june 5, 2012 marion indiana city council minutes

7/31/2019 June 5, 2012 Marion Indiana City Council Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING MARION COMMON COUNCIL JUNE 5, 2012 7:00 P.M., CITY HALL

The Common Council of the City of Marion, Indiana met in regular session on Tuesday, the 5 th day of June, 2012 athour of 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, City Hall.

On the call of the roll the following members were shown to be absent or present as follows:

Present: Troxell, Luzadder, Nevels, Whitticker, Thompson, Brunner, Smith, French and Batchelor.

Absent: None.

The minutes of the previous regular meeting of May 1, 2012 were presented. On a motion by Whitticker, 2nd by Smhe minutes were approved as presented by a unanimous vote.

COMMITTEE REPORTS: Councilwoman Madonna French told the Council, if they have paid their utility bill thismonth for the Marion Water Department, they may have seen this flyer. It came in the water bills and this is what swas speaking to them about at their last convened meeting. The Marion Utilities will have an open house on June 3nd plant tours of the facility will be from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm but what she thinks is a real exciting addition to this

years event are three different seminars, talking about different aspects of the water. One is information on the TeaRiver Valley, which is their major source of underground water. The next one is on rain barrels and how we can us

ain barrels to capture rain and use that for our gardens and lawns to save themselves a little bit of money on the utilAnd then an explanation of the utility bill will be the third seminar that will be presented that day. So, she hopes themark this on their calendar. Theyve put a lot of work into this. The employees are very involved in the planning ohis event and so she hopes that they would take time to just go out for a little while anyway and learn more about ou

Marion Utilities, French said.

Councilman Jim Brunner reported that the Park Board met yesterday and discussed a number of items. They couldmagine with June being here. The parks are now in full bloom with all the activities for the next three months. The

Garden House and the Gardens are 100% up and running. If anybody watching or listening tonight would be interen using those facilities, theyve already had a number of weddings and receptions booked there. They can call 662

9931 and get information. The Splash House, he believes, had a record opening weekend, thanks to the 90 degree

weather. And he thought it was quite interesting, he was asking yesterday, they have 83 part-time employees, most hose are youth so its a great opportunity for a number of our youngsters in the community to obtain some gainfulmployment over the summer months. It seems like every year we add something new and this year the something

new are the cabanas that they have added at the Splash House. They even kind of have a nice little area for your famor a group to gather and those are available just by checking with the folks at the Splash House. The Snack Shack inow open by the playground at the park and is up and running for the summer months. All the programs are scheduor Matter Park and for the various parks this summer including the first one which is tennis. That begins next weeknd the Concerts in the Park will be beginning on June 28 th. Jesse Brown, a local country artist, will be performing

opening night out at Matter Park. And they certainly want to wish the International Childrens Games kids good lucnd Godspeed when they head over to Korea. In the month of July, theyre taking 18 youngsters for the sports ofoccer and tennis. He knows Brad Luzadders got a lot of money laying around. Theyre still looking for about

$10,000 so if hed write that check, theyll get them going. Very busy meeting yesterday and good to see all thosehings up and running, Brunner stated.

Councilman Brad Luzadder said, on June 15th and 16th, he was called by the Community School of the Arts and theiprogram called You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello and itll be representing the five seniors that have been a part of thorganization for the past five years will be the stars of the show. If they like Beatles music, the entire show on Fridnd Saturday are simultaneous. If you watch the show on Friday, youve got to come back on Saturday to find the e

of the story and it was 100% written by the kids in our community so pretty excited about that. Tickets are on sale ahe production is the 15th and 16th of June, Luzadder stated.

Councilwoman Joselyn Whitticker told Batchelor, as he knows, they had a Street Committee meeting with Mr. Graf

media and also the City Council At-Large members and one other person was available and that was Fred Troxell.


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he present time, we have 65 areas, streets and pothole areas that were highlighted and still more being added of worhat needs to be done to our streets, the infrastructure and so on, with the understanding we only have a certain amou

of money and how far that money will go with the infrastructure and so on. She believes Mr. Luzadder and Mr.Thompson or Mr. Troxell could tell them how well the meeting went and they kept it within an hours time anddiscussed those things that needed to be discussed and so on. There are some questions still that they have about th

grating and leveling of streets and so on but at least they did meet, they did talk and so on. 32

nd

Street is in the procof being completed at the present time. The areas of striping and so on, they are being there. Theres also questionshat are out there still about the potholes that need to be done and why something hasnt been done. If you feel yourtreet needs work, they need to be notified and then it may already be on the list and if its not, they will have it addeo the list and it will go into a priority type of situation which is the worst and would probably cause the most damago a vehicle. As far as the Economic Growth Council, Tim Eckerle will be speaking tonight and he can brief them ohat and every member received a copy of their packet for June, Whitticker stated.

Council President Don Batchelor said he had a couple of announcements. Next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., they will behaving a special Council meeting concerning the nepotism policy for the city. It will be here in the Council Chambenext Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Also, they would like to acknowledge the career of Council member Henry Smith upon h

etirement from Marion Community Schools after 42 years of teaching. They would like to commend him and wishhim well in his retirement. Batchelor said he thinks they should give him a hand. Councilman Jim Brunnerommented, if hes done his math correctly, that means hes, he thought he (Smith) was only about 39 years old so h

must have started when he was really young. Congratulations Henry, Brunner told Smith.

