- On 9/18/2025
- In Town
TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
SEPTEMBER 18, 2025
In attendance: Brian Robertson, Lindsay Washmuth, Roger Fouse, Chad Blake, Teresa Retherford, Secretary, and Evan McMullen, Legal Counsel
Public Comment: Stephanie Evelo read an email concerning the discoloration in the water in Lapel. Kristie Worthman got up and spoke about the brown water and finding a solution. Allicia West asked what the process is for after-hours reporting of brown water. Kelly Walker brought in brown water and wanted to make council aware that Hutchison came out and checked her water. Mike Helterbrand brought a jug of yellow water and stated he had brown water Wednesday night as well.
Presentations: KRM Redesign of Town Hall with public comments. Matt Yates from KRM presented a plan for the remodel of the new Town Hall to solve existing needs including ADA Compliance, meeting space and restrooms on the top floor. He went over the costs of the renovation. It has an estimated cost of $435,000. He also stated that if you were to build this building it would cost about 2 to 2.5 million and doesn't include land acquisition and site development costs. Fouse asked how it would disrupt the dayto-day business of the Town Hall. Yates stated that the vault could be removed as a separate bid. Washmuth stated that she liked that idea. It would like to do that first. Kristie Worthman asked what needs to be done right now to make it safe instead of doing a full renovation. Yates stated the restrooms would be immediate need. She also asked if it should be put on hold until we see if there is going to be a reorganization with Stony Creek Township. Blake stated that this Town Hall will be the Town Hall either way.
New Business: Englewood POD, Tony Bigotto gave a presentation on the PUD.
Motion made by Washmuth to deny the PI-JD, 2nd by Robertson and all were in favor.
CDS Engineers, INC, Dan Cutshaw presented a quote from Peerless to clean and repair both the State Road 13 and Ford Street Wells for approximately $79,000.
Motion to approve the Quote from Peerless Midwest made by Robertson, 2nd by Washmuth and all were in favor.
Dan Cutshaw presented a quote from R&R Visual for smoke testing the Sewer system in the amount of $21 ,ooo.
Motion to approve the quote from R&R Visual made by Blake, 2nd by Fouse and all were in favor.
Ordinance 2025-03: Ordinance approving the sale of the Gas Utility Sale Asset.
Motion to pass the first reading made by Fouse, 2nd by Washmuth and all were in favor.
Resolution 2025-6: Lapel and Pendleton Interlocal Agreement. A developer needing to improve the roadway due to large trucks. Agreement allows the ROW to be given to Pendleton and then return it to Lapel.
Motion to approve the Interlocal Agreement made by Robertson, 2nd by Blake and all were in favor.
Old Business: Comcast ROW Permit.
Motion made by Robertson to table the ROW Permit, 2nd by Washmuth and all were in favor.
Public Hearing: Budget Hearing. Robertson closed the regular meeting and opened the Public Hearing for the proposed Budget. Blake explained several parts of the budget and answered questions from the public. Robertson then closed the Public Hearing and reopened the regular meeting.
Department Reports:
Police: Chief Nasalroad stated that the 2020 Explorer needs a new transmission and is under warranty.
The F-150 is back and for the Tahoe parts to come in. Officer Jackson is in his third week at the Academy. Officer Lee completed field training and is released to solo patrol. Halloween trick or treating will be on October 31 , 2025, from 5:00pm to 8:00pm.
Utilities: Brandon Hutchison brought up the quote for the skid steer. Reynolds has offered a trade in price for the old skid for $12,000 which brings the total cost for the skid steer and two pieces of equipment to $82,900.
Motion to approve the purchase of the skid steer and two pieces of equipment on a 5 year lease to purchase made by Robertson, 2nd by Washmuth and all were in favor.
Hutchison then brought up that Brockway needs a new meter that will record every six hours and then be able to break it down to every 15 minutes.
Motion to purchase a new meter for Brockway for $4926.54 made by Robertson, 2nd by Fouse and all were in favor.
Hutchison then brought up the Main Street Lift Station Pump. One of the back up pumps went down. The cost for a new pump was only $400 more than to fix the old pump.
Motion to approve the purchase of the new pump for $4950.00 made by Robertson, 2nd by Washmuth and all were in favor.
Hutchison then stated that he went out to patch West 650 S and there was no road left to patch and wanted to bring that to the Council's attention.
RDC: Regular meeting and just paying bills.
Administration: Blake asked to purchase the second round of emails on the Microsoft account for the .gov account. He stated that we need 20 more licenses. Five of them full licenses and fifteen web based only for a yearly price of $2081.61. This would bring all town employees to the .gov emails.
Motion to approve the purchases of five full licenses and fifteen web-based licenses for $2081.60 made by Blake, 2nd by Robertson and all were in favor.
Clerk-Treasurer Report: Retherford stated that the South Madison Community Foundation has sent their letter for our yearly distribution to the school.
Motion to donate the distribution to the STEM program at Lapel Middle School made by Robertson, 2nd by Blake and all were in favor.
Retherford stated that she is working with Casey from State Bank to set up accounts to switch from First Merchants to State Bank.
Motion to allow our Clerk-Treasurer to begin the process of opening accounts with State Bank made by Blake, 2nd by Washmuth and all were in favor.
Motion to approve the Claims as presented made by Washmuth, 2nd by Fouse and all were in favor.
Motion to approve the Allowance Docket as presented made by Robertson, 2nd by Fouse and all were in favor.
Council Member Comments and Concerns: Blake brought up that the Police Department had a truck that was in pursuit and was totaled. In the budget that will be up for approval next month now that he knows there is money in the budget asked if he could reach out to the Bond Bank for financing rates for either/or the replacement of the totaled vehicle and the purchase of the next vehicle in the rotation.
Motion made by Robertson to allow Blake to reach out to the Bond Bank for financing options, 2nby by Washmuth and all were in favor.
Allicia West brought up possibly doing a Fund Raiser to donate money for the Police Vests. Retherford said that can be done. The public can do a Fund Raiser and then donate the money to the Police Department. Stephanie Evelo then said they could do it at The Lodge on Main.
Motion made by Robertson to adjourn the meeting, 2nd by Blake and all were in favor.
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