May 18, 2022 at 10:15 p.m.
Town Council Meeting 05/17
The meeting start was slightly delayed due to a second fire at the old Hope gym. The live video feed was also delayed. Council discussed the bounce house at the event over the weekend and if the proper insurance coverage existed while they waited for the town marshal to arrive.
Jerry Bragg called the meeting to order with a reminder to silence cell phones, the opening prayer and the pledge of allegiance.
The first item on the agenda was the approval of minutes form the 03/15/2022 meeting. John Walstad made the motion to approve, and Ed Johnson seconded it. Motion passed 5 -0.
Approval of claims was up next. John motioned to approve them as presented and Clyde Compton seconded the motion. It passed 5 – 0.
Council then moved on to old business. Amend violations ordinance #2022-01 second reading was up first. It would raise fines from $25.00 to $100.00. Walstad made a motion to approve the with Ed seconding. It passed 5 – 0.
Noise control ordinance #2022-02 second reading was next. John motioned to approve with Ed again seconding the motion. It passed 5 – 0.
Weed control ordinance #2022-03 second reading was next. It would take the fine from $25.00 to $100.00 for the first offense and $200.00 for subsequent offenses. Compton made the motion with Ed seconding it. It passed 5 – 0.
A mobile food vehicles ordinance was next. It would require food trucks to have a permit. John Walstad made a motion to pass the ordinance with Ed seconding the motion. It passed 5 – 0.
Matt Lee and Ed Cottrell were on the agenda next to present a thunder on the square update. Lee was not present, and Ed was attending to the fire. Town manager Jason Eckart updated the council with what he knew. Funding was obtained in part from an $8,000.00 event grant received from the Columbus Area Visitors Center. The event is on Saturday, June 18th from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Night Owl Country band will perform at 7:00 p.m. Jesse Keith Whitley will perform at 8:00 p.m. The bike riders will throttle up at 10:00 p.m. to create the sound of “thunder” on the square. Concerned about the noise, Ohmer Miller asked how long that throttling would last. Twenty seconds or so was the reply. It would be similar to the way cruise-ins end with engines revving. Event sponsors are Main Street, Korn Country, and Jeff’s Lawn Care. There will be space for twenty-five vendor booths. There is no fee, but a $100.00 dollar donation to Main Street is suggested. Two food trucks will be present, but Eckart did not have information on those. The Hope Police department will have four officers on patrol and available for security. Main Street may also pay off duty Bartholomew County officers for security as well, but Eckart did not have confirmation on that. Clyde asked if that $8,000.00 funding was for all the Main Street events or just this one. Eckart responded it was for events for the entire year, all the cruise-ins, the battle of the bands, etc.
Council then moved on to new business. Victoria Bechert was first on the schedule with an OCRA (Office of Community and Rural Affairs) wastewater grant application for round two update. She suggested a construction grant instead of applying for a planning grant as the town already had the Goshen Meadows project defined. She shared the round opened on September first so a public hearing could be held at the September meeting. Proposals would be due on September 30th and applications due on November 18th. The grant has a limit of between $550,00.00 and $700,000.00 with a twenty percent match required. She suggested residents of the area submit letters and pictures of problems they are experiencing. Clyde asked where the extra money would come from since the project estimates were over a million. Jason Eckart suggested bypassing the planning grant and going for the planning grant instead. A planning grant is for identifying a project. Since the town already has a project identified a planning grant was recommended. Diane Burton reminded council they could use ARP monies for the project.
Town manager Jason Eckart the spoke on town ordinances. He had read through all the existing town ordinances and wanted to make changes to the nuisance ordinance. He did not feel like the penalties are enforceable with the current hearing and appeal process. Eckart would like to work with Scott Andrews to make the nuisance ordinance more enforceable by giving them more teeth and an easily enforceable fine. He felt that would make the process of cleaning up the town quicker. Scott Andrews recommended an ordinance committee be organized since there was a town manager again. Ed asked if they would be able to deal with issues earlier. Jerry Bragg made the motion to create an ordinance committee. Ed seconded the motion. The committee was to be made up of Scott Andrews, Matt Galbraith, Matt Tallent, Jason Eckart and two council members. John seconded the motion. Jason Eckart stated he would like the changes enacted before the next town council meeting. There was a discussion on the current nuisance process and how the town marshal was the one to request a hearing. Clyde wanted a nuisance defined more clearly. The motion passed 5 – 0.
