Transcript

City CouncilMar 12, 2026

About this transcript

Automatic transcription, not the official record. This is what speech recognition heard at the meeting; it mis-hears names and numbers, and no editor has checked it. The clerk's minutes are the official record. Every line links to the moment in the recording — check anything that matters.

Meeting: Terre Haute City Council · Mar 12, 2026
Length: 1:31:15
Lines: 328
Transcribed by: mlx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo

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0:00:00 — open the recording at 0 secondsSpeaker 0 Dr. Paul Nath, At this time, I call to order the regular meeting of the Terre Haute City Council on Thursday, March 12, 2026. First item on the agenda is a moment of silence and pledge of allegiance to the flag. Tonight, the pledge will be led by Councilperson Todd Nation.
0:00:30 — open the recording at 30 secondsSpeaker 3 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
0:00:53 — open the recording at 53 secondsSpeaker 7 Chuck, can we have a calling on the roll?
0:00:55 — open the recording at 55 secondsSpeaker 9 Councilperson Azar. Here. Councilperson Boland. Councilperson Chalos. Councilperson Devon? Here. Councilperson Dinkle? Present. Councilperson Hinton? Present. Councilperson Loudermilk? Present. Councilperson Nation? Here. Councilperson Thompson? Here. Seven are present, two are absent.
0:01:12 — open the recording at 1 minute 12 secondsSpeaker 0 We heard from both Councilpersons Boland and Councilperson Chalos that they were not able to be here this evening.
0:01:17 — open the recording at 1 minute 17 secondsSpeaker 15 At this time, we reserve up to 30 minutes of time for public comment on non-agenda items.
0:01:22 — open the recording at 1 minute 22 secondsSpeaker 0 We ask that you please limit your comments to three minutes and address your comments towards the council.
0:01:27 — open the recording at 1 minute 27 secondsSpeaker 15 First on our sign-up sheet is Deborah Considine.
0:01:34 — open the recording at 1 minute 34 secondsSpeaker 18 Hello, Deborah Considine, 1625 South 11th Street, Terre Haute. When there was discussion about homelessness, maybe about in October of last year, there was a gentleman who suggested a tax to help fund it. That led me to think that I was wondering if there would be a way that you could donate to help people without housing through your sewer bill with a donation. And I'd even have a name for it. I'd call it the Chauncey Rose Fund. Even though he helped orphans and widows, I think, you know, people unhoused would be something he would do if he were alive today.
0:02:17 — open the recording at 2 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 18 I personally have donated items to all three of the warming centers this year. in particular, the one on Lotus Center. And even though there have been a lot of people giving stuff, they needed stuff all the time because every time I bring in bulls, they said they've run out of them. And it is a need that's greatly needed here in Terre Haute and throughout Vigo County. Thank you for your time.
0:02:46 — open the recording at 2 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 20 Thank you.
0:02:48 — open the recording at 2 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 22 Next, Duane Malone.
0:02:54 — open the recording at 2 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 26 Good evening, President Dinkle, Council Persons. Good afternoon.
Highlight drawn from this moment: Resident's push for a 13th Street corridor committee stalls — council says it has to start with the mayor's office
0:03:09 — open the recording at 3 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 28 My name is Dwayne Malone, longtime resident of Vigo County. And I wanted two things. First thing, I wanted to follow up on the email you received that I sent out regarding the request for the ad hoc committee.
0:03:24 — open the recording at 3 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 29 and wanted to know the next steps regarding that.
0:03:34 — open the recording at 3 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 31 We haven't had, to be honest, time to discuss that at all. To discuss it. Typically, we have standing council committees that deal with business right in front of the council. Since we've had nothing formally come before us, we have not had a chance to create.
0:03:49 — open the recording at 3 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 29 Okay. So you'll have a chance to look at it, and then maybe next week, Will there be a response? I guess that's when you do have a chance to look at it.
Highlight drawn from this moment: Resident's push for a 13th Street corridor committee stalls — council says it has to start with the mayor's office
0:03:59 — open the recording at 3 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 31 Just to be clear about how the budget works, even if we wanted to fund something, it has to come through the executive to the mayor's office for a budget proposal. So that would have to start with the mayor. And then if it got to us, if there was something before us, an appropriation of funds, at that time we could create the ad hoc committee to study it.
0:04:24 — open the recording at 4 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 39 Okay, so from my understanding, it would have to come from the mayor's approval to create.
Highlight drawn from this moment: Resident's push for a 13th Street corridor committee stalls — council says it has to start with the mayor's office
0:04:29 — open the recording at 4 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 31 Yeah, essentially, I mean, the council can budget and appropriate funds, but we can't direct them how they're spent. That's ultimately the executive of the city's function.
0:04:41 — open the recording at 4 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 26 Okay, so not even involvement from your position as a county person regarding your community. You wouldn't have input, only the mayor would?
0:04:50 — open the recording at 4 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 31 We can have input, but essentially once we've appropriated, that's our duty.
0:04:55 — open the recording at 4 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 26 Okay.
0:04:56 — open the recording at 4 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 43 All right. Thank you.
0:04:57 — open the recording at 4 minutes 57 seconds Yes.
0:04:58 — open the recording at 4 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 45 Can I add? So your note to us was a two-part note.
0:05:02 — open the recording at 5 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 49 I think the first part was the ad hoc to study the 13th three-quarter. Right. The second part was funding. Funding for Jonah.
0:05:13 — open the recording at 5 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 53 I don't know if those two are the same or do we separate them out. But at any rate, I think the mayor's office may set up the ad hoc team to examine the 13th Street corridor.
0:05:33 — open the recording at 5 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 54 Then the funding piece is also from the mayor's office. But I don't know that we have the authority to set up the ad hoc committee.
0:05:39 — open the recording at 5 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 31 I mean, we can create a committee of the council, but it would be only council members, and I don't frankly know if that's going to accomplish what we really need to accomplish here.
0:05:49 — open the recording at 5 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 0 I think to really look at this issue, it needs to be a collaborative process with multi-players from the administration, from community members, and from the council.
0:05:59 — open the recording at 5 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 59 I yield.
0:06:00 — open the recording at 6 minutesSpeaker 28 Thank you.
Highlight drawn from this moment: Resident's push for a 13th Street corridor committee stalls — council says it has to start with the mayor's office
0:06:01 — open the recording at 6 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 26 My next reason for standing, we've had a tragic situation in our community where a young lady passed away in our jail. Very, very unfortunate situation. But what I want to bring to your attention is within the African-American community, we make up 8% of our total population. When it comes to our jail population, we make up anywhere from 30 to 40% on a daily basis. So some may ask, why is this happening, and what can we do to change it? I know sometimes when we look at the African-American community, sometimes they say, well, they're just criminals, they're savages, whatever the case may be.
0:06:51 — open the recording at 6 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 26 And it's up to our responsibility to change a mindset. The 13th Street Corridor changes the mindset within our community to have a lot of relief and a lot of support from our community and individuals that's living in and around it. We just need support.
0:07:11 — open the recording at 7 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 62 We have to have support to change mindsets and to change our community. Thank you for your time.
0:07:21 — open the recording at 7 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 15 Thank you. Is there anybody else in the public who would like to make a comment on non-agenda items?
0:07:30 — open the recording at 7 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 69 At this time, we'll have a presentation from Indiana State University students on the Neighborhood Investment Grant Program Research Project.
0:07:38 — open the recording at 7 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 72 Good evening, President Dinkle, members of the City Council. My name is A.T. Ryan, the Director of the Human Relations Commission for the City of Terre Haute. Last summer, Mayor Brandon and I began discussing the idea of creating a Neighborhood Investment Fund, a program that would provide small grants or project funding to neighborhood groups for projects that strengthen and invest in communities. As we started to think about how to build a program like this, we wanted to take a thoughtful and research-based approach.
0:08:10 — open the recording at 8 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 72 So last in the fall semester of this past year, we partnered with PhD students from Indiana State University who helped us to study how similar funds operate in other communities and identify best practices for launching a program like this. Tonight, they will be sharing their research they conducted and some of the ideas that came out of this work. We're incredibly grateful for their time and thought that they put into this project, and the research and recommendations are helping us to build the framework for what this program could look like here in Terre Haute.
0:08:42 — open the recording at 8 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 72 So just to give some context of how we will be proceeding with what they have done as a city, over the next few months we're going to be refining what they will share here tonight and with a goal of beginning this project in the spring and fully launching to the public in May.
0:09:00 — open the recording at 9 minutesSpeaker 74 We appreciate, again, their partnership and are excited to have them share what they learned. I'm going to turn it over to them.
0:09:12 — open the recording at 9 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 78 Good evening President Dinkel, City Council members, Clerk Edwards and individuals in the gallery. My name is Joseph Harris.
