[0:00] Frankly, Lord, thank you for the day that you've given us. I want to thank

[0:03] you for going before us. Help us honor you well in things that we do and we

[0:06] say. I pray Lord you will look over the team that works for the town of

[0:10] Walkerton. Help us keep them safe.

[0:13] And help us to make good choices and good decisions. Lord, we ask for your

[0:17] blessings in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. >> Amen.

[0:20] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[0:26] republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:33] justice for all.

[0:37] » [clears throat]

[0:41] » Okay, Tara, I want you to do a roll call tonight.

[0:47] I don't want to be fine. I need a motion to uh

[0:51] » [clears throat] >> uh what am I looking for? Yes, I need a

[0:53] motion uh to approve the minutes of August

[0:56] 10th. >> I'll move.

[0:58] » Uh I need a second. >> Second.

[1:01] » Anything in there that you would like to change or

[1:05] anything at all? All in favor?

[1:07] » Aye. >> Those opposed, same sign.

[1:10] I need a motion to pay the claims, please.

[1:12] » I'll move. >> I need a second.

[1:16] » Second. >> Is there anything in the claims that you

[1:18] want to ask about?

[1:22] All in favor? >> Aye.

[1:24] » Those opposed, same sign.

[1:28] Is the cash balance thing just for review?

[1:31] » Do you need that? That's just for review.

[1:36] » Um which line? Uh we have no correspondence, so next thing on the

[1:41] agenda is old business. Anyone in the council have old business?

[1:45] Anyone that's an attorney have old business?

[1:48] How about new business to council? Anybody have new business?

[1:52] How about from our attorney? Do you have any new business?

[1:55] Okay. Moving on to the finance report. Is that

[2:00] the cash balance statement we want to look at?

[2:05] So, >> [clears throat]

[2:06] » I looked at it and my question to you would be is there anything on there that

[2:10] jumped out at you? Okay.

[2:14] » It did when I first looked at it. >> Okay.

[2:17] » And then you had any more there.

[2:20] » Remind me what the downtown plan is. >> Old.

[2:26] » Okay. That's when we had a downtown plan.

[2:29] » A long time ago. >> All right. Very good.

[2:32] Um are we just getting ready to to pay the seated bond?

[2:37] It's on the second page about halfway down.

[2:40] » Yes, we're going to >> Okay.

[2:41] » review in September. Two bonds review in September.

[2:44] » That's excellent. Okay.

[2:47] Do I have a motion to approve the finance report?

[2:51] » So moved. >> And I second.

[2:53] » Second. >> I apologize to not ask anybody else if

[2:56] they had questions about it. So, does anyone else have question about the

[2:59] finance report? All in favor?

[3:03] » Aye. >> Those opposed, same sign. County

[3:05] administrator.

[3:11] » County administrator, Bill Buckmaster.

[3:17] Starting off with the application for the boring

[3:22] at our Walnut Crossing. Uh this time they come with the

[3:26] application and it does not have the pot holding of the street.

[3:31] So, it's just boring. >> So, you're

[3:35] And if you look at this you're looking at this favorably?

[3:38] » Yes. >> Okay.

[3:40] Can I get a motion for the application for permit?

[3:43] » I'll make that motion. >> And I second.

[3:45] » I'll second. >> Anybody else have any questions about

[3:47] that now? All in favor?

[3:50] » Aye. >> Those opposed, same sign.

[3:52] » I need this one signed. >> Okay. We can do that. you.

[3:57] Let's talk about the CCMG 2027. >> Yes. Does this

[4:02] have signatures or one? >> Five.

[4:10] Okay, on the CCMG application um

[4:16] like to put in an application have that in March

[4:20] apply for a CCMG grant for a million dollar project.

[4:27] Um the project will include Washington Street from Park Drive to US 6

[4:35] Virginia Street from Jackson Street to Tyler Street

[4:39] Virginia Street from Indiana Street to Main Street

[4:43] Georgia Street from Roosevelt um to Tyler Street

[4:50] um from yeah, from Roosevelt and then

[4:53] Georgia Street from Clark Street to walk Walkerton Trail Walkerton Trail uh from

[5:00] Georgia Street to Gemini. >> So normally on a bond like this or on a

[5:05] grant like this we we're required to have matching funds. Do we have those?

[5:10] » Yes, we do. It's part of the our application for the bond.

[5:14] » Okay. >> And to do street sidewalk and that's

[5:18] what we've done street sidewalk curb and gutter along with the the sidewalk

[5:22] project at the 700 block of Roosevelt Road.

[5:26] » Okay. >> And it will also have the money that

[5:29] will pay for the engineering costs. >> Okay.