Mr. Batchelor then told the Council, a couple more notes they need to reference this evening during this here period he would like to make the following observation relative to our procedures as they have operated in the past with theCouncil members. Procedures have been not every meeting is a public hearing. If they would like to be placed on tgenda, they would like for them to stop by the Clerks Office and put that request in. Also, citizens, they encouraghem to come to their meetings and most of their meetings, when they have a public hearing, they have an opportunio speak relative to whats on the agenda. And also, their concerns, they ask that they please dont hold their concer

until a Council meeting to get their concerns out there. They have email addresses, they have cell phone numbers, thave home phones and etcetera that they can contact them any day of the week, even at night or whatever the case mbe but they ask them dont hesitate to make those phone calls because that information is available. They have a nennovative, new website for the city and its very (inaudible). Its in detail and they can get a lot of information off here and its readily available. And that applies to the Council members. They encourage them to be professional,espectful. Theyll start budget hearings here shortly and they hope and trust that they do ask good questions. They

want them to ask the hard questions. They encourage them to do so. But they expect it to be in a professional mannnd not embarrass or antagonize anyone. Those are some observations he wanted to make this evening because he w

on the radio show a couple of weeks ago and he put it out there and he wanted to highlight that this evening, Batchelaid. Councilman Fred Troxell told Batchelor, on that issue, they voted in January, he thinks it was, to let the publicsk questions or make comments. That was a unanimous vote, if hes not mistaken. Batchelor told Troxell, at that

particular meeting. Thats not every meeting. Troxell stated, well, point of order. He told Mrs. Whitticker shed hao help him out on this. They had, in January, some questions that were asked by contractors and they were nevernswered and Joselyn Whitticker and he went to the Controller to get this answer. These people are here tonight anhis is unfinished business. Mr. Batchelor said, okay, its not on the agenda and theyre not going to discuss it tonig

Troxell replied, it doesnt matter. Hes not out of order because he called a point of order. Batchelor said, but theynot going to discuss that. Theyre going forward with the regular agenda. Mr. Troxell responded, theyre going todiscuss it tonight though. Is that okay? Batchelor told Troxell, no, theyre not going to discuss it tonight. Troxell told Batchelor, yes they are. Batchelor banged his gavel and said to move on to new business.

NEW BUSINESS


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RESOLUTION NO. 4-2012The City Clerk read Resolution No. 4-2012 by title only. A Resolution authorizing the filing of an application to thndiana Department of Transportation for a grant under Section 5311 of the Federal Transit Act of 1964, as amended

Chuck Martindale told the Council hes here this evening to seek approval of Resolution No. 4. Theyve been doinghis every year since 1979. It authorizes the Mayor to file an application with the Indiana Department of Transporta

or federal and state operating assistance to help fund the Transit System. These federal and state funds pay forpproximately 70% of the operating expenses of the bus system, which is doing very well in terms of ridership andother things. The amount of money that Marion Transit is receiving this year is about $880,000 compared to $792,0ast year and it continues to go up every year because their ridership continues to increase. Last year, Marion Transarried 313,000 passengers which is just about double what it was doing 10 years ago. So, a lot of it has to do with act that a lot of people cant afford to operate a vehicle or cant for physical reasons and, because theres free fares,verybody has an opportunity to ride the buses wherever they want to go. And its also one of the least expensive, ierms of public outlay, transit systems in the State of Indiana. So, hed be happy to answer any questions that they

have. This is for the 2013 application. INDOTs going to require the application be filed in August, Martindale saiCouncilman Henry Smith asked, do the buses have air conditioning? Martindale replied, they do. Sometimes theywork and many times they dont work. He has yet to see a small transit bus have very good air conditioning for a lo

period of time. They are operating at 81% of capacity. These buses have a 16-seated capacity on them. They haveive buses that operate 10 hours a day. John and his team are carrying between 1,400 and 1,500 passengers a day ovive bus routes and that adds up to an average of 13 passengers per bus per hour every day and theyre 16 passenger

buses so theyre at 81% of capacity. He wished our industries in the State of Indiana were at 81% capacity.Councilman Smith then asked, how far east do they go? Just to Ivy Tech? Martindale told Smith, they go to Ivy Tend to the commercial area there. Smith asked, how far west? Is that to Alabama? John Lawson, Transit Manager,old Mr. Smith, itd be Michigan Avenue, sir. They go out 9th Street to Michigan, left on Michigan to 12th and then

back to Miller Avenue then Miller Avenue to 16th Street. Smith asked, okay, how far north? The mall? Lawson saf you go northwest, it would be the Marion Mall and actually Cambridge Square on State Road 15. And if you go the east, it would be Highland Avenue to Bond Avenue. Councilman Brad Luzadder stated, bring him (Lawson) uphe mike so the public can hear him. Mr. Lawson then told the Council, to the west, they would go out 9th Street on

west point run and they also have a West Marion run so that would be to the northwest but to the southwest, the WePoint bus goes out 9th Street, it goes as far west as Michigan Avenue, it turns left. They have an ADA in (inaudible)Trailer Court, if theyre familiar with that. Thats at 16th and Avon Avenue. On call, they do go as far as the trailerourt at 16th and Avon Avenue but the regular route is 9th Street to Michigan Avenue, go south on Michigan Avenue2th Street. Its back to the east one block to, past the back of the old Malleable property to Miller Avenue and theno 16th Street, 16th Street to the By-Pass and from there to Walmart. That would be to the southwest. Smith asked, s

he lived at the trailer court at Buffalo Avenue, 16th and Buffalo, then hed have to call to get a bus come out there thLawson said, right. They have to have that call because theyre a fixed route, curb-to-curb, ADA deviation only.Thats all the 5311 Grant allows them to do. And the reason for that is because theres other services that are paid bimilar grants as we get, taxicab services, Life Stream, to do those things where they go to an address. They dont g

door-to-door. Their drivers arent allowed to get up and go up and assist somebody. They have to make it to the cund they have to be there on time. They cant sit and wait. So its a curb-to-curb fixed route and ADA deviation on

They do go to addresses for Americans with disabilities. Smith asked, now, how far south do they go? Lawson saidSouth Marion, they go as far as Marsh South on State Road 15. They have pick ups there. They come down MeridStreet to 38th Street. They go to the V.A. Hospital, through the Home Corner area. That would be their southeast rond extreme south. The University route actually would go out Washington Street, it goes to Washington Street to

