Transcript
Vigo County Council (Sunshine)Sep 1, 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.
Voices were separated automatically and named from the meeting's speaker roster where the evidence supported it. An unnamed voice shows as Speaker 12 — a machine label, not a person's name.
- Meeting
- Vigo County Council (Sunshine) · Sep 1, 2026
- Length
- 4:28:15
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- 972
- Transcribed by
- mlx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo
0:00:00 — open the recording at 0 seconds Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
0:09:00 — open the recording at 9 minutesSpeaker 0 Thank you.
0:09:30 — open the recording at 9 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 4 Please stand for the pledge.
0:09:42 — open the recording at 9 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 5 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,
0:09:50 — open the recording at 9 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 9 one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
0:10:02 — open the recording at 10 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 12 Can we go ahead and proceed with roll call, please?
0:10:05 — open the recording at 10 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 14 David Thompson. Here. Brad Anderson. Here. Vicki Wager. Here. Steve Ellis. Here. Randy Gentry. Here.
0:10:15 — open the recording at 10 minutes 15 seconds Nancy Alsup.
0:10:16 — open the recording at 10 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 16 Here.
0:10:17 — open the recording at 10 minutes 17 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Brenda Wilson. Here. Okay. We're getting a little bit low-end feedback, I think. Okay. He's asking to mute mics if you're not talking, please.
0:10:26 — open the recording at 10 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 23 Mr. President. Yes. I'd like to say something.
0:10:29 — open the recording at 10 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 24 Okay. Given the fact that we have so many people here tonight that really want to hear what we have to say or what is going to be said, I would like to make a motion that the president put away his phone and his timer. And at least during the elected officials time, we suspend the three minute time limit. It can be resumed again with public comments. But I'd like to make that motion.
0:10:52 — open the recording at 10 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 28 I actually agree with you.
0:10:55 — open the recording at 10 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 24 Do we need a vote on it?
0:10:59 — open the recording at 10 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 31 Okay, we have a motion and a second to let the commissioners do their presentation without
0:11:09 — open the recording at 11 minutes 9 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) a time limit.
0:11:10 — open the recording at 11 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 37 Point of order?
0:11:11 — open the recording at 11 minutes 11 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Yes, sir.
0:11:12 — open the recording at 11 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 37 So, is that a rule change?
0:11:15 — open the recording at 11 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 31 No, it would not be a rule change. I think she's asking.
0:11:18 — open the recording at 11 minutes 18 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Why don't you just make unilaterally the decision as the chairman, you're authorized to do so. Just say that you're going to allow it.
0:11:23 — open the recording at 11 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 39 There's motion on the table.
0:11:25 — open the recording at 11 minutes 25 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Discussion, ma'am.
0:11:26 — open the recording at 11 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 40 Okay.
0:11:27 — open the recording at 11 minutes 27 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) I will I am happy to unilaterally make the decision that commissioners can make their full presentation We will not ask them to stop so
0:11:37 — open the recording at 11 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 48 Thank you. That's all I wanted to have happen. Sure. Thank you
0:11:41 — open the recording at 11 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 55 all right on with a Couple announcements I'm gonna start myself and I'm I'm gonna preface this by some of this is
0:11:52 — open the recording at 11 minutes 52 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) perhaps a bit confusing so please don't assume that any of this language prevents the commissioners from making their presentation there has really to my knowledge never been a desire to stop them from presenting we want that to happen there was some of us that felt that we need more time to absorb the information before we take a vote so in light of recent credit bureau downgrade rating and the fiscal outlook contained in the report I'm adopting accounting Council Rule 6C, I'm appointing an attorney licensed to practice law in Indiana to conduct
0:12:31 — open the recording at 12 minutes 31 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) and oversee an audit of the county's financials. I'm executing adopted County Council Rule 2C, and I request the auditor in the county to provide a revenue forecast for an 18-month period. Sorry about that. There's a bug flying around. For an 18-month period ending December 31, 2027, no later than October 13, 2026, I'm Executing adopted county rule County Council rule to be and I request the Board of Commissioners to provide a report on improvements and
0:13:01 — open the recording at 13 minutes 1 secondSteve Ellis (chair) maintenance in the transportation system and other facilities in the county this should include cost to the taxpayers and the scope of work completed or plan for the previous 18 months and and the forward 18 month forecast this Report requested this report is requested by November 3rd that will help us better understand where we stand. I'm executing adopted County Council Rule 5A and hereby establish the committee for school funding review. I hereby appoint council members Nancy Alsup, Randy Gentry and myself to this committee pursuant
0:13:35 — open the recording at 13 minutes 35 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) and pursuant to and as allowed by Rule 7 of the County Council rules, I as the County Council president and referring the Board of Commissioners request to for funding to the VO County School Corporation my apologies to this committee for further review pursuant to rule 9 of the County Council rules the committee shall conduct any meetings and compliance to IC 514 that IC dash 14 dash 1.5 and shall report their findings in writing to the whole council when complete that also includes open door rules while public comment this evening
0:14:19 — open the recording at 14 minutes 19 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) is allowed per our normal adopted agenda structure it is and is encouraged comments as always will be limited to three minutes we look forward to hearing the presentation and perhaps answering some questions this evening subsequent discussions regarding the Board of Commissioners funding request for the county Vio County School Corporation should be directed to the new newly established committee for school funding review all right now having said all of this despite what some may say I don't believe that there's anyone on this
0:14:49 — open the recording at 14 minutes 49 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) entire council that doesn't want to help with the school project we might each have a different idea as to what that looks like but I believe we all wish to help nonetheless well has been said that we have had eight months to make this decision that simply is not correct while many of us felt that we knew from beginning which choice would be made we did not know for certain and the decision was just made a few weeks ago along this path many council members have had countless meetings with commissioners teachers school board members oversight members the superintendent etc we have been tracking
0:15:24 — open the recording at 15 minutes 24 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) this since the beginning and it's now time for us to have an opportunity to get some questions answered for us as well we do and we do look forward to today's presentation other than the commissioner's presentation this was actually already my notes other than the commissioner's presentation there will be a strict three-minute rule that is not special for today that's always the case for those of you that don't know the way the County Council rules work and this is part of the reason that I said today I didn't feel that we needed a
0:15:55 — open the recording at 15 minutes 55 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) large room is because today is the day where public speaking comes at the end of the meeting whereas in a voting meeting public speaking comes at the beginning of the meeting so you wouldn't have to sit through budget hearings etc and I did put that in an email to several people if any council member would like to speak to ask a question during the presentation please raise your hand respectfully the presentation will be limited to public officials that are presenting and not opinion based testimony there will be time towards the
0:16:28 — open the recording at 16 minutes 28 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) end of the meeting for public comment I do respectfully ask that we don't have any major outburst please be respectful regardless as to where you stand on this topic I would like to say thank you to just a few people one is Chief Scott with the Terre Haute Fire Department for coming in and making sure we were safe per fire code sheriff fell for his added attention to security today and all the deputies that are here and this will probably come to the shock to them but I want to thank the commissioners because although I had reservations about them
0:16:58 — open the recording at 16 minutes 58 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) bringing this many seats in at this point I am grateful that they did because it does look like there's no line out there and everybody was able to make it in so kudos to you guys for doing for taking the initiative to do that that being said if there's work if there's any other public com or I'm sorry if there's any other elected officials with short messages let's let them go first and then we'll have the commissioners get up for the presentation I'd like to
0:17:24 — open the recording at 17 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 59 make one other comment sure I am vehemently in opposition to the unilateral actions that you just took just want that for the record thank you
0:17:40 — open the recording at 17 minutes 40 seconds yes sir
0:17:45 — open the recording at 17 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 68 your mics not on okay all right well down there
0:17:52 — open the recording at 17 minutes 52 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) okay David first I want to begin by apologizing to everybody in attendance that's in this crammed room maybe more importantly to the the people that couldn't get inside and that are outside in their hot parking lot today that was not the intention for sure they're outside it's what is it 98 degrees I think when I pulled up watch this on YouTube at an August 4th council meeting I asked Commissioner Klinkenbeard whether the commissioners intended to bring the school funding presentation to the council meeting in September. His response was that they were presenting it at the September meeting.
