Council meeting
City CouncilApr 2, 2026
- Started
- 6:00 pm
- Indexed
- 148 days after the meeting
- Items on the agenda
- 18
Highlights
- Property
Council backs a plan to turn South 8th Street into a park for the Children's Museum — but doesn't fund or close anything yet
Outcome: Passed unanimously; a non-binding resolution of support only
0:00:54 — open the recording, cued to 54 seconds - Deferral
Council can't yet vote on the 3317 North 12th Street rezoning — the area plan commission hasn't met
Outcome: No action taken; the item was held to the following week's meeting
0:37:38 — open the recording, cued to 37 minutes 38 seconds - Money
Council appropriates $20,000 for the Ray Park and Riley Trail projects using returned grant money
Outcome: Passed unanimously (moved by Councilperson Loudermilk, seconded by Councilperson Hinton)
0:00:54 — open the recording, cued to 54 seconds
Documents
Transcript
Open the transcript on its own page
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 · Apr 2, 2026
- Length
- 1:01:07
- Lines
- 229
- Transcribed by
- mlx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo
0:00:00 — open the recording at 0 secondsSpeaker 2 At this time, I call to order the regular meeting of the Terre Haute City Council on Thursday, April 2nd, 2026. The first item on the agenda is a moment of silence and pledge allegiance to the flag. Tonight, the pledge will be led by Councilman Curtis DeBall.
0:00:15 — open the recording at 15 secondsSpeaker 6 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for
0:00:31 — open the recording at 31 secondsSpeaker 11 which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
0:00:45 — open the recording at 45 seconds Thank you.
0:00:49 — open the recording at 49 secondsSpeaker 15 Chair, will you please call the roll?
- Highlight drawn from this moment: Council backs a plan to turn South 8th Street into a park for the Children's Museum — but doesn't fund or close anything yetHighlight drawn from this moment: Council appropriates $20,000 for the Ray Park and Riley Trail projects using returned grant money
0:00:54 — open the recording at 54 secondsSpeaker 18 Councilperson Azar. Councilperson Boland. Present. Councilperson Chalos. Councilperson Debon. Here. Councilperson Dingle. Present. Councilperson Hinton. Present. Councilperson Loudermilk. Present. Councilperson Nation. Here. Councilperson Thompson. Here. Okay. Seven are present, two are absent.
0:01:15 — open the recording at 1 minute 15 secondsSpeaker 2 Councilperson Azar and Chalos both notified they had other engagements this evening. At this time, we reserve up to 30 minutes of time for public comment on items not on the agenda. We ask that you please limit your comments in three minutes and address your comments towards the council. We had a sign-up sheet and have no one signed up. If there's anybody from the public who wishes to make public comment,
0:01:36 — open the recording at 1 minute 36 secondsSpeaker 3 please approach the podium and state your name for the record. Okay. This time, we will close public comment. Questions to the journal of the preceding meeting? There are none. Communication from the mayor.
0:01:52 — open the recording at 1 minute 52 secondsSpeaker 26 Sorry, Michelle. I had to click one button here.
0:01:59 — open the recording at 1 minute 59 secondsSpeaker 30 This is a monthly thing.
0:02:03 — open the recording at 2 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 29 And if you wouldn't have changed it right before the meeting.
0:02:13 — open the recording at 2 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 37 30
0:02:20 — open the recording at 2 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 42 No, no 14 It's not going
0:02:28 — open the recording at 2 minutes 28 secondsSpeaker 45 Yeah, so
0:02:34 — open the recording at 2 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 47 We got that figured out, folks
0:02:36 — open the recording at 2 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 48 Hey, good evening, Council President Dingle, members of the Terre Haute City Council I did do a
0:02:42 — open the recording at 2 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 50 consolidated seven-minute version of this that we did put out on Facebook because I'm trying when we do these at city council meetings that screen is not shown with the slides and so I've seen I've gotten a lot of feedback from individuals that they want to see the slides and that information so I'm basically going to start doing a you know the presentation here and then a consolidated version for constituents and for those who don't see the screen on YouTube but Why are we here today? So tonight we're going to discuss one of the bigger state law changes.
0:03:12 — open the recording at 3 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 50 It's the second time that they've adjusted wheel taxes. However, this is a correction to the first time they really did it, which was two years ago. And so I really just, to simplify all of this, is we're going to talk about what you currently pay, what you'll pay now, who collects it, and why it matters for street and road funding. All right, so the bottom line is this does not create double taxation. That was the biggest problem when wheel taxes were first created several years ago. And when people hear new tax, they're going to assume that it's an added cost.
0:03:45 — open the recording at 3 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 50 The intent here is not to stack a city tax on top of a county tax. This is a procedural change. What we're doing is we're routing money that used to go from BMV to state to county, then to city, just from BMV straight to the state, straight back to the city. So we're taking one loop out of that circuit. This step helps Terre Haute qualify for new state road funding tied to lane miles. What is LOWHUD, or the Local Option Highway User Tax? Basically, state law treats this as a package. Locals adopt a LOWHUD to support transportation funding,
0:04:23 — open the recording at 4 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 50 and now the biggest change is if you don't have a local option highway user tax, you are not eligible for an additional pot of state road funding. It's comprised of two things. One, the wheel tax, and two, the excise surtax, which is the same flat fee, but for other items like trailers and like motorcycles. They just don't call it the wheel tax. They decided to separate it. What the new state law does. So House and Ruled Act 1461 changes the community crossing funding formula. It used to be that we had community crossing that was matched with local dollars.
0:05:05 — open the recording at 5 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 50 Now, instead of one, quote, bucket that the state refers to, there's actually four. There's a community crossing grant program, and they reduced our eligible amount from $1.5 to $1 million, so you are able to get less. There is a bucket of funding from the state directly for the city of Indianapolis and the city of Indianapolis only. Then there's another funding called Lane Mile Direct Distribution. That's the LMDD funding stream.
0:05:33 — open the recording at 5 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 52 This is very important because for us to be eligible for the LMDD, we have to have the wheel tax. When we get the LMDD dollars, it's automatic because we have a wheel tax. And then the amount that we can apply for with community crossings goes down. So a lot of people are like, well, why wouldn't you just keep doing community crossings? because the total dollar amount in community crossings is slowly going down. And the same amount of cities and counties and towns are applying for community crossings. So the state essentially shifted money from this grant program to the LMDD
0:06:09 — open the recording at 6 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 50 to incentivize cities and counties to break out their local wheel taxes. And this really leads us to the question of why now. So basically what I'm going to propose to you all in July is a procedural change for how we approach the low end.