Harmon by the college, Harmon Street out to 50th, 50th Street across to the By-Pass and then back into the Meijers aWalmart areas again. They cover 85% of the City of Marion. Councilman Smith commented, so really there isnt ainaudible) no one says the bus doesnt come near them then. Lawson replied, theyre pretty darn close and if they c

walk two or three blocks, theyre about everywhere they can get to, honestly. Its pretty amazing. They run 10 routday with five buses. Councilwoman Joselyn Whitticker asked Lawson, isnt it also true if a person calls them indvance, they can be picked up? Lawson answered, if they have an ADA exception. Theyre very strict on them onhat because they dont want them infringing on Life Streams ability to earn their income or a Safeway cab or he


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RESOLUTION NO. 4-2012 Continuedhinks theres a new cab service in town so they cant, he means, if someone called them up and said, Hey, Im at

2323 W. 10th Street. I want you to pick me up on your 10:00 run. They cant do that. They have to be able to comwhere their bus stops are. Its fixed route. Now, if that person is an American with a disability and he is registeredwith his physician and the physician has filed a certification with Transportation and they have that on file and they

all, they can deviate off route, go to 2323 W. 10

th

Street and pick up that disability thats registered withTransportation. Council President Don Batchelor asked, what about school-aged students? Do they have many ridewho are school-aged students? Lawson told Batchelor, its actually increased their ridership tremendously. Theynoticed a tremendous amount of riders to McCulloch and thats normally on the Nebraska Street and the WashingtonStreet runs. Theyre riding earlier and that has increased their route. Theyve chosen city transportation. They metarlier, actually they started two years ago when Mr. Edwards came and they found out, they wanted to go into aooperation with the City of Marion and see if there was anything they could do on changing routes and they found hat is a no-no. They found out that schools get 5310 money and they have to provide that transportation as long ashey get that money. Its not a state law that the City of Marion or the Marion Community Schools has to provideransportation. They dont have to but they do and as long as they receive 5310 money, they cant use 5311 service

because they both receive those federal funds and they have specific duties assigned to them. So they dont ruin the

ntegrity of the grant, what they can do is what they did. They posted on the internet all of their routes so thatverybody at Marion Community Schools and their families could see where their routes went, they could see whatime they were supposed to be there, figure out what time they had to be to school and now theyre at those designattops. Thats worked out real well just posting it on the internet, Lawson said. Batchelor said, the City of Marion h

been a great partner with the school system. Theyve tried to work (inaudible) because they expanded the non-ransportation zone. Lawson stated, he loves the cooperation. Its tremendous. They cooperate with them also on812, which is a tremendous service not only for the citizens of Marion but for the entire county. Thats a greatooperation. They use Justice school for their staging area so its just, its fantastic. Councilman Reggie Nevels sai

he would like to thank Mr. Lawson and the bus department for spending a lot of time out at Prince Hall. He knows didnt mention Prince Hall and he knows they really do count on his traveling service there so he wanted to thank thor keeping Prince Hall on their route. If he (Lawson) could pass out maps to all the Council members here, that wi

give them an idea of exactly where the bus service goes. Mr. Lawson told Nevels, they have a tremendous bus servhere. They have some great people out there. If they have an opportunity to ride a bus, now hes serious, the drivere family to these people and these people family to the drivers. Hes happy to say that we are one of the leastxpensive bus systems there is. We operate at about $3.50 per person. What is it, Anderson or Muncie, is at $12.50

head and theyre with a tremendous amount more people than we have at this particular time. Were operating cheawere able to keep the zero fares out there. It generates more federal and state money and when hes up next, he canlso answer, he wants to share with them a couple of things that he thinks are just outstanding and would certainly b

good news to them because it will save taxpayer dollars and investment from the City Council and hell explain to thwhen its his turn up here, Lawson said. Being no further questions or comments from the Council, motion was maby Whitticker to pass Resolution No. 4-2012. Motion was seconded by Brunner and carried by the following vote.Aye: Troxell, Luzadder, Nevels, Whitticker, Thompson, Brunner, Smith, French and Batchelor. Nay: None.

APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE NO. 1-2012 1ST READINGThe City Clerk read Appropriation Ordinance No. 1-2012 by title only. An Ordinance of the City of Marion, Indianppropriating certain funds for the City of Marion, Indiana and providing for the effective date thereof. From the

General Fund to Transportation Department the amount of $1,769.58. Purpose: To pay for terminal repairs for 201ohn Lawson, Transit Manager, thanked the Council for this opportunity and as he said earlier, they have a perfect

opportunity to share with them good news. They entered into an agreement with Clean Zone Marketing and thegreement was to sell advertising to put on their bus. What it did for the City of Marion, it allowed them to generate

monies that they could use under the Transportation Rule that they could use and put back into transportation. Thegood part about it was, every dollar that they raise through Clean Zone Marketing through the advertising on the busounts as their match for the City of Marion towards the 25% of the grant that they get. Hes happy to say they hadeceived two months at $884.79 a month. They now have $1,769.58 in there. Hes asking tonight that money be


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APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE NO. 1-2012 Continuedransferred to the Transportation Department in the designated fund so that they can utilize that for other needs at theerminal. They had a June 1st target date but theyre behind on the roofing. As they can see, the new metal roofing

not here. They gave them now a new date of June 11th or 12th for the delivery and they also gave them, they had aabinet and countertop delay and they also told them it would be the middle of the month. The new target to move

uly 1

st

and theyd like to have everything done when they move in there. He wanted to thank Councilman Thompsor joining them. He came through the other day and they had a lot of work going on. He walked through the termiHed like to invite each of them to come down and see what the AARA money is doing for us in Marion. Theyve she buses and he told Mr. Smith every bus is air-conditioned and is working fine. They have an excellent maintenan

man, Phil Shively, and he does a tremendous job and they all work. But come and see that terminal, honestly. Heseally proud of it and hes proud of the work that theyre doing and he cant wait to move in. Just think, in August o