0:18:31 — open the recording at 18 minutes 31 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) Given the tremendous interest that this has created, I suggested at that time to President Ellis that we have the meeting in a larger venue to accommodate the public. On August 5th, Commissioner Klinkenbeard sent an email to President Ellis. the council, the commissioners, and the commissioner's secretary, requesting a larger venue. What followed was an email exchange involving President Ellis, the council attorney, Commissioner Clinkenbeard,
0:19:00 — open the recording at 19 minutesDavid Thompson (councillor) Councilwoman Wilson, and me. From that exchange, it became apparent that the council president Ellis and the council attorney were going to delay any such decisions regarding the school funding and were unwilling to provide a larger venue to accommodate public interest. The email thread was provided to media outlets and I think part of it was released today. The conversation went as far as the council attorney advising me that I could potentially be held liable for simply making the argument and the request for a larger venue. Let me be clear tonight.
0:19:33 — open the recording at 19 minutes 33 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) As of August 5th, I became concerned that the council attorney was not acting in the best interest of the county as a whole, but was advocating for the position of one individual member of this council. That's number one. Number two, I want to formally voice my distrust and lack of confidence in President Ellis and the council attorney. The county council is a fiscal body of the county with approximately a $65 million budget. The president of the body carries a significant responsibility to conduct himself in a manner that reflects professionalism, credibility, restraint, and
0:20:07 — open the recording at 20 minutes 7 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) respect of elected officials and residents that he represents. In my opinion, a number of recent actions and statements by President Ellis falls short of that standard. To name a few, numerous times referring to local politicians as being liars, corrupt, and lining their pockets with no evidence. Going on an Indianapolis area podcast and saying the school corporation has purposely not maintained their buildings just to build new. Even saying multiple times in homemade video on August 18th that our commissioners are liars. Not to mention the possible distrust
0:20:43 — open the recording at 20 minutes 43 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) in allegations in Indiana Cause Number 84-D01-2509-PL-007356 dealing with a contested will or the violation of the First Amendment rights of an elected school board member and an engaged teacher by blocking them on your political-oriented Facebook page. With all that said, we are a council. Of course, we have our own thoughts, ideologies, and will not always agree. However, this needs left in the council chambers. The council has a few months to somehow pull this together. We have hot topics in front of us. We have a budget that is going to need approved
0:21:28 — open the recording at 21 minutes 28 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) and to make a decision on the biggest investment this council has ever and probably will ever make. Neither side wins in the rhetoric back and forth, and creating more divide only hurts taxpayers. most of all it hurts our students in the future of this county the council's worked against each other this entire year it's easy to point fingers and place blame and undoubtedly everyone has their own opinion as to the reason why however at the end of the day our disgust for each other boils over into the community in which we live the community is tired of the constant
0:22:02 — open the recording at 22 minutes 2 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) bickering I'm tired of the constant bickering we all need to do what is the best thing and it's work together the next few months a step in the right direction and gaining back some support in our community would be putting the Commissioners request concerning the oversight boards recommendation back on the agenda like always if there are questions after presenting to the council the council has the ability to table such requests at our general meeting if that isn't likely I would call for a vote of the entire council on
0:22:34 — open the recording at 22 minutes 34 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) whether it should be put on the agenda or not. The topic needs voted on sooner rather than later. Rather it voted in favor of or against our community needs to move on. The removal of an agenda item with no cause has caused more anger in the eyes of several. Putting it back where it belongs helps the people we represent understand the commissioners and what they are asking for and creates
0:22:58 — open the recording at 22 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 83 transparency thank you are there any other
0:23:09 — open the recording at 23 minutes 9 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) so I I did not ask you guys to stop clapping because it was against me and I thought that would seem self-serving but we will try going forward any type of
0:23:19 — open the recording at 23 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 89 outburst let's try not to have them although I know everybody was happy with
0:23:23 — open the recording at 23 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 91 what he said go ahead sir I would like you like to see us do do an executive
0:23:29 — open the recording at 23 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 93 session with these people in the next few days to answer some questions that that we're getting and I'd like to see us able to do that give us a chance to
0:23:46 — open the recording at 23 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 94 talk to the boards and all that so I think you probably have the support of
0:23:52 — open the recording at 23 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 89 most of this board with that I don't know if it's legal we may have to just make it another public meeting but we'll see what comes out of tonight with their presentation and see how far we get there and then if it's legal we could potentially do an executive session but if it's not legal then we just do we could do another public meeting where we get together and talk about this more
0:24:10 — open the recording at 24 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 93 so all right are there can I ask our attorney is an executive session to get You gain information that's legal to do, 48-hour.
0:24:22 — open the recording at 24 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 100 Only regarding certain topics under Title V.
0:24:27 — open the recording at 24 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 102 So we have to do that. Yeah.
0:24:36 — open the recording at 24 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 109 It needs to be recorded. It can still be recorded. So under Title V, executive sessions can only occur
0:24:44 — open the recording at 24 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 112 for certain specific reasons. and this is such a public issue that it should be done in the public. Anything discussed about this project should be done in the public, right? So I would discourage an executive session, and I'm not sure you could even do it based on this just one project.
0:25:02 — open the recording at 25 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 117 So at the very minimum, perhaps we do another public meeting. But I think your point's well taken. Did you have a question, David?
0:25:12 — open the recording at 25 minutes 12 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) I guess my question is why was it taken off the agenda? if we're going to have another public meeting and it was on the agenda tonight why why because the
0:25:19 — open the recording at 25 minutes 19 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) the goal implied that we were going to if it's on the agenda we are going to be forced to vote in a week and there's too many people that have too many questions how many how many times have we
0:25:31 — open the recording at 25 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 124 tabled items i cannot answer that but we have the ability to do that though correct we do have the ability to table an item so why was it taken off the agenda is what i want to know so that we will
0:25:42 — open the recording at 25 minutes 42 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) have time to get our questions answered. Are you going to ask questions tonight when the presentation is made? Yeah, I mean, I plan to ask some questions, but if they don't have the answers, that's okay, because the goal is that we will meet with them again. I think they will have the answers. Okay. I'm confident. All right. All right. Any other? I'd like to expound on that
0:26:05 — open the recording at 26 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 24 just a little bit. Sure. Why couldn't we keep it on the agenda with the possibility we are not forced to vote on it next week we can always table it to October but we get the information now so that it can start being researched in the next week and the next month why is that not a possibility because this would imply by
0:26:26 — open the recording at 26 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 134 having it on the agenda would imply that we are going to take a vote and this
0:26:31 — open the recording at 26 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 31 accomplishes that such that we're not going to be voting on it next week instead we will be fact-gathering look it's on the record when it's presented tonight if it's on the agenda we have the the Commissioners the oversight committee have had eight months to work down this path and they've been here
0:26:51 — open the recording at 26 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 24 every month giving us updates were you not listening when they were here are we just more concerned about stopping them every sure and maybe you can help
0:26:59 — open the recording at 26 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 31 tonight and answer some of the questions that we have that's that would be that would be one step forward that we can see because at the end of the day we we
0:27:08 — open the recording at 27 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 134 do need more information and this is the way to do it that's your way to do it
0:27:14 — open the recording at 27 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 145 that is not the way to do it I'm sorry okay thank you mr. president yes sir
0:27:20 — open the recording at 27 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 152 I've got a couple questions for the commissioners during our public official comment that I want to address but after listening to the stuff that's going on up here and we're not even starting a meeting technically it's not a mess that what happened after the October meeting and last year and I kind of feel as if we're throwing people under the bus and so at this point we have a lawsuit that's pending and I got a feeling that you probably legal counsel doesn't want me go there because of the pending lawsuit but rather than answering why is this on the agenda or not on
0:28:08 — open the recording at 28 minutes 8 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) the agenda this council adopts rules and we follow those rules i will say and commissioner switzer is here that we have in our rules that the council administrator and the secretary should be noticed by 12 p.m. 15 days prior to the Sunshine meeting. Now, I don't know that you've implied that this is the situation, but if I get called in a situation where I'm asked what happened, I will tell you that that deadline was not met and that Commissioner Schweitzer failed to provide the written supporting documentation in his own email at 3.29 and 54 seconds on August 17th
0:28:57 — open the recording at 28 minutes 57 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) after the 12 o'clock deadline and provided that information to our secretary, the auditor. With that said, that triggers Rule 7. Any departmental request filed after the deadline requires the approval of the president to be included at the regular meeting. This was never included on this meeting. should have never been per our own rules, and the president has established a committee and an ability to be able to hear all the voices in our community repeatedly by gathering the information and asking the questions that we need.