0:09:23 — open the recording at 9 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 80 And I am Sarah Fieras and we are Ph.D. students with the Higher Education Leadership Program at Indiana State.
0:09:29 — open the recording at 9 minutes 29 seconds Awesome.
0:09:30 — open the recording at 9 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 78 So we're going to start our presentation now. We have our booklets for everybody, you could follow along if you would. I'm going to start with the scope. The City of Terre Haute had allocated $75,000 from casino funds to empower local neighborhoods through the Neighborhood Investment Fund. The objective is to distribute these funds equitably to neighborhood groups for community empowerment projects. This report outlines the implementation plan specifically designed to bridge the gap between equality and capacity.
0:10:03 — open the recording at 10 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 78 Research and stakeholder interviews indicate a strong desire for a process that is transparent, to informal groups and managed directly by the city to reduce legal liability. The following report details the program guidelines supported by literature review. We're going to go on to administrative recommendations. Based on the mayor's vision and stakeholder feedback, we recommend the following administrative structure. Funding model, we wanted a city managed project proposal model. The city retains funds and handles procurement and installment directly rather than
0:10:31 — open the recording at 10 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 78 dispersing cash to groups. That's to minimize any sort of legal problems. Marketing, branding should focus on neighborhoods and families to minimize political skepticism. And the timeline was already covered by AT. Theoretical framework. One of the things we did, we looked at other cities first to kind of see, so we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We wanted to see what kind of models were doing the similar work. So we wanted to find communities from which we could take ideas and inspiration. So we started with an asset-based community development.
0:11:01 — open the recording at 11 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 78 The NIF project aligns with the asset-based community development framework, unlike a needs-based approach that focuses on deficiencies, ABCD emphasizes the strengths and existing assets within the community. Stakeholders noted that some communities possess strong organizational assets while others lack formal 501 structures but possess significant social capital through churches and informal kitchen table groups. We wanted to find ways to strengthen each individual community and rely on their strengths and not just their weaknesses. 2.2, the broken window theory and beautification.
0:11:34 — open the recording at 11 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 78 Several stakeholders emphasize beautification as a crime reduction strategy. This aligns with the broken window theory, which suggests that visible signs of disorder can encourage further crime. However, the literature cautions that beautification without community buy-in is unlikely to have lasting impact. In response, the NIF guidelines prioritize projects that demonstrate a neighborhood vote or clear neighborhood consensus, rather than projects driven by the preferences of a single individual. Equity and municipal funding, a recurring theme
0:12:02 — open the recording at 12 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 78 in the research is the tension between shovel-reggie projects and equitable impact. Shovel-ready criteria often bias funding towards wealthier, more organized neighborhoods that already have grant writing experience and formal structures. To counter this, our framework intentionally deprioritizes speed and instead centers local high need areas, with a specific focus on the broken promised neighborhoods defined as annexed areas that have historically lack basic infrastructure. The next part, stakeholder interviews. We conducted 10 in-depth interviews
0:12:36 — open the recording at 12 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 78 with key stakeholders, including city council members, United Way representatives, and community center leaders. The purpose of these interviews was to identify barriers for entry for neighborhood groups, particularly those without nonprofit status, and determine the most effective and equitable distribution mechanisms for the NIF. Our key findings, and this is just the large overview, There was a capacity gap. Stakeholders unanimously agreed that high need areas lacked administrative capacity to manage traditional grant funds, including banking, procurement, and reporting.
0:13:05 — open the recording at 13 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 78 This finding supports a city-managed procurement model in which the city handles the financial and contractual components of each project. Another finding that we found was that there were trust issues. There's a significant distrust of any type of government initiative among some residents. stakeholders emphasize that marketing must clearly be non-political and should be framed around neighborhoods and families or validated by local trusted local leaders such as pastors and community center directors. Practical deliverables. So the mission of the Terre Haute Neighborhood Investment Fund
0:13:37 — open the recording at 13 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 78 is a neighborhood driven initiative designed to transfer community ideas into reality. Funded by the City of Terre Haute, the program empowers residents to define and shape the improvements the community need most. Our core philosophy is that it should be neighborhood driven. Residents know best what their block and neighborhoods need. It should be inclusive. Formal nonprofit status is not required to apply. All informal groups are welcome. Tangible impact. The program prioritizes projects that families and children can see, use, and enjoy in their daily lives. Eligibility, who can apply?
0:14:10 — open the recording at 14 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 78 Neighborhood associations, both formal, registered, informal such as the previously mentioned kitchen table neighborhood groups can apply faith-based groups churches and religious organizations acting on behalf of the neighborhood ad hoc committees groups of neighbors formed specifically for a project with a designated lead contact residency requirements projects must be located within the city limits of Terre Haute priority is given to our project in high need areas in annexed neighborhoods that have historically lacked
0:14:36 — open the recording at 14 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 78 infrastructure. Ineligibility. Individuals applying for improvements to personal property are ineligible. For-profit businesses are also ineligible. Project scope. Eligible projects are physical improvements such as benches, signage, tree planting, landscaping and public right-of-way, and public art. Gathering spaces, picnic tables, small park shelters, or enhancement to share community spaces. Events. Time-limited events such as neighborhood block parties, picnics, or concerts that foster community connection and are part of a broader neighborhood improvement
0:15:10 — open the recording at 15 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 78 effort. Other things such as tool libraries, shared equipment such as lawnmowers and edges that are owned and managed by a neighborhood association or group. Ineligible projects are things like surveillance. We found from a lot of our conversations with stakeholders that surveillance, security cameras, speed cameras, alarms, monitoring devices, they fail. It's hard to keep up with them and the upkeep isn't worth the risk. Private property improvements to private driveways, individual homes or backyards that are not accessible
0:15:38 — open the recording at 15 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 78 to the public, payment to individuals solely for organizing groups or attending meetings, and political activities. The next part is a rubric. I'm going to skip that part. Those are just suggested rubrics so that people could have an idea of how we could score some of these issues. This is just more of a suggestion and it takes up a lot of time so I don't want to waste our time sort of going over a rubric that you may not decide to use. Process and timeline. Informal mandatory meetings represented from the ISU student consulting team and city staff will explain the NIF process and answer
0:16:10 — open the recording at 16 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 78 questions. A letter of interest, a simple one-page form indicating your group's intent to apply and summarizing your project idea. Applicant workshop also known as technical assistance, a mandatory workshop to assist informal groups in writing their proposals and estimating costs using their project menu. Application submission, applications must be submitted by the final deadline there will be no rolling admissions review and reward applicants will be scored by a balanced grant selection committee this process is designed to ensure fairness transparency and authentic neighborhood
0:16:41 — open the recording at 16 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 78 representation the next is our marketing and outreach strategy our core strategy once again is to focus on neighborhoods and families and that was to address the government distrust identified earlier in our stakeholder analysis the NIF campaign will be framed primarily around families and neighborhoods rather than a traditional city project. The core mission is to create safer, more welcoming spaces where families, children, and neighbors can connect because who doesn't like families, neighborhoods, and children?
0:17:11 — open the recording at 17 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 78 Critical branding approach. We want to avoid bureaucratic language. We don't want to present the NIF as a complex bureaucratic process. We want to use plain language and emphasize opportunity, community, and pride. We want to focus on trust, frame the grant as a tool for neighbors, helping neighbors. The city provides the funding and logistical support but the ideas and priorities come from the residents themselves. Key themes when describing eligible projects or the mission prioritize language about neighborhoods and families such as safe places to play, walkable
0:17:38 — open the recording at 17 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 78 streets for strollers, beautiful murals rather than abstract terms such as infrastructure or capital projects that some people may not quite get or understand. Defining neighborhoods for outreach purposes. For the purposes of this grant a neighborhood is defined by people who connect there, not just lines on a map. A neighborhood is the immediate community where families interact, children play, and residents share common spaces. Whether you are a formal association, a group of concerned parents, or a block of neighbors who want to make a change,
0:18:06 — open the recording at 18 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 78 you constitute a neighborhood under our definition. I'd like to introduce Sarah Fears for our next
0:18:11 — open the recording at 18 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 95 part of the presentation. Sarah Fears, I have to relinquish clicker control, and that's very sad. So for this project, our core campaign assets are to ensure that there is a consistent, inspiring, and clear message following the development before launch. And so we have decided to create a couple campaign slogans that might resonate with the community, such as change begins at the crossroad, stronger neighborhoods, stronger Terre Haute, and Terre Haute, let's build better. We also generated a few hashtags so that we can track our metrics and how well we're performing on our socials
0:18:51 — open the recording at 18 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 96 for those who are digital natives and our friends who are digital immigrants and coming back to different platforms,
0:18:58 — open the recording at 18 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 95 such as Invest in Terre Haute, Built by Neighbors, Terre Haute Together, and Haute Helps Neighbors. We did a mock-up flyer here, as you can see, that lists how people can participate in this grant opportunity
0:19:12 — open the recording at 19 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 96 and what it could potentially look like as we start canvassing in these neighborhoods. So our digital strategy is we have to meet people where they scroll. For a lot of these people, rather than relying solely on the city's own social channels, this is a marketing strategy that will partner with trusted third-party platforms. So things like code happenings to identify stakeholders as a key platform for reaching families. It would be a very formal partnership. There is the Community Resource Alliance that has a larger listserv, about 300 or more local organizations,
0:19:50 — open the recording at 19 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 96 Chamber of Commerce, Today in Terre Haute newsletter, and then CU in Terre Haute. Our vision here is that we would have video and content strategy that we could leverage through micro bits. So taking larger chunks of a longer form YouTube video, cutting it down for a Reels for Instagram or Facebook or any of the meta platforms, as well as cutting them for TikTok so they're quick and digestible, but something that they could retain and easily share with the community. Next slide, please. So our hope is that these are hyper-local outreach tactics.