2008, he came here and they were at just a little over 400 people a day. This year, he cant tell them exactly what thone day record is but they went from 400 people a day to 1,400 and 1,500 people a day. This new terminal will takehem from 26 seating capacity to about 79. So, come and see it, Lawson told the Council. Councilwoman Madonna

French asked Lawson, are they going to have some kind of a ribbon-cutting or open house when the terminal isinished? Lawson replied, he would imagine, yes, and the reason he says that is theyre very comfortable in the

Vogels building. Its going well for them but its just not, they can see all the people standing outside. Its just noteady to handle the number of people that theyre transporting today. And whats unbelievable is, he can only see itgrowing. Theyre very far behind the European curve. They have used public transportation for years and they delihousands a day every day in municipalities so he thinks that the swing is, with the economy and the cost of fuel andnsurance, automobiles, he thinks that swing now is coming our way. He thinks transportation numbers are going toontinue to grow, Lawson said. Being no further questions for Mr. Lawson, motion was made by French to pass

Appropriation Ordinance No. 1-2012 to 2nd reading and public hearing. Motion was seconded by Smith and carriedhe following vote. Aye: Troxell, Luzadder, Nevels, Whitticker, Thompson, Brunner, Smith, French and Batchelor

Nay: None.

GENERAL ORDINANCE NO. 7-2012 1ST READINGThe City Clerk read General Ordinance No. 7-2012 by title only. An Ordinance to designate an area within the CityMarion, Indiana, as an economic development target area, commonly known as 2106 S. Branson Street, Marion,ndiana. Janet Pearson, Assistant Director of Development Services, told the Council theyre bringing this evening

before them a residential tax abatement and its for Habitat for Humanity. The property address is for 2106 S. BranStreet and the legal description is Lots 1 and 2 in Websters Prospect Hills Addition to the City of Marion. Thepproximate value for the property will be $63,000 and theyre asking for a three-year tax abatement. Council

President Don Batchelor asked if anyone had any questions of Ms. Pearson. Councilman Fred Troxell said he didnhave a question but he does have a comment to make. Always on a tax abatement, they have a resolution declaring n economic revitalization area for property tax. Now, his question is on this and hes always been opposed to a lotax abatements because some of these redeveloped areas is usually a nice way of saying a depressed area and he noti

over the years on the By-Pass, properties advertised for $400,000 were declared an economic, depressed area foredevelopment. So thats his comments on it. He wants people to know that when he votes. He may vote for this the 2nd reading, he may not vote for it on the 2nd reading. But he wanted to make that clear so that people understoo

why they always have to have this resolution before they can have the abatement. And a lot of these areas are notdepressed areas by any means so thats what he wanted to clarify, Troxell said. Councilwoman Joselyn Whitticker anet, while shes at the podium, she might explain what tax abatement is, how long that abatement will be and so o

Discuss what they discussed in their meeting, Whitticker said. Ms. Pearson replied, sure, shed be happy to. The thyear tax abatement is for, these are residential tax abatements and the first year of the tax abatement, the taxes are00% forgiven and the second year is 66% forgiven and the third year is 33% forgiven and then it goes to the regulaaxes. In this particular case, this lot is owned by Habitat for Humanity and theyre a not-for-profit organization so urrently do not pay taxes so when Habitat builds the property, then at that point, theyll actually have a home and th

will be taxes that will be there which will help the city as well. Whitticker asked, when do they start paying the fullssessed value on the property they have? Pearson said, yes, after the 3rd year then the 4th year, they will receive the


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GENERAL ORDINANCE NO. 7-2012 Continuedull tax statement and theyll be paying it in full. Mr. Batchelor then asked if anyone else had a question. Mr. Troxaid he had a question to counsel. If these people fail to keep the home, how do we recover those taxes? Its his

understanding that, in the ordinance, if a person, business people, if they get a 10-year abatement and they dont liveo that then theyve got to pay the taxes that were due. Corporate Counsel Josh Howell told Troxell, that can be

ncluded in the ordinance or attached as a provision or something thats negotiated into it. In the enabling statute itsnd he hasnt looked at this so hes thinking back several years ago, he doesnt recall any what you might call alawback provision in the statutory language itself. He knows that from time to time, municipalities, including the C

of Marion and other ones, have provisions like that in some economic development things to insure where someonemakes a commitment in some way that they honor that and that the benefit that theyve gotten has to be repaid if thedont do exactly what theyve said. In a basic tax abatement, that language is not included and hes never seen it don a residential tax abatement. Hes not telling them it cant be. He just has never seen it, Howell said. Troxell rep

no, he didnt mean residential. On businesses, theyve had in the past, he could bring some of them up, where they been here for six, seven years, some of them were less than one year and left with equipment that was abated so thathe reason. He thought it was in their ordinance, Troxell said. Howell stated, its not in the code, and again, hesalking off the cuff. He doesnt believe its in the code section that enables it. They pass a new ordinance with each

one of these. They could certainly include language of that sort at their discretion if they wanted to and he believes has, in fact, been in some of the ordinances theyve passed but he wouldnt want to make some sort of statement abowhat percentage of them there were off the top of his head. Troxell thanked Howell and said, that was his question.Ms. Whitticker told Howell, right along that line, if they are good stewards, and thats what they have been elected aCity Council members to be good stewards of the taxpayers money, it would behoove them to have that language tho that, if for some unreasonable or ungodly thing should happen and they are not able to pay off, theyve given them

money and theyve walked away and theres no responsibility for them to pay that money back or something. This not in any means reflective of Habitat but the economy and what we are collecting and so on and where our taxes aroncerned, that bothers her. Shes along with Fred because she has a problem with abatements and with homes. Ar

we doing the same thing, and this goes back to Janet, and this is just a blanket statement. Are we being fair to theaxpayers who pay their taxes and so on, their property tax? Our budget is $27,800,000. Thats almost $28,000,000

