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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-08-15 MINUTES OF COUNCIL AUGUST 15, 2023 The Batesville City Council met in regular session on August 15, at 5:30 pm at the Municipal Building. Mayor Rick Elumbaugh presided over the meeting. Utility Office Manager Nick Baxter gave the invocation. Upon roll call, the following Councilmembers answered present; Tommy Bryant, Scott Fredricks, Paige Hubbard, Fred Krug, Doug Matthews, and Chris Poole. Also present were the Admin Assistant Jennifer Corter and City Attorney Tim Meitzen. Councilmember Brittany Bennett, Councilmember Julie Hinkle and City Clerk Denise Johnston were absent. Councilmember Fredricks moved to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Councilmember Bryant seconded and all voted for. Councilmember Hinkle moved to approve the prepared agenda and Councilmember Bryant seconded. All voted for. CITIZENS COMMENTS None UNFINISHED BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS A) POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT Police Chief Alan Cockrill addressed the council with his monthly Police Department report. There were 28 accidents, 21 arrests and 63 incidents for the month of July. He said with all of the rain last week, they found a few leaks in the new building. The contractors are working to get those repaired. They are also getting the painting wrapped up. Chief Cockrill said they received the four new radar units. He has five new trucks on the way and those radars will be installed once the trucks arrive. B) ENGINEER’S REPORT City Engineer Damon Johnson addressed the council with his monthly report. Mr. Johnson reported on the storm and flood damage from the previous week. He said he was thankful that all city departments all pulled together to get streets passable as quickly as possible and to the public for being understanding during the process. Mr. Johnson reported we are getting closer to the installation of the kayak boat ramps at White Drive and the Golden Overpass. The lower sewer pipe crossing has been removed and there are no longer any lines crossing the flow of water now. Contract Section III is almost finished with only a few tie-ins and some clean up left to do. This should greatly reduce the inflow and infiltration in the West Side area. Mr. Johnson also wanted to publicly thank the community for the success of the recent election which extended the sales tax for both water and parks and recreation. It is exciting that the community is willing to invest in itself to move forward and has put their trust in the city to see this accomplished. C) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR OF BATESVILLE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS, HERITAGE AND TOURISM Councilmember Fredricks introduced a resolution authorizing the Mayor of Batesville to submit an application to the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism. Councilmember Hubbard made a motion to suspend the rules and read the resolution by title only. Councilmember Bryant seconded and the electronic roll call was 6 for and 0 against. Mr. Meitzen read the resolution by title only. Councilmember Fredricks made a motion to adopt the resolution and Councilmember Hubbard seconded. The electronic roll call was 6 for and 0 against. The resolution will be given #2023-08-01-R. D) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE BATESVILLE ZONING DISTRICT MAP TO REZONE PROPERTY ADJACENT TO 3030 HARRISON STREET Councilmember Bryant introduced an ordinance to amend the Batesville Zoning District Map to rezone property adjacent to 3030 Harrison Street. Code Enforcement Officer Chad McClure explained the property located at 2980 Harrison was currently R-1 and would be changed to C-1. There is also a water utility pump station property included in this rezone. The Comprehensive Plan shows all of this property to be commercial and the change fits the plan. Councilmember Bryant made a motion to suspend the rules and read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Pool seconded and the electronic roll call was 6 for and 0 against. Mr. Meitzen read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Bryant made a motion to further suspend the rules and waive the second and third reading. Councilmember Hubbard seconded and the electronic roll call was 6 for and 0 against. Councilmember Bryant made a motion to adopt the ordinance. Councilmember Hubbard seconded and the electronic roll call was 6 for and 0 against. The ordinance was given #2023-08-01. E) FINANCIAL REPORT The council was given a financial report for July, 2023 for review. MAYOR COMMENTS th Mayor Elumbaugh said the next regular Council meeting will be September 12. Mayor Elumbaugh also wanted to thank the citizens for their understanding and patience during the flood last week. He is very thankful for everyone for everyone that came out and helped, including County Judge Kevin Jeffery who helped block traffic to traffic out of flood waters. One truck driver was able to use his big truck to help reroute water enough to rescue a lady stranded in the flooded street. Firefighter Alan Jackson was also instrumental in rescuing a lady from her vehicle. We are very lucky that there were no major injuries or lives lost during this event. The City’s soccer complex sustained a lot of wind damage to the roof. We will have to wait for the adjuster to assess the replacement cost. The Community Garden also had a lot of damage due to the amount of water. The City’s new “beast” chipper came in just before the storm and we have already been able to chip about 21 truckloads of mulch from the downed trees and limbs making clean up easier. Mayor Elumbaugh reminded everyone that school starts on Monday. Please be mindful of the extra traffic on the streets with busses and new drivers headed to school. Mayor Elumbaugh made mention that he is working with Code Enforcement to look into the growing problem of people remodeling and emptying out houses and leaving the Class 4 items at the curb for the city to pick up. This is becoming very costly to the city and residents, because the city pays a tipping fee to the transfer station for each load hauled. They will be working together to come up with how address this in the future. LIAISON REPORTS None COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Bryant said he noticed there are a lot of residents that are illegally dumping items, such as limbs and junk. He asked if there would be a location in the future for residents to bring those items directly to us. Mayor Elumbaugh said there are a lot of regulations that go along with having a site like that but it could possibly be looked into further in the future. Councilmember Fredricks noted that in Meadow Heights especially on Kenneth the overgrowth is out in the street and in a few places, the street only has one lane for travel. Councilmember Matthews again praised all of the city departments for working so quick and getting the streets cleared during last week’s storm ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Councilmember Matthews moved that the meeting be adjourned. Councilmember Poole seconded. All voted for. The meeting was adjourned at 5:55 pm. _______________________________ RICK ELUMBAUGH, MAYOR _________________________________ JENNIFER CORTER, ADMIN ASSISTANT