0:06:27 — open the recording at 6 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 53 What is LMDD?
0:06:34 — open the recording at 6 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 52 So this gets even more confusing. I cannot promise a precise dollar figure to what the LMDD is.
0:06:42 — open the recording at 6 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 50 because the LMDD, which is calculated based off of lane mileage, it would change if every city in the state of Indiana adopted a wheel tax because now that bucket has more entities eligible for it. This is the best estimate, and even with this estimate, I think I've had two or three issues with the funding formula. It jumps from year to year based off of how the funding is cut out. The 2029 number, frankly, is irrelevant because they're in a budget session next year in 2027. So you can already start to see some of the challenges with how this new state change comes down here locally.
0:07:19 — open the recording at 7 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 50 It is a very well-intentioned program. I do want to add that. But there will probably be some cleanup state legislation that we'll be working on next winter. So long story short, there's grant money. There's a new distribution program. This allows us to be eligible for it. Okay, this is kind of that double taxation Q&A slide. You know, at the end of the day, you are not going to be double taxed. And I'll cover this with a different graphic later. It used to be that if you lived in the county and your city had a wheel tax, you would pay both. That has gone away.
0:07:55 — open the recording at 7 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 50 We got that law struck from the book. So what I do like about this is it allows for local control and eligibility. So people want to know where all of these different street buckets are going to. This allows us to clearly articulate how many vehicles are in the city and what those exact dollars get to. The wheel tax dollars for our city, that goes to the local road and street budget. And I'll cover that in a few slides, but the bottom line is this actually goes for the support stamp
0:08:25 — open the recording at 8 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 60 and the pothole repair and the equipment tied to our city streets.
0:08:33 — open the recording at 8 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 50 This just further summarizes how the community crossings program is still in effect, but basically the amount changes. All right, so what should residents expect? No double taxes. Same wheel tax amount, city versus county. So honestly, the only difference on their receipt would be city of Terre Haute instead of Vigo County. The money goes directed to the city, and then we will continue to publish our items in our paving plan and on gateway. And that's the easiest way for us to clearly present those documents.
0:09:10 — open the recording at 9 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 50 Okay, here's what we did this morning on the video. As you can see on the, you know, your right, my left used to be city population in blue, county population in white. The arrow shows a change. Now our Vigo County proper residents, so folks in the county, not in the city, pay X. And our city population still pays that same x amount which for us is 15 where does road funding come from so the first two squares show what we are doing this year and what we've done in previous years you have community crossings which used to be 1.5 now it's 1 million and then you have your local
0:09:50 — open the recording at 9 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 50 funding match the bulk of our local funding match is the motor vehicle highway restricted funds That is the city's percentage of some of these state taxes and fees, as well as our chance to get some fuel taxes back. However, that amount never adds up to a perfect match for community crossings dollars. So if we just did motor vehicle highway and community crossings, basically we would pay $2 million a year. But as you guys heard us announce a few weeks ago, we're doing $3.1 million. So how did we get that additional $1.1 million?
0:10:23 — open the recording at 10 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 50 dollars. That comes from a mixture of edit economic development income tax, gaming revenue. In some limited situations, HUD funding through the CBDG program goes to infrastructure. So in an example I'll use is along the 13th corridor. Some of those infrastructure projects do include paving, so that's why I list HUD there. Right-of-way fees, a portion of our right-of-way fees gets recycled into the paving budget, so that way when utilities are pulling permits to work in the right-of-way, we feed some of those dollars towards more street paving.
0:10:55 — open the recording at 10 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 50 All right, so follow the arrow with me, and now we have our change. Community crossing, the amount that we would be eligible for is $1 million subtracted by the total amount of LMDD that we receive. We should know that amount next fiscal year, so probably July of 2027. Local lane mile distribution, I put the estimates earlier in the presentation, but I would not really look at that too much because those numbers will change based off how many people change their laws. And then our local funding which the sources would
0:11:30 — open the recording at 11 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 50 stay the same so there's no change there. A couple of common questions is this a new tax? Again for the fifth time today no it is not it is simply different routing this is a procedural conversation. Why are we doing it? To qualify for the lane mile distribution funding. When does it start? So July 1st, 2026 starts the legislative fiscal year. Our plan is to file it in July for the August city council meeting, and it would take into effect 2027 with the first batch of LMDD funding coming June 30th, 2027. And that's what
0:12:08 — open the recording at 12 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 50 they're saying today. I will go ahead and stop there and stand by if you guys have any questions on this specific topic, and then I'll roll into the rest of the mayor's update for this evening.
0:12:21 — open the recording at 12 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 67 Councilperson Laudermilk.
0:12:23 — open the recording at 12 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 71 Mayor, I know that it used to be when it came through, it was distributed by mileage because it came in as a total. The state had the road miles that you paid, and so it was distributed for the county, the city, and then the towns. How will it be? I mean, how are they going to know you're living in the I mean, who's going to take care of that state, BMV?
0:12:46 — open the recording at 12 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 74 That's a really good question.
0:12:48 — open the recording at 12 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 50 So that question honestly exposes some of the local frustration still around this program, right? It sounds very clean, right? You go up to the BMV, hand them your license, start registering your vehicles. We have to coordinate now all of your local units of government in the state now have an additional step, and that's clarifying that the BMV maps and what they're tracking for city limits is correct, which you would assume is done, but I'm not going to assume that because we have annexed over the last 20 years.
0:13:18 — open the recording at 13 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 50 And if you miss out a section of that, all of a sudden the numbers are thrown off. So we do have a lot of fault. One, we need to follow up with the BMV and confirm everything is set up before 1 January 2027. And then the second conversation is we need to continue to follow up with INDOT to try to get refined numbers. We won't do that every month because as more and more cities do this, it would just kind of be annoying from INDOT's perspective. But I think every three months we're going to touch base with them to try to get our estimates, and our estimates will likely change.
0:13:47 — open the recording at 13 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 50 And then here's what's also interesting. If the city of Indianapolis can't use all their funding because they're required to match it as well, and this year's proposed budget was not the full amount they could have received, that money now rolls into the LMDD bucket. So there's different changes built in to where if Indianapolis doesn't take advantage of what they're eligible for, the rest of the cities around the state could then receive some of that benefit. Thank you for that question.
0:14:19 — open the recording at 14 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 55 Okay, good. Sounds like we're good with that topic. Now we're going to switch to something more interesting than state and local tax policy,
0:14:27 — open the recording at 14 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 52 and that's parks, parks in the city of Terre Haute. So Kylie's here with us today, May 1st. Her tries. All right, May 1st. May 1st, we're going to need you guys.