0:20:26 — open the recording at 20 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 96 So neighborhoods with lower digital engagement, particularly maybe District 1 in the Southside areas, this campaign will rely on high-touch in-person marketing. So we want to create a neighborhood champion street team. This is a grassroots promotion that would be modeled for an opportunity for people in the neighborhood to see other people investing in them again. So that there's not so many strangers saying, oh, wouldn't you love a bench? It is your community saying, we need this bench for comfort, for access, for spending time together, right?
0:21:02 — open the recording at 21 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 96 And so our hope is that we would find passionate volunteers who represent their own neighborhoods and to support large-scale canvassing, tap into local organizations, including but not limited to our local graduate chapter sororities of the Divine Nine, our other national panhellenic fraternities and sororities, as well as the Terre Haute Volunteer Network, the Wabash Valley District of Crossroads of America Council, Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, our honor scholars at Indiana State who have a volunteer requirement, and both Terre Haute North and South National Honor Societies to tap into.
0:21:44 — open the recording at 21 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 96 The other process that we'd like to tap into is the candy method. Volunteers will distribute door hangers to our mailboxes, flyers, accompanied with a small item, perhaps the candy bar, perhaps the candy cane. This encourages residents that, hey, there is a treat attached to some rather interesting material so that they're just not easily thrown away. And then locations would really focus on these neighborhood champions that will help explain these idea catalogs and barbershops, laundromats, corner stores, and every other day gathering opportunities.
0:22:18 — open the recording at 22 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 96 So our idea here next is that we have a proposed timeline that is, I'm so sorry, my eyes are not as good as they once were. But this timeline includes a soft launch that would have a toolkit and project idea catalog sent to our previously identified partners. We'd finalize these so that they know exactly what the marketing strategy would be and the content and the language that needs to go out in the newsletters and on socials. Then we would do a public launch. This would bring awareness to what's happening, obviously, at large through social media and other traditional platforms.
0:23:06 — open the recording at 23 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 96 We would then create a street team drive. So this focuses, again, on District 1 and these broken promised neighborhoods. and our neighborhood champions would distribute these door hangers with candy or tchotchke item in these targeted areas. We would then move on to technical assistance to host ideal workshops and labs to help informal groups complete proposals. This was the most equitable way that we could imagine bringing people to the table. And then we would do a review which would be our six in one committee, so council members, community leaders
0:23:39 — open the recording at 23 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 96 and so on who would review these applications and confirm neighborhood verification. And then finally at the six-month mark, we'd hope that we would have completed projects that we could host celebrations and list all of our completed opportunities. Our strategic recommendations for the city is to ensure the success of this program. The consulting team advises that Terre Haute adopts the following strategic measures. These recommendations come directly from the equity versus capacity tension identified during our stakeholder interviews.
0:24:14 — open the recording at 24 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 96 So the first that we'd like to do is a six and one voting structure. To ensure that there is fair governance and reduced skepticism about political influence in deciding funding, we strongly recommend a grant selection committee composed of seven members. Six community leaders, one from each district, picked by their city council member, providing democratic legitimacy and knowledge of district's histories and needs and then as a seventh tiebreaker, the mayor who would facilitate these discussions and cast a deciding vote when necessary.
0:24:46 — open the recording at 24 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 96 This is an extra layer of verification for our legislative branches with grassroots reality. This is the presence of community leaders to help encounter perceptions that this program is top down and the odd number of members prevents voting stalemates. We will then create a project menu for budgeting support. Stakeholders reported that many residents are unfamiliar with the cost of municipal improvements. So to bridge this capacity gap, the city should provide a standardized project menu in the application packet.
0:25:21 — open the recording at 25 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 96 So an example, again, we talk a lot about benches here, commercial grade benches, that's approximately $1,200, including installation. This is a tool that will allow informal groups to develop realistic budgets without needing to independently obtain quotes from other vendors. Our hope then is to bridge the gap in these forgotten neighborhoods. The city should intentionally market this to traditionally marginalized neighborhoods that have experienced delay in infrastructure improvements.
0:25:53 — open the recording at 25 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 96 We hope to use this as a resource to support smaller connectivity and beautification projects in these areas. These visible improvements can serve as good faith gestures and help to rebuild trust in neighborhoods that feel overlooked. So our hope then is to plan a post-cycle wrap-up celebration at the conclusion of the grant cycle, a planned citywide event such as a ribbon-cutting and recognition ceremony for all of the funded neighborhoods. The benefits include maintaining program momentum and morale, provides compelling visuals for media coverage,
0:26:26 — open the recording at 26 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 96 reinforces the city's commitment to neighborhood investments, and ultimately helps recruit new participants for partners for a potential year two. And we have included a few marketing mock-ups in your packets, and we are happy to show at a high level what some of these could look like.
0:26:48 — open the recording at 26 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 78 So if you look through your packets, you'll see the marketing mock-ups. They're just different ideas that we had. We used the colors and some of the font recognitions that the city of Terre Haute had on their webpage. page so that we could retain the idea of people knowing that this is a city initiative. So we have the Neighborhood Investment Fund with the city behind it with the small swish going through representing the river on A. We have the TH with the houses on B. We have the river running through with the neighborhoods around it on C. D is our house with many rooms.
0:27:29 — open the recording at 27 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 78 E is our just TH, F is our star, G is our growing together with hands, H which is my favorite today, my favorite changes on day to day, and I is sort of a map with flames coming out of it, and J our last one is the outline of the neighborhood. So we just wanted to provide potential ideas for marketing mock-ups so that everyone could sort of see what it could look like. And that is our presentation. We would like to open up for any comments or questions or concerns.
0:28:05 — open the recording at 28 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 111 Questions or comments?
0:28:11 — open the recording at 28 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 69 Mr. President.
0:28:14 — open the recording at 28 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 115 Council presentation.
0:28:16 — open the recording at 28 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 116 Well, thank you, Joseph and Sarah, for presenting this to us and to your other classmates who also helped put all this stuff together. Can you remember or remind us of exactly how much money is available to implement all these good ideas?
0:28:34 — open the recording at 28 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 118 $75,000.
0:28:36 — open the recording at 28 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 116 Yeah, okay. And has there been any thought given to the idea that this might carry over from year to year
0:28:44 — open the recording at 28 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 119 and not just be a one-shot deal?
0:28:48 — open the recording at 28 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 121 Yeah. AT is so happy to answer. Good.
0:28:51 — open the recording at 28 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 72 I think that we're pulling this funds from gaming revenue. So obviously we have to look at our gaming revenue, what we will have for 27. But I think that Mayor Brandon would like to see this be an ongoing initiative. Of course, evaluating at the end is always important. So this is a pilot, but like our free transit, we would love for it to be an ongoing initiative.
0:29:21 — open the recording at 29 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 116 I think it's great, and I appreciate all the work that went into this, all of you. Thank you very much. I yield.
0:29:35 — open the recording at 29 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 128 Councilperson Hinton.
0:29:37 — open the recording at 29 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 130 I know these folks intimately.
0:29:42 — open the recording at 29 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 132 They're our students, and I remember them working on this project very diligently. I had not seen the finished product because I didn't lead this class. But looking, I see the work that went into it, and we're appreciative. Thank you for shouting out District 1, too. I don't know why they shouted out District 1 for some reason.
0:30:04 — open the recording at 30 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 135 Thank you.
0:30:05 — open the recording at 30 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 136 I yield.
0:30:06 — open the recording at 30 minutes 6 seconds Thank you.
0:30:11 — open the recording at 30 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 136 Thank you very much.
0:30:12 — open the recording at 30 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 138 You get an A.
0:30:14 — open the recording at 30 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 140 Thank you all very much for your time. Thank you.
0:30:17 — open the recording at 30 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 31 This time we're going to close public comment. Corrections to the journal of the preceding meeting. Communication from the mayor.
0:30:27 — open the recording at 30 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 146 I receive nothing.
