a better way at that time

[23:43] was serving Blackford County. Well, when fast forward to Family Service society

[23:49] merging with Grant Blackford in 2023, they then took over the office here and

[23:55] we called it now Radiant Health. And so, as I started to do employee orientation

[23:59] and somebody would say, "Well, I'm in the Blackford office." I'd say, "Well,

[24:03] then all my materials are irrelevant to you. You need a better way." It didn't

[24:08] feel right to me. So, I approached a better way, their executive director,

[24:11] and said, "I'd really like to start serving Blackford County again." and she

[24:15] said, 'Th that's great. We don't have an office here. We don't have the capacity

[24:19] really. And I said, 'Well, we do. And so that's why I'm here tonight. I've met

[24:23] with the mayor. I've met with your police chief. I'm trying to get to all

[24:27] the key places to let people know that we are servicing Blackford County.

[24:32] Probably need to step back a little bit. We are a victim service provider. So, we

[24:36] work with domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and human

[24:40] trafficking. So, anyone whether they're involved with law enforcement or they're

[24:44] not, if they have a need, please encourage them and I'm going to leave

[24:47] you some materials to reach out to us. Our services are all free. They're all

[24:52] confidential. I am right now in the process of writing a grant that if I'm

[24:57] successful, come January, I will be able to hire someone specific for Blackford

[25:02] County. So, my original plan was to provide staff to come over and we still

[25:07] will do that, but I really feel like having someone specific for Blackford

[25:12] County is going to be better for everyone um cons involved. I also um

[25:17] just a little bit about what we do. Again, we're 247. So, I've already, you

[25:22] know, again, talked to your police chief. I've met a couple of the officers

[25:25] that came to one of the trainings that that I provided. Was very impressed with

[25:28] the two young officers that came. very interested in working with us and

[25:32] domestic violence and helping victims. We um as I said are 247 which means that

[25:38] if law enforcement is on a scene working with the victim and they say you know

[25:43] victim needs safe shelter, victim needs a protective order, whatever it is the

[25:47] victim needs, then call us. You know, I'm going to give you each one of you my

[25:51] card and our our 24-hour number. When and I have staff 8 am to 9:00 p.m. The

[25:56] plan would be to have staff during the day here in Blackford County. Then after

[26:01] hours, we each carry a cell phone. So if it's again, if it's a something they

[26:06] need immediate assistance, they dial one. Whoever's on call is going to then

[26:11] respond and come and like I tried to make sure law enforcement knows that

[26:15] means we will be there to help you, you know. So if you say the victim's living

[26:20] with their abuser, maybe their abuser's family because we have that happen.

[26:24] Abuser's been arrested because law enforcement has probable cause to make

[26:28] that arrest. Victim can't stay there now. Well, then that becomes our

[26:32] responsibility to find them a safe place to stay and work with them as long as

[26:36] they need services. So that could be getting a protective order. It could be

[26:40] assisting them with safety measures like security cameras, door jambs, window

[26:44] bars. It could be relocating them, you know, to a safe shelter. It could be

[26:49] getting a protective order, going to court with them, abusers evicted from

[26:53] that property, and then victim come back and live there again. We're going to

[26:58] work with the victim to whatever their needs are. We're not going to dictate

[27:01] what they're going to do. It's up to them. But I need community to talk about

[27:08] us, to let people know we're a good program. You know, we're here to help. I

[27:14] understand that Blackford County is a small close-knit community. That can

[27:18] maybe be difficult sometimes for someone to trust someone outside of the

[27:22] community. That's why I want to integrate myself into the community. So,

[27:26] if there's other places I can speak, I've spoken a couple churches. Um, I'd

[27:31] like to get to your rotaries, to, you know, your service clubs, any

[27:35] organization, no matter how small, how big, I want to go and educate them, talk

[27:40] to them. October is domestic violence awareness month. That's another reason I

[27:44] wanted to come this month. I did bring a few ribbons if anybody is interested in

[27:48] wearing a ribbon. And again, I have our brochures and materials. And this

[27:52] Thursday is purple Thursday. So, if you can wear purple and again, I'll give you

[27:58] my card if you can take a picture and send it to me or put it directly on our

[28:02] Facebook page. Love to do that, too. So, it's all about creating awareness. You

[28:06] know, domestic violence. As long as I've been doing this work, it's still

[28:10] something that people don't like to talk about. out. They don't like to

[28:13] recognize. They like to think it's just physical. We want to talk to someone

[28:18] when it's beginning, when the emotional, the verbal, the name calling, the put

[28:22] downs, when all of that is happening. We want to get to them before law

[28:25] enforcement has to get involved. That's the ideal. If law enforcement needs to