0:14:37 — open the recording at 14 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 50 We're going to do the Hertz Rose ribbon cutting. Of course, the playground itself has been complete for a while now, but the Indiana Pacers, the grant that we got with them, will be closed out by then. That court will be fully painted. The goals will go back up. Some of the Pacers staff and their cheerleading team, I believe, will be in town that day. I am trying to get Caitlin Clark still. No promises, and I highly doubt it happens. But we'll take TJ McConnell or Tyrese Halberton if it doesn't work out.
0:15:05 — open the recording at 15 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 50 And then we're going to do a block party that night down at Hertz Rose Park just to celebrate with that neighborhood. The YMCA bids, those bids came in. And wow, great news. They came in under budget. Knock on wood, no change orders, right? So that project is starting. We've already done phase one, which was the pool. So the pool is now open. The natatorium has been fixed at the Y. Now we're going to move into the addition phase. And we're still looking at some additional financing opportunities to do some more renovations there.
0:15:34 — open the recording at 15 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 50 But bottom line, that $11.45 million project continues to move forward, and you're going to see more construction activity in and around YMCA, which is in Fairbanks Park. That leads me to my next conversation. When it comes to Fairbanks Park, I am going to put some funding in next year's budget, not too much, mostly, though, in the 2028 budget for the LWCF program. So that's a federal grant distributed to the state, and then cities apply to the state. Basically, that's a program we've used several times in the city,
0:16:06 — open the recording at 16 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 50 but we're going to try to get some funding there to start redoing Fairbanks Park. And we're required to match it one-to-one. So you're going to start to see some of those dollars in edit. You'll see the bulk of that in 2028, but a little bit in 2027. To continue on parks, we still feel pretty comfortable with our Deming Park Oakley Playground renovation. We are still on track to when this park season closes. We start construction there. and we are optimistic it's about July 2027 when that one would be done. The Deming Park pool is
0:16:37 — open the recording at 16 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 50 continuing. We are applying for some other grants there to shore up some of the funding and make sure that's airtight and it doesn't bleed into next calendar year. So a lot going on with some of our major parks, some of our smaller parks. Last time we celebrated Collette Park being open and complete. I'm hoping either next week or by May we can celebrate Spencer Ballpark being completed and finished. And then after that for the rest of the season you're going to see some of the smaller projects be done. Things like shelters, the outdoor shelters as well. And those projects
0:17:09 — open the recording at 17 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 50 aren't you know as big or grandiose but they're still key components of keeping a strong Parks and Recreation Department. Last thing I'll hit on is Trails. Trails have been a very good program not just here but across the state of Indiana. The state cut their funding which is interesting. And we're going to finish the Ray and Riley Park trail combination. We are looking at the Thompson Ditch Trail. We have reached out to a private foundation, and we're going to submit an application for that. So hopefully our next project will be the Thompson Ditch portion,
0:17:42 — open the recording at 17 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 50 and then that rolls us into our conversation with Rose Holman and all they've got going on with Innovation Grove and the Rose Holman Ventures Project and some trails out there. So we're continuing to find outside funding for that. We acknowledge that we're in a property tax interesting conversation, so we will pursue outside dollars to keep our dream of trails alive.
0:18:01 — open the recording at 18 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 60 And we've seen good progress there, and we want to see more. I'll pause there for any questions on parks. Yep. Councilperson, Yvonne.
0:18:08 — open the recording at 18 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 82 Not a question so much, but I just want to say I love the effort we're putting into our parks. And I took my daughter to call a park, and she approves of the new playground. Oh, thank you. Thank you.
0:18:20 — open the recording at 18 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 84 That's only the nod of approval you need. Good, good.
0:18:23 — open the recording at 18 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 86 I yield.
0:18:25 — open the recording at 18 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 84 Thank you.
0:18:26 — open the recording at 18 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 86 Councilperson Nation.
0:18:26 — open the recording at 18 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 88 Mayor, you mentioned an acronym, LWCF. Can you tell us what that means?
0:18:32 — open the recording at 18 minutes 32 seconds Land water conservation fund.
0:18:34 — open the recording at 18 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 89 The Land Water Conservation Fund.
0:18:36 — open the recording at 18 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 90 Thank you.
0:18:37 — open the recording at 18 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 88 And is that state or federal money?
0:18:41 — open the recording at 18 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 60 Technically, it's federal with state involvement, so it's not necessarily a clean federal or state.
0:18:47 — open the recording at 18 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 88 Okay, thanks. It's great that you're pursuing pulling down those dollars. You know, we're still a donor state,
0:18:56 — open the recording at 18 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 94 in so many ways when it comes to federal stuff. So keep up the good work. Thank you.
0:19:01 — open the recording at 19 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 91 Last thing I'll have is our housing update. So the Liberty... Oh, sorry. Yes, Councilman.
0:19:07 — open the recording at 19 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 97 I just want to ask a question about Fairbanks Park
0:19:11 — open the recording at 19 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 99 in conjunction with the riverfront planning. Are you working... I know you're working with that team, but will there be some coordination with them as it relates to Fairbanks Park?
0:19:23 — open the recording at 19 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 63 Yes, that's actually why we're going to do Fairbanks Park, because there is a lot of momentum there, and there's the LWCF as well as a private grant.
0:19:32 — open the recording at 19 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 50 So we're basically trying to consolidate the riverscape vision with the city's parks and recreation opportunities on the river, and it's just a lot easier if we all do it at the same time in conversation. So I think that's a cleaner project to apply for state funding for, because it looks better seeing so many people involved in, like, a one-off park. Like a lot of times I see cities submit proposals and I'm like, hey, that is really good playground equipment. But how does it play into the overall development of that portion of the community?
0:20:02 — open the recording at 20 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 50 And so I think Fairbanks Park answers that only because we brought in Riverscape, we brought in Lori Danielson, and we're really pushing to tie that into a full revitalization development conversation, not just a park conversation. That was a long-winded answer to your question, but yes.
0:20:18 — open the recording at 20 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 91 Thank you.
0:20:19 — open the recording at 20 minutes 19 seconds Thank you.
0:20:19 — open the recording at 20 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 91 So quickly to hit housing and then I will be done for the day.
