Lapel Town Council

January 21, 2021

Lapel Eagles

Call to order: Chad Blake, Tom Marvel, Lindsay Washmuth, Jason Kleinbub, Teresa Retherford, Paula Lee, and Kourtney Krabbe. Attending virtually was Ashley Hopper, Town Attorney.

Blake opened the meeting to public comment: David Turner at 403 E 5^th Street asked the Council if there has been any progress with the housing addition plans off of Central Ave. At the time, the developers have not come back to the Planning Commission with set plans. With no further comment, the public comment section was closed.

Kleinbub proposed that the 2021 officer positions remain the same as 2020. With no objections, a motion to have Chad Blake as Town Council President, Tom Marvel as Town Council Vice President, and Lindsay Washmuth, Jason Kleinbub, & Teresa Retherford as Town Council members, was made by Washmuth, 2^nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor.

A motion to keep the Lapel Town Council meetings on the 3^rd Thursday of each month at 7:00pm at the Lapel Eagles was made by Marvel, 2^nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor. Meetings will also be available virtually due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Pat Callahan from Callahan Utility Consulting discussed the potential water and wastewater rate study results.

A motion to suspend the regular Council meeting, and open a public hearing for an additional appropriation was made by Marvel, 2^nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

Ordinance 1-2021 was put in the paper on 1/6/2021, and proof of publication is at Lapel Town Hall. This ordinance allows an additional appropriation in police clothing allowance. Accounts Payable did not receive an invoice for the police department until January 2021, so some of the appropriated money from 2020 went unspent. This ordinance allows the police department to use that unspent money.

A motion to close the public hearing and reopen the regular meeting was made by Retherford, 2^nd by Blake; all were in favor.

A motion to approve Ordinance 1-2021 was made by Kleinbub, 2^nd by Washmuth; all were in favor.

CCMG Streets: A discussion was held on which streets should be paved in the CCMG 2021-1 project. Kleinbub stated he would like to 4^th & John Street to be taken off the list until the drainage issue gets looked at.

A motion to apply for CCMG 2021-1 with the following roads; Central Ave from SR 13 to 9^th Street, 10^th Street from SR 13 to Main Street, and 4^th Street from SR 13 to Ford Street; was made by Retherford, 2^nd by Washmuth all were in favor.

A motion to that Lapel provides a local match of $100K for CCMG 2021-1 project was made by Blake, 2^nd by Washmuth; all were in favor.

A motion to authorize Blake, Marvel, and Retherford to sign INDOT financial commitment letters, statements, and paperwork was made by Washmuth, 2^nd by 2^nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor.

A motion to approve the Kimley-Horn professional service agreement for the CCMG 2021-1 project was made by Blake, 2^nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

CommonWealth Engineers: Jeremy VanErman from CommonWealth Engineers presented a task order for plan review to the Council. The task order would allow the town to budget $10K for CommonWealth to review building plans.

A motion to approve CommonWealth Engineers task order for plan review was made by Kleinbub, 2^nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

A motion to approve December 29, 2020 meeting minutes was made by Kleinbub, 2^nd by Marvel; all were in favor.

A motion to approve January docket claims was made by Blake, 2^nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor.

A motion to approve Resolution 1-2021 was made by Marvel, 2^nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor.

Ordinance for 875 W/650 S was tabled until the February meeting.

A motion to waive the 2^nd & 3^rd readings of Ordinance 1-2021 was made by Marvel, 2^nd by Blake; all were in favor.

Deputy Clerk Salary: Kleinbub stated that Paula Lee needs a $2.00/hour pay rate increase due to a previous employee receiving a raise based off tenure at last month’s meeting.

A motion to amend the 2021 Salary Ordinance so that Cameron Clawson, and Paula Lee receive a $2.00/hour pay rate increase effective January 1, 2021 was made by Blake, 2^nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor.

The Town Attorney is going to prepare the amendment so that the 2^nd & 3^rd reading can be done at February’s meeting.

Utility Update: Mary Armacost, Utility Superintendent, asked if the corner of 202 E 7^th Street needs to be ADA compliant when Prater & Sons fixes the sidewalk. Council stated that it does need to be ADA compliant since we are fixing the sidewalk, and the Town will cover that portion since we did not include that in the original quote.

Armacost asked when she could look at hiring one more utility employee; which got table until February’s meeting.

