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Town Minutes from 8/19/2021

Minutes from a Town meeting on 8/19/2021.

Lapel Town Council

August 19, 2021 @ 7:00pm

Lapel Eagles

In person attendance was Chad Blake, Teresa Retherford, Lindsay Washmuth, Jason Kleinbub, Paula Lee, Dennis Molina, Kourtney Krabbe, and Shanna Kelly Town Attorney. There were no council members in virtual attendance. The public could attend the meeting either in person at the Lapel Eagles or online using the GoTo Meeting link provide on the Town’s Facebook page.

Public Comment: Blake asked if there was anyone online, or in person that had something to discuss that was not currently on the agenda. No comment was made.

A motion to suspend the regular scheduled meeting and open a public hearing for the 2022 budget was made by Washmuth, 2nd by Blake; all were in favor.

Janet Alexander stated that she advertised the 2022 budget with the property tax levy in the General & MVH funds. No public comment was made on the budget.

A motion to close the 2022 budget public hearing and reopen the regularly scheduled meeting was made by Kleinbub, 2nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

A motion to close the regular meeting, and open a public hearing for the 2021-1 CCMG bids was made by Retherford, 2nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor.

Drew Wolfred from Kimley-Horn reviewed all four bids received. Wolfred recommends forgoing this round of funding, and not awarding bids. Wolfred states the Town should focus on finishing the current projects going on, and reapply with INDOT in the next round. If the Town reapplies in the next round we could potentially get better pricing, increase our local match, or go after a bigger project. Waiting until CCMG 2022-1 would still put construction in the spring of 2022. No further comment was made.

A motion to close the CCMG 2021-1 public hearing was made by Kleinbub, 2nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

A motion to reopen the regularly scheduled meeting was made by Kleinbub, 2nd by Washmuth; all were in favor.

There is no additional action that needs to be taken on the 2022 budget at this time. Approval of the budget will be during the September 2021 meeting.

A motion to forfeit CCMG 2021-1 & revisit the grant for CCMG 2022-1 was made by Kleinbub, 2nd by Blake; all were in favor.

10th Street PVC: DC Construction provided the cost information for the additional work of extending the roof drains from the Sears property into the storm system on the east end of 10th Street. This includes the addition of 247 feet of 6” PVC under the new sidewalks with 8’ extensions at each downspout location for the Sears Property to connect to. DC Construction’s price for the additional work is $4,396.60 which comes out to $17.80 per linear foot. This additional work would be a change order to the current project. Blake stated he believes the Sears would be willing to split the cost of the project with the Town.

A motion to accept the change order for 10th Street PVC pipe for $4,396.66 was made by Retherford, 2nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor.

An agreement to split the cost with the Sears will be presented at the next meeting.

CCMG 2021: Wolfred stated the contractor is currently about 20-25% complete. DC Construction is to correct the ride ability of Vine Street, & 10th sidewalks are almost complete. An inspection walk through will be completed Monday 8/23/2021. DC Construction has been told to halt all paving until their plan of approach is approved by the Inspector. Wolfred states there is a clause in the original contract that allows DC Construction to ask for pay applications throughout the project. DC Construction has submitted their first application in the amount of $132,338.49.

A motion to allow for the first pay application in the amount of $132,338.49 was made by Kleinbub, 2nd by Washmuth; all were in favor.

Pavement Assessment Proposal: Kimley-Horn has presented a Professional Services Agreement for TownWide pavement assessment & update to pavement management plan.

A motion to accept Kimley-Horn’s Professional Services Agreement for $19,500.00 was made by Kleinbub, 2nd by Washmuth; all were in favor.

Transfer Resolutions: Resolutions were not available at this time.

A motion to transfer $30,700.00 from MVH Savings to MVH Checking was made by Blake, 2nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

A motion to approve July 15th meeting minutes was made by Retherford, 2nd by Kleinbub. Voting yes was Blake, Retherford, & Kleinbub. Washmuth abstained due to not being in attendance for the 7/15/21 meeting.

A motion to approve the July 27th meeting minutes was made by Blake, 2nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor.

A motion to approve August Docket Claims excluding warrant 102 which was approved at the LRC meeting was made by Blake, 2nd by Washmuth. Voting yes was Blake, Washmuth, & Kleinbub; Retherford abstained.