0:20:23 — open the recording at 20 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 50 We are starting to clear a lot of those lots on Liberty in our partnership with Thrive West Central. We do have two applications in the Thrive's handling for the ISU lots. And then we're working with a third developer also along Locust Street. So basically in a five-block by five-block area, we are seeing plans finally be submitted. we hope they'll be approved here in the coming weeks and we'll start to see some construction and if you've been around those neighborhoods it's been very hard to get development there and i
0:20:53 — open the recording at 20 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 50 think we're really moving on the right track in terms of housing because i've talked about housing for two and a half years now our population is going up we had years and years of population decline and from 2024 2023 to 2024 we had a good jump from 2024 to 2025 we don't have the city data yet, but the county data shows a 380 person increase. Why is that important? Because last year, the city grew by 155, and the county only grew by four. So as you can see, we are usually responsible for the majority, if not all, of the county's growth. And if the county's already gone up by
0:21:29 — open the recording at 21 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 50 380 from 2024 to 2025, I'm interested to see the U.S. Census data that comes out May 2026 about the 2025 growth for the city. It did show continued increase in our median income, and that's something you've all chatted with me about. It's something we've all publicly stated we want to do, and so it's good to see that median income slowly continue to rise. Our unemployment rate is still at about 2.8 percent, which is really good for our portion of the state. And then the last thing, I apologize, one more update. I might need to come see you guys in June
0:22:06 — open the recording at 22 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 50 with some appropriations for gas or some in-series transfer. I think if we have another two months of these gas prices because of the war in the Middle East, something is going to have to... I mean, we always add a percentage buffer, but I don't think anyone in their right mind was going to add for that huge increase that we've seen at the pump. So we do have vendors that work with the city that have tried to add fuel charges to bills that we will dispute every single time.
0:22:34 — open the recording at 22 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 50 So just know that the gas conversation, we are not immune to that, and we are having challenges here at local government, but I think we'll find a path forward and make it out. So thank you, guys. That's all I have. Yes, Councilman Nations.
0:22:48 — open the recording at 22 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 94 One quick question about fuel prices. Under the, well, for the last few years, we participated in some kind of a fuel program that stabilized the prices. Are we still doing that?
0:23:04 — open the recording at 23 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 50 We are still in that program. That is basically like think of a Sam's Club for fuel. It's bulk pricing.
0:23:11 — open the recording at 23 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 60 That's why you'll see certain fuel stations that the city goes to and uses. We are still members of that program, yes.
0:23:19 — open the recording at 23 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 88 For those of us who've served longer, well, I guess I should ask you, is it the same program that we participated in under the Bennett administration?
0:23:30 — open the recording at 23 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 110 Yep, the Country Mart. You'll see them at those fuel stations.
0:23:34 — open the recording at 23 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 88 I was thinking that there was something a little bit beyond that guaranteed a certain price to level out the prices.
0:23:47 — open the recording at 23 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 91 It's basically a 10% is how I view the program.
0:23:50 — open the recording at 23 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 50 So if the majority of our vehicles, which almost all of our vehicles use those fuel stations, I'm sure there's one-off situations, the price that we pay is 10% less than the advertised price.
0:24:01 — open the recording at 24 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 88 Okay. Well, thanks. For a long time, those considerations weren't really top of mind, but now they are for everybody. Thanks. I yield.
0:24:15 — open the recording at 24 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 118 Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Reports from city officials.
0:24:27 — open the recording at 24 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 121 Good evening, President Dinkle, members of the City Council.
0:24:30 — open the recording at 24 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 122 A.T. Ryan, Director of the Human Relations Commission. Per the City Code, the Human Relations Commission is responsible for preparing an annual report and sharing it with the Mayor and the City Council. I want to just briefly explain the timing of this presentation, as I know 2025 has been over for a few months now. As you all know, January and February are the biggest, busiest months for the Human Relations Commission with MLK programming, Black History Month, Warming Center coordination. So because of that, the commission did not formally approve the annual
0:25:02 — open the recording at 25 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 122 report you have in front of you until our March meeting, which is why I'm here in April. I just want to quickly highlight a few key accomplishments from this past year. In 2025, we revitalized our Black History Month banner project. We continued our Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. programming. We launched our first ever human rights book club. We also significantly expanded our outreach across the community through events and partnerships. The report outlines detailed data, program summaries, and an overview of our work throughout the year. I want to be respectful of your time tonight as I
0:25:38 — open the recording at 25 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 122 know many of us have the day off tomorrow. I don't want to be the reason we're here too late. That is in front of you and it's also available on the Human Relations Commission webpage for you to peruse. So I invite you to take some time at your leisure to read through that report and of course the public can find that on the Human Relations Commission webpage as well. I welcome any questions, feedback or follow-up conversations after you review the report. Don't hesitate to call, text, email me or set up a meeting with comments, questions or ideas for collaboration. Thank you.
0:26:15 — open the recording at 26 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 125 Thank you for your safety. Thanks, IT.
0:26:19 — open the recording at 26 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 127 Reports from Board of Public Works and Safety.
0:26:24 — open the recording at 26 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 129 I receive none.
0:26:26 — open the recording at 26 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 3 Reports from Standing Committees.
0:26:27 — open the recording at 26 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 129 There are none.
0:26:28 — open the recording at 26 minutes 28 secondsSpeaker 3 Reports from Non-Standing Committees.
0:26:29 — open the recording at 26 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 21 There are none.
0:26:30 — open the recording at 26 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 3 Items previously tabled. There are none. Tax abatements for confirmation. There are none. Items on second reading. There are none. Items on first reading.
0:26:37 — open the recording at 26 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 18 You have one.
0:26:38 — open the recording at 26 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 133 Appropriation 3, 2026, $20,000 from Other Governmental, number 04040096, to edit Riley Trail, 0404-0096-04450-545. You must vote to take action.
0:26:54 — open the recording at 26 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 136 Petitioner. Good evening, Mr. President, members of council. So we're asking to transfer this $20,000. You might wonder where this money came from since we're asking to appropriate it.
0:27:04 — open the recording at 27 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 138 This was part of the grant last year for the trail study and the Thompson Ditch Trail Study. We got a grant for 50% of a $40,000 study, which we've just finished up that study, We had a wonderful public hearing with great attendance, and it was received well last week. But the money came back. The 50% was sent back to the city, and we're looking and asking to appropriate those funds to the Ray Park and Riley Trail so that we can continue to use those same funds towards trail projects. Happy to answer any questions.
0:27:36 — open the recording at 27 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 139 Is there anyone from the public who wishes to comment on Appropriation 3-2026? Hearing none, counsel.
0:27:45 — open the recording at 27 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 143 Mr. Brennan.
0:27:49 — open the recording at 27 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 139 Councilperson Loudermilk.
0:27:50 — open the recording at 27 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 146 If there is no discussion, I'll make a motion that we vote to take action on Appropriation 3-2026. Second.