0:30:29 — open the recording at 30 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 148 While Jesse's making his way up here, I do want to congratulate Mayor Sackbun on the birth of his new child.
0:30:35 — open the recording at 30 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 31 I don't know if it was this morning or last night, but we wish him and his wife and their new family the best.
0:30:42 — open the recording at 30 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 151 Council President Ingle, are we ready for reports from city officials? Sure.
0:30:46 — open the recording at 30 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 152 All right. Thank you, Council President Dinkle, members of the council. Jesse Tohill, Director of Public Works and Safety. I want to provide you with a couple of updates here, one specifically regarding a request for funding from the county council that myself and A.T. Ryan, our human relations director, made this past Tuesday. There's been quite a bit of social media discussion about this, and I just kind of want to clarify the content of that request and then put it into context regarding the original request that was made to county council back in December.
0:31:31 — open the recording at 31 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 152 So I'm reading from the Vigo County Council special meeting agenda from December 29th, 2025 at 10 a.m.
0:31:41 — open the recording at 31 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 153 I'll just skip down to number eight, ordinances relating to appropriations and item A, additional appropriation 2025-61, Terre Haute Mayor's Office-Warming Center Operations. It was the exact same request that was made this past Tuesday, and it did pass through council unanimously, albeit there were two council members that were not present at that meeting. So this is the, I'll read verbatim what I provided to county council last Tuesday for their consideration. To Vigo County Council regarding additional appropriation for warming center operations.
0:32:25 — open the recording at 32 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 153 operations. Council President Ellis and members of the Vigo County Council, on behalf of the City of Terre Haute, the City respectfully requests approval of an appropriation in the amount of $15,000 to assist with funding warming center operations in Vigo County for the 2025-26 season. This request was previously approved by the Council on December 29, 2025 during a special session however the funds were neither expended nor encumbered in september 2025 the city convened a warming center working group to revise the current white flag red flag plan which provides
0:33:05 — open the recording at 33 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 153 operational guidance and establishes parameters for opening and operating warming centers in vigo county key objectives included broader but more clearly defined opening criteria and more consistent aligned communications. This effort has included representation and input from multiple city and county departments as well as community stakeholders and has resulted in the current warming center operations agreement with Mental Health America. To date, as of last Tuesday, the warming center has operated for 34 days under this agreement. A copy of the agreement
0:33:43 — open the recording at 33 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 153 is attached to their request. The city appreciates the county's continued partnership and support as we work to provide this critical service to our most vulnerable residents. The city will come before the council later this year to provide relevant updates regarding warming center operations and related coordination efforts respectfully, Jesse Tohill, director of public works and safety. So there's been some discussion as to whether or not this request was confusing or ambiguous in some way. And I won't speak to that. I just wanted to put it on the record
0:34:21 — open the recording at 34 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 152 here exactly what that request said. I think we can safely say that it's a fragile partnership in regards to future financial investments from the county council as we look to the 2026-2027 warming center operations. I'd be happy to answer any questions about that part.
0:34:47 — open the recording at 34 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 154 Councilperson Thompson.
0:34:50 — open the recording at 34 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 156 Jesse, I hope you don't feel that you are responsible in any way for what happened.
0:34:57 — open the recording at 34 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 158 I don't want to speak to everybody on the council, but I went back after I heard about the vote and watched the meeting, and I remember seeing the meeting back from December. I don't think there was any ambiguity or confusion about what was promised and what was then basically a broken promise earlier this week. we also just got word I guess the bridge will not be reopening their warming center this year so we're going to be in an even worse position so many not for profits stepped up to the table this year so much of our community, people that
0:35:46 — open the recording at 35 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 158 their name wasn't even made public that came in and stepped in and helped with funding when it wasn't there and when I get angry it's hard for me to articulate but the likelihood of non-for-profits wanting to work with the city county proposal in the future I will tell you the word has spread beyond just the agencies that were involved in the warming centers that frustrates me to no end because it is important for our government to work with our nonprofit agencies. Just like we heard from our students here earlier presenting, you need buy-in from a community. You need support from a community.
0:36:36 — open the recording at 36 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 158 A government can't just dictate and tell. There's a lack of trust. So I have serious concerns about moving forward. and I know UNAT and the mayor are going to do great work and find a way because you always do but I am beyond angry with the county council vote they turned a blind eye to one of the most serious issues that our county has a lot of you probably saw what I posted on Facebook earlier this week I was recovering from the flu and was also in the middle of a jury trial when all this went down. And I could not sleep that night. I was just that furious.
0:37:26 — open the recording at 37 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 158 This will continue to be an ongoing issue. And if we have four members of our county council, they can't see that. That's a huge problem. and beyond that they had made a promise last year to do this funding and I understand that people in the community have stepped up to make up that 15,000 difference that the county completely dropped the ball on and I'm very glad to hear that because and I know the city probably would have found a way as well but what if the money wasn't there these non-for-profits would have been holding a $15,000 bill when they are already strapped for funding.
0:38:10 — open the recording at 38 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 158 I hope the county council members that voted no take a very good look in the mirror. And I hope our voters heard very well what happened at that meeting earlier this week. And I'll leave it at that.
0:38:25 — open the recording at 38 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 171 Thank you.
0:38:26 — open the recording at 38 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 170 Thank you for your support. Councilperson DeBond. Councilperson Thompson.
0:38:29 — open the recording at 38 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 175 Yeah, when Mayor Sackbun brought this to us late last year as an opportunity to work with the county on such an important issue, I saw it as this is a great opportunity for the city and the county to work together on something life-saving, right? Something very necessary for our community. I don't know how or why the vote went the way it did at the county council, but I'm going to remain optimistic that hopefully we can all continue to work together on this going forward. That's my hope. I'll yield. Thank you.
0:39:14 — open the recording at 39 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 179 Councilperson Loudermilk.
0:39:16 — open the recording at 39 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 183 I just wanted to echo Amanda's sentiments. I happened to be at that meeting that night.
0:39:21 — open the recording at 39 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 184 Jesse and AT did a wonderful job sitting back there in the corner and was absolutely in complete shock at the answer. And as Jesse knows, I was pretty angry when I left. I guess coming from my experience, I don't think we should have ever had to have gone back. The ball was dropped. from the very beginning. Second, their agendas say reappropriate right on the agenda. So any question of stating they didn't know what they were voting on, whether it was new funding or not, it was in their packet. The mayor's letter was in their packet.
0:40:15 — open the recording at 40 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 184 I guess I'm disappointed that we have council members that can't read what's in their packet and understand what they're voting on. Jesse's comments, as he stated, he read you your statement. The first thing he says is this was appropriated in December, was not spent, didn't get encumbered, and we're back to ask for that same. I'm not speaking for everyone, but most of the time when I don't understand what we're appropriating or if we're doing something, I'll ask a question and say, is this a new appropriation are we now giving?
0:40:55 — open the recording at 40 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 184 So I have my concerns going forward also with what might take place. Again, I have all the faith in the city. As Amanda said, how many people have stepped up? We have a nice lady here who spoke about how much she has stepped up and went to the warming centers. I guess just, you know, sometimes the county officials believe the city should do everything on their own when they're working in the city. And I'm just going to make my normal statement, and that is the city does not hover over the county. We are part of the county. And city taxpayers pay into the county coffers.
0:41:46 — open the recording at 41 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 184 Just a little statement I wanted to make, and with that, I will yield.
0:41:52 — open the recording at 41 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 69 Thank you. Councilperson Nation.
0:41:56 — open the recording at 41 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 116 Just one quick thing. Councilperson Ladermilk alluded to Deborah Considine's suggestion earlier that we use our sewer bill to promote a fund that would be voluntary that people could write a few extra bucks onto and donate. I think that I would be specific toward the Warming Center Initiative because that's what we can all... We don't have to imagine it. It's an actual solution that's been implemented and I think probably saved lives. So I would urge you, Jesse, with your storied past and sewage management to try to implement Mrs. Constantine's good idea. All right. And I'll yield with that.
0:42:52 — open the recording at 42 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 116 Thank you.
0:42:54 — open the recording at 42 minutes 54 seconds Thank you.
0:42:55 — open the recording at 42 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 152 I will add that since operating the warming center under the current criteria, We have had no loss of life during a pretty brutal stretch of weather in February. So it really has been a lifesaver. There's no other questions. I'll move on to what else I've got here. So we are officially about one month out from the citywide cleanup. It is currently scheduled for April 13th, 2026, from 8 a.m. to noon. Our locations will be 1329 Deming Street, which is the transit street department garage. At that location, they'll accept up to four tires.
0:43:44 — open the recording at 43 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 152 They'll accept electronics, and they will accept tree trimmings, limbs up to four inches. And, of course, they'll also take those large items as well there.
0:43:58 — open the recording at 43 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 153 Our other location is going to be at the Vigo County Solid Waste District up at 3230 Haythorn.