The generator at the wastewater plant is in need of repairs. Armacost provided a quote from WW Williams for $6,651.13. Blake stated he would like to get a second opinion from Chad Pilkington with Lapel Truck & Trailer since the generator is like a large diesel engine which Pilkington is familiar with. A motion to allow Blake to approve the repair of the generator up to $4,500.00 was made by Marvel, 2^nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

Back in May 2019 the council had approved to repair the street corner at 128 E 7^th Street, and the repair has yet to be complete. Blake reached out to three different companies to receive quotes for the repair: Partners Concrete-Anderson (no quote provided), Swackhammer Concrete-Pendleton ($2,500), and Prater & Sons-Cicero ($450). A motion to have Prater & Sons repair the two square portions of the sidewalk was made by Marvel, 2^nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

A discussion was held on the Main Street lights. Marvel stated that it is difficult to prove how or why the lights are not working again. E&B Paving has provided a quote to split the repair of the lights 50/50 with the town. The total quote is for $6,498.31 leaving the town responsible for $3,249.15. A motion to accept E&B Paving’s quote for $6,498.31 was made by Kleinbub, 2^nd by Washmuth; all were in favor.

Planning Update: The planning commission has two vacant seats where one seat needs to be filled by someone in the community, and the other seat needs to be filled by a town employee/official. Retherford stated that the Planning Commission is recommending that Matt Wood fill the community seat, and Paula Lee fill the town employee/official seat. A motion to accept the planning commission’s recommendation to have Wood and Lee join the planning commission was made by Retherford, 2^nd by Blake; all were in favor.

Planning Commission meetings will be held the second Thursday of every month at the Lapel Eagles. Virtual meeting links will be provided as necessary due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Park Update: Katie Hutchison spoke on behalf of the Lapel Park Board. Hutchison stated Steve Tipps was nominated as Park Board President, and meetings will continue to be held on the second Monday of every month at 7pm at Lapel Town Hall.

Washmuth asked if there is anything else that can be done to prevent semis from turning around in Brookside Park parking lot. Washmuth stated that Tipps caught a semi driver removing the chains blocking off the park so that he could pull in and turn around. Marvel made the suggestion of adding concrete barriers in the middle so cars can still get through, but semis will not be able to make it through. Armacost stated the utility crew will go out next week to get the barriers relocated.

Police Update: Chief Kelly Naselroad gave the council an update on the 2020 year end reports with a total of 2,644 service calls. Captain Jon Buffington will be attending instructor development school in April.

Office Update: Ron Ragan from Utility Gas Management spoke on the Natural Gas Agreement the Town currently has. A motion to accept the agreement based on the fact the verbiage in #5 gets changed from the State of Kansas to the State of Indiana was made by Marvel, 2^nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

New Business/Old Business: Blake held a discussion on council liaisons. Last year the council got rid of the liaisons, but as the year went on they found out liaisons are a need. The decision to reinstate Marvel as the police liaison, Retherford as the utility liaison, Washmuth as the office liaison, and the fire board liaisons would be Blake & Washmuth.

Blake stated the unfortunately the county mismanaged the COVID funds received for the townships, resulting in the Lapel Stony Creek Township Fire Department not receiving the COVID funds they were supposed to receive. The fire department is in desperate need of two heart monitors that cost $40,000 each that the department had planned to use COVID funding for. Blake stated that the fire department is not requesting the money from the town. This is something Blake learned about at the last fire board meeting and wanted to see the council would consider making a donation out of the Cascaden fund to help the fire department receive one of these machines.  Kleinbub asked if we could look into grants first to see if a grant would help with the cost. Blake stated they are working on finding a grant, but Marvel states that the fire department is granted out due to having two federal grants already in progress. Marvel also stated that due to COVID they had to make budget cuts, and were not allowed to host their annual fundraiser which provides a lot of their income. This heart monitor service is something the fire department has never had before, and the town has always had to contract out to another service. Unfortunately there are just not many services around anymore that are willing to provide the advanced life support. Kleinbub made the suggestion of purchases one heart monitor, and then in a few months the council could see how the fire department is on funds, and if they are still short another discussion can be held on purchasing a second one. A motion to purchase a Physio-Control lifepak 15 heart monitor for cost not to exceed $45,000 out of the Cascaden Fund, and then donate that equipment to the Lapel Stony Creek Township Fire Department was made by Blake, 2^nd by Kleinbub; voting yes were Blake, Kleinbub, Washmuth, Retherford, Marvel abstained.

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