0:27:57 — open the recording at 27 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 2 It's been moved by Councilperson Loudermilk, seconded by Councilperson Hinton, that we take action on Appropriation 3-2026. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Okay, we may now take action on Appropriation 3-2026.
0:28:11 — open the recording at 28 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 145 Mr. President.
0:28:12 — open the recording at 28 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 2 Councilperson Loudermilk.
0:28:13 — open the recording at 28 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 145 I'll make a motion that we approve Appropriation 3-2026. Second.
0:28:19 — open the recording at 28 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 2 It's been moved by Councilperson Loudermoke, seconded by Councilperson Hinton, that we approve Appropriation 3-2026. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay.
0:28:29 — open the recording at 28 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 132 Motion passes. Appropriation 3-2026 is adopted. Thank you. Thank you. Next item.
0:28:35 — open the recording at 28 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 133 Appropriation 4-2026. $4,500,000 from Wastewater Treatment Plant, number 0620-0061, to Park Avenue Lift Station, number 0620-006104-445061. You must vote to take action. Petitioner.
0:28:52 — open the recording at 28 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 136 Good evening again. This is probably the first time I've ever been twice in a row at the start of a meeting, so I appreciate that.
0:28:57 — open the recording at 28 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 138 So what we're asking here is appropriate some funds from the Sanitary District to complete a much-needed sanitary sewer improvement. You may remember last year that there were some funds in the budget to do the Park Avenue lift station. There was $3 million in the budget last year to do this project. We bid the project late last year and opened the bids in time to encumber the funds, but the project came in above estimate at about $5.2 million. Wait a second. Sorry. $6.2 million. And we were wanting to do the right thing,
0:29:33 — open the recording at 29 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 138 So rather than hurry up and approve a contract so we can cover funds, we decided that we need to take our time and take the right steps here and get the funding right and that, you know, we'll come back next year and ask for an appropriation of funds. So we did take the time. We took that $6.2 million bid and our lowest bid contractor, and we were able to negotiate that down to about $5.3 million, which is a significant savings. It's a much needed project and we did vet that bid very hard to make sure that it was a good price and it was the best we were going to do.
0:30:07 — open the recording at 30 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 138 And we feel comfortable with that. So we did award the bid. We went through with the process. The same appropriation was heard for a recommendation from the Sanitary Commission at the previous meeting and did pass. So tonight we're asking to appropriate those funds so that we can complete this project and do a much needed improvement to the Sanitary Sewer System.
0:30:30 — open the recording at 30 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 3 Is there anyone from the public who wishes to comment on appropriation for 2026? Hearing none, counsel? Counselor President Boland.
0:30:40 — open the recording at 30 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 161 Do we have a local contractor?
0:30:43 — open the recording at 30 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 138 So the contractor, the one to bid is B&T Drainage next week. They're out of Marshall, Illinois, so fairly local. They do a lot of work here and do a good job. So we have no control also over who the contractor is other than to award it to the lowest responsive responsible bidder.
0:30:59 — open the recording at 30 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 166 That's what I wanted to hear. Thank you.
0:31:02 — open the recording at 31 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 2 Councilperson Nation.
0:31:05 — open the recording at 31 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 94 Thanks, Marcus.
0:31:06 — open the recording at 31 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 169 Can you just briefly outline the area that the Park Avenue lift station serves?
0:31:14 — open the recording at 31 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 138 That's a great question. So our sanitary district goes beyond the limits of Terre Haute, and you may recognize this location as being outside of city limits. So the Park Avenue lift station sits right around Lafayette Avenue and Park Avenue just a little bit to the west. And it's going to serve everything north of Park Avenue all the way up to, where do we end? There's a large factory up there. Can't think of the name. That may be it. So all the way, it's going to take the northern boundary of the Sanitary District all the way to Park Avenue. And it's a pretty significant lift station.
0:31:54 — open the recording at 31 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 138 and it's, you know, not only is it fairly significant flow, it's very deep, about 30 feet deep. So that explains the price increase. You know, there's a lot of the price increase when we get to talking and vetting price came down to it's deep, there's a high water table, and there's a lot of risk.
0:32:16 — open the recording at 32 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 88 And this is replacement of an existing lift station. So does it represent an expansion of service, or is it just maintenance, basically?
0:32:26 — open the recording at 32 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 176 It's not necessarily an expansion of service, although we do still have some capacity up there.
0:32:30 — open the recording at 32 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 138 It's typically maintenance. So I think you'll probably recall last year there was a scenario on maybe not this lift station, but nearby where there was a sewer discharge from the ground where the force main actually, you know, decayed to a point where it corroded through and spewed sewage onto the ground, which is a terrible situation. that started us looking into this. And this, it's no surprise this needs to be replaced. It is in our long-term control plan that we started putting together years ago. So it is a planned
0:33:00 — open the recording at 33 minutesSpeaker 138 replacement, maybe a little bit sooner than planned. But as we started putting together the project to replace that force main, it started to make sense to do the lift station at the same time
0:33:11 — open the recording at 33 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 88 to get the best value for the public and the repair. That's great. Thank you for the explanation. You're right. I did notice that this is outside of what we think of the footprint of the city of Terre Haute. That's why I asked about the service area and all that. And if there are no further questions, I just want to add two quick things here,
0:33:35 — open the recording at 33 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 50 because obviously the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission is coming April 22nd to talk about utilities and rates and something that I would ask you all to help spread this message.
0:33:46 — open the recording at 33 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 52 With our private utilities, 10 to up to 20 cents of every dollar you pay them goes to profit.
0:33:54 — open the recording at 33 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 50 With us, 100% has to go back into the system, either through salaries or through improvements or through equipment or through maintenance and for bonds. So the long-term control plan, which I know you guys are very familiar, but whenever we talk sewage, people get frustrated. All right, why are we paying for sewage? We pay taxes. I hear that time and time again. Well, when the city, or frankly government for that matter, owns a utility system,
0:34:22 — open the recording at 34 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 52 they can put all their resources that they receive to maintaining it and at times upgrading it. So when we have companies that come in, they do help at times to upgrade the service in their area. We do have those conversations with our larger companies when they come in. But the long-term control plan in and of itself, just to be very specific on something,
0:34:43 — open the recording at 34 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 50 just by delaying it, you know, about 15 years, which kind of happened in the past, cost tripled. Right? So when we talk about bonding and projects and improving the entire city, right now the city of Terre Haute needs, well, the sanitary district, which obviously includes
0:35:01 — open the recording at 35 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 52 portions of the county, the sanitary district needs to do about $330 million of projects from now for the next 25 years. And so when folks get frustrated, I just point to the list of projects that we are going to do. And a lot of the projects that we do are the same projects that people ask about. I'm looking at Councilwoman Thompson because I'm thinking of you for a second. Lingonshire, Woodshire, and Woodridge. Why we cannot pave those streets because the stormwater and the drainage and the curb and gutter is so bad that if we fix the street next year, it'd be the same problem.