Yet, in just property tax that we receive and disregarding the LOIT and so on because she was with Tammy Milleroday and Mr. Bainbridge. We are getting close to $15,000,000 in taxes. If you do the figures on that, $15,000,000ubtract it from that $28,000,000, we are going to be at a deficit and those are the questions they have been raising along. Where is the clause that says if they do not pay their bill, it still is considered a lien and they are liable for th

because if we dont do that, we are going to, and that still wont insure that people will pay their bills but at least thes something there and she thinks its going to behoove them, from this point on, whether its redevelopment ornything else, that they add a clause that they are still liable for that and not walk away because they all understand

how times are hard and so on. They also look at how much was given in and, as she said, she got this information fhe County Commissioners and Mr. Troxell brought this up earlier about that and was told he didnt know what he walking about and living beyond our means. Well when the budget comes, she really will have some questions she

wants and concerns because they have and theyve been on the Council, three of them just went on the Council Janu and they allowed some things to happen and they moved to suspend the rules and so on. She hasnt seen a shovel

dirt turned in some of these areas they said lets go ahead and not have anything after the second reading. You knowhe considers herself a good steward of somebody elses money because shes a good steward of the few pennies sh

has and that bothers her and she really thinks that, from this point on, they need to have a clause that says if they donpay their bills then the city will come after them because these are taxpayers dollars that they are using and if they arnot willing to do that then they shouldnt have been elected to do the job. That really bothers her. And shes notgetting on him (Howell) but what shes saying is they need to institute a policy that says we are sound, fiscal,onservatives and shes a Democrat and yes she is a fiscal conservative, especially of her dime and others dime

because its too hard to get those dimes to equal to dollars and they cant continue to do business in the way theyvedone business, Whitticker said. Mr. Howell replied, just one comment real briefly with regard to that. When they tbout tax abatement, he thinks its important to understand that the kind of clawback provision that hes talking abou

may not be appropriate in that and let him give them two different examples. First, when they abate property taxes,


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GENERAL ORDINANCE NO. 7-2012 Continuedhey only abate the increase in value. If he has a lot worth $10,000 that he is paying taxes on and he builds a $100,0

house on it, he doesnt get a $110,000 tax abatement. He gets $100,000 tax abatement. Its only the additional valuf he moves or doesnt pay his bills or whatever, that house is still sitting there and whoever comes along, its still

going to be subject for tax. Hes not running off, the city hasnt given him any money that hes now taking and goin

omewhere with. Similarly, if hes a business and he gets a tax abatement on new equipment that he brings in, hedoesnt believe that hes required, that hes required to get the abatement but unless they have some special rule, if hook that equipment and took it somewhere else, well its not here to be taxed anymore. He shouldnt get thebatement on that but generally theyre not going to be able to, he thinks they can require them to keep it here to getbatement but if they take it somewhere else, obviously theyre not going to get abatement. When they talk about

getting money back from people when theyve given them money, thats certainly the case. When they have offeredhem an inducement, a phase in over the tax period, the actual thing thats being taxed is there, whether they pay it o

not, so the city still gets its benefit in the increase to the net value that then rolls on so hed want to think about it mobefore he tried to give them advice about including what he calls a clawback, thats just his own made up language,

tax abatement type thing. Whitticker then said, well then maybe her question should be, should the city be in thebusiness of abating homes? And she knows its a popular trend to do but they have the people who are in the areas

hey have been giving a lot of the tax abatements have been done in areas where, really, those families could afford tpay taxes. When you take, and its being abated. That means whether its one year, three years or so on, their schoore not receiving that money nor is their library. Those are things that are important to citizens in a city and so on a

you know, it just bothers her and it has bothered her and it will continue to be a sore spot for her because she believehere are good, hard working people who scrape together dimes, their pennies, to pay their taxes, yet, people who areble to afford it and who are in certain areas get certain breaks that other people do not. Thats an inequity and they

going to have to look at somehow or another of bridging that gap in that inequity because its not only at the local lets across this country at the national level. But at a local level, as she said, the taxes that she checked into from

Tammy Martin and Mr. Bainbridge, property taxes alone are right at $15,000,000. Their budget is $28,700,000. Itgone up 34%. Theyve got a problem, Whitticker said. Being no further questions for Ms. Pearson, motion was maby Nevels to pass General Ordinance No. 7-2012 to a 2nd reading and public hearing. Motion was seconded by Brund carried by the following vote. Aye: Troxell, Luzadder, Nevels, Whitticker, Thompson, Brunner, Smith, Frenchnd Batchelor. Nay: None.

RESOLUTION NO. 5-2012The City Clerk read Resolution No. 5-2012 by title only. Declaratory Resolution of the City Council of Marion,ndiana, declaring economic revitalization area for property tax deductions on real estate, commonly known as 2106

Branson Street, Marion, Indiana. Janet Pearson, Assistant Director of Development Services, told the Council this ihe three-year residential tax abatement for Habitat for Humanity and its at 2106 S. Branson Street, Lots 1 and 2 in

Websters Prospect Hill Addition to the City of Marion with a value of $63,000 for a three-year tax abatement.Councilman Fred Troxell said, again, he points out that, now this is for Mr. Howell, does this take in just this oneesidence, when they say revitalization area? Corporate Counsel Josh Howell told Troxell, the city has for a very loime now declared larger areas and then, because of the way the code is written, they can only have a certain percent

of the city designated at any given time, it does them as they become ready to do so. So this would be for just thisparcel that theyre describing here, not for anything adjacent to it or any other part of the city. Its just this parcel anhis parcel alone. Mr. Troxell said, well he wanted to point out to the public again the reason he raises this questionhere was areas on the By-Pass that has this same resolution which they say its the same as a depressed area when it

up, an area for revitalization for property taxes and properties that were priced, had the prices right on them out theredjacent and next to, $400,000 properties. Now, that area doesnt need to be revitalized. Any business (inaudible)ome in, thats good but why should somebody get a tax abatement when they can afford that kind of a property. M