[5:32] Um >> [clears throat]

[5:34] » let's have a motion to approve this and we'll second and we'll find out if you

[5:37] got questions. You've got a motion to approve this

[5:40] application. >> I'll make the motion.

[5:44] » Can I get a second? >> So moved.

[5:47] » A motion and a Now, questions?

[5:50] » Oh yeah, the other thing I wanted to say is that it's an 80/20 match.

[5:55] Um we we put in the 200,000 and you guys 800,000.

[5:59] » That's a pretty good deal. >> It's $1.85.

[6:03] » Yeah, I like it. >> So, Phil, on the summary on this, um

[6:09] two and three are going to be removed >> Yes.

[6:12] » from this? >> Yes.

[6:16] Because the project um estimate was over a million dollar

[6:20] budget, and so they removed items two and three, which

[6:25] was not in my previous team statement, and then maybe it sets down to a million

[6:30] 51,000 before it's bid out. >> Okay. And then on the engineering, uh

[6:38] do are any of these which are these associated with two and three? I see by

[6:43] the addresses down here.

[6:47] Can you remove those two from the request of the of this grant so that we

[6:52] don't get confused? Further down the road, a year from now,

[6:56] we know exactly what >> All we're doing now is approving

[7:00] um going forward with the CCM the application with those two items

[7:05] removed. >> Okay. And that will show that this is

[7:08] not going to be supported so it'll it'll be correct.

[7:12] » Thank you.

[7:16] » And in your projections at the bottom of your summary there,

[7:21] um

[7:23] we will be applying for another CCMG in 2027.

[7:27] » It looks like they'll have uh I have uh

[7:32] NHDOT restricted in order to apply for another million dollars next year.

[7:36] » Okay. >> That'll be 80/20.

[7:39] » 80/20 again? >> Yes.

[7:42] » Okay. >> 80/20 also?

[7:44] » Also. >> that would be better. That would be

[7:46] even better. Uh any other any other questions?

[7:52] I know one of the things that people always want to know is is that how do we

[7:55] choose these streets? How do we choose where this project is?

[8:00] » On this, I I just looked at the um we have

[8:04] a rating system on the streets that we have an outside firm that does

[8:09] and we use that and we use the um some places that sidewalks weren't

[8:15] » Mhm. >> and we get that in the project.

[8:17] » Okay. >> And also the to go on with the project

[8:22] that we started on Georgia Street, >> Okay.

[8:24] » Virginia Street, and Washington Street. >> Okay.

[8:27] Anybody else have questions? All in favor?

[8:30] » Aye. >> Those opposed, same sign.

[8:34] Looks like water alliance grant, next on my agenda.

[8:37] » Okay. I've got a couple other things. >> You go ahead.

[8:40] » Okay, so I'm going to have a word. >> We'll go there first.

[8:43] Um we set

[8:47] uh so we have in our continuing effort to save money,

[8:53] we try to get other people to pay that. >> Other people's money, I believe it's

[8:58] called. >> And so right now we have uh Jared that

[9:01] is going for a water license and his pay for 18 months is being paid from the

[9:06] water alliance. >> Mhm.

[9:08] » And now we want to we're having um Brian Bolt by Brian

[9:13] Bolt's uh go to the wastewater school and the

[9:17] water alliance will pay for that. His wages for 18 months.

[9:22] » And is he okay with that? >> Yes. He's excited about it.

[9:25] » Is there an overlap between Jared and Brian or one finishes the other one

[9:30] begins? >> It's an overlap. One one's on water and

[9:33] one's on waste water. >> Oh, I'm sorry. go ahead.

[9:35] » Yeah. So, that is at

[9:39] at the moment we'll have two of our employees that are being paid from the

[9:42] fire department. >> Is this for a point of information or do

[9:45] you need some kind of a motion? >> Don't need any motion.

[9:48] » Okay. Okay, thank you. You had a couple other

[9:50] things you said, go ahead. >> Um yeah.

[9:52] » Wait, I'm sorry. >> On Brian going to the wastewater,

[9:56] does at that time do they do the testing as well so he can certified in

[10:00] wastewater through the school? So, it's all

[10:03] » Same same as wastewater. >> Yes.

[10:07] » Do you have anything on that?

[10:11] » I'm good. >> Okay, um

[10:13] we have some uh positions open on the planning commission and BCA because of a

[10:19] death and two people moved out of town. Uh one I'd like to uh

[10:24] present is Brian Bogard >> Mhm.

[10:27] » uh to be on both the planning commission and BCA.

[10:31] I talked to him and he's accepted the position if you

[10:35] » He's a good one, isn't he? He's a good one. Yeah.