0:35:36 — open the recording at 35 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 52 That's looking to be, I think, 7 million. Knock on wood. Hopefully I can get it 6.5. 25th Street, another great example.
0:35:45 — open the recording at 35 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 50 So a lot of people are happy with the work that you guys helped us do at Brown, the Brown Stormwater Project. There are so many examples of Brown Stormwater Project that need to be done across the community, which are tied to that long-term control plan.
0:35:59 — open the recording at 35 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 52 So when people get frustrated, I always remind them, we are not the private utilities that take 10 to 20 cents of every dollar that you pay us and put it into some just pure profit. What we do is we reinvest that back into our community,
0:36:14 — open the recording at 36 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 184 and that's really what this project is, just one of the many examples of that. So I'd just like to add to that, because I know when we talk utilities and we talk prices, it's very frustrating, and I remind folks that this is the one utility that's not like the other guys, that is trying to do everything to improve and upgrade our system. Thank you.
0:36:32 — open the recording at 36 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 88 Thanks, Mayor. and you know at four and a half million dollars this will well I guess the total cost is more like 5.1 at 5.1 million dollars that's what is it like almost one and a half percent of the 320 something million dollars that we have to spend over the next 25 years anyway as I was saying if there is no further discussion I move that we take action on appropriation number 4 2026
0:37:02 — open the recording at 37 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 195 Second.
0:37:04 — open the recording at 37 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 3 It's been moved by Councilperson Nation, seconded by Councilperson Bullen, that we take action on Appropriation 4-2026.
0:37:10 — open the recording at 37 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 2 All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Okay, we may now take action on Appropriation 4-2026.
0:37:18 — open the recording at 37 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 199 Mr. President.
0:37:19 — open the recording at 37 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 2 Councilperson Nation.
0:37:19 — open the recording at 37 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 197 If there's no further discussion, I move for approval of Appropriation 4-2026.
0:37:24 — open the recording at 37 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 2 Second. It's been moved by Councilperson Nation, seconded by Councilperson Bullen, that we approve Appropriation 4-2026.
0:37:31 — open the recording at 37 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 132 All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion passes. Appropriation 4-2026 is adopted. Thank you.
0:37:38 — open the recording at 37 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 133 Next item. Special Ordinance 3-2026, rezoning a property located at 3317 North 12th Street. Area planning has not met, so you cannot take any action and cause a little bit of confusion, so the petitioner's attorney is not here, but we will hear it next week.
0:37:56 — open the recording at 37 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 132 This is the first reading for Special Ordinance 3-2026. Is there anyone from the public who wishes to comment on Special Ordinance 3-2026?
0:38:06 — open the recording at 38 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 3 Hearing none, Council? Motion to take action. Okay, we'll move to next week then. Thank you. Next item.
0:38:16 — open the recording at 38 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 204 Resolution 7-2026, supporting the conversion of South 8th Street into a city park and outdoor area for the Terre Haute Children's Museum.
0:38:25 — open the recording at 38 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 210 Petitioner.
0:38:26 — open the recording at 38 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 212 I need a booster seat. Good evening, Council President Dinkle and Council members. It's a pleasure to be here and represent our partners for this resolution with the Terre Haute Children's Museum. I am thrilled to share our project that Susan Turner has been working very diligently on to develop a proposal for a city park that would be placed along 8th Street right across from the Children's Museum.
0:38:55 — open the recording at 38 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 212 This will be a really great opportunity for us to transform a road that has some dangers and just may not be the most functional for our city and convert it into some much needed green space for that area. We are proposing for this park to be a public-private ownership with terms to be determined. The park board meeting for this evening that was scheduled for 4 p.m. has been canceled, and we have scheduled a special meeting for Monday, April 6th for the park board to review this item and get their letter of support. So I was hoping to have that for you all today.
0:39:35 — open the recording at 39 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 212 We do have that on our agenda for April 6th, So I'll be very excited to share that with the council once that has been reviewed by the Terre Haute Park and Recreation Board. That said, we are seeking the resolution to get support to close off 8th Street for the development of the park if we get the funds to do so. We don't want to shut down the road by any means until we are able to have the project fully funded. So if there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer. I know I'm joined here with the team, so we can certainly ask each other.
0:40:11 — open the recording at 40 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 215 Yes, please. Perfect.
0:40:12 — open the recording at 40 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 182 So I just want to quickly add the funding piece to all of this.
0:40:17 — open the recording at 40 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 50 So what we're doing here, you know, the special ordinance and vacating the street, that is contingent on the long-awaited Lilly Arts and Culture grant funding, which is tied to Ready 2.0. It was announced under Governor Holcomb's administration. There were some positives, some changes in that office, and now it is back. And so that is the funding that the city will target to close out all the hard work that these folks have done. They have done probably 99% of this work in their efforts. And so we are going to come in as the folks who apply for the grant to bring that funding in.
0:40:55 — open the recording at 40 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 50 And then we're going to work with them to build said city park and then transfer it to them for maintenance and ownership at that point. So these are the folks who have put in all the great work.
0:41:07 — open the recording at 41 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 60 We're going to call them up now so they can answer specific questions. I just wanted to talk that one funding piece.
0:41:13 — open the recording at 41 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 218 Good evening. I'm Kyla Dow.
0:41:15 — open the recording at 41 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 219 I am the Director of Donor Relations at the Terre Haute Children's Museum. Unfortunately, Susan could not be here tonight, but the entire leadership team from the museum has come, and we are here. I'm here to answer any questions you have. So this project is a long time in the making. being in fact COVID was actually the spurring of looking at this opportunity. The Children's Museum was started in a church basement by three science teachers and has been a part of this community for just shy of 40 years. Our current location at 727 Wabash Avenue is celebrating its sweet 16th birthday this
0:41:56 — open the recording at 41 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 219 year and we see about 55,000 visitors a year which makes us one of the most visited attractions in Terre Haute and the entire Wabash Valley and that is why we have consistently need the seen the need to become a bigger part of the community by by working with the city on this park project. What many people may not realize is that we are completely landlocked at our location not on four sides, but five. We are three floors. The fourth floor of our building is actually hotel rooms for the adjoining hotel. So we have no other options for expansion,
0:42:39 — open the recording at 42 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 219 even though we're seeing amazing numbers that continue to grow every year. This A Street partnership with the City of Terre Haute and the Terre Haute Parks Department will allow us to utilize an extremely underutilized section of downtown, that 8th Street section, and turn it into something extraordinary for children and families. And not only will I say that it's underutilized, but our offices actually have windows overlooking the intersection of Wabash and A Street. And I can tell you, if they are driving on it, half the time they're driving the wrong direction.