Howell replied, and whether or not to give them, thats a personal policy, obviously, rather than a legal question, whhey can do at their leisure. He thinks the policy of the city has been, whether they have $10 or $10,000,000, they wo try and get them to spend it here and the more they have, the bigger impact that potentially has on them. He may

building a house for $250,000 and if the difference between him building it within the city limits and outside of the


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RESOLUTION NO. 5-2012 Continuedimits is whether he gets a tax abatement or not, its just a fairness, he thinks, that comes into play, but once again,hats a policy decision for them (Council) if they want to be in the business of trying to court, what sort of investmehey want to court. Thats a policy decision for this body and for the Administration. He can tell them how to do it s their counsel he wouldnt have an opinion on whether or not it ought to be done. Thats a policy decision for them

Troxell said, well, no reflection on Habitat but he was at the Council meetings when this tax abatement first startedhree Administrations ago and a Councilman made a motion, it was for the businessmen downtown, tax abatement,emodeling whatever. They passed that ordinance. The businessmen on the By-Pass said that wasnt fair. If they gt downtown, they ought to get it there. They amended that tax abatement then the professional people downtownpplied for it. It was the same situation. They amended it and took the professional people in on the By-Pass. The

point hes making is it hurts the city, it hurts the property owners because they have to make that up. They take in smany dollars, it doesnt matter, they can go around and look at all the vacant houses now. They have to make up fohat. They have to make up for tearing them down or repairing them or whatever. He made the statement in Januarhat they need to live within their means, he always has. There were things he wanted that he didnt get but he survind they need to take a look at that. They need to go back to that, as a Council, because like Mrs. Whitticker said, i

going to catch up with us. 34% increase in the budget in the last eight years. They cant handle it anymore, Troxell

aid. At this time, Council President Don Batchelor said the Chair would entertain a motion for Resolution 5-2012.Whitticker said, before they move to that, she has a question. She asked Ms. Pearson if she would please tell them hhe assessed value was done, for this property or any other property that comes up for sale in Marion. Pearson replissessments are done by the Assessors Office in the county. Whitticker asked, okay, based on what? In this case, h

was this assessed value of $63,000 for this property arrived at? Pearson said, oh, the value of the property. That is Habitat for Humanity, thats the construction build so thats how that value comes about. Whitticker responded, on property? This particular one? Pearson answered, this one, yes. Motion was then made by French to pass ResolutiNo. 5-2012. Motion was seconded by Smith and carried by the following vote. Aye: Troxell, Luzadder, Nevels,Whitticker, Thompson, Brunner, Smith, French and Batchelor. Nay: None.

Tim Eckerle, Executive Director of the Grant County Economic Growth Council, to give presentation regarding theGrant for Grads Program. Mr. Eckerle told the Council he wanted to talk to them about an exciting new program heyve launched. Prior to this, he wouldnt be attending if he didnt kill some trees. Theyll see a few slides, about

45 slide presentation done by a gentleman from CBRE out of Atlanta. This gentleman has probably done more siteocations in the State of Indiana than any other consultant. Hes put together his view of life in terms of what drivesconomic development decision. They will see on the slide two where the words are of relatively different size,

obviously, the size of the word indicates the impact on the decision-making matrix. Workforce is the single largestword, cost is the second largest word and economic incentives is the third largest word in terms of when a company making an investment decision. Now, recognizing the one thing that truly sets any community apart from another isalent and talent is defined by those looking to make investment by educational attainment. He knows theyve often

heard him come and talk where he will say no one has ever asked him about basketball championships. Everybodylways asking him about SAT scores. So after a number of years and through some fortunate planning on their parthey were able to announce and rollout a program last week called Grant for Grads in which the Growth Council inonjunction with Affordable Housing is providing a $5,000 forgivable loan for any individual who takes a new job

within Grant County and with a college degree and is new to Grant County. So they have to work and live in GrantCounty. Basically the forgivable loan rolls off after five years in terms of $1,000 per year. He would gladly answerny questions. He could talk to them about, they have five people who are in the process. He actually doesnt knowheir names but he will share the information he does have. He kind of likes not knowing a whole lot of the variable

The first of the five is going to be a new Taylor employee. Now, he questions whether they have a college degreebecause they have their degree from the University of Kentucky. IWU has a gentleman who is going to go to work WU. He has a Bachelors Degree from IWU. Marion General Hospital is hiring someone who has worked for them

while going to college here and now has their degree. Shes going full-time. Marion Community Schools, a neweacher is going to be using the program. And then Kids Matter, the not-for-profit that took the old Dana Data Cent

has an employee that looks to be one of the final five applicants for the first group. Theyve targeted to do about 20