0:29:35 — open the recording at 29 minutes 35 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) If there's anybody that believes that we have all the answers on this council and has been so briefed that they've got everything they need, then I have tonight I would like to take the opportunity to ask those council members some of the questions that I have because I feel like I've spent a great deal of time trying to research this to get information. I know, Mr. President, you asked for the Crow report. I believe it's documented five times and were repeatedly put off until the president of the oversight board, Mark Elliott, provided that information to you.
0:30:14 — open the recording at 30 minutes 14 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) So to think that we have all the information and we have everything we need, this is not a delay tactic by any means. You could have just removed it and said, forget it. You didn't do that. You're letting them present. We're doing everything that we were going to do. It is off the agenda. And so I just kind of want to clear the air a little bit that, you know, again, there's a lot of animosity. I look forward to tonight's meeting as well. Mr. President, I don't know how you want me to proceed. I've got some questions for the commissioners, and I don't know whether you want me to lead with that
0:30:52 — open the recording at 30 minutes 52 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) or how you would like me to proceed, but I would like that.
0:30:55 — open the recording at 30 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 31 Okay, we'll come back to you if you don't mind. Mr. Gentry, Mr. Auditor, do you have something?
0:31:01 — open the recording at 31 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 14 Yeah, the email was sent from Chris Weiser Monday, 8, 17, 26, at 11, 29 a.m.
0:31:08 — open the recording at 31 minutes 8 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Sir, that did not include the attachments. I have the email from Mr. Schweitzer at 329 and 54 seconds.
0:31:15 — open the recording at 31 minutes 15 seconds I have the attachment right there.
0:31:18 — open the recording at 31 minutes 18 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) It says Mr. Schweitzer's email clearly says, I am sorry the attachments were not in the email, and I am now sending them. That is true. Thank you. It says it right there. Thank you very much.
0:31:33 — open the recording at 31 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 157 Okay.
0:31:34 — open the recording at 31 minutes 34 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) it's after it's sir your email is at 3 29 and 54 seconds so here's the thing mr. Schweitzer while we're talking here's the thing if that didn't occur and i don't have the correct email
0:31:50 — open the recording at 31 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 159 it doesn't matter because the president didn't implement that the president deferred it to a
0:31:55 — open the recording at 31 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 160 committee council yes sir are we going to be asked to answer these questions right now if so i believe
0:32:02 — open the recording at 32 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 163 we're supposed to leave the microphone so it can be recorded. I didn't know if we were going to start the talking. No, no, no. Yeah, we're going to let you make your presentation. I understand that.
0:32:10 — open the recording at 32 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 167 But we're getting these allegations now and all these things. I understand.
0:32:13 — open the recording at 32 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 31 What's going on here? Okay. All right. All right. We're going to get to a couple of questions here first.
0:32:17 — open the recording at 32 minutes 17 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Thank you. Again, please, let's hold our applause. And I understand that this is an emotional time for everybody. The other thing that I want to say right quick is there was an email that was circulating that kind of made it look as though I absolutely did not want to ever go to a larger venue. And I would like to say that the email that didn't get circulated, for whatever reason, was the email that I said. It was actually me that suggested that we do go to the convention center. I don't think anyone made that suggestion prior to me.
0:32:52 — open the recording at 32 minutes 52 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) There was a suggestion of going to a school, but it was me that said we should have a meeting at the convention center, but it should be the voting meeting where the people get to speak prior to us doing our meeting as opposed to the people getting to speak after the meeting.
0:33:05 — open the recording at 33 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 24 So you didn't want the people to hear the presentation?
0:33:09 — open the recording at 33 minutes 9 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) No, no, no. They can still come and hear the presentation as well. I'm saying that the voting meeting would be the meeting where everybody gets to speak before we have a vote. All right. So with that said, Mr. Gentry, do you have any questions? And somebody might need to go to the podium, whoever you're directing this.
0:33:27 — open the recording at 33 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 152 I'd like to ask Commissioner Klinkenberg, I've got a couple of questions.
0:33:32 — open the recording at 33 minutes 32 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) And this may sound direct, but it's going to go to the underlying presentation that you're going to go forward with.
0:33:46 — open the recording at 33 minutes 46 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) And so something that I've continually heard and multiple people have said this online and social media has just turned into quite a circus. But a lot of people say that the county has what is classified as excessive funds.
0:34:07 — open the recording at 34 minutes 7 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Do you concur that we have excessive funds? I'm asking Commissioner Klinkenberg.
0:34:15 — open the recording at 34 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 180 trinkenberg you can answer a minute a liar say what if i could address your concern of you calling
0:34:20 — open the recording at 34 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 181 me a liar real quick i didn't call you anything sir i didn't call you anything i'm just saying
0:34:26 — open the recording at 34 minutes 26 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) that i've got an email that says that you did the attachments at 329 but the that the president has not even used that rule to remove it off the agenda i was making a point that that's what i see are you telling me that you have a different email council president ellis can i address this please
0:34:42 — open the recording at 34 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 50 Okay. If we could keep this brief, because this is getting, we need to get to the presentation. So if you would very briefly.
0:34:49 — open the recording at 34 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 180 I agree with you 100%. The implications are firing everywhere.
0:34:52 — open the recording at 34 minutes 52 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) At 1127, I sent an email to Auditor Hutchings, the resolution to adopt and commit. I then emailed two minutes later at 1129, the attachment's right here, that I said,
0:35:03 — open the recording at 35 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 180 oops, I'm sorry, I forgot to add the attachment. Okay. So it was definitely before the noon deadline.
0:35:07 — open the recording at 35 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 190 Thank you for clarification. All right.
0:35:10 — open the recording at 35 minutes 10 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) So, Commissioner Klinkenbeard, in regards to the questions that I've got is, again, I'm not trying to make a point here.
0:35:22 — open the recording at 35 minutes 22 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) I'm trying to gather, does the county have what is being classified in the community as excessive funds available to do this school?
0:35:31 — open the recording at 35 minutes 31 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) Well, let me be clear. I've never said that the county has excessive funds. I have said that the county is in great financial shape. We have been and we continue to be. We were last year when we came in front of this body and said that we were.
0:35:43 — open the recording at 35 minutes 43 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) And Baker Tilly has proven that, and so has Crow proven that.
0:35:47 — open the recording at 35 minutes 47 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Okay. So if the county is in excellent financial shape, and there's multiple school board members that have used the term excessive funds the county has, and that's why I'm asking you as a commissioner. So if we have excessive funds, are we overtaxing the community to get those excessive funds? Do we have more funds than we need to operate? And have we been overtaxing the community for a period of time to get to this scenario?
0:36:20 — open the recording at 36 minutes 20 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) I would say that the council over the past few years has been very good at watching the taxpayers' money. That's what I would say. Okay.
0:36:28 — open the recording at 36 minutes 28 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) So point of order. Point of order. Yes, sir. I'm being interrupted by another member I'd like to finish. Yes, sir. Go ahead.
0:36:36 — open the recording at 36 minutes 36 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) And so, Commissioner, my question is not over the last couple of years, but it continually gets repeated that we have a large sum of money, a pot of money that has been described by many, and your term is currently that we are financially doing well. So the question is, is if the county, and this is going to be my opinion, if the county is flush with excessive money and we have the taxpayers' money under, in our accounts, it's their money, and I would like to think that we would give the taxpayers their money back if we're overtaxing and correct whatever wrongs that we're doing.
0:37:24 — open the recording at 37 minutes 24 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) If we're going to move forward and overtax. Now, I know one thing that everybody seems to be concerned about is property tax. and if we did a referendum we were going to then force people to do property tax again my question to you is is what's the difference we overtax people on the front end or we're going to overtax people on the back end and one thing i know the county can do is an offset many many counties around the state do an offset and that offset would allow us to use the funds that we have, whether you want to call them excessive or whatever, the key would be is we could offset
0:38:02 — open the recording at 38 minutes 2 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) the property tax and allow us to proceed with us helping the school by basically saying the people get to have the voice as to whether this works or doesn't work for them. My point is I'm perplexed how the entire law has developed and got us to this point where we're basically stripping the voice of the people away, not letting them have a vote on it, and if you're worried that we're going to raise property taxes, the county's flush with money, we're financially strong,
0:38:35 — open the recording at 38 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 207 let's offset that property tax increase and let the people say yay or nay to this. That was one of my points. Do you have any comments to that before you present? Well, I would just like to
0:38:46 — open the recording at 38 minutes 46 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) comment that, as you know, there are several different buckets that we have money. So when And we say that we are flush with cash, as you know, lit correctional rehab and lit special purpose were created to take care of the jail and to build a jail. So yes, we are flush, I guess, would you say with cash there. But we also have, as you know, a pending lawsuit as far as jail overcrowding. So we plan to deal with that. That has nothing to do with what we're requesting tonight. We can deal with both of those things. We can take care of it.