0:44:11 — open the recording at 44 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 152 And I'm sure everybody will be excited to know that we are bringing the citywide cleanup back to 1211 Wabash. So very popular site. That'll be mostly for large items. So we'll have three sites going. please do share the word with your with your districts and your contacts I do want to give a shout out I think I already heard one shout out for neighbors helping neighbors but neighbors helping neighbors will be doing their program where they will actually you can contact them and they can help you get some of those large items out of the house if you're not able to yourself you schedule
0:44:53 — open the recording at 44 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 152 that with neighbors helping neighbors and they go out a couple days before and they get those large items to the curb and then we send some crews around the city picking those items up that's been a great success and we've loved that partnership with Sheila Romanelli and a United Way and neighbors helping neighbors also Burkhardt insurance does their $10 a bag initiative during the spring cleanup. So your non-for-profit can sign up through Burkhardt Insurance and they will pay you $10 for every bag of trash that you bring them up to $200. And that information is available
0:45:33 — open the recording at 45 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 152 on their social media as well. Let's see. Also just one real quick update. Pretty exciting.
0:45:43 — open the recording at 45 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 153 February 2026 we almost hit 25,000 riders on our buses
0:45:51 — open the recording at 45 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 152 so that is a pretty astounding number. Of course we were fare free last February we were over 18,000 so we're growing still from those numbers of the first year of the onset of fare free. So any questions about either of those?
0:46:10 — open the recording at 46 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 69 Council President Bonn.
0:46:12 — open the recording at 46 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 173 First I love hearing those transit numbers, that's great news. I just had a quick question. Are we still doing the
0:46:19 — open the recording at 46 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 175 citywide cleanups twice a year? We are. You know, I've volunteered and worked at a couple of those, and I know how successful they are, right? How frequented they are by the people. Have there been talks about maybe doing maybe one or two more a year as well? I know there's
0:46:36 — open the recording at 46 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 153 probably a lot of effort that goes into them. I have no doubt. Right. So we, the city has allocated x number of dumpsters to use through our contract with Republic Services. So we try to make sure that we fill up and use every dumpster that is allocated to us. Sometimes that number is a little
0:46:55 — open the recording at 46 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 152 bit lower because we may have a one-off cleanup that we need to use one of those dumpsters for. The city has spearheaded several large encampment cleanups here and there. There have been some some properties that were just sort of abandoned and left for the city to clean up. We view some that way, but generally we will use and we'll have as many cleanups as were provided dumpsters. So I think maybe 2024 we did do three cleanups that year, but we kind of mixed the one over the summer in with more of like a beautification sort of project,
0:47:34 — open the recording at 47 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 152 and we went around and abated a lot of graffiti, painted over some graffiti. So, yeah, I would like to bring something like that.
0:47:44 — open the recording at 47 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 200 Thank you for the work you're doing. I appreciate it. I yield.
0:47:49 — open the recording at 47 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 202 Councilperson Nation.
0:47:50 — open the recording at 47 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 116 Jesse, can you talk just a little bit more about how the level of ridership for the bus system
0:48:00 — open the recording at 48 minutesSpeaker 115 can be translated into more years of free bus service. I mean, what number are we trying to hit to ensure that that continues going forward?
0:48:13 — open the recording at 48 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 153 The best that I could really describe it as is that there is some federal formula-based funding that's based on your ridership number.
0:48:22 — open the recording at 48 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 152 Sometimes that formula and that change is pretty slow to roll out. So I think you do have to show some consistency over a few years. And when the federal government, who provides quite a bit of the funding to transit, decides that you deserve a little bit more money, that's when we would kind of see fare, free, maybe even more than pay for itself.
0:48:51 — open the recording at 48 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 153 And I think we discussed when we first approached this council, which thank you for entertaining that idea, really the type of fare that we eliminated only accounted for about 4% of transit's total budget. So once we kind of crunched the numbers, it was like, you know, why are we making people dig in their pocket for the loose change and the riders are waiting and the bus driver is getting behind in his schedule?
0:49:19 — open the recording at 49 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 152 the numbers made sense and hopefully the ridership will sort of, you know, kind of tip the scales there and actually bring us more revenue in than that type of fare was ever bringing in.
0:49:34 — open the recording at 49 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 116 Well, I hope so, too. That's why I'm asking for the number, like, you know, what the what the actual target number is. And if you don't know, it's OK.
0:49:43 — open the recording at 49 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 211 I don't know if AT has had any discussions about where we're trying. I think we're just trying to go big. Right.
0:49:52 — open the recording at 49 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 116 Okay, because I understand that we've always been mostly federally funded on transit.
0:50:00 — open the recording at 50 minutesSpeaker 115 And I remember your story about how small the actual margin was for fare-based ridership. So I get all that. but I really want to see this not just succeed but persist into the future and I know that things are changing at the federal level and that it's less reliable than ever in some ways but my goal or what I would think that we would want to be doing is seeing where that threshold is and then working toward that knowing where the goal line is at least for now
0:50:37 — open the recording at 50 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 153 that's a very fair question
0:50:39 — open the recording at 50 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 152 Let us talk to Ryan and Jeremy over at the MPO and kind of see if we can get an idea of, based on our projections, where we might see that break-even or even sort of that tipping point.
0:50:52 — open the recording at 50 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 220 Yeah, thanks. Okay, I yield.
0:50:58 — open the recording at 50 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 222 Thank you, Jesse. Good. Welcome. Any other reports from city officials?
0:51:04 — open the recording at 51 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 72 Not to come back to the warming center, but I did want to let you all know that regardless of all of the funding conversations we've had, it is going to get cold again. We did have 75 degrees, I think, on Tuesday, but on Sunday it is supposed to drop pretty significantly overnight. So Sunday, March 15th at 4 p.m., the Lotus Center Warming Center will open through Wednesday, March 18th at 9 a.m. It's on city socials, so please share. There's a flyer available that you can download and print out and share with individuals as well. So we just ask that you do that.
0:51:44 — open the recording at 51 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 72 I also did just want to quickly reassure everyone. I'm in constant contact with our friends over at Mental Health America and the Lotus Center, and they have been nothing short of exceptional as partners. And so I just want to, again, extend my thanks to them, but also say that that partnership there between the city and Mental Health America remains strong, despite everything else in the world. So, thank you.
0:52:11 — open the recording at 52 minutes 11 seconds Thank you.
0:52:13 — open the recording at 52 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 226 Any other enforcement city officials?
0:52:17 — open the recording at 52 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 230 Councilperson Henry.
0:52:19 — open the recording at 52 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 132 We got a note from the grandson of Carl Ross. He writes, Good evening. My name is Keith Cunningham, and I am the son of Ernestine Ross Cunningham, who was Carl Ross's youngest daughter. Grandpa had just two daughters, my mother and her older sister, Catherine Ross Glover, who are both deceased. On behalf of his four grandchildren, we want to thank you. We want to thank the City Council of Terre Haute, Indiana, for honoring our grandfather. A special thanks to Candace Hinton and Todd Nation for being so kind.
0:53:00 — open the recording at 53 minutesSpeaker 132 Also a very special thank you to our cousin Dee Reed who brought this to the attention of so many in Terre Haute. Dee's advocacy in telling the story of such a brave man who saved the lives of 52 people has given meaning to our grandfather's heroic efforts of choosing the life of others before his own. Once again, thanks everyone who is making this dedication happen in honor of our grandfather, Carl Ross. On behalf of his four grandchildren, Bobby Ross of San Bernardino, California, Brenda Vaughn of Toledo, Ohio, Venetta Cunningham and Keith Cunningham, both of Grand Rapids,
0:53:40 — open the recording at 53 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 132 Michigan, we are grateful for your remembering our grandfather. Thank you so very much from the bottom of our hearts. Can't wait to meet you and thank you in person. Have a blessed night. Keith Cunningham.
0:53:53 — open the recording at 53 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 143 Thank you.
0:53:58 — open the recording at 53 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 69 Reports from Board of Public Works and Safety.
0:54:01 — open the recording at 54 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 238 There are none. Reports from Standing Committees. There are none. Reports from Non-Standing Committees. There are none. Items previously tabled. There are none. Tax abatements for confirmation. There are none.
0:54:11 — open the recording at 54 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 226 Items on second reading.
0:54:12 — open the recording at 54 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 240 General Ordinance 2, 2026, Amending City Code, Chapter 7, Article 2, Fire Prevention Code, Division 4, Fire Service Features, you have a proposed amendment before you.
0:54:22 — open the recording at 54 minutes 22 seconds Thank you.
0:54:23 — open the recording at 54 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 241 Petitioner.
0:54:24 — open the recording at 54 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 243 President Dingell, Council Persons, Bob Malone, Deputy Chief, Terre Haute Fire.