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his first year. Theyve actually been impressed by the number of applicants and the variety. They had some concenitially, that there would be one employer that would dominate or one geographical area but it looks like theyre goo have a nice spread. Its also, of the five, theres only one renter. The rest of them are home buyers so its a little

different trend than they thought theyd see as well. Hed gladly answer any questions they may have, Eckerle saidCouncilwoman Joselyn Whitticker told Eckerle, go ahead and give some more information about the (inaudible), ho

ong they have to be on the job and so on. Eckerle stated, when they sat down and did what they thought were goingbe their final rules, they did it in abstract. They chose 100 days. They may see some (inaudible) where they talk ab00 days. That was assuming that they would come back to January 1. It doesnt seem to be a workable number soheyre looking at an employee has to be within the first 180 days of employment. It becomes a realistic factor. On

you get a better sense of the employer, wants them as a full-time employee. Two, just the hassle of starting a new jomoving to a community, it gives them some time to work through the process. And also allows them the greathallenge, for instance, one of these candidates previously worked as a part-time employee and was offered a full-tim

position. Obviously, could (inaudible) part-time, while they were going to school, they couldnt afford a house but hey can afford a house. When do you start their initial employment count date? So it gives them a little morelexibility in that so theyre looking at 180 days. They will allow, in working with some of the larger employers andheyve marketed this to all the employers and had them involved in their focus groups, they saw this as an opportun

or an employee that may have been currently leasing a property or driving in, commuting, and this provides them anopportunity to keep them long-term so that they classify, some companies would classify these employees as flightisks. That is they have the potential to leave their firm so they asked them to put in a provision that up to three yean essence through their probationary period, someone could apply and they would do that on a case-by-case basis. ome point, an existing employer, if its an existing employee, they may ask the employer to provide a cash match a

well. Councilman Henry Smith said, say he didnt have his degree and hes working and, still yet, is he entitled to ifter he gets his degree? Mr. Eckerle told Smith, after he gets his degree. And he takes a new job within the compa

Assuming, the case that they have here so far, and again, they will look at each and every one as they go forward, thn experiment. Initially, they had people that were working part-time while they were going to school and then they

became full-time employees upon graduation. Actually, this one isnt going to become full-time until August. Smitold Eckerle, now he said that they have go get another position. What if he stays in that position but? Eckerleeplied, they would have to look at that. Right now, what theyve been looking at with the examples they have, the

world examples they have, people have been going from being a contracted employee to being a full-time employeerom being a part-time employee to being a full-time employee so they would look at a permanent change status.

Theyre playing with the language. Theyre trying to work their way through. They made a presentation in front ofCounty Council. Obviously, they have been schooled in every scheme known to man because they came with anumber of ways that this process could be perverted that theyd not thought about. Thats clearly an issue theyll hao look at. Again, its going to be on a case-by-case basis. Its a first come, first serve program. Smith stated, okay

basically they have a limit. Eckerle responded, yes, of roughly 20, depending on how the money breaks betweenenters vs. homeowners. Councilman Reggie Nevels asked, is there a grandfather clause in this? Eckerle told Neve

no, hes a grandfather and he cant get it. Its bad enough, its going to pain him that theyre going to allow someborom the University of Kentucky to be among the first. Councilman Fred Troxell said, he has a question or a comm

He thinks he (Eckerle) said Mr. Lawson always has all the answers (inaudible). Personally, he (Troxell) thinks hesEckerle), in his opinion, too early on this one because were going into a budget session and he cant make a decisioike this when they dont even know that they can afford it. Eckerle told Troxell, well, theyre not asking them for aesources. This is coming from the Growth Councils resources. Troxell stated, but that money originally came fro

Marion. Mr. Eckerle told Mr. Troxell, no it didnt. Well, some of it may have. Theyre using a portion of theirEconomic Development Income Tax that the County Tax Council, which is impaneled by all the Legislative bodies,dedicated revenue stream. Troxell commented, okay, well still, theres money involved and its going to beomebodys money and evidentially theyre involved or he (Eckerle) wouldnt be down here asking their opinion orheir approval. Eckerle responded, well, (inaudible) collaboration so theyre always out seeking peoples involvemend opinion. When they developed this program, they sat down with the Grant County Local Elected Officials in

November and the only snowstorm that hit Sweetser that night and walked it through how they were thinking about designing the program. Its also a means of marketing because obviously theyre reaching out to the community


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hrough their internet presence. They thought they (Council) would want to know about this. You know, you do thost benefit number. You look at one of these employees, again, because of the County Option Income Tax, theres

2.25% of their income thats subject to taxation. If theyre making $50,000 or if they have two school kids, thats$12,000 to Marion Community Schools, each and every year theyre there. Troxell told Eckerle, he sits here and heooked at the records of the failures weve had. Now he said this is experimental, right? Mr. Eckerle said, yes. Tro

tated, okay, they have a right to question it. Eckerle responded, hes not objecting to questions. Hes giving themnswers to hopefully demonstrate that theyve given serious consideration to this why theyre doing this. Clearly, thooked at a cost benefit analysis. Right now, Grant County is one of the leading importers of labor in the state. Peoive outside of the community and drive in to work here and so this is to get at that. One of the reasons they did aurvey about four years ago, before they worked with their dear friends at Arbor Homes to bring them to theommunity and one of the things they found was that people were not looking to move here because they got their jofter they got their house so this is a means to offset some of that. Theres lots of examples out there in todays wor

of people turning down corporate moves because they cant sell their house. This will provide them an additional$5,000 to sell the house and move to a new community. Councilman Troxell said, see, hes an ex-employee of GMAt one time, they had 3,600 employees out there. Now theyve got 1,500, maybe 1,600. All of them but 80 employre driving in from Michigan and Ohio. Now he just got this report from the President today. Anyway, a lot of thes

people dont intend to land in Marion. This is one of the things they have to look at. Eckerle told Troxell, well thatwhat theyre trying to convince them to do, provide them a reason to want to move here. He means, thats why theyworking with Marion Community Schools and doing the Young Entrepreneurs Program. Hes pleased to announce oday they announced their next class of 15 students at Marion and 15 at Mississinewa so theyre looking at doinginaudible) to provide people reasons to relocate. Obviously, if youre late in your career and your family, you haveenage daughters who are seniors in high school, youre not going to relocate but if youre early in your career, theyrying to provide people reasons to move because they feel thats important as well as the management team feels itmportant. Troxell said, well thats one of the reasons they started tax abatement and that never happened really. If

had been true, if it had done what they wanted it to do, theyd have probably had 40,000 people in Marion but it didnwork. Council President Don Batchelor told the Council, Mr. Eckerle, he came tonight to share, introduce a programhat they are launching there at the Growth Council. He didnt come here seeking approval or anything of that natur