0:39:17 — open the recording at 39 minutes 17 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) Whether the judges and the prosecutor and the public defenders decide they want to come back with a correctional, I'm sorry, a community corrections facility or jail pod, we can handle that also. And that's where a large sum of our money is, yes. And we talk about the general fund. Again, our council has been very prudent in the decisions that they've made.
0:39:39 — open the recording at 39 minutes 39 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) And I think that that's great, and I appreciate that.
0:39:43 — open the recording at 39 minutes 43 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Well, thank you, Commissioner. And I just, like I said, I'm still trying to sort out if we've got all this money that we probably need to reexamine how we're taxing our community.
0:39:55 — open the recording at 39 minutes 55 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Because I don't think it's a smart thing to overtax the community at any point. That's just my personal opinion. Other council members may think it's fine. But I do worry about that. And so as we move forward, I just want to make sure that the community is getting a fair shake and they're not being overtaxed. Thank you, sir.
0:40:10 — open the recording at 40 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 135 Mr. President, I've got a follow-up to that.
0:40:12 — open the recording at 40 minutes 12 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Yes, ma'am.
0:40:13 — open the recording at 40 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 135 I've got a question, Commissioner Clinkenbeard, or whoever wants to answer this.
0:40:18 — open the recording at 40 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 24 Is it not true that our treasurer is exceptional at investing our money and that we are getting multiple millions of dollars back on her investments and it's not just generated by property taxes?
0:40:31 — open the recording at 40 minutes 31 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) Yes, absolutely. On average, I think over the last four years, we averaged between $5 and $8 million at the highest that we get because she's invested that money wisely.
0:40:40 — open the recording at 40 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 135 So it's not just overtaxing of property taxes. Correct. Thank you. Council President.
0:40:45 — open the recording at 40 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 124 Yes, sir. Mark. Is your mic on? Yeah.
0:40:49 — open the recording at 40 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 219 Go ahead.
0:40:50 — open the recording at 40 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 74 Can you please start your presentation, please? Please. Yes.
0:40:54 — open the recording at 40 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 225 Please start your presentation.
0:40:55 — open the recording at 40 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 224 I believe that Commissioner Schweitzer and possibly Commissioner Morris may have something
0:41:02 — open the recording at 41 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 227 they would like to address before I get started. I just wanted to, if it's okay, Council President Ellis, to have Jason Simler from Baker Tilly
0:41:09 — open the recording at 41 minutes 9 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) address the S&P ratings that we received and maybe he can add some context.
0:41:13 — open the recording at 41 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 229 I assume this is part of the school presentation anyway so however you guys
0:41:16 — open the recording at 41 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 231 want to proceed with school presentation please do so. Jason. Yes we
0:41:23 — open the recording at 41 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 233 have go ahead sir. Okay we did last year we made eight million dollars the treasure in investments but we had all the opioid money we had a lot of money to do that. After speaking with her, we're probably looking about $4 million this year to five, you know, because we had more money in the bank in the investments. And then in 27, we're going to lose $6 million from personal property tax, and that's the Baker Tilly study right here. So we always say we're fat but that can go away real fast so but this this is county general money
0:42:08 — open the recording at 42 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 233 this isn't the lift money and but just everybody when they say hey you guys are fat you're not fat hey we're just we're operating but cost more to operate it every year plus the projects but the state has put in there on the law lots
0:42:24 — open the recording at 42 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 234 of personal property almost six million dollars yeah and I'd be happy if Jason
0:42:29 — open the recording at 42 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 237 would like to address some of those questions also. Thank you, Councilman Anderson. Thank you.
0:42:35 — open the recording at 42 minutes 35 secondsJason Simler (staff) Jason Simler, principal of Baker Tilly. I asked you to be here for a couple of different reasons, and I know one was I think the email that you had recently received on a response from Stern and Poor's about the recent downgrading of the county's bond credit worthiness. So just kind of a little bit of history there to help you kind of understand, for those who may not know what the steering force is and how it can benefit the county if you remember in 2019 i'm sure you haven't forgotten in 2019 the county issued two bonds one for the new jail and then
0:43:08 — open the recording at 43 minutes 8 secondsJason Simler (staff) one for the convention center and at that time the county approached standard pours to get a bond rating and the reason they did that was is because as we issued those bonds we didn't just go out to local banks and those in Indiana to purchase those bonds. We went out the entire country to purchase those bonds as a competitive sell to get the lowest interest rate for Vigo County. And those outside Indiana may not know Vigo County and know the financial stability that the county has or the management of the county. So in order to kind of make it on par with
0:43:51 — open the recording at 43 minutes 51 secondsJason Simler (staff) other communities throughout the country, we get a bond rating through Stay Earned Forrest. And that bond rating, whether it's an AA- or an A+, that means the same thing regardless of where you're located in the county. So whether we're dealing with insurance companies in New York or Chicago or your local bank here in Terre Haute, they're going to recognize what that bond rating is and propose an interest rate based upon that bond rating. So it's something that we do many times for clients that are issuing larger bonds like yourselves in 2019.
0:44:26 — open the recording at 44 minutes 26 secondsJason Simler (staff) And because of your financial stability, because of your reporting that you did at that time and recent audits, the county was awarded a double A minus rating, which is a very good rating. Again, that was in 2019. probably this standard reports goes through and does rating reviews because again that rating that you received back in 2019 you got we issued the bonds and we got interest rates on those bonds and those interest rates are fixed for the next 20 years those will not change you pay a certain amount every six months
0:45:01 — open the recording at 45 minutes 1 secondJason Simler (staff) and we know what that is going to be for the next 20 years however those bonds sell on the secondary market and you know so whoever buys those bonds they can sell them so they're always looking at what the rating is on those bonds so staring forces every few years usually looks at the community and reevaluates the rating to see if it has changed up or down that's very common so here recently they did take a new look at the county and after a review they downgraded the county from about basically one notch from a double a minus to an a plus rating with a negative outlook
0:45:41 — open the recording at 45 minutes 41 secondsJason Simler (staff) Two of the main reasons, and the auditor had contacted me and let me know that you had been notified. So we were on numerous calls with standard reports, provided them various information on the county. And the two things I think you guys have all seen the letter that they had written. Two of the main reasons for the downgrade was the reporting, the financial reporting of the county. historically at least when we were in 2019 and going through that process we had what was called gap financing our gap financial statements since then we're
0:46:17 — open the recording at 46 minutes 17 secondsJason Simler (staff) now doing cash basis from a financial standpoint gap is much more transparent it's much I'm gonna say it's more accurate but it's more stronger in the eyes of bondholders then just reporting things on a cash basis so since the The county has gotten away from the gap financing, which again is kind of a stronger financial reporting, more transparent to a cash. That and because of some of the recent internal control findings that the State Board of Accounts had found in the last couple years, since neither one of those had been completely addressed
0:46:54 — open the recording at 46 minutes 54 secondsJason Simler (staff) and had any history of those new procedures being in process, they downgraded the county mainly on those two accounts if you read the letter that they wrote. Two things I guess I would add. It could have been worse. They could have downgraded the county even more. But a couple of the benefits or strengths that they said that the county had, which kind of contributes to our report and Crow's report, is the strong reserves that the county has. You guys have historically had strong reserves and continue to have strong reserves. The other thing is the liquidity. You have very little debt.
