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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-08-08 MINUTES OF COUNCIL AUGUST 8, 2017 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on August 8t" at 5:30 pm at the Municipal Building. Mayor Rick Elumbaugh presided over the meeting. Utility Billing Supervisor Nick Baxter gave the invocation. Upon roll call, the following Councilmembers answered present; Chris Beller, Tommy Bryant, Sonya Crafton, Margaret Henley, Paige Hubbard, Doug Matthews, Chris Poole and David Shetron. Also present were the City Clerk Denise Johnston and City Attorney Tim Meitzen. Councilmember Bryant moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Councilmember Henley seconded and all voted for. Councilmember Bryant moved to approve the prepared agenda. Councilmember Henley seconded and all voted for. CITIZENS COMMENTS Mrs. John Clements addressed the council concerning the new Community Center and Aquatics Park. Mrs. Clements said she loves the new facility but has an issue with the handicapped parking. She said the handicapped parking at the front of the building fill up fast which makes her have to park in the large parking lot and walk a considerable distance to get into the facility and then walk another long distance to the therapy pool. Mrs. Clements said others have also complained about the parking. She said she hoped the City could look at the situation and hopefully come up with a solution. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS A) POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT Police Chief Alan Cockrill addressed the council with his monthly report for July, 2017. The Chief said the reports show the accidents up slightly from last year which he said was probably due to the increased traffic for the Community Center. Chief Cockrill also informed the council of an accident with one of our patrol cars. The estimate to repair the vehicle was $9,148.27 by Marks Body Shop. The Chief said the amount is over the $5,000.00 maximum amount by a city employee. Councilmember Beller moved to go over the allowable amount for this repair and to have Mark's Body Shop repair the vehicle for$9,148.27. Councilmember Bryant seconded and all voted for. B) ENGINEER'S REPORT City Engineer Damon Johnson was on vacation and will give his report at the next meeting. C) PRESENTATION BY MR. STEVEN LEWIS FROM CENTERPOINT ENERGY Mr. Steven Lewis with CenterPoint Energy presented the City with a check for $1,500.00 for the purchase of new portable radios for the Fire Department. D) PRESENTATION BY MR. BILL JOHNSON, TRAINING OFFICER FROM BATESVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT Training Officer for the Batesville Fire Department Bill Johnson and Fire Chief Brent Gleghorn addressed the council showed the council a PowerPoint presentation on a program Mr. Johnson developed for a recent training class he attended. Chief Gleghorn said he thought the program was so good they have implemented it at the fire department and believes it will help other departments in the city as well. The program, in short, is a way to help with the communications with our Hispanic community. In 1980, 4t" of our residents were Hispanic. In 2016 that number has increase to 18%. Mr. Johnson, along with the EAST Lab at Batesville High School, developed several "Flashcards" with common words and phrases in both English and Spanish. The cards speed up the translation, especially in an emergency situation. Also he said there is a great APP called ticktocksoft.com to help with translation. And the best part of all is it is all free. The Mayor and Council commended Mr. Johnson on his program and agreed that several, if not all departments could benefit from the program. E) MR. JEFF OWENS, PARKS DIRECTOR WITH AN UPDATE ON THE PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT Parks Director Mr. Jeff Owens addressed the council with an update on the new Community Center and Aquatics Parks. Mr. Owens said in the 70 days that the facility has been open, we have sold 2,548 memberships which includes 5,375 people. He said they have so far exceeded their goal in memberships. Also impressive is the number of people who have used the facility. 70,123 people who are either members or who have paid the daily rate have used the facility. That is a little over 1,000 people per day and does not include any special events. Those numbers, he said, would be well above 85,000. He said the facility has brought in approximately $509,403.78 in revenues. He has not seen all the invoices for operations but again said the revenues have exceeded their projections. Mr. Owens said they are working through the growing pains and he has already been thinking about how to solve the handicapped parking issue. Mr. Owens said the Pedestrian and Bike Master Plan is almost complete and ready for adoption by the council. Mr. Owens also said he would like to educate the public regarding bicycles on public streets. He said when you see a chevron and bike painted on a public street it is called a "sharrow". These sharrow's are already painted in the downtown portion of Main Street. The sharrow's are to alert the public that on that street, a bicycle has the same rights as a motor vehicle. Vehicles need to respect the rights of the bike and the bikes need to obey all traffic laws. He said we will be seeing more sharrow's throughout the City. If a bicycle is on a street without a sharrow, they should be on the side of the streets and not impede traffic. Mr. Owens ended with a list of upcoming events for this weekend; Food Truck Friday at Riverside Park along with Movies in the Park, and at the Community Center Gymnasium, the Mixed Martial Arts Fights Friday and Saturday nights. F) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE CREATING A PERPETUAL MAINTENANCE FUND FOR THE BATESVILLE COMMUNITY CENTER AND AQUATICS PARK AND OUTDOOR TENNIS COURTS Councilmember Beller introduced an ordinance to create a perpetual maintenance fund for the Batesville Community Center & Aquatics Park and Outdoor Tennis Courts. Mr. Meitzen read the ordinance in full. City Clerk, Denise Johnston, asked if the ordinance could be more specific on who could request an expenditure out of the fund and specify someone to approve. After a brief discussion, the council agreed to make a couple of changes. The amended ordinance will be read at the next council meeting. MAYOR COMMENTS Mayor Elumbaugh said he has a conflict with the next meeting and suggested to move it to the 5th Tuesday in August. Councilmember Matthews so moved and Councilmember Beller seconded. All voted for. The Mayor reminded the council about a Firemen's Pension / LOPFI meeting scheduled next week. LIAISON REPORTS None COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Beller informed the council of a ceremony scheduled for August 15th at 2:00 PM. Ms. Beatrice Moore will be honoring a select number of veterans for their service to our country and will be receiving a Friend of the Foreign Legion Award. Dr. Beller also commended the Sanitation Department for their hard work and getting caught up on the large number of brush throughout the city. Councilmember Bryant said he gave a tour of the Community Center last night to 10 people and again today to 6 more. He said that after his tours, most are in awe of the facilities. ADJOURNMENT There being no more business, Councilmember Matthews moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilmember Beller seconded and all voted for. RICK ELUMBAUGH, MAYOR DENISE M. JOHNSTON, CITY CLERK