Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-10-09 MINUTES OF COUNCIL OCTOBER 9, 2007 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on October 9, at 5:30 PM at the Municipal Building. Mayor Rick Elumbaugh presided over the meeting. Councilmember Carpenter gave the invocation. Upon roll call the following councilmembers answered present: R.L. Carpenter, Fred Krug, Doug Matthews, Matt McDonald, Trula Pectol, David Shetron, Stephen Smart and Paula Terrell. The City Clerk was also present. The City Attorney, Scott Stalker was absent. Councilmember Shetron moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting and Councilmember Matthews seconded. All voted for. Councilmember Smart moved to approve the prepared agenda. Councilmember Matthews seconded and all voted for. COMMENTS FROM CITIZENS None OLD BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS (A) MAIN STREET BATESVILLE Mr. Bob Gerner and Mr. Ed Holler with Main Street Batesville addressed the council. Mr. Gerner gave the council a list of recent accomplishments, a partial list of their Three-Year-Plan goals and other information about what the Main Street Program does. He asked that the City continue to help fund the program with the same amount for 2008 of$10,000.00. (B) LEVY TAXES The council considered the levied rates of taxation on real and personal property in the City for 2008. The council discussed increasing the rate to 4.0 for City general. Councilmember McDonald moved to increase the City General .4 mills, from 3.6 to 4.0 mills and the Firemen's Pension to remain at .4 mills for a grand total of 4.4 mills. Councilmember Carpenter seconded and all voted for. (C) DISCUSS EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK The City Clerk said she was not ready to present to the council a revision to the handbook policy to allow employees to donate sick hours to other employees. She said she felt like there should be guidelines for donating and receiving sick and vacation hours and she believes that the current policy of donating vacation hours is being abused. She asked the council to suspend the giving of vacation hours until a new policy could be adopted. The council did not wish to suspend the current policy and asked the clerk to review policies from other cities and bring something for the council to consider at the next meeting. (D) REPORT ON BOY SCOUTS PROPOSAL Mr. Rich Floreczak representing the local Cub Scouts addressed the council with a first draft agreement between the City and the Cub Scouts for the use of the old Animal Control facility at 100 Sportsman Drive. The council discussed the agreement and made several changes. Councilmember McDonald said they would incorporate the changes and bring an updated agreement back to the council for consideration. (E) CODE ENFORCEMENT REGARDING CONDEMNED STRUCTURES Code Enforcement Officer Chad McClure addressed the council regarding previously condemned structures. Mr. McClure said back in August the council condemned the structures located at 320 Baker, 1712 Lyon and 2029 Neeley Streets. As per City code, the property owners have 30 days after condemnation to repair or demolish the structures. Mr. McClure said there had been no activity at any of the locations. He also said that the Mayor had made arrangements with the Grimes Prison in Newport to use inmates to tear down the structures and clean up the properties. Councilmember McDonald moved to have the three structures torn down by the Grimes Unit and Councilmember Carpenter seconded. All voted for. (F) PAID BILLS REPORT The council was given a copy of the paid bills report for September, 2007. COMMENTS FROM THE MAYOR Mayor Elumbaugh said the City was approved for the grant for the self- contained leaf machine. He said the machine has been ordered and should arrive in 75-90 days. The Mayor asked for the council's approval to order a 2008 1-ton diesel truck with a dump-bed to pull the new leaf machine. The State contract amount is $29,378.00. He said he would like to pay for the truck with the one-time State Turnback check the City recently received. Councilmember Smart moved to purchase the one-ton truck and Councilmember Krug seconded. All voted for. The Mayor gave the council several statistics for each department within the City for the month of September. LIAISON REPORTS None COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Matthews asked the Mayor where the City was on purchasing the land for the new fire station in West Batesville. The Mayor said the land has been surveyed and hoped to close on the property by the end of this week or the beginning of next week. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Councilmember Smart moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilmember Terrell seconded and all voted for. RICK ELUMBAUGH, MAYOR DENISE M. JOHNSTON, CITY CLERK