0:47:36 — open the recording at 47 minutes 36 secondsJason Simler (staff) You know, those two bond issues are really, I think, the only debt that you still have outstanding. Everything else has been paid off. So those things helped the county from being downgraded even less. The negative outlook that they also attributed to the new rating is just because they want to see the county get back to the gap reporting. and they want to see those internal controls resolved. They've been outstanding for a number of years, so they want to see proof that we've made the changes and that we'll get back on track with the gap reporting
0:48:14 — open the recording at 48 minutes 14 secondsJason Simler (staff) and regular state board account audits on a regular basis. They said if we can see that history, then there's a chance they could improve the rating above what it is now. So it doesn't impact anything that the county is paying for now. those bonds that were outstanding that we issued 2019 doesn't change those rates at all. But any bond issue going forward, if the county were to do a large project where we might need to finance, we'd probably be looking at that lower bond rating, at least today, which, again, we could still sell bonds in an A-plus rating.
0:48:52 — open the recording at 48 minutes 52 secondsJason Simler (staff) A-plus rating is still a very strong rating, but it would maybe create a little bit higher interest rate than if we had maintained the AA.
0:49:00 — open the recording at 49 minutesSpeaker 237 minus rating. Are you open for some questions? I'm open. Let me ask you what what county what
0:49:08 — open the recording at 49 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 247 other Indiana County might you compare to Tara to Beagle County with an A rating. I actually
0:49:14 — open the recording at 49 minutes 14 secondsJason Simler (staff) just sold. I just know this because we just sold bonds today in Howard County. They received an A plus rating. So that's Kokomo. Yeah. Plainfield got hit with them. They got their bond rating
0:49:29 — open the recording at 49 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 247 Lord pretty substantially and you know you look at Plainfield you think wowie
0:49:33 — open the recording at 49 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 257 they're really rockin I mean how does something like that happen it's I don't
0:49:38 — open the recording at 49 minutes 38 secondsJason Simler (staff) know playing Plainfield as a client of ours but it's not paid particular clients so I don't know its specific circumstance but there are a number of reasons why you could get a downgrade in the bond rating okay and that's what and And we are. And one of the things that and I'll defer you because you know that you were on those calls. But, you know, the fact that we did do a five year plan, that projection that Mr. Anderson was referring to with the commissioners, that is something that they do provide some points, some credit to the county.
0:50:17 — open the recording at 50 minutes 17 secondsJason Simler (staff) If they see that you're looking at not just 12 months or 18 months for your budget, but if you're looking out, you know, five years or longer, not just for operating budget, capital plans that shows good management due diligence we pay you well and we're
0:50:32 — open the recording at 50 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 247 heavy tempers you know so yes sir so I'm very much aware working for the state
0:50:41 — open the recording at 50 minutes 41 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Treasurer's office that the Indiana bond bank is an option whereby we could tap into the state's rating of AAA for limited use within the bonding process
0:50:51 — open the recording at 50 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 270 are you aware of that yes we use the bond bank quite often for communities
0:50:57 — open the recording at 50 minutes 57 secondsJason Simler (staff) and they are a great resource and become much more flexible here in the last couple years absolutely so yeah they're definitely a great resource but often times with communities even with an A plus credit that year we can get a much better rate competitively than even go through the bond bank we'd look at both and evaluate that on a weekly basis but oftentimes for larger communities with you know strong reserves such as yourself we can do better than bond bank well I
0:51:28 — open the recording at 51 minutes 28 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) would I would question I mean I would just basically laying that out for the future is is that we can tap the Indiana bond bank and get the state's triple-a rating so even with a decrease lower if the negative outlook holds I still think we have options that are available to the county as far as bonding goes. Oh, definitely.
0:51:50 — open the recording at 51 minutes 50 secondsJason Simler (staff) I don't want you to leave here to think that just because the county was downgraded to an A-plus, that's going to hinder you from doing any potential projects that you'd want to do in the future if we have to bond. Because you're right, the bond bank is an option. And usually they are an option for communities that don't have strong requirements.
0:52:11 — open the recording at 52 minutes 11 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) My last question is really simple. is I just just again so I understand the full picture who actually employs you with the county is that the commissioners is that the oversight board who is actually employing you at this point
0:52:24 — open the recording at 52 minutes 24 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) the county is the county commissioners have you okay thank you thank you mr. president thank you
0:52:32 — open the recording at 52 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 280 are there any other questions on the council all right thank you very much appreciate it
0:52:37 — open the recording at 52 minutes 37 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) Thank you. I'm going to move this out a little bit. I feel like somebody put baby in the corner here. Real quick before I start my comments on some things here. Just to point out also, and Mark will probably bring this up later, if the county were to help the school corporation, the school corporation would be the bond holder and not Vigo County. Real quick, trying to save a little time here later. Later on down the line resolution. I'm sorry, additional appropriation 2026-37 commissioners for the courthouse elevator. We are still awaiting another estimate.
0:53:28 — open the recording at 53 minutes 28 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) So we will ask that be removed from the agenda for tonight.
0:53:32 — open the recording at 53 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 288 Thank you.
0:53:33 — open the recording at 53 minutes 33 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) Thank you. I believe that in your packets, you were presented with letters of support.
0:53:42 — open the recording at 53 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 289 Over 50 local employers and their 15,000 employees have signed on to support this project.
0:53:52 — open the recording at 53 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 290 Thank you.
0:53:55 — open the recording at 53 minutes 55 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) Viggo County Council members, thank you so much for letting us present tonight. Mark Klinkenbeard, Vigo County Commissioner, on behalf of Commissioner Schweitzer and Commissioner Morris. I'd like to begin by providing some perspective on why the Vigo County Commissioners are engaged in this conversation in the first place. The Vigo County Commissioners are the executive body of county government. Our responsibility extends beyond managing the day-to-day business of the county. We must also help ensure that Vigo County has the infrastructure, amenities, and long-term
0:54:29 — open the recording at 54 minutes 29 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) vision necessary to support a strong economy and a thriving community. During my time as County Commissioner, it quickly became clear that Vigo County has many great things happening. We're investing in economic development, infrastructure, and quality of life. We are creating new opportunities and building momentum.
0:54:48 — open the recording at 54 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 289 However, through conversations with the Chamber of Commerce, Terre Haute Economic Development Corporation, local employers and business leaders, one challenge continued to surface. Our ability to attract executives, professionals and working families who will choose to live and raise their children in Vigo County. Families do not choose a job alone. They choose a community. And one of the most important factors in that decision is where their children will attend school. Our children and families are most are our most valuable assets. When
0:55:24 — open the recording at 55 minutes 24 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) families have choices they understandably look for strong educational opportunities, safe and modern facilities and confidence that their children would be prepared for the future. If Eagle County is not competitive in that decision, families may choose to live elsewhere even if they work here. When that happens, their children do not attend our schools, their property tax dollars support another community and much of their daily economic activity takes place outside of Vigo County. We can continue attracting investment, improving infrastructure, and creating jobs.
0:55:57 — open the recording at 55 minutes 57 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) But if we do not strengthen the front door for our families, which is our schools, we will continue to struggle with declining enrollment, workforce retention, and population loss.
0:56:09 — open the recording at 56 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 289 For us, this is basic economics, and a basic economic concept is ROI, or return on investment. We routinely invest millions of dollars into projects that while necessary don't always result in a measurable return on investment to our community. Investing in our children's education though is one of the highest return investments you can make. Like any sound investment, it requires resources today, but its dividends will become pounded for generations. County Council members, this is your opportunity to invest in our children, now and for generations to come.
0:56:45 — open the recording at 56 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 289 Please use this opportunity wisely and be willing to make important this important investment. This time I will turn this over to Commissioner Schweitzer for some comments.