[10:38] Um That's Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.

[10:42] » It's uh non-partisan, correct?

[10:46] » Yeah. >> Yeah, it's non-partisan.

[10:49] » Okay. So, um >> I'll make a

[10:51] I'll make a motion to accept Brian Bogard for the planning commission and

[10:55] the BCA. >> Second.

[10:57] » I'll second. >> Okay.

[10:59] All in favor or any other Anybody else? >> Well, I cut you off and you want to say

[11:04] something. >> you asked you asked the question I've

[11:05] been asked. So, >> Okay.

[11:07] » Okay. [clears throat] All in favor?

[11:09] » Aye. >> Those opposed, same sign.

[11:11] » Good thinking. I'm still looking for a few people if you have some ideas.

[11:15] » Do you need both on the planning commission or do you need

[11:17] » Planning commission. I need two for each of them.

[11:21] And they can be the same person person person for both.

[11:25] » Did you have something else? >> Oh, excuse me.

[11:27] » They cannot be They cannot be town employees.

[11:32] » I apologize. Did you have something else?

[11:33] » Yeah, we did. And

[11:36] the guys have been working on the storm damage um

[11:40] and the outages we had with that storm that came through. It's going to take

[11:45] them probably the better part of a month to get all the branches picked up.

[11:50] We had a water leak that they fixed today, so

[11:53] » So, wouldn't wouldn't it behoove us to get a hold of a tree service to come to

[11:57] town and just take care of all the branches instead of our guys considering

[12:03] all the other stuff that we have to do? >> I don't think so at this time because we

[12:07] might get reimbursed for everything, so I think we want to see how this is going

[12:11] to play out. I'm trying to make an application for the state so we can get

[12:15] some reimbursement. >> Okay.

[12:17] » Okay. Uh

[12:20] » While while we're on that, I'll throw a note out there.

[12:24] I think the electric utility for four four gentlemen and then and

[12:30] then however many others were helping did an excellent job of getting our

[12:33] power back on in town in 54 hours complete after that storm.

[12:39] » Right. And >> They worked some late hours and

[12:42] and early mornings. >> Because of NESCO's pole out here and

[12:46] NESCO didn't get on that right away and that's what held us up. We would have

[12:50] gotten on it a lot quicker had they'd been able to get on that pole.

[12:54] » Yeah. >> It was an NESCO pole and we can't touch

[12:57] that. >> Thank you, Jeff. That's

[13:00] » Do you have anything else, sir? >> I do not.

[13:02] » Thank you. Um I need a uh

[13:06] » [clears throat] >> I need a

[13:07] » Yes, ma'am. >> I just I just had an item of business,

[13:09] I'm sorry. Um I gave you the thing for the new budget.

[13:12] » Yes. >> For the budget um

[13:14] » Mhm. >> schedule

[13:17] » Mhm. >> Did it work out? And I wanted to talk

[13:19] about the meeting for September 28th. There's a conference um that a couple of

[13:25] council members and we were going to >> Okay.

[13:28] » and I going to so I don't know if you wanted to change that meeting or cancel

[13:32] that meeting. >> Then the meeting will be cancelled or

[13:35] rescheduled. What's your opinion? >> It's the second meeting of the month so

[13:40] right now I'm okay with if we don't have one.

[13:43] » Okay. >> I'll make a motion we don't have a

[13:45] meeting the week of September 28th, 2026.

[13:48] » And we're talking about a meeting or are we talking about this budget thing?

[13:53] » No, we're not we're not talking about >> It is somebody.

[13:56] » Not have a meeting. >> The council meeting, yes.

[13:59] » Okay. Anybody else got any thoughts?

[14:02] » I'm in favor of Carol's motion.

[14:05] » You don't want to be here? >> Correct. I will be with her in southern

[14:07] Indiana. >> Will you?

[14:08] » Will we? >> Is there three of you that could have a

[14:11] meeting on that night? >> We got it.

[14:14] » I need a motion for that. We got it? >> We did.

[14:16] » Second? >> I have a second.

[14:18] » Okay. Anybody anything else? All in favor.

[14:22] » Aye. >> Vote opposed.

[14:26] I'm going to show up and have a cup of coffee. What are you going to do?

[14:29] » Well, yeah, I don't know. >> Thank you.

[14:32] » Okay, thank you. Can you give me the sheet over there, please?

[14:48] Thank you. >> What?

[14:50] » I said that we make up a meeting. >> Cancel the meeting.

[14:55] » Mr. Kaufman, you are the first man up.

[15:00] » Rick Kaufman, 1156 Birch Street. We need a home telephone.