OCRA Update: Sara Wittig with CommonWealth Engineers stated the OCRA project has been advertised & is out for bid. There will be a pre-bid meeting held on 8/24/2021 at 11am at Lapel Town Hall. The Town will be accepting bids on 9/16/2021 until 5pm at Lapel Town Hall. Wittig states that unfortunately Pat Cahallan is unable to help the Town with the SRF loan, so Rob Belucci has sent over an agreement for Reedy Financial to become the Town’s CPA. The legal team has reviewed this agreement, and provided their approval.

A motion to accept the Professional Service Agreement with Reedy Financial was made by Blake, 2nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

A motion to authorize $7,000 for the Railroad Crossing permits for the OCRA Grant was made by Blake, 2nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor. These permit fees are reimbursable with SRF.

SWIF fund awards announcement was postponed until 8/27/21.

Water Meter Purchase: Last month it was discussed to purchase additional water meters using the ARPA funds. Right now the utility superintendent is looking at Neptune meters due to Sensus experiencing a chip shortage. This purchase was tabled until more research is done on the rules of the ARPA funds.

Invoice Cloud Proposal: Krabbe provided a proposal to the Council for Invoice Cloud. This system would integrate with the current billing software, allow for e-bills, text message reminders, email reminders, and allow the customers to create their own online account for their utility bills.

A motion to accept the Invoice Cloud proposal pending legal review of the contract was made by Kleinbub, 2nd by Blake; all were in favor.

SMCF Award: The Town has $1,104.00 available to award through SMCF. Kleinbub would like to contact the Lapel Middle School principal and bring information back for next month’s meeting.

Central Park Paving: Central Park currently has pea gravel, and is not ADA compliant. Kleinbub would like to use Cascadden funds to either concrete or asphalt the walkway at the park. Research on the Town’s zoning codes, and ADA compliance needs to be done before specs can be sent out for bid. This discussion is to be revisited at next month’s meeting.

Hersberger Driveway Waiver: Scott & Tammy Hersberger are building a new home off Ford Street, with their anticipated driveway to go over the Town’s gas main line. Legal is going to write up a waiver for the Hersberger’s to sign stating if the Town needed to get to the main, that we would not be responsible to replace the driveway.

Lee states that the Town needs to appoint someone to go around town and assess the dead trees that are town responsibility. Then we can start accepting bids to get them removed. Council agreed to have Mike Daniels start assessing trees.

Park Update: The Park Board has been working with Kimley-Horn on a Park & Thoroughfare Plan. The cost of this plan is approximately $80,000 which is not available in the Parks current funding. Blake stated that the Town’s portion for this plan is not in the current budget either, and this discussion will most likely get pushed back to 2022.

The Park Board would like a town employee be hired for just the Parks Department. The Board is struggling to keep up with the needs of the parks in town. Blake asked for the Park Board to provide a list of necessary job duties that this employee would have before the hiring process would begin.

Police Update: Chief Naselroad is requesting funding that is not currently in his budget for evidence equipment.

A motion to allow the purchase of evidence equipment not to exceed $600 using the Cares Act funding was made by Blake, 2nd by Kleinbub; all were in favor.

A motion to allow the purchase of upgrades to the Police Department IT system not to exceed $900 using the Computer Replacement fund was made by Blake, 2nd by Retherford; all were in favor.

Chief Naselroad held on brief discussion on body cameras through the Motorola Company. No decision was made on this until quotes have been provided in writing.

Michael Porter is coming back to the Police Department as a Reserve Officer.

Chief Naselroad states that Pax’s BeerFest will have two off duty firefighters for security. The Police Department is going to have a meeting with Pax & security prior to the festival to set up communication guidelines. Chief has three Police Officers scheduled to be on duty during the festival.

Chief Naselroad stated they are currently looking into two options in regards to an Ordinance Bureau. Option 1 would be entering into a local agreement, and violations go straight to court, or Option 2 would be creating the Ordinance Bureau and violations would be paid at Lapel Town Hall. Town Hall would be responsible for keeping track of these violations & due dates, and if someone were to plead not guilty or not pay the fine, Town Hall would send their information to the Town’s legal team. The legal team is currently looking into this & will provide further information next month.

Utility Update: Mary Armacost, Utility Superintendent, has an interview for a General Laborer set up on Monday 8/24/2021. Armacost stated that she & Trae Armstrong received their on-call gas certifications on 8/16/2021. A motion to increase Trae Armstrong’s pay by $0.50 for receiving his on-call gas certification was made by Retherford, 2nd by Blake; all were in favor. Armacost asks that any residents listening to tonight’s meeting please keep cars off of Main Street tomorrow 8/20/2021 so the Utility Crew can street sweep.

Being no further information to discuss, meeting was adjourned.

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