0:43:13 — open the recording at 43 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 219 We have a great viewpoint of that. So we have vetted this project through a strategic plan, a master's facilities plan, a feasibility study. And now we obviously realize the city and the Parks Department, we still have lots of work to do with them, including grant opportunities we have coming up and private donors. But what they really need to see is this resolution so that we can move forward in asking for that funding.
0:43:38 — open the recording at 43 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 224 So if you have any questions for me or Kylie, we would love to answer.
0:43:44 — open the recording at 43 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 1 Is there anyone from the public who wishes to comment on Resolution 7-2026?
0:43:50 — open the recording at 43 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 2 Hearing none, Council? Councilperson Nation.
0:43:56 — open the recording at 43 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 88 Thanks to all of you who have brought this forward and been working on this. And thanks to Mayor Sackfa and the Parks Department and the administration for your contributions too. This is a, as she intimated, this is a plan that's been years in the making. And you'll see that my name is on here in support of this, and I am going to read the whole thing just so the community understands what we're doing at this stage. I do want to take this opportunity, though, to express my often voiced concern about this, which the people who know me best know exactly what I'm going to say.
0:44:46 — open the recording at 44 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 88 I want to see two-way traffic surrounding this museum so that the families who come here from out of town don't have to drive the wrong way on the adjoining streets, the closest of which will be 9th Street and Ohio also. We've got, this is just one instance of many that illustrates why our downtown needs to go back to two-way traffic on as many streets as possible. And I'll stop on that because I don't want to beat this too hard. But we could make 9th Street two-way south of Wabash Avenue. And that would help families navigate their way to this museum.
0:45:36 — open the recording at 45 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 88 and to this wonderful facility that's planned on the former bed of 8th Street. Okay, I said I'd stop. I will. So what's this actually doing? This is a non-binding expression of sentiment. It's a resolution. That's what a resolution is. It does not close 8th Street. It does not provide any funding. It is a resolution of the Common Council of the City of Terre Haute supporting the planned conversion of South 8th Street into a city park and outdoor area for the Terre Haute Children's Museum.
0:46:15 — open the recording at 46 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 88 Whereas the City of Terre Haute supports investments that enhance downtown vitality, quality of place, and safe, accessible public spaces for residents and visitors. and whereas the Terre Haute Children's Museum is a community asset that provides educational programming and family-oriented activities that contribute to local workforce attraction and retention and community well-being and whereas the planned conversion of South 8th Street into a city park and outdoor area to support the museum would expand opportunities for outdoor
0:46:57 — open the recording at 46 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 88 learning recreation and public gatherings in the downtown area and whereas the project is intended to improve pedestrian safety and comfort increase public space amenities and create a more inviting environment for families, students, and visitors. And whereas the City Council desires to express its support for collaborative planning among the city, the museum, and other private and public stakeholders to advance the project in a matter consistent with public access, safety, and long-term maintenance needs. And whereas this resolution is intended
0:47:41 — open the recording at 47 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 88 to demonstrate policy support for the project concept and ongoing coordination and does not by itself vacate right away for appropriate funds each of which may require separate council action consistent with applicable law whereas the city council encourages city administration relevant with the museum and stakeholders
0:48:09 — open the recording at 48 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 234 to refine the project scope and confirm operational responsibilities, address accessibility and safety requirements, and evaluate impacts to traffic circulation, utilities, emergency access and adjacent properties. And whereas the City Council supports the project's intent to provide a safe, welcoming and accessible public space that advances downtown placemaking, outdoor education, and community-oriented programming. And whereas the City Council acknowledges that subsequent actions, including but not limited to right-of-way actions, if any, and funding appropriations may be brought
0:49:01 — open the recording at 49 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 234 to Council consideration as the project advances. Be it resolved by the Terre Haute City Council that this resolution is hereby in support of the planned conversion of South 8th Street into a city park, an outdoor recreation area associated with the Terre Haute Children's Museum. There's a whereas in there that talks about coordination.
0:49:35 — open the recording at 49 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 234 And to reread that, it says, whereas the City Council desires to express its support for collaborative planning among the city, the museum, and other public and private stakeholders to advance the project in a manner consistent with public access, safety, and long-term maintenance needs. To me, that's one of the key pieces of this. We need to see cooperation and coordination, not just between the city and the city mayor's office and the council and the children's museum.
0:50:12 — open the recording at 50 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 88 We also need to see coordination with the street department, with the engineering department, and with others, our metropolitan planning organization that does transportation. we need to look hard at our downtown and figure out how to make a truly integrated grid or remake our grid in a way that supports the traffic that is headed toward the Children's Museum and other places downtown. On that note, if there's no further discussion, I'll shut up after I move for approval of resolution number 7, 2026.
0:51:01 — open the recording at 51 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 235 Second.
0:51:07 — open the recording at 51 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 240 Curtis, second.
0:51:08 — open the recording at 51 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 0 Before we take a vote, I do want to make a comment on this. I probably have a unique perspective on this as a museum director myself, and I sympathize with the Children's Museum. When you're seeing that many visitors per day and have nowhere else to expand, it takes some creative out-of-the-box thinking. This plan has been talked about, I think, since my time on council. I think I met Susan months into my term on the council, and initially I was ready to sit down with her and say, no, I'm against this, because my district line runs right up the middle of 8th Street.
0:51:42 — open the recording at 51 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 0 But after seeing the plan and hearing all the ideas, she won me over. And I think it's important, and I don't know if it's been made clear, that half of this, the northern half of 8th Street, will be for the Children's Museum. But the southern half is a city public park, and that will not just benefit visitors to the Children's Museum, but people in downtown and across the city. So I think it's a really creative plan, and I voice my support for that. So with that, it's been moved by Councilperson Laudermoke, seconded by Councilperson DeBond.
0:52:19 — open the recording at 52 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 0 It's been moved by Councilperson Nation, sorry, seconded by Councilperson Devon that we approve Resolution 7-2026. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay.
0:52:31 — open the recording at 52 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 2 The motion passes. Resolution 7-2026 is adopted.
0:52:37 — open the recording at 52 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 247 Next item.