[28:29] get involved, we want to be that helping hand for law enforcement, for the

[28:32] community. But again, you know, we want to be here to assist. So, if you have

[28:37] any questions for me, I'm happy to answer them. I'll just share funding

[28:41] wise, a lot of our funding is through grants. We also do get local

[28:45] contributions, donations. That's another thing as I, you know, start to work

[28:50] closer with Blackford County. We want to come up with resources. You know, we

[28:54] know the food pantry, there's a constant need. So, we want to be able to provide

[28:59] those things for clients, whether it's hygiene products or, you know, other

[29:03] things that they can't get through food stamps. Those are things that we can

[29:07] help to create more of a barrier buster so that if they're staying because of

[29:12] financial reasons because a lot of times that's why they stay, we can help them

[29:16] work through that. So don't, you know, I always say call us, let us help, you

[29:21] know, figure out next steps. So, and we have had a had a few calls. We're

[29:26] currently working with a couple people from Blackford County. So, but can you

[29:31] know again it's all about getting the word out, letting people know. We tried

[29:34] to do a big campaign. Yeah. >> We had some money for billboards that we

[29:37] had recently um in materials. So, I just um appreciate the opportunity to come

[29:43] here >> and share a little bit about what we're

[29:46] doing and give you a little bit of our materials and get if you have any

[29:50] questions for me. I know John knows me fairly well.

[29:54] » Worked with him once or twice. >> Yeah.

[29:57] » For campaign, >> not for domestic violence.

[30:00] » Radio station through the radio station. Just clarify.

[30:05] very clear. >> I know. Yeah.

[30:11] » And the book I gave you is um something we created a few years ago locally

[30:16] and it has all kinds of information about domestic violence, sexual

[30:20] violence, stalking and substance abuse and um also some healthy relationship

[30:27] information. And I know the mayor was willing to set up our materials. I

[30:32] appreciate that out front. I know that law enforcement has our materials. So

[30:37] again, it's just about as you think of somewhere that I could leave materials

[30:41] or speak. Please, you have my card now. >> You dropped anything else at the

[30:46] library? >> I have not yet. No, I will definitely do

[30:49] that though. I know when I met with the mayor, it was a busy weekend so Oh,

[30:54] yeah. >> for you guys. But yeah, we'll definitely

[30:57] do that.

[31:05] Maybe the food pantry is Venus. >> I will. Yeah. I need to get your email

[31:10] address and then I'll just maybe contact communicate with you if that work.

[31:14] » Yeah. >> Okay. Yeah.

[31:18] » All right. Anybody want a ribbon? Should I leave the ribbons?

[31:22] » Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see. We just >> Oh, okay. All right. Thank you.

[31:27] » Thank you. >> Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Linda. Very good.

[31:31] Very good. Okay. So, Thursday's >> Thursday is purple Thursday.

[31:34] » Purple Thursday. Okay. All right. >> Wear purple on Thursday.

[31:37] » Domestic awareness. Domestic abuse >> awareness. Okay. All right.

[31:41] » And that's a national initiative. So, you'll be just the whole nation

[31:45] hopefully will be in purple. >> Okay. Good. Good.

[31:49] » Very good. Very good. Okay. Well, thank you. And Jessica Tober

[31:54] from Purdue Extension uh Main Street Project is here.

[31:59] » Yes. So, I'm Jessica Taber and I'm >> Taber. I'm sorry.

[32:02] » That's okay. Tater is the funniest one that I've had so far. But

[32:07] » Tater, >> yeah, they they come up with some good

[32:09] ones. And so, I'm Jessica and I'm from Purdue

[32:13] Extension and I am working with Mont Pillar to bring Main Street locally and

[32:18] the mayor recently signed the letter of intent which I sent to Okra. So, big

[32:23] step. I'm waiting to hear back from them and they will send back a questionnaire

[32:28] which I will fill out with the help of the mayor and then hopefully um contact

[32:32] some of you guys, get your input before we send that back. Um I wanted to share

[32:36] with you the board that's going to be representing you guys. The president is

[32:40] Justin Morris, the vice president is Shaina McKinnon.

[32:45] » Um the secretary is Jill Jill Orlando. She's very involved in your community.