He just came to provide them with this information thats in their packet tonight. Eckerle added, but they do welcomheir comments and observations because clearly, as with Councilman Smiths questions, those are things they had t

ponder through as they looked at this. And they also hope that they would then find them more young people ornyone with, again, college degrees to move to the community. Its everyones job to provide people reasons to livehe community and make them all be a part of the community. When you really get down to it, one of the things thaets the community apart is the people itself, and again, its the workforce. Theyre competing against communitieshat have, right now theyre doing, depending on what statistics you look at, theyre doing fairly well in terms of

growth and in terms of (inaudible), people having Bachelors Degrees. Compared to the rest of the state, theyrelightly above the state average but the other communities theyre competing with on a regular basis, particularly in

Finley, Ohio area, which is one we tend to compete with a lot, that have a much higher success rate. Mr. Troxell tolEckerle, he realizes, you know, weve got Taylor and IWU both and its going to be hard to retain a lot of those kidsour area but hopefully we do. Eckerle responded, well again, this is the first step in doing that. He means, he lived Chicago and the number one producing engineering state in the entire country is Illinois. The number one state forosing engineers is Illinois. So, he means, this is a battle being fought all across the Midwest. But its probably the

most important battle theyre fighting as a community. Councilman Brad Luzadder told Mr. Eckerle he wanted to shank you for doing this. He thinks anything they can do to continue to attract new people to their community, any hey can make a betterment of life for people here in the community or bring new people into the community means

new money is coming into the community and he applauds the Economic Growth Council for putting out this prograHe looks forward to seeing the rest of the 15 before the end of the year and look for more of that to come. He thinkts extremely important that they continue to strive to advertise and they, as a Council, should be the cheerleaders fohis city and not point fingers but they should be the ones inviting people to come to our community. So he applaud

him and thanks him, Luzadder told Eckerle. Mr. Eckerle told Luzadder, thank you. He forgot to point out one thingnd he appreciates Councilman Troxell reminding him about Taylor and Indiana Wesleyan. If you think about this,


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hose students and their families have invested probably $100,000 over the last four years. He means, economic imrom those (inaudible) are probably second to only manufacturing in the community in terms of economic impact. Issence, theyve said that this is a community that they find desirable. If they only captured 15%, he thinks theyreapturing. Professor Layman has done some research and he wants to say his capture rate is, if they would only

move it 5%, he means, its not a huge number of students because theyre only graduating roughly a couple hundred

year but if they increase it 100, this program pays for itself. He means, thats the bottom line. It is the most direct aquickest way to generate additional County Option Income Tax for them and additional school income for their pubchools. Mr. Troxell said he didnt mean to come on as a naysayer. Hes been called a naysayer by previous

Administrations and to Mr. Luzadder and Mr. Batchelor, he has a reason for asking questions and if its about spendmoney, he told Mr. Eckerle, he has to ask those questions. Eckerle told Troxell, he didnt object to that. Also inclun the packet is their strategic marketing plan that theyre in the process of revamping. Erin Wheeler has been leadihis effort. As always, they welcome any comments or suggestions they may have. They may notice that, for thosehat remember what the previous one looked like that they did two and a half years ago, they added a new column onntrepreneurs and they also created some additional metrics as well as events and things. But they would welcome uggestions they may have. Theyre always trying to learn from their competing communities. Its a very competit

world we live in. If they take the time and go through Mr. Sangsters slides and he also can give them all 55 that he

didnt give them, which is equally as exciting, they will find them very illuminating about how decisions are made awhat the impacts are. But again, he wants to go back, he knows they spent a long night talking about tax abatementThats considered an economic incentive and thats a third most important factor in a site decision making matrix. Ahats usually the make or break, very early on decision. So again, theyd welcome their comments, suggestions. Tppreciate their time. They appreciate their support and collaboration, Eckerle stated. Councilwoman Joselyn

Whitticker said she is on the Economic Growth Council Committee and she serves as a liaison and Tim knows this.She will not say anything to Tim that she would not say to anybody else. She doesnt have a problem with sayingomething to a persons face and when they discussed this, and this was not the first discussion this morning, theyv

had about four discussions and each time, she raised very pertinent questions and one thing that needs to be brought onight is this. Just as Tim said, for a student to go through Taylor or IWU, theyre talking about $100,000 investm

When her kid went to Michigan State four and a half years there, the total cost was $125,000 and that was in 2004when he graduated. So understanding putting money into the community so that people understand and what the tooutcome is and the issue of saying something, its not because there are people who are going to question and Tim,hank you very much for handling himself. Fred, thank you very much for raising these questions because people d

have questions. People need to understand what is going on and any other comments, nobody was sniping or anythilse. He was raising questions that are pertinent, that need to be brought out to the community and thats why at

different points, she prompted Tim to talk about, before they can get a penny of that money, its going to be 180 dayThats nine months in a year that they have been in this community, buying food, attending church and so on, payingome kind of common sales tax. So there are a lot of things involved. And she says to both gentlemen, to Tim and

Fred, thank you for being very upfront and so on because there will be people who question whats going on. Fredwould not raise the questions he has nor would she to Tim and so on unless other people had not raised them. So another comment was naysaying because both, any comment thats brought before this board where its put out meansheres transparency then people dont feel that there is a mistrust and theyre not doing what theyre supposed to do

The integrity of both of these gentlemen has been on the line. Both showed leadership and so on. So anything elseneed not have been said. So, thank you, both of you, Whitticker said.

Being no further business to come before the Council, on a motion by Luzadder, 2 nd by French, the meeting adjournTime being 8:10 p.m.

june 5, 2012 marion indiana city council minutes

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