0:54:30 — open the recording at 54 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 245 I was here last week, had a few issues. I just wanted to go over and make sure everything was good prior to coming before you to vote on this. we found that there was an issue where it stated a building was to be 50,000 square feet instead of 5,000. So that was one of the errors. I don't even know that we have a 50,000 square foot building in Terre Haute, but it should have been five.
0:55:06 — open the recording at 55 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 246 So I'll answer any questions if needed.
0:55:09 — open the recording at 55 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 15 Is there anyone from the public who wishes to comment on General Ordinance 2, 2026? Hearing none, Council?
0:55:24 — open the recording at 55 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 248 Mr. President?
0:55:25 — open the recording at 55 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 250 Councilperson Nation.
0:55:28 — open the recording at 55 minutes 28 secondsSpeaker 116 Was it just last year that we updated the code to require radios in big buildings?
0:55:36 — open the recording at 55 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 252 Yes, it was. This is actually part of it.
0:55:41 — open the recording at 55 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 246 I believe it was August, August 20.
0:55:46 — open the recording at 55 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 244 There's been, if I may, there's been a couple of times that it's a little. There was one big one. I think that was a 2024 ordinance that carried over to 2025, and then a couple of small ones after that.
0:55:59 — open the recording at 55 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 243 And then part of that, I think you can see that we're working with the engineering department now.
0:56:05 — open the recording at 56 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 245 We've kind of had our inspection and investigation division has worked hand in hand with engineering and inspection here at the city level so that we're all on the same page as new buildings are being built or old buildings are being renovated.
0:56:22 — open the recording at 56 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 115 And, you know, you've talked about your cooperation with engineering. Is the fire department using CityWorks, too?
0:56:29 — open the recording at 56 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 116 the software program that the building inspection department uses in engineering?
0:56:38 — open the recording at 56 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 245 We use something similar to that, but we are using ESO for all of our programs from ambulance patient care reports to investigations, inspections. It's kind of a full meal deal that is specifically tailored for fire departments.
0:57:02 — open the recording at 57 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 115 Yeah, and that makes sense.
0:57:05 — open the recording at 57 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 116 Anyway, my point in asking about the past with this stuff is that these have always seemed like pretty straightforward requests to me.
0:57:17 — open the recording at 57 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 115 and if there's no further discussion, I would move that we amend
0:57:24 — open the recording at 57 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 116 General Ordinance No. 2, 2026 as presented.
0:57:29 — open the recording at 57 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 0 Second.
0:57:31 — open the recording at 57 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 15 It's been moved by Councilperson Nation, seconded by Councilperson Loudermilk, that General Ordinance 2, 2026 be amended. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. The motion passes. The ordinance is amended.
0:57:43 — open the recording at 57 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 115 Mr. President.
0:57:44 — open the recording at 57 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 15 Councilperson Nation.
0:57:45 — open the recording at 57 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 267 Again, if there's no further discussion, I move for approval of General Ordinance No. 2-2026 as amended.
0:57:55 — open the recording at 57 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 15 Second. It's been moved by Councilperson Nation, seconded by Councilperson Loudermilk, and General Ordinance 2-2026 be approved as amended.
0:58:04 — open the recording at 58 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 148 All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. The motion passes.
0:58:08 — open the recording at 58 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 271 General Ordinance 2-2026 is adopted. Thank you. Next item.
0:58:14 — open the recording at 58 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 240 General Ordinance 4, 2026, Emitting City Code, Chapter 7, Article 2, Fire Prevention Code, Division 6, Fireworks. Detective?
0:58:24 — open the recording at 58 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 245 Yeah, we, again, same thing as last week. I just wanted to make sure everything was up to snuff, I guess. I had a meeting with Michelle. I've talked to city legal. So, again, this is just an ordinance on fireworks and when you can shoot them off, where you can shoot them off, how you can display them.
0:58:55 — open the recording at 58 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 15 Is there anyone from the public who wishes to comment on General Ordinance 4, 2026? Hearing none, counsel?
0:59:04 — open the recording at 59 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 69 Mr. President? Councilperson Nation.
0:59:06 — open the recording at 59 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 116 I'm embarrassed that I didn't bring my hard copy from last week. And I don't need to see it because I have read it and I understand what's being proposed. I think, though, that this would be a good opportunity, given the viewership that we have and the level of engagement that this has,
0:59:29 — open the recording at 59 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 115 to try to, for somebody, to read into the record the dates on which a person can legally shoot fireworks in the city of Terre Haute. Please.
0:59:44 — open the recording at 59 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 281 Yes, please.
Highlight drawn from this moment: Council locks in — and slightly expands — the days fireworks are legal in Terre Haute
0:59:45 — open the recording at 59 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 240 Fireworks would be allowed on June 29th, June 30th, July 1st, July 2nd, July 3rd, July 5th, July 7th, July 8th, and July 9th between 5 p.m. and two hours after sunset. On July 4th from the hours of 10 a.m. until midnight. on December 31st between 10 a.m. December 31st and 1 a.m. January 1st.
1:00:28 — open the recording at 1 hour 28 secondsSpeaker 282 Thank you, Mitchell. Thanks.
Highlight drawn from this moment: Council locks in — and slightly expands — the days fireworks are legal in Terre Haute
1:00:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 31 secondsSpeaker 115 You know, that's roughly 10 days. So just bear in mind that there are about 355 days a year when you shouldn't be hearing fireworks in your neighborhood. Thanks. I yield. Oh, I am in support of this, but I'll let somebody else make the motion.
1:00:52 — open the recording at 1 hour 52 secondsSpeaker 245 And I will say, you know, there are some businesses or special clubs that might come and ask us for a permit for a big event or something where they might be shooting off fireworks. Not on those days. And then we would allow that as long as there wasn't a burn ban in effect. If they had adequate fire protection. If not, we would come out there and try and mitigate any issues with the fireworks.
1:01:28 — open the recording at 1 hour 1 minute 28 secondsSpeaker 286 That all totally makes sense, Bob, and I'm glad there's a process in place to be able to petition outside of those 10 or so days when everybody's allowed to do it.
1:01:42 — open the recording at 1 hour 1 minute 42 secondsSpeaker 115 I yield.
1:01:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 1 minute 44 secondsSpeaker 288 Councilperson Loudermilk.
1:01:45 — open the recording at 1 hour 1 minute 45 secondsSpeaker 186 I think that we might need to amend this since July 6th on here, unless you're leaving off July 6th for a reason, and we go on the 7th, 8th, and 9th.
1:01:56 — open the recording at 1 hour 1 minute 56 secondsSpeaker 291 If you would like July 6th, maybe it didn't get, maybe I overlooked it.
1:02:00 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutesSpeaker 292 There's no reason we left July 6th out on purpose, right?
1:02:03 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 293 I think we were matching the state statutes.
1:02:05 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 295 It could be.
1:02:06 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 293 Why would July 6th not be?
1:02:09 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 300 Oh, I don't know, because it's the state. The mistake is there.
1:02:14 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 302 I'M SORRY. CAN WE PAUSE 10 SECONDS? YES.
1:02:24 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 311 WE'VE GOT SOME ATTORNEYS HERE.
1:02:30 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 310 GO AHEAD. I'M SORRY. JUST ONE OTHER, IN THE SUBSECTION A, IT SAYS LC AS OPPOSED TO IC. So that probably needs to, obviously Scribner's heir, so it just needs to be changed to IC.
1:02:46 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 314 What's that statute?
1:02:51 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 315 I don't know.
1:02:52 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 321 I don't know if I can what somebody said July 6th. Somebody's birthed this year on July 6th. Somebody might get mad.
1:03:00 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutesSpeaker 325 Yeah, state code has July 5th through July 9th.
1:03:04 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 326 Okay, so the 6th is concluded.
1:03:06 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 325 Yeah, yeah.
1:03:07 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 327 I don't recall it being exempt or being excluded. It shocked me to learn that there's something.
1:03:18 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 332 I mean, I'm not trying to be picky. I just want to make sure we don't have any questions.
1:03:22 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 335 You think we'd be okay to make those two changes? Oh, yes.
1:03:25 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 337 You just mentioned yes.
1:03:37 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutes 37 seconds Thank you.
Highlight drawn from this moment: Council locks in — and slightly expands — the days fireworks are legal in Terre Haute
1:04:07 — open the recording at 1 hour 4 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 348 I'd like to make a motion that we amend General Ordinance 4-2026 under Section 7-101-A-1 to include July 6th.
1:04:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 4 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 351 Second.
1:04:32 — open the recording at 1 hour 4 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 15 It's been moved by Councilperson Loudermilk, seconded by Councilperson Nation, that we amend the General Ordinance 4-2026
1:04:40 — open the recording at 1 hour 4 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 148 by inserting July 6th into Section 7-101, subsection A, subsection 1. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Motion passes. The ordinance is amended.
1:04:57 — open the recording at 1 hour 4 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 358 Mr. President.