0:52:39 — open the recording at 52 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 133 We have our first CF1 form of the year. Yay. Yes. Okay. Okay, Historic Walnut Score LLC, which was originally filed as 200 South Sixth Street LLC. The resolution number they list is Resolution 3 of 2000. It's actually Resolution 3 of 2020. I didn't want anybody to think we're having a 26 year abatement. You have the copy in front of you and they completed it other than a typo On the name, they are showing one additional employee that originally estimated. As a reminder, a single employee's salary is confidential information. Salary is higher than the single employee
0:53:29 — open the recording at 53 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 133 that was originally estimated. And they actually completed section four. So in some ways, they do get a gold star on that. As a reminder, your vote will be in substantial compliance, not in substantial compliance, you need a motion in a second. If you decide they're
0:53:49 — open the recording at 53 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 206 not in substantial compliance, we must set a hearing. Questions?
0:53:56 — open the recording at 53 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 254 Questions?
0:54:10 — open the recording at 54 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 256 Mr. President.
0:54:12 — open the recording at 54 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 257 Councilperson Hinton.
0:54:13 — open the recording at 54 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 259 I move that Historic Walnut Square LLC is in compliance.
0:54:21 — open the recording at 54 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 260 Second.
0:54:22 — open the recording at 54 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 2 It's been moved by Councilperson Hinton, and seconded by Councilperson Thompson that the CF1 form for Historic Walnut Square LLC be found in substantial compliance. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, say no.
0:54:42 — open the recording at 54 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 132 CF1 form for Historic Walnut Square LLC is in substantial compliance.
0:54:47 — open the recording at 54 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 154 Mr. President. Yes. Oh, okay. Make me...
0:54:53 — open the recording at 54 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 133 All right. One of the projects I've been working on has been, well, Councilman Nation and I, unfortunately, have been here for many years. One of the big projects we did many, many years ago was just to put information online. And then we started broadcasting and went through some changes. We have it on YouTube. Hopefully everybody is seeing that. one of the big changes that's going to be coming this year is the implementation of the council's YouTube page. And we will start in May broadcasting live on that. I will put stuff on Facebook.
0:55:35 — open the recording at 55 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 133 I will also have stuff on the council's page. And we will slowly start moving the older videos over to it. I have some on there now. It would be great if we could get people to subscribe. Let's get our numbers up above 20. I think we have 17. I think nine of them are at the table here.
0:55:57 — open the recording at 55 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 0 And 10, yeah. We're recruiting. And I just want to remind everybody that when that change happens, you'll still be able to go to the city's website and find the link just as you are with all of our agenda and packet. So that won't change. It's just the channel that it's being streamed on.
0:56:10 — open the recording at 56 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 133 And we will definitely be putting more on Facebook. We will definitely be putting more information on the city council's part of the city's website. And there's always a link to the YouTube video on the website for each agenda.
0:56:33 — open the recording at 56 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 88 I do have a quick question, Michelle. How far back into the past do those videos go?
0:56:43 — open the recording at 56 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 281 I don't need a specific month.
0:56:54 — open the recording at 56 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 286 So I have audio back to 2009,
0:57:07 — open the recording at 57 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 133 and I think I have video close to that year.
0:57:11 — open the recording at 57 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 289 So it's a huge project. So if anybody wants to watch all that. Yep.
0:57:19 — open the recording at 57 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 88 And one other follow-up. Are there requirements as to how long those kinds of records are kept?
0:57:28 — open the recording at 57 minutes 28 secondsSpeaker 286 As you know from our years of working together in the council, the rest of the council,
0:57:34 — open the recording at 57 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 133 we try and exceed any requirements. So right now it's only 90 days.
0:57:39 — open the recording at 57 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 294 Oh, wow. Okay.
0:57:42 — open the recording at 57 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 133 So you have to retain the information, but making it on a publicly accessible website 90 days.
0:57:51 — open the recording at 57 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 289 So we kind of exceed that just a little.
0:57:55 — open the recording at 57 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 88 I think that you're really doing a great service to the public by making that available so that people can reach back and try to figure out what happened when. I know that you're always very accessible and helpful to us when we reach out to you
0:58:11 — open the recording at 58 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 197 individually and ask, all right, so remind me of when this happened. But for the public, I think having these tools out there is especially helpful.
0:58:19 — open the recording at 58 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 133 One of the requirements with the new law that went into effect last July was you have to have a link to your agenda with the video. And with the agenda, you have to have a link. It's back and forth. Well, I'd like to take that up a step. I've been doing that for a while, but I would like to also give a location of where the ordinances are on the website. But we wanted to wait until the new website is up and running, and everything was moved before we did that. There's another project going on, and we have a data archival software,
0:58:56 — open the recording at 58 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 133 and it's going to be made public so that you can go look for an old ordinance yourself, generals, specials, resolutions. I don't know. Yeah. My first job when I came to the city was scanning these documents. That's how I started. And we have 1929 to current. Now 1929 to 1980 is minute books, but 1984 where it is individual documents. It's a lot of documents, a lot of items scanned. So my office is going through and we're looking to make sure we've named it right. We got all the pages and everything so I will update you when that's ready for the public.
0:59:44 — open the recording at 59 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 133 So if somebody was interested, they could go look and see when Ray Park was established. they could go and see Windeming Park, all of that stuff.
0:59:55 — open the recording at 59 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 88 And I know you're not sharing all of this to blow your own horn, but I'd like to just publicly thank you for going beyond the minimal requirements of the law to do these projects and to make this stuff available. This is our government. This is what our citizens have paid for over time. And we all have the right to access it and celebrate it and do whatever level of scrutiny we want to do to understand it. So thanks. I mean, you know, the work of the clerk is pretty invisible to most people.
1:00:39 — open the recording at 1 hour 39 secondsSpeaker 229 And I applaud you.
1:00:41 — open the recording at 1 hour 41 secondsSpeaker 299 Well, thank you. Where's George when I need him? All right.
1:00:47 — open the recording at 1 hour 47 secondsSpeaker 118 Mr. President. Councilperson Loudermoke.
1:00:51 — open the recording at 1 hour 51 secondsSpeaker 301 Go for it. I'm going to be George and make a motion to adjourn.
1:00:55 — open the recording at 1 hour 55 secondsSpeaker 303 Second.
1:00:56 — open the recording at 1 hour 56 secondsSpeaker 132 Moved by Councilperson Loudermoke, seconded by Councilperson Hinton enthusiastically. That we adjourn. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. City Council is adjourned. Thank you.
Marked moments above are where the archive's reviewed highlights were drawn from. Everything else on this page is unreviewed.