Diane Burton then presented a meter installation agreement between the town and Evan Kleinhenz for 519 High street for a sewer tap of $750.00. It is the new underground house on the corner of Broad and High Street. The old one is not working for the new underground house due to a pressure change and the current location. It was approved.
Clyde Compton then presented an EDIT request from the Yellow Trail Museum for an additional $1,500 to cover fireworks for the fourth of July. The museum has an annual allotment of $5,000 from the town, but the cost has increased the past two years due to an increase in the price of gunpowder. Council voted to increase the allotment and to make that yearly allowance $6,500 from here on out. It was approved 5 – 0.
Matt Galbraith then presented proposed signage for Windrose Health Network for a double sided, 10’ x 6’ lighted sign. Out of the 42 residents notified of the proposed sign two showed up to a meeting expressing concerns over the sign. There was another meeting set up on May 31 at 7 p.m. to allow council members to view a similar Windrose sign at night to better gage the effect on the residential neighborhood. It was proposed the sign be on a timer to shut off at 8 p.m. and turn back on at 6 a.m. Clyde asked what the property was zoned. It is zoned residential three. A variance would be needed to install the commercial sign. Clyde expressed concerns about a potential building zone being wasted with the sign. Galbraith and David Clouse replied there was not much usable land there with underground utility lines. Ohmer asked where the existing sign was. It is located at the Trafalger Windrose Health Clinic. The Edinburgh facility does not have a lighted sign. Ed felt it was a good idea to help advertise the business. Clyde felt state road nine did not need to be lit up like Las Vegas. The board of zoning would also require landscaping around the sign.
Stone mobile home park was next on the agenda. Matt Galbraith stated the mobile home inspector for the county Beth Bowman has toured the park. He presented council with photos of mobile homes that were currently have zoning violations. He recommended the county not issue any more electrical permits to the mobile home park until it followed zoning ordinances. He stated when a home is taken out a new one should not be connected without a new meter base. He presented a home running under a power line that needed to be moved. The homeowner asked if they could cut off the end of the mobile home under the power wire and rebuild it so it was not under the wire. Mr. Galbraith stated this was absolutely not possible as mobile homes were built to strict federal standards and any such alteration would take them out of standard. Jason Eckart stated there were lots of wiring issues there. The town currently has an ordinance requiring mobile homes to be 40’ wide by 100’ deep. A new mobile home also requires a permit for installation in town. The Stone park has not been obtaining permits before installing new homes. Mrs. Bowman will recommend that the park’s mobile home license be revoked, but her recommendation will have to go through several departments before approval. Hope’s violations are really quite minor compared with some parks in the county. Updating the town’s nuisance ordinance would help deal with the park more quickly. He asked for a motion to recommend no new electrical permits be granted by the county for the park. It was granted.
Council then moved on to other nuisance properties. There is a trailer on South Street with the window broken out and covered with tape. It has been like that for over thirty days. Immediate action was needed on the property on the corner of Market and Seminary Street. Randy Fletcher is the owner of record. It is dangerous to and required immediate action. A motion was granted and approved 5 – 0. Council also discussed a property in Goshen Meadows at 166 Shafer Court inhabited by Pam Yarnell. The fence had fallen down in the back. Access could not be obtained to mow the tall grass in the back yard. Clyde Compton suggested the Cummins employees who were coming to town to work could assist the homeowner with removing the fence as she was older. A mattress laid out on Hitchcock Drive was also mentioned. A letter has been sent regarding it. There is also a lounge chair in the yard nearby Clyde’s home that needs removed.
Clyde then asked for an update on the generator and Camera. Matt Tallent said there was a power snag at Aiken Street and a new power box was required. Hoosier Security was waiting for the new box to be installed by Duke Energy, so they only have to make one service call to install. If two separate trips were made for installing the camera at the utility department and Norman Park there would be two five hundred dollar charges. The gas meter for the generator was also not sized correctly for both locations. Both would require a bigger meter. Duke would also have to install a new pole at Norman Park. The old pole would be used to mount the security camera. There is a currently a six week lead time for installation.
The meeting was adjourned.