[15:05] » We probably don't even need you to give your address anymore, you know. We got

[15:09] it, don't worry. >> Got it.

[15:11] » Got it. Thank you. >> Okay. I did send each of you an email

[15:15] earlier this evening of the letter. Just some follow up

[15:19] trying to understand or get clarification on Geo Bond and Parks

[15:24] Bond. Uh it looks like that the cost of the

[15:27] $20,000 for each of those just in fees alone, then another $75,000 in

[15:33] insurance. So, all together that seems to be a lot

[15:36] of dollars based on the $595,000 and

[15:40] $685,000. And there's a number of questions that

[15:44] I've listed, uh but I guess trying to get some explanation on why

[15:50] that amount of money and expenses before you've even added in the interest over

[15:55] the life of the bond. I think I think you do well. So, you

[15:59] know, I'm not I'm not going to read this word for word, but I would like some

[16:02] clarification for the public, not just myself.

[16:04] » You did a good job explaining it quickly. That was excellent. Go ahead.

[16:08] » So, with that said, because, you know, maybe I'm misunderstanding something,

[16:12] but, you know, I made a public records request, I got the information, and

[16:16] that's what's on there, and I think it's important for the community our citizens

[16:20] to definitely understand how much dollars are being spent, including the

[16:24] interest, and why is it that expensive? And did we try to use uh the Indiana

[16:32] Finance Authority uh to get the same

[16:35] uh bonds? If yes, why did that occur? If no, why

[16:40] didn't you reach out to them and try to go with the least cost possible for the

[16:44] taxpayers?

[16:46] » Okay. >> That's it.

[16:47] » Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Thank you.

[16:50] » Mr. Lorax. So, did I pronounce that right?

[16:53] » You did. >> I I read it on the signs, and I thought

[16:55] I'm doing good. >> You did.

[16:57] » Glad to have you here tonight. Why are you here, sir?

[16:59] » Thank you. >> I'll give Rob Waris, I'm guy running for

[17:01] sheriff. >> Okay.

[17:03] » And again, coming down here, I just want I've been going around the communities

[17:07] and getting these town boards, I got to say, this is the most important one that

[17:11] I've seen. I think it's just you guys put together this one.

[17:14] » I'll tell you what, we get our packets on Friday, and the people on the board

[17:17] here are really good about studying what they got at home.

[17:22] » Well, it goes like clockwork. >> Yeah.

[17:24] » I think that's a campaign slogan. >> Yeah, well that's

[17:26] » [laughter] >> It's really not.

[17:28] » Oh, oh, you mean YOU DIDN'T MEAN IT? >> WELL, ACTUALLY NO.

[17:32] Um it's not it. I I do appreciate it. But in any case, the reason I wanted to

[17:36] come down this time to talk, um one of the things that I want to do

[17:39] is I'm doing this campaign thing, which like I mentioned before, I'm not a

[17:43] politician. This is new for me. But I want to know from you guys as a whole,

[17:48] like maybe next time I come down, if you could say, "What is it that the county

[17:52] sheriff's department could help you with?" And I talked to the chief and his

[17:55] assistant chief. Um I talked to the assistant chief quite

[17:58] a bit, but um so I can have a a really good grasp

[18:02] when I take office, how can I help our surrounding communities? Cuz I know

[18:05] currently that doesn't happen. And one of the things I'm going to do is

[18:09] every month be having a meeting with the chiefs, so

[18:13] we can talk about things and if they have issues, how our department can come

[18:16] down and have a And that's that's really all I wanted to

[18:19] say to you. Just to give you guys something to think about.

[18:21] What is it that I know down here with the county, you're

[18:26] kind of on your own. Um I think it's unsettling as far as my

[18:30] concern as far as the sheriff's department doesn't come and help you

[18:33] guys more. Um I know our guys I try to come down here

[18:37] all the time when I'm working this side of town.

[18:38] » Mhm. >> But normally the guys stay up north.

[18:42] Cuz that's where most of the problems are. But

[18:44] » Do you have any idea when you're going to be coming the next time?

[18:47] » Uh well, you canceled the meeting on the

[18:50] 28th. Um

[18:52] October 28th. >> That's what I think it is.

[18:54] » Original date. >> Is it October?

[18:58] » So, whenever that date is, it's for me, you'd be a great resource

[19:03] for us in terms of how you interact and how you work.

[19:07] So, I just want to find out when we got when you could kind of help us get those

[19:10] answers. What are we looking at? >> October 12th is what we're looking at.

[19:14] » October 12th? >> We'll have a public meeting that night.

[19:16] » That work for you? >> That's perfect. I'll figure it out.