1:04:58 — open the recording at 1 hour 4 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 359 Councilperson Loudermilk.
1:04:59 — open the recording at 1 hour 4 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 348 I'll make a motion that we approve amended General Ordinance 4-2026 as amended.
1:05:06 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 0 Second. It's been moved by Councilperson Latimo, seconded by Councilperson Nation, that we approve General Ordinance 4-2026 as amended.
1:05:15 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 148 All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion passes.
Highlight drawn from this moment: Council locks in — and slightly expands — the days fireworks are legal in Terre Haute
1:05:20 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 362 General Ordinance 4-2026 is adopted as amended.
1:05:24 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 365 Thank you, Council.
1:05:24 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 364 Thanks, Bob. Thanks, Bob.
1:05:26 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 365 Next item.
1:05:29 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 368 Special Ordinance 2-2026, amending Special Ordinance 21-2025 as amended.
1:05:35 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 371 City Hall salaries. You must vote to take action.
1:05:40 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 40 seconds Petitioner.
1:06:00 — open the recording at 1 hour 6 minutesSpeaker 378 Good evening, Mr. President, members of the City Council. Michael Wright, City Attorney.
1:06:05 — open the recording at 1 hour 6 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 379 The, can I see? Do you want mine?
1:06:17 — open the recording at 1 hour 6 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 385 So this request goes along with the resolution following it. But in essence, what the administration is requesting from the council is permission to hire a legal officer amending the salary ordinance for city hall employees. the responsibilities of that officer would be assisting the engineering department in a lot of the acquisition work that they have going on related to various projects that require those sorts of services. They had planned for that, which is in part what the next request is related to, and built that into their budget for those anticipated legal services.
1:07:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 7 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 385 and the code enforcement portion of the legal office has increased weekly ordinance violation courts from two weeks per month to three weeks per month. and another responsibility of this position would be to assist on some of those court dates.
1:08:17 — open the recording at 1 hour 8 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 387 So I'm happy to answer any questions, and Marcus is here as well to assist with those. Thank you.
1:08:27 — open the recording at 1 hour 8 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 15 Anyone in the public who wishes to comment on Special Ordinance 2, 2026? Hearing none, counsel?
1:08:35 — open the recording at 1 hour 8 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 390 Councilperson Thompson. Thank you.
1:08:41 — open the recording at 1 hour 8 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 310 I haven't seen the numbers exactly on what has increased in terms of the actual numbers coming through, but I do know just from my personal experience working with my constituents in my district since passing the change in ordinances about keeping better care of yards and that type of thing. I know I've personally just had a lot of constituents calling in reports through 311, and they indicated the city has been very responsive to those. So I can only imagine, even as the year goes on, especially as we get to spring, how much more of those ordinance violations we're going to have coming in.
1:09:24 — open the recording at 1 hour 9 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 310 And I also appreciate, you know, again, making the change last year with the filing fees and everything like that to make the engineering department move towards the direction of being self-funding. And I think this is a sign that that's working and, you know, pretty soon we might be to that point.
1:09:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 9 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 394 So I fully support this. I yield.
1:09:50 — open the recording at 1 hour 9 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 385 Thank you. I would, you know, piggyback on something Mr. Tohill mentioned earlier. We have tried to be assertive in dealing with not pretending that there still aren't problem properties out there in the city of Terre Haute, but in those instances where we're not finding anybody responsible or willing to be responsible, we are trying to take action that we feel is justified and approved by the court. So that's something we will continue to do to try and maintain the property values of all those people who live in this community.
1:10:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 10 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 399 Mr. President. Council President Nation.
1:10:46 — open the recording at 1 hour 10 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 115 As one of the longer-serving council members currently, I remember when there were more people working in city legal. And one of my initial asks to Mayor Sackburn when he was elected was to try to get the legal department better staffed and back up to having it be a more manageable job. I think you're doing an admirable job, Michael. and I know that your staff works hard too and I'm glad that there's some creative thinking going on on how to get you more help.
1:11:30 — open the recording at 1 hour 11 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 385 I appreciate that, Councilman Nation. I mean, I would, and just, you know, for the record, in our structure, the legal department oversees human resources, which is also a two-person department. And so, you know, we are called on weekly weekly, if not daily, you know, to assist in those sorts of issues. And, you know, that's not we're better for it, but it just harkens back to your point. I would imagine there were a time where there were probably three or four people in each of those departments. And I can tell you the nature of this world has not gotten less litigious. Yes.
1:12:18 — open the recording at 1 hour 12 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 385 And so we are in need of help and greatly feel that this position would provide that and would provide a good resource for engineering, which comes up against issues with utilities, issues with, you know, projects, construction sites, inspections, other businesses that are coming into the area to start contracting or doing something that the engineering department supervises. and I have no doubt that they could have an attorney on staff full time and not run out of things to do. I mean, there's Maytree, all the things that engineering is tied up in,
1:13:19 — open the recording at 1 hour 13 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 378 transportation, it is a broad range of services to cover, And as I alluded to, Marcus was thoughtful, Brandon and Jessica in planning for it.
1:13:40 — open the recording at 1 hour 13 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 385 And we, looking at 2026, thought it makes sense. We've got another day of ordinance court each month that, you know, would be another thing that we could have another person. getting sped up on so that if, you know, just to have some error redundancy.
1:14:04 — open the recording at 1 hour 14 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 387 So, yeah, I'm happy to answer any other questions.
1:14:09 — open the recording at 1 hour 14 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 115 It all makes sense, Michael. And in the end, it provides better service to the citizens of Terre Haute
1:14:18 — open the recording at 1 hour 14 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 116 because things get done quicker or they just get done, period. So if there's no further discussion, I move that we take action on special ordinance number two, 2026.
1:14:32 — open the recording at 1 hour 14 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 267 Second.
1:14:33 — open the recording at 1 hour 14 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 148 It's been moved by Councilperson Nation, seconded by Councilperson Hinton, that we take action on special ordinance two, 2026.
1:14:41 — open the recording at 1 hour 14 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 15 All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion passes. We may now take action on special ordinance two, 2026. Mr. President. Councilperson Nation.
1:14:51 — open the recording at 1 hour 14 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 267 I move for approval of Special Ordinance No. 2, 2026.
1:14:56 — open the recording at 1 hour 14 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 15 Second. It's been moved by Councilperson Nation, seconded by Councilperson Hinton, that we approve Special Ordinance 2, 2026. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Motion passes. Special Ordinance 2, 2026 is adopted.
1:15:11 — open the recording at 1 hour 15 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 271 Thank you very much. Next item.
1:15:14 — open the recording at 1 hour 15 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 240 Resolution 5, 2026, transfer of $30,000 in the Engineering Non-Reverting Budget No. 0292.
1:15:21 — open the recording at 1 hour 15 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 1 Petitioner.
1:15:25 — open the recording at 1 hour 15 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 385 Thank you, President Dinkle, members of the City Council, Michael Wright, City Attorney. I've got Marcus Maurer, the City Engineer, up here with me. If you would, Marcus, you want to just give a little background on this?
1:15:40 — open the recording at 1 hour 15 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 417 Good evening. Happy to give you an update on this. So I think it's maybe already been alluded to. This fund was set aside within our department's budget from our non-reverting budget, which comes from permit fees and a few other items that come from the work we do within our budget because we use a significant amount of legal time. And, again, Mike and our legal team do a great job, but there's times we almost feel guilty coming down with the next big thing.
1:16:10 — open the recording at 1 hour 16 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 417 So this was set aside in the budget last year in order to ideally hopefully help them get someone hired and get someone else on the payroll. So I think this is a great use of this fund, and it's exactly what it was intended for.
1:16:28 — open the recording at 1 hour 16 minutes 28 secondsSpeaker 15 Is there anyone in the public who wishes to comment on Resolution 5-2026? Hearing none, counsel?
1:16:40 — open the recording at 1 hour 16 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 69 Councilperson DeBond.
1:16:45 — open the recording at 1 hour 16 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 421 Mr. President, if there be no further discussion, I'll move that we pass Resolution 5-2026.
1:16:53 — open the recording at 1 hour 16 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 148 Second. It's been moved by Councilperson DeBond,
1:16:56 — open the recording at 1 hour 16 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 15 seconded by Councilperson Azar, that Resolution 5-2026 be adopted. All in favor say aye. Aye.
1:17:04 — open the recording at 1 hour 17 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 271 Opposed, say nay. Motion passes. Resolution 5-2026 is adopted. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks, guys.
1:17:10 — open the recording at 1 hour 17 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 371 Next item. Resolution 6, 2026, amending, I'm sorry, approving and adopting a safe streets for all vision statement and action plan.
1:17:20 — open the recording at 1 hour 17 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 426 Petitioner.
1:17:27 — open the recording at 1 hour 17 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 427 Let's put the presentation.