0:56:59 — open the recording at 56 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 180 Well good evening again before I look at my notes here. I just want to acknowledge a couple things. We've heard throughout the community and I'm truly sorry that this has gotten to this point
0:57:07 — open the recording at 57 minutes 7 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) of contention because what we see is kind of a no brainer opportunity is become very emotional and chaotic and we certainly never wanted to go that way we're just trying to find a way to collaborate with the school corporation the casino foundation for what some of the in the community said the casino foundation might be a detriment to our community has come around to be a potential nearly hundred minute hundred million dollar provider to our school system so uh to also debunk a couple myths out there the school corporation didn't approach us
0:57:36 — open the recording at 57 minutes 36 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) for this we've been having these meetings for years now trying to figure out what is one single thing that we can maybe partner with or maybe do on our own to move this community forward. And the one thing that we've consistently dealt with over the last five or six years as I've been County Commissioner is we cringe at the moment a multi-million dollar investment comes to our community and they say let's go check out the schools. Not because of our teachers, not because of our amazing staff, not because of our amazing students, but the facilities
0:58:07 — open the recording at 58 minutes 7 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) themselves. And whether that's at West Vigo, North, South, elementary schools, whatever it is, we always know that, you know, there's an opportunity we might miss out on something big for our community. So in the conversation with local income taxes that were directed toward the jail, we were thinking about legislation on how to redirect some of that to maybe the school project. And then we got to the point of where we don't even need those local income taxes that the County Council can decide to change or give money back if they wanted to we
0:58:37 — open the recording at 58 minutes 37 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) could pay the jail off earlier we could continue to pay on the jail over the years and also have a new project alongside that we thought let's look at the general fund and other funding opportunities to see if we can help the school corporation so that's what we did so I just want to take a moment to acknowledge a lot of people in these first three rows the school board who was unanimous on this decision of 6.0 now 6.2 as it relates the oversight board it's carrie labella rick burger stacy killian christina chris who are present tonight
0:59:07 — open the recording at 59 minutes 7 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) and the oversight board themselves heather pickens uh jim bramble mark mathini mark elliott and of course carrie serves in her role as president of the school board on this process this has not been an easy conversation social media has absolutely been crazy with this conversation and i have said in our County Commissioner meetings this single issue is so complex and it took the Oversight Board so many months and digging into our own finances that this is not something that you can just easily explain on social media what we
0:59:45 — open the recording at 59 minutes 45 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) have here in front of us is a plan that's been voted on by the school board the conversation is no longer can we do this at Tarot North can we do this Tarot south. The plan is 6.2, which is what you folks will vote on, whether to move it forward or not. That's the plan that's been proposed. So with that being said, I'd like to introduce Mark Elliott, who is a text message sender late at night, to come up and offer his presentation.
1:00:11 — open the recording at 1 hour 11 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Mr. President, may I ask Commissioner Schweitzer a question? Yes, sir. Commissioner Schweitzer, before you turn it over to Mr. Elliott, one of the things that,
1:00:21 — open the recording at 1 hour 21 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) again gets lost in that social media world is that if the county would opt to do this and i actually think there's probably a majority of the council more than the majority of the council that would like to help has any discussion occurred in a more of a contractual type of scenario that we can get some assurances that school teachers are protected in the consolidation process, that school teachers are not laid off because we combine schools, or that West Vigo will actually get their first dib at the renovation money to get West Vigo set up since it's already there.
1:01:05 — open the recording at 1 hour 1 minute 5 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Things like that. Have those conversations occurred? I've participated by watching the oversight committee, but from a commissioner's standpoint, I'd like to see some assurances that if the county is going to invest in the school just like if you were going to personally invest in something that there would be some contractual understanding as to if this doesn't happen this way or this way the county's not just turning over a brinks truck of money and you know likes to see some assurances because I know a lot of teachers that are very
1:01:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 1 minute 44 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) nervous about consolidation and losing their jobs and I also think that many of us would like to see West Vigo renovated and brought up in this process as well and not left out until like the last of the last and we run out of money everywhere else so I know these are things that are bouncing around the community and so thank you I'd like a response
1:02:14 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 299 burner for years I'd like before you start that new school to put that shovel on the ground at West Neagle first mr. president this is getting to
1:02:24 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 301 the equivalency of the timer let them make their presentation and then ask
1:02:30 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 135 your questions they may very well have these just as part of their presentation
1:02:34 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 306 anyway so excuse me all right so so the logical please the
1:02:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 89 the logical course would be he's up there rather than to have him walk back up there in a couple minutes if you have the ability to address that question make
1:02:53 — open the recording at 1 hour 2 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 307 their presentation as they have it planned then we can ask questions okay i'm sure they would probably like we will go ahead and proceed this direction
1:03:01 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 190 thank you thank you for your input uninterrupted mr switzer can you repeat
1:03:04 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutes 4 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) that randy i'm just kidding i feel like some of that needs to be asked by the school board probably at a school board meeting we have always been under the impression that this is a bricks and mortar project that the council or the commissioners would like to support and help them get to phase two and three of their plan which reduces the overall footprint of the school corporation to right size the ship to the current students they have nancy addressing you i am the parent okay of a uh kind of emotional i'm the parents of a fourth grader
1:03:35 — open the recording at 1 hour 3 minutes 35 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) and an eighth grader and of course i want what's best for what's he go to If I didn't think that this wasn't what was best for us, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't support it. We have been through this nastiness and divisiveness in the community, and we've lost the most important part, which is the kids, not us, and what we're deciding today. I mean, 20 or 30 years from now, this decision that we're going to make collectively, I'm hopeful it's a yay, is going to have an impact for them for years to come.
1:04:08 — open the recording at 1 hour 4 minutes 8 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) and whether that's it ends up the council doesn't take action and it's a unified one single high school whatever it is we have to move the shipboard because it's just taking entirely too long to come to this conclusion and we're trying to do it without a property tax increase and i know the argument is property taxes are going to go up well the only way for property taxes to not go up is to grow your net assessed value. So we want to make sure budgets fall in line and all those things. So Randy.
1:04:41 — open the recording at 1 hour 4 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 268 Yeah, property tax offset.
1:04:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 4 minutes 44 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Has that been discussed? No, it has not. I think it's a great idea, but don't misread me. I'm leaning your way, and I want the crowd to – Well, come on over then. I'm coming that way. I need a T-shirt. I need a T-shirt, but my problem is that I honestly, because I – As a commissioner, I actually have known you for a long time. I'm asking that we get to a point where there's an agreement that we protect some of these entities. If we're going to invest this money, please, I don't care whether it's the school board commissioner,
1:05:21 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 21 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) the commissioners, it's in the ordinance, whatever, let's make sure that we're all on the same page and then we don't wake up in a couple years and have a problem.
1:05:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 5 minutes 31 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) I agree. Thank you for the questions, Nancy. Sincerely, I appreciate that question. So 100% support this. Mark Elliott. Thank you. I'd just like to say also, Nancy and Randy, thank you for bringing this up. I mean, we absolutely want to do West Vigo at the same time. I hope that we can break ground on both times. I mean, Mark will tell you here in just a little bit. you know we have we have pushed back we want to make sure that West Vigo is a totally renovated smaller school option for our community we believe that is
1:06:02 — open the recording at 1 hour 6 minutes 2 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) important we really do and we yes thank you for bringing that up I'm gonna turn
1:06:08 — open the recording at 1 hour 6 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 328 it over to Mark and I don't want your stuff Chris nine o'clock and just now
1:06:20 — open the recording at 1 hour 6 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 333 getting up here it's it's been great first off the ordinance that created the oversight board requires us to come give an update at the sunshine meeting so
1:06:29 — open the recording at 1 hour 6 minutes 29 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) here we are I'll ask that the council's appointee Heather Pickens give a quick numbers update on where we're at on spending our appropriation thank you
1:06:39 — open the recording at 1 hour 6 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 341 sorry good evening so not much to update on since our August meeting but as far as the finances we're sitting right around eighty seven thousand one hundred and fifty eight dollars we do have we have yeah left remaining sorry we do expect invoices from both Barnes and Thornburg and crow for services to date but have not received anything since june so thank you do you mind one
1:07:16 — open the recording at 1 hour 7 minutes 16 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) quick question on that do you mind telling us i know mark and your podcast with mark other mark you said that there were caps put on those so what are those caps from those three so we know there's definitely not a chance they're going higher than this number on those on those three
1:07:32 — open the recording at 1 hour 7 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 341 invoices well so the caps are for the actual contracts the individual contracts so with crow our cap is 60 with barnes and thornburg our cap was 40. so the max we would go is the hundred thousand don't anticipate it but okay so i will say the sum of the total invoices to date is
1:07:53 — open the recording at 1 hour 7 minutes 53 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) just under 13 000. okay with an anticipation that you may hit the 100 close to but not over that
1:08:00 — open the recording at 1 hour 8 minutesSpeaker 333 correct okay thank you we will not go over i assure you that um I think maybe you picked a board of accountants to manage the $100,000 appropriation than to give presentations, but I'll give it a shot here.