[19:19] » All right. >> And just so you know, the next guy up is

[19:21] my campaign manager, Dan Coil. >> Yeah.

[19:23] » So, he's been riding shotgun with me and I can't say that he's really good at

[19:27] anything, but he's really >> [laughter]

[19:28] » good. But thank you. I appreciate your time.

[19:31] » Thank you. Dan, do you want to come up and say

[19:33] something? >> You know, I really like that Gloria's

[19:35] guy. >> [laughter]

[19:37] » There's just something about him. >> Is it just because he gave you a shirt?

[19:42] » Uh no, one of the reasons we we wanted to come down and do this is

[19:46] like Rob said, I'm his campaign manager and he brought me here from Chicago. I

[19:50] lived in the Windy City of Chicago for 20 years. I retired and coming here I

[19:55] enjoy this. I enjoy It's a It's a different feel, right? And

[19:59] And one of the things that we wanted to focus on when we do this campaign is

[20:02] number one, we want to make sure we hit all the places around South Bend. We

[20:05] want everybody to know that they matter, right? The old school road and stuff,

[20:09] North West, everywhere, right? Because one of the big problems that we're we're

[20:12] getting from a lot of people is that there's not a lot of communication.

[20:15] That's one of the things that we want to try to bridge is having the county

[20:18] police be more involved with a lot of local groups so that one of the things

[20:20] we're trying to set up is making sure that we have these quarterly meetings

[20:23] and stuff. Uh not just things like this, but with

[20:26] the police so that we have uh the organization together and um

[20:32] we want to make sure that we not not only talk to everybody, but we also want

[20:36] to make sure that we show people physically that we're

[20:39] responsible, right? Um we know that the taxpayers are going to

[20:43] want to pay for it, you know, everything. So, we want to make sure

[20:46] that everybody feels represented. If there's problems, especially when it

[20:49] comes to things like the jail, we want We can only know what people tell us.

[20:53] And you know, I I It's kind of feeling a little bit like I

[20:56] was back in Chicago being up on the South Bend with all the shootings and

[20:58] things that have been happening lately. You know, I'm kind of used to that, but

[21:02] uh you know, crime in South Bend is three

[21:06] times higher than what it is anywhere else in the state. you know.

[21:10] A place like this is astronomically different. Even Mishawaka is four times

[21:14] higher. And

[21:16] » than anywhere else in the state? >> state. Got it.

[21:19] So, uh >> You guys have a theory on that?

[21:22] » Do we have a theory? >> Yeah.

[21:23] » Yeah, uh the >> Something that puts you there.

[21:27] » So, uh but when you, you know, decide to replace manpower

[21:31] with drones, this is what you get. >> Got it. People know that they can do it

[21:34] for you. >> So, uh that's one of the things we're

[21:37] talking about. We're doing something different. Putting boots on the ground,

[21:39] having people who are actually out there in the community. That comes when we had

[21:42] our the units that used to exist, the Metro Drug Unit, the Metro Homicide

[21:46] Unit. So, we all collaboratively worked together. The county working with the

[21:49] state, working with the city, working with other agencies. And everybody came

[21:53] together, worked together. Now, it's all separate. It shouldn't be that way

[21:57] because things are So, um

[22:01] we're looking to do things different, you know, rather than uh

[22:05] kind of how they've been. And I think if people are happy the way things are,

[22:07] then they're going to, you know, vote accordingly. We're We're trying to bring

[22:11] a change here in the city. So, the big concern I've heard this and then I'll

[22:15] I'll leave you guys with this is when I've been going to a lot of these

[22:18] smaller towns, people are saying that the opportunity to get out and early

[22:21] vote, uh they don't really have those or they

[22:23] don't know that it's out there to do uh to do early voting.

[22:27] So, one of the things that we're trying to do as we come around is present

[22:30] people with absentee ballots or or if they know people who

[22:34] are are sick, you know, whether it's in in the city or in my facility or they're

[22:38] just, you know, at the house sick. Uh we're making sure we have have

[22:42] absentee ballots and have things for people so they can fill these things out

[22:45] and get them sent in so that they have an opportunity to feel represented. And

[22:48] these >> Thank you.

[22:50] » You got 3 minutes. You You did a great job in those 3 minutes.

[22:54] » All right. Because I'll I'll take up an offering, you know. I I can talk

[22:56] I can talk for a while. one

[23:01] » Any other uh business come for the council?

[23:06] I'd take a motion to adjourn. >> So moved.

[23:08] » I'll take it.

[23:10] Okay, I have a motion and a second. All in favor?

[23:14] » Aye. >> Those opposed, just stick around.

Walkerton Town Council Meeting August 24, 2026

Transcript