1:17:40 — open the recording at 1 hour 17 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 430 Thank you, Michelle. Good evening, Council President and members of the Council.
1:18:14 — open the recording at 1 hour 18 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 431 I am Maytree Desai, city planner, and I'm excited to give you a quick update for the final TerraHoard safety action plan. Also, the update since the last October presentation, and to ask for your approval to officially adopt the plan. Just for the quick recap, this planning initiative is funded by U.S. Department of Transportation, Safe Streets and Roads for All program. This is focused on making our streets safer and preventing traffic deaths and the serious injury.
1:18:59 — open the recording at 1 hour 18 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 430 In December 2024, the city hired the Loch Muller Consultant to help develop this plan through the RFP. Heidi Thomas, she's here today and will present the plan details shortly.
1:19:17 — open the recording at 1 hour 19 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 431 This plan was also guided by the steering committee made up of representatives of the various city departments, school corporation, and metropolitan planning organization. I want to sincerely thank you all the steering committee members, Jesse, AT, Marcus, to help guide this initiative. Also I want to thank all the community members, the city staff, anyone who helped in any way, whether by providing the feedback or contributing directly or indirectly to bring this plan across the finish line. we set a clear goal as a part of this grant requirement, Division Zero, eliminating traffic
1:20:12 — open the recording at 1 hour 20 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 430 deaths and serious injuries in City of Terre Haute by 2050. I'm also excited to share that
1:20:22 — open the recording at 1 hour 20 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 431 City of Terre Haute is few of the front-runner communities now who have successfully completed this planning initiative in the state of Indiana by this federal program and I'm really proud to contribute my expertise and technical sorry I'm also sorry I thought that all right with that I'll hand over Heidi to present some of the safety action plan some key points and new addition that we have updated the plan itself is 100 pages document the safety with the safety tool kit and
1:21:11 — open the recording at 1 hour 21 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 443 appendix I have printed some executive summary for you guys to look at it but
1:21:20 — open the recording at 1 hour 21 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 444 I'll hand over to you. Good evening everybody. As Matri mentioned, my name is Heidi Thomas.
1:21:30 — open the recording at 1 hour 21 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 446 I'm with Lock Mueller Group and was the project manager for this project. Back in October, my counterpart Peter Williams presented to you, but he was unable to be here today. So I will provide a brief overview, brief condense an inch and a half of really good information down to to summarize what has been done in this plan. So in addition to what Matrius covered so far, crash data has been collected for all roadways within the city limits from 2018 through 2024, and was used as the foundational data for the safety analysis.
1:22:08 — open the recording at 1 hour 22 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 446 This crash data was used to develop an interactive crash dashboard, which is what you see here. Using the dashboard, it is easy to see that 15,185 crashes occurred in that time frame, and 35 of those resulted in fatalities within the city limits. Please note that this dashboard is publicly available on the city's data hub, enabling users to zoom into specific parts of the community or filter and dissect the data themselves.
1:22:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 22 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 446 For example, we can look at the pedestrian related crashes and see that one third resulted in fatal or serious injuries, which highlights the vulnerability of our pedestrians. There were eight fatal pedestrian related crashes, which is nearly a fourth of all fatal crashes in that timeframe. We can also see the trend of pedestrian crashes which has steadily increased since 2018, nearly doubling in 2024. The 2025 crash data was recently released and although not incorporated in the actual plan, that data has been added to the crash dashboard that's on the website.
1:23:28 — open the recording at 1 hour 23 minutes 28 secondsSpeaker 446 Analyzing both crash and roadway data, a risk assessment was conducted based on roadway features such as traffic volume, lane width, and number of lanes exhibited throughout the network in order to identify locations with greater risks for serious and fatal injury crashes. A high injury network was also developed which shows roadway segments with the highest concentrations of those fatal and serious injuries. I will note that for the high injury network location, Interstate 70 data was excluded from that particular analysis in order to keep focus on the city's roadway network.
1:24:15 — open the recording at 1 hour 24 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 446 Community input was gathered through various avenues throughout the entire project. Stakeholder interviews were conducted with safety and enforcement, community leader, community organization, and transportation groups. An interactive public survey was available this past spring, which generated 290 responses. And open house style informational events were held in both April and October of 2025. In October, the public was invited to review the draft plan and provide feedback. Combining the data analysis, public engagement feedback and steering committee
1:24:54 — open the recording at 1 hour 24 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 446 guidance, a set of prioritized strategies and project selections were identified. This includes 20 priority corridors from that high injury network, three focus areas to target risk across the roadway network and nine policy improvement strategies. The 20 target locations are shown here and detailed information for each of these is identified in the plan. Additionally, three focus areas identified for possible systemic improvements are intersections, bicycle and pedestrian fatalities and traffic calming measures for safer speeds.
1:25:37 — open the recording at 1 hour 25 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 446 Nine strategic policy goals have been identified and the question at hand is how does the city take a policy improvement strategy and make it come to fruition? So we'll look at two particular specific examples in a moment here. A key piece of the plan is the safety tool kit, which is a step toward implementing many of the projects and strategies just mentioned. The tool kit provides a menu of potential safety countermeasures for enhancing transportation safety and highlights the importance of targeted interventions to address specific safety challenges and effectively decrease risks.
1:26:25 — open the recording at 1 hour 26 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 446 So if we look at that first example, example number one, a complete street is one that is designed for all users regardless of age, ability, income, and transportation mode. The toolkit includes design guidance reference tables such as the one shown here for a range of specific design elements. When drafting a formalized complete streets policy, the city can use this consolidated resource to identify the specific appropriate design for Terre Haute's roadway network. Although these tables are an excellent technical resource, they do incorporate a wide range
1:27:06 — open the recording at 1 hour 27 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 446 of various parameters and details that can be a bit challenging to discern. Therefore the toolkit shows you what those could be. The toolkit identifies six concepts that could become the foundation of the city's complete streets policy. As you see here, the six concepts visually demonstrate how an appropriate combination of design elements would appear on the appropriate Terre Haute roadway, visually depicting a roadway's potential transformation into a complete street. The key word is appropriate. Appropriate design elements on an appropriate roadway.
1:27:47 — open the recording at 1 hour 27 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 446 The other policy strategy I wanted to highlight is development of a citywide safe routes to school program. These programs combine engineering, education, enforcement, encouragement, and evaluation to improve safety near schools in a consistent manner while also promoting healthy habits for the students. A plethora of information is available for creating a program and the toolkit brings focus to the five recommended steps for program creation prior to implementation. As you can see, assembling a motivated coalition dedicated to seeing the program come to life is the
1:28:26 — open the recording at 1 hour 28 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 446 key essential first step. The information we just walked through is documented in great detail in the Safe Streets Terre Haute Safety Action Plan. It is the culmination of a year-long development process and supports the mayor's commitment to community well-being and public safety. It is important the city's momentum developed and achieved during the development of this plan continues forward into the future, which is supported by your adoption of the plan via resolution this evening. This concludes my brief briefing of the Safe Streets Terre Haute Safety Action Plan,
1:29:09 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 446 and I would be happy to entertain any questions you may have, and I'm sure Maitree would as well.
1:29:16 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 462 Thank you, Heidi.
1:29:18 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 430 Also, this plan, this tool, all the information are available under city website, under engineering planning section.
1:29:29 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 465 I'm happy to answer any questions.
1:29:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 250 Is there anyone from the public who wishes to comment on Resolution 6-2026? Hearing none. Council?
1:29:43 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 69 Mr. President? Councilperson Nation.
1:29:46 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 115 Thanks, both of you, Maitree and Heidi, for your work on this. the one number that stuck out to me is that fully 29% of bicyclists in Terre Haute feel safe biking. And that's awful. We can do better than that. And I think always of pedestrians. I think always of bicyclists. But the reality, of course, is that our transportation system is built for cars. so any steps that we can take to get from where we're at to a safer circumstance for those of us who aren't in cars is the right answer from my perspective and if there's no further discussion of this I move that we
1:30:38 — open the recording at 1 hour 30 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 115 I move for approval of resolution number 6-2026
1:30:41 — open the recording at 1 hour 30 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 469 second
1:30:43 — open the recording at 1 hour 30 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 472 moved by councilperson Nation seconded by councilperson Hinton that Resolution 6-2026 be approved. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion passes. Resolution 6-2026 is adopted.
1:30:58 — open the recording at 1 hour 30 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 474 Thank you.
1:30:59 — open the recording at 1 hour 30 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 472 Thank you both. Move to adjourn.
1:31:04 — open the recording at 1 hour 31 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 474 Second.
1:31:05 — open the recording at 1 hour 31 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 472 Then moved by Councilperson Azar, seconded by Councilperson Latamoke, that we adjourn. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion passes. This is Terre Haute City Council, stands adjourned.

Marked moments above are where the archive's reviewed highlights were drawn from. Everything else on this page is unreviewed.