[32:50] The treasurer is Casey Rinker. And we have Officer Jarvis on the board as

[32:55] well, which is a nice little touch there. Um, it would be great if somebody

[32:59] from the city council would like to join. Um, you guys want to call me, we

[33:04] can talk about that and see what that will look like for you guys. Um, one of

[33:09] the big projects that we're currently working on is to help revamp one of your

[33:13] corner parks. And then, um, we're still in talks with working with the Eli

[33:18] pharmacy, current owner, to get that storefront back up and running. So, some

[33:23] exciting things for Main Street. Um, and then just to give you guys a heads up,

[33:28] once the board meets, we will be coming to you guys to see about getting a

[33:33] donation or a contribution to kind of kickstart things. So, just wanted to

[33:39] throw that out there. Um, thank you for your time and let me know if you have

[33:43] any questions. >> Well, long term, where where do you see

[33:45] this project going? >> Where do I see this project going? Um,

[33:50] my job with Purdue ends in April, which is right when you guys are going to find

[33:54] out where your next steps are, but I'm not. Just because my job ends doesn't

[33:59] mean I'm going to leave because this is my first big community project. I'm

[34:03] getting a little emotional. So, this will be my baby. Um, I'm really excited

[34:07] about it. I feel like we have a good strong board. Um, Justin Morris is is

[34:13] ready to go. He's stoked about what went on in Hartford City for his barber shop.

[34:17] she's ready to bring that over here. Um Shaya's excited about it. Jill and

[34:21] Casey, you know, they have more energy than

[34:24] » yeah, >> a preschooler, so you guys know them. Um

[34:28] at in April, like I said, is when you'll find out if you guys got accepted to

[34:32] move on to the next step. At that time, I will already have you guys set up to

[34:38] almost be approved in October for your next step. Um I'll

[34:43] have the building inventory pretty much done. Um, I will make sure we have more

[34:48] volunteers. Um, the more we talk about this, just like with Hands of Hope, the

[34:53] more you talk about it, the more people are aware. Um, and the more people I

[34:57] talk about this too, they're really excited about

[35:01] highlighting the history in your guys' area. So, that's where I see the

[35:06] program. >> Okay. All right. Any questions or any

[35:09] thoughts? Okay. All right. >> Anybody want to join?

[35:12] » Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> All right. Thanks, guys.

[35:18] » And we I think I emailed this. Why I did email this to you guys. Uh we have

[35:22] couple grants we got. I I I'll share just the first one here. Um uh through

[35:28] Dave Keyser, we got a $70,000 housing preservation grant um to make uh support

[35:35] critical upgrades to existing housing. Um it is specifically for use to assist

[35:42] with low and very lowincome residents uh with essential home repairs. Um, nice

[35:49] thing about this is is that uh actually it doesn't Dave and his crew are

[35:54] administering it so we don't have to do any work here at the city but uh because

[35:59] there's going to be application process and a grading but anybody who um

[36:06] you know if you know somebody who needs who's living in a house that you know

[36:10] needs a new furnace needs something some major roof repairs or something like uh

[36:16] this grants available for them and this would be somebody obviously for somebody

[36:20] who's >> this is low income

[36:22] » very low income. Yeah. This is the the people that the most needy. So there's

[36:26] an application they do have to fill out. Um but uh it's you know nice thing is

[36:32] it's not going to be any extra work for us. So not and and great for the city

[36:37] too for that that we're getting this. So that we're very excited about. So it's a

[36:41] double win in many ways. Um, so, um,

[36:47] yeah, that was that's a that was a great bonus. So, uh, should help some of our

[36:52] our, uh, local people with making some housing improvements that I'm sure

[36:58] that's needed. So, there'll be more details of that following. Um, we

[37:02] haven't got the applications or anything yet. I think I probably start at first

[37:06] of the year. Um,

[37:11] traffic ordinance. We talked about this last month. I think it was last month.

[37:15] Yeah. Starting our ordinance. We were reducing

[37:20] our speed from starting at Chestnut um to 25

[37:26] and going up to Monroe Street and from Monroe Street north on on Main Street,

[37:32] we would be 20 miles an hour. Um and uh there was some debate over what

[37:39] road we can we can control. 6:30 north is

[37:45] the county's call for what the speed I have requested

[37:49] that they they lower the speed because it as of right now the speed limit is

[37:53] going to go from 55 to 25 and that's not safe. Um I have been to two um county

[38:01] commissioner meetings and and asked them a couple times and said they were going

[38:05] to look into it. Um that's as far as we've gotten. So, I'm I this is this is

[38:11] an issue, though. I am hoping if you know any of the county commissioners,

[38:14] I'd say please talk to them about this. Um but but I guess first off, I we know

[38:21] we've talked about this. Uh is there any more discussion?

[38:26] » So, the road from Chestnut to 6:30, that whole road is controlled by the county.

[38:32] » It's it's um is that right, Chris? Um 6:30 to Chestnut, that's all county.