1:08:17 — open the recording at 1 hour 8 minutes 17 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) I did skinny it down quite a bit from the presentation to the commissioners. I didn't want to keep you here for another 25 minutes, so I think I'll be at least less than half of that. So I appreciate the time. So good evening, council. since December the Oversight Board has been evaluating whether it's a financially responsible way for Vigo County to participate in the school corporations long-term facilities plan the commissioners adopted our recommendation a few weeks ago and tonight I want to focus on the work that
1:08:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 8 minutes 44 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) led us there and most importantly the financial structure behind it so why we were created our role was to independently evaluate both the school corporations facilities plan in the county's ability to participate financially our question was simple is there a financially responsible solution that serves both the Vigo County students and the Vigo County taxpayers we were not created simply to endorse the school corporations plan we were created to test it and I know we've been getting some heat on that and I'm gonna go off
1:09:21 — open the recording at 1 hour 9 minutes 21 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) script I'm proud of the work that we put into this we've worked very hard we have independent from an outsider's perspective I don't expect you to trust me on that but anybody that knows me knows that I'm a man of my word and I mean that so our process we spent more than 170 hours on this work at least 171 after being here tonight and I've held 22 meetings since we were formed in December we reviewed the facility and financial studies we've evaluated multiple scenarios we've examined county finances we've consulted independent
1:09:56 — open the recording at 1 hour 9 minutes 56 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) financial professionals and met with business and community stakeholders the recommendation before you is the result of that independent review not a predetermined outcome we consistently heard five things spend responsibly don't increase property taxes improve our accountability improve educational opportunities and find a solution without another referendum those priorities became the framework for our evaluation and what we found was that the basic facts haven't changed enrollment is declining we've lost nearly 4,000 students over the last 20 years our
1:10:35 — open the recording at 1 hour 10 minutes 35 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) facilities are aging maintaining 23 facilities is increasingly expensive and current funding is not keeping pace with the long-term needs of our schools the status quo is not financially sustainable that's why we are here in contrary to popular social media belief we did evaluate every major option using the same criteria taxpayer cost educational outcomes student opportunities building quality transportation operating efficiency and long-term maintenance our objective was not to find the newest building it was to find the best long-term value for the Vigo County taxpayers I mentioned
1:11:20 — open the recording at 1 hour 11 minutes 20 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) previously that enrollment has changed we have to plan for the enrollment we expect not the enrollment we had decades ago that means the district needs fewer and more appropriately sized facilities not simply a continuation of the existing footprint our schools are built to handle 22,000 kids and we expect to handle 13,000 come 2030 one concern is that the proposed Eastside high school is too large I think you guys have probably know this it's been out there quite a bit but there's useful historical context here 1972 Terre Haute North
1:11:55 — open the recording at 1 hour 11 minutes 55 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) alone at 725 graduates and the forecast that the school corporation hired an independent consultant to run shows that the combined North and South graduating class in 2030 is about 600 kids these students already exist we're bringing them together into one modern facility so when I say all options we added an option seven during the process we looked at all of the alternatives including options that produced greater nominal savings ultimately the board concluded that the best overall solution was a two high school model a new East
1:12:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 12 minutes 31 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) High School and the preservation of West Vigo I can send the slide deck out later we're trying to move through it a closer look at option six importantly this was not simply an endorsement of the school corporations plan our independent review identified identified changes that produce additional produce additional savings and improve the overall structure that is what led us to our recommendation and that's why we have adopted 6.2 our recommendation is straightforward build a new Eastside high school and by Eastside I mean east
1:13:10 — open the recording at 1 hour 13 minutes 10 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) of the river and fully renovate West Vigo high school Nancy I've been told these can be done at the exact same time this gives us meaningful consolidation modern facilities lower long-term operating costs and a sustainable footprint while maintaining a second high school west of the river this recommendation isn't about building something new simply because it is new it's about replacing aging infrastructure reducing long-term costs and improving educational opportunities within a smaller overall footprint the the objective is to invest once rather than continue putting money into our
1:13:46 — open the recording at 1 hour 13 minutes 46 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) outdated facilities it is not about more buildings or more administration it actually consolidates both of those it's about getting more educational value from the buildings that we've maintained so the big question was can Vigo County afford it this was one of our primary responsibilities after reviewing the county's finances with independent advisors we concluded that the county has the capacity to make a meaningful contribution existing obligations remain manageable the jail lit remains untouched and most importantly we believe there is
1:14:28 — open the recording at 1 hour 14 minutes 28 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) a path forward without increasing property taxes and I think the the coolest part about all of this is that this project requires multiple partners the county the school corporation the casino foundation potentially the city all have a role. I don't know many other projects that have brought together three units of local government but this can be one of them. No one entity can fund this alone. The recommendation works because the partners are coming together. And Randy I think you'll like this side because it's about
1:15:05 — open the recording at 1 hour 15 minutes 5 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) accountability. We recognize that this is a significant public investment and taxpayers expect accountability that's why the recommendation includes independent oversight our board stays in place if the county contributes money public reporting annual financial updates maintenance commitments ongoing transparency will become the standard the expectation is not simply that the project gets built is that the investment gets managed responsibly over the life of the financing I do this daily of negotiating operating agreements today on an investment. Ultimately this is bigger than the
1:15:43 — open the recording at 1 hour 15 minutes 43 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) buildings. Quality schools affect families where families choose to live, where businesses choose to invest, and our ability to attract and retain a workforce. Throughout this process business leaders consistently told us that continued inaction puts Vigo County at a competitive disadvantage. You can
1:16:01 — open the recording at 1 hour 16 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 333 ask Rick Berger there in the second row. You can even ask Craig Machino in the forth we had a wonderful air show a couple weeks ago and how cool was it to have jets flying over Terre Haute again Craig will tell you if you ask him maybe he will anyways we lost out on an f-35 training center because we got a red
1:16:20 — open the recording at 1 hour 16 minutes 20 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) light on this the government's stoplight chart when it came to our schools we have to also consider the cost of inaction if we do nothing the facilities continue to maintenance costs continue to increase student opportunities remain constrained and West Vigo's future remains uncertain doing nothing is a decision too but it has a cost so I'm an optimist so I want to talk about what success looks like five years from now success means modern learning environments West Vigo is preserved and remodeled stronger academic and extracurricular
1:16:57 — open the recording at 1 hour 16 minutes 57 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) opportunities lower maintenance costs and a stronger workforce line it means doing all of that without increasing property taxes after months of review the oversight board concluded that Vigo County has an opportunity to modernize its schools preserve West Vigo strengthen the workforce and protect the taxpayers that's why we recommend moving this this funding partnership forward now to the funding this is the part I want to spend a little more time on tonight the project cost is an all-in 222 million dollars includes 173 million
1:17:39 — open the recording at 1 hour 17 minutes 39 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) dollars for soft for hard costs and it includes 50 million dollars for soft cloths soft costs and contingency the recommendation calls for 15 million dollars up front and 6 million per year from the Vigo County government for 20 years two million dollars per year from the city for 20 years assuming their approval in acceptance of the casino foundations full gift of nearly a hundred million dollars over the next 20 years and but based on those contributions and the current bonding rates there's approximately a 62 million dollar remaining funding need our recommendation is that the school
1:18:14 — open the recording at 1 hour 18 minutes 14 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) corporation use its existing bonding capacity through their property tax levy to address that remaining need they've done a great job managing their finances their full bonding capacity available to them in the next few years beginning this year so in closing I don't think the question is simply whether we can afford to invest in our schools so whether we can afford to continue carrying the cost of not making a decision construction costs go on at grow on average of four and a half percent a year depending on who you talk
1:18:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 18 minutes 44 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) to this is a long-term decision with implications for the county well beyond the next few years. On behalf of the Oversight Board, we thank you. Thank you.
1:18:58 — open the recording at 1 hour 18 minutes 58 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Mr. President, may I ask a question? Yes, sir. Mr. Elliott, through this entire process, I asked Commissioner Schweitzer as well, but one of the things that I get worried about is that
1:19:10 — open the recording at 1 hour 19 minutes 10 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) the referendum process that was revamped i believe it was 2008 when the property tax caps came in are you familiar enough to talk about this or is this something you want me to talk about
1:19:24 — open the recording at 1 hour 19 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 372 talk with somebody else okay i'm not a referendum law guy we do have our attorney from
1:19:29 — open the recording at 1 hour 19 minutes 29 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) chris probably knows it okay so so my question is is that through this entire process that i guess started years ago is what we're being told and has been circulated my question is is that from the public's perspective taking the voice away from the people and subverting that and and going this route and and i i've listened carefully we you know and i know and the commissioners know that there was a lot of pushback especially from farmers have a lot of property The idea of a property tax increase is a killer to a referendum request.