[38:40] » So depends who you talk to. Um >> yeah,

[38:44] » if you look at if you look at uh well, let me back up, but talking with John

[38:48] Floomer, who is the county highway supervisor,

[38:52] » um that they show that that entire stretch of road there between those two

[38:56] points as on the county's inventory. However, looking at um the uh the Beacon

[39:02] Schneider map kind of shows the city limits. When the city annexed down to

[39:08] 630 north on the west side of the road, they have the city limits, they have the

[39:14] roadway split up. The southbound lane going out of town is in the city. The

[39:19] eastbound lane coming in it shows is the counties. So,

[39:25] I'm going to go with half of the road is ours and half the road is theirs.

[39:29] » You can kind of see it up here on this map a little.

[39:31] » Unfortunately, the part we would like to control is in the county.

[39:34] » Yeah, the green is city. >> This is the green is city. And I know

[39:40] that not going to see this on Facebook, but this is 6:30 east, 6:30 north. This

[39:45] is all city right here. This is county. Uh this is where Main Street coming

[39:50] coming in. Main Street. So, basically, um, we would like the county to produce

[39:57] a speed starting right here, but because it's it's 55 until you get to this spot

[40:03] in Chestnut. Um,

[40:07] that's too fast. That's that's you're really into the city at that point. Um,

[40:12] so anyways, that's uh so hopefully this the county will work

[40:18] with us on that. Um but in Main Street we just like I said

[40:23] we reduce the speed a little bit because that's a heavy residential area and then

[40:27] of course this is you got a lot of people jaywalking across you know

[40:32] downtown and you don't want people going really fast. You want people lower lower

[40:36] their speeds there. So, um

[40:42] that's >> Well, even the recommendation from 6:30

[40:46] to a chestnut was 45 miles. >> Yes. Yes, it was. Yeah, that the Purdue

[40:51] or um the Purdue study that recommends us them reducing the speed and the the

[40:56] commissioners do have that report. >> Um so,

[41:03] » what do we got to do to annex the other side of the road?

[41:08] We could if we want to get in a fight. >> I mean

[41:11] » like why wouldn't they just say >> we could do that?

[41:15] » Why wouldn't it just I mean it's not like they're plowing into Malt Pillar on

[41:18] that road, are they? >> No, they're

[41:21] » Well, it it sounds like they they already most people already reduced

[41:25] their speed. It sounds the the the um actually it's only 40 miles an hour on

[41:30] the other side. So it's 55 going >> um in but 40 40 miles an hour going out.

[41:36] And so up until um 6:30 I think. Um so I you know honestly just to be consistent

[41:43] they should bring the other side 40 as well.

[41:46] » Um >> are they afraid they're going to have to

[41:49] pay for the sign? >> I don't think that's an issue over I I

[41:54] don't I don't know the I >> I'm don't know. I don't I don't know.

[42:00] But I I'm hoping they'll eventually they'll come to ter. I mean that that

[42:03] just makes sense if we're but I guess we haven't approved this yet. So is there

[42:07] any thoughts or comments on changing to 25 at Chestnut?

[42:12] » I think it's a good idea. >> Yeah. Um so okay, do you want to make a

[42:16] motion? >> I'll make a motion.

[42:18] » John motion >> for ordinance 25 or 2025- or no 2025-09.

[42:24] » Okay. All right. All right. And Travis, did you second? Okay. Travis seconds.

[42:28] All in favor say I. >> I opposed.

[42:31] » Okay. Very good. All right. Very good. Yes.

[42:37] » And I have one last thing if the mayor doesn't mind.

[42:41] Um I received a contract today for B Barnes and Thornberg which is for Kim

[42:48] Glenshhat to be the bond council. And I would like to propose that the

[42:53] mayor have authorization to sign anything that goes with the GEO bond or

[42:58] general obligations bond. Guess that streamlines it.

[43:05] » I mean, I think it's going to be around 30,000.

[43:10] The last do bond was like 2829 and Jim Hickens was like 10.

[43:16] And this this states that they will only charge for the work they do.

[43:23] So,

[43:27] any objection?

[43:30] What was that for again? >> There's so sign the the geo bond stuff.

[43:36] » We we've approved the group ordinance. We've approved the additional

[43:40] appropriation. There may be more things for the mayor to sign like when they

[43:45] sell the bonds. So, I'm just asking for your permission

[43:50] to let him sign.

[43:55] » Gary motion. >> It won't exceed anything we've talked

[43:57] about. >> I'll second. seconds. All in favor say

[44:00] I. >> I opposed.

[44:03] » Okay. Okay. Well, that's that is the end of our agenda. Um any anything else

[44:10] wants to talk about ordinance? >> Okay. Um Okay. Take a motion to approve

[44:15] or pro motion to >> make a motion we adjourn.

[44:18] » Okay. Okay. Motions. Have a second. 40 seconds. All in favor say I. I. Thank

[44:25] you. Okay.

City of Montpelier City Council Meeting 10/13/2025

Transcript