1:20:09 — open the recording at 1 hour 20 minutes 9 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) If we offset that and we still gave the people a vote, and obviously I understand it's a delay now, but that's not my fault. I mean, we could have put it on the fall ballot. But the question is, would you oppose that as if we would do something of that realm to let the people speak and vote on this?
1:20:30 — open the recording at 1 hour 20 minutes 30 seconds Why not?
1:20:32 — open the recording at 1 hour 20 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 55 again good again we appreciate the opinions out in the audience but let's try to keep our let's try
1:20:43 — open the recording at 1 hour 20 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 180 to keep it to the presentation thank you I guess Councilman Gentry when you're talking about cost
1:20:47 — open the recording at 1 hour 20 minutes 47 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) shifting maybe I misspoke earlier because what we have also thought about was we believe local income tax statutes the four buckets that are in place now we could potentially move things from general fund that are currently that we are currently paying with the general fund to match the needs or what the statute says and move that from the general fund and shift it to a local income tax so that local income tax is not just consistently getting built up we have had that conversation I don't think any of us are opposed to a referendum I think the goal was to avoid
1:21:22 — open the recording at 1 hour 21 minutes 22 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) a referendum because a referendum is anticipate well it's not anticipated it's a known property tax increase. And Mr. Gentry, I agree with you. We're all obligated to do a job as a county council person and a county commissioner. This is the hill I'm willing to die on. I don't plan on being a county commissioner forever. This is something I truly believe in, and we just want to move the project forward.
1:21:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 21 minutes 44 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Mr. Elliott, coming back, as you guys of the Oversight Committee, thank you, Mr. Schweitzer. In regards to the oversight, when you looked at this, how much information flowed into this as far as a consolidation process, and what would the classroom size look like in a consolidated school corporation?
1:22:07 — open the recording at 1 hour 22 minutes 7 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) and and and to give you an example i did some math calculations looks like to me that we have somewhere around four english classes in every high school every hour of the day and you're building a school that essentially is the same footprint obviously nicer than one of north or south but my question is is could we could we actually house the same number of classes can we keep the class size down did that come up in the in the oversight yeah it came up in one of
1:22:35 — open the recording at 1 hour 22 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 333 initial meetings was that the class size would remain the same they were not going to lay off teachers so if you have the same students you have the same number of teachers you would keep the same
1:22:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 22 minutes 44 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) you have the same number of rooms though so because i mean ultimately that's going to be a problem is if you're if you're taking the footprint from multiple high schools okay and i guess i would ask you uh one of the things and i don't want to talk for nancy but she's already talked as well you know one of my concerns is is that we create some type of guarantees in this process it's it's great that you oversight committee is going to watch our money and take care of it but at the same time it would be nice to have road guidelines as to if we don't meet this standard
1:23:23 — open the recording at 1 hour 23 minutes 23 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) or we don't do this or that that it at least the county council could come back and review it that that's what i'm saying is is that there's got to be some safeguards not just here's the money and go would you would you oppose that because you've been in this for what 22 meetings or whatever
1:23:39 — open the recording at 1 hour 23 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 391 no i'd encourage it okay that's why we're here i mean we don't i mean we want the same thing okay
1:23:46 — open the recording at 1 hour 23 minutes 46 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) so adding adding adding some guidelines and so forth you would you would you embrace that yeah
1:23:52 — open the recording at 1 hour 23 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 397 thank you sir and i'd help you negotiate it
1:23:58 — open the recording at 1 hour 23 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 398 any any more no okay any other questions for me i do yes okay i've got a couple for you mark
1:24:06 — open the recording at 1 hour 24 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 403 the plan that you laid out 6.2 correct yes and that is any is that any increase in property taxes no so this um if i understand this right the casino foundation is giving how much it's 94 million estimated and is that does that come with council approval if the council i mean i guess my question is the council has to agree on this for you to have foundation money correct yeah i believe they put a december 31st deadline on that if the council does not agree the foundation money goes away can the school corporation do anything and i don't know if that's a question for you or dr himsel
1:24:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 24 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 333 yeah i mean i mentioned earlier that the school corporation is going to have their 160 million dollars of bonding capacity available to them they'll have to pick and choose what they do what can they build with that potentially well with the casino foundation's commitment if they can re-secure that they can build an east side high school what does that do to west
1:25:04 — open the recording at 1 hour 25 minutes 4 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) vego that's speculation on my part i'm not sure i'd imagine they'd continue to operate it until
1:25:12 — open the recording at 1 hour 25 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 405 they couldn't would they be able to remodel without no they wouldn't have the
1:25:16 — open the recording at 1 hour 25 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 403 funds to do so the point that I was getting at to put this on a ballot I
1:25:20 — open the recording at 1 hour 25 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 357 think mr. burger would like to address your question if that's all right okay yeah
1:25:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 25 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 415 while he's walking up just real quick if anyone should need these restrooms
1:25:35 — open the recording at 1 hour 25 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 89 they're straight out this way and to the left oh there yeah there's yeah the women's is this direction my apologies ments is that direction up every once in a while
1:25:47 — open the recording at 1 hour 25 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 419 don't be bashful if you need to get up news restroom please
1:25:51 — open the recording at 1 hour 25 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 420 i'm rick berger a member of the vigo county school corporation board of trustees for the past four years the future the west vehicle is important question one we cannot ignore on behalf of the school board the answer to this question is simple we as a school corporation have enough resources available to put towards one school without raising taxes if the county does not contribute we as a school board will have to take one step back reevaluate the future of our current schools that's including West Viggo High School thank you to the oversight board for their work and support thank you
1:26:53 — open the recording at 1 hour 26 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 420 all through this process this board's been transparent we've worked hard and we just can ask your support to keep this moving. Thank you. Thank you.
1:27:11 — open the recording at 1 hour 27 minutes 11 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Mr. President, may I ask Mr. Berger a question? Yes, sir.
1:27:13 — open the recording at 1 hour 27 minutes 13 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) So everybody seems to be dancing around this, and it's a critical thing for me, if you want me to listen, is that it's not good enough to just give me lip service and say, West Vigo's fine. And I also don't like the idea of holding a gun to people's head and saying you're going to shut down West Vigo. It's very, very clear that Mark Elliott had said financially West Vigo is a drain. We know that. I mean, it was his statement. It's definitely financially not reasonable to move forward. My fear is, as you're on the school board right now, I'm on the county council right now.
1:27:54 — open the recording at 1 hour 27 minutes 54 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Four years we're into this project, and all of a sudden, you know what? Enrollment's down. West Vigo, sorry. We thought we were going to promise this. And so what I'm asking for is some guarantees that we're not going to put a bunch of teachers out of work because they're more important than the building. And two, are you willing to make sure that in this process that not only this school board but future school boards understand that West Vigo is protected while the county is still funding this?
1:28:27 — open the recording at 1 hour 28 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 420 Well, I can't answer for the future. Neither can you, Randy. You know what? I'm standing here today.
1:28:32 — open the recording at 1 hour 28 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 37 A contractual agreement would allow you to do that.
1:28:35 — open the recording at 1 hour 28 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 420 Yeah, okay. I'm open to that, okay? We are. What I'm saying, basically, as a citizen of this community 25 years, we have an opportunity to work together. And we can work the details out. Nancy, like you're asking, I really believe that. And what I'm hearing tonight is more positive than I've ever heard before. I think we do want to come to that common ground of working together. I hope so. I have three grandkids that's coming up through this corporation. I believe in this community. I do. And I think with the guidelines Randy, Nancy, others, we can get there.
1:29:14 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 192 That's what I wanted to hear from you. Thank you.
1:29:18 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 333 Thank you. David, that's a question I've been trying to get answered for eight months. So good job. First time you asked it.
1:29:25 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 25 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) The last question I've got for you is what is your job title? job title VP of Finance and Accounting Matt Matheny what is your job title
1:29:38 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 431 Heather Pickens Jim Bramble retired on Jimbo's grass and goals yeah and Carrie
1:29:49 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 49 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) and you have a you're the appointee from the school board correct and I believe Do you have a master's degree? Two master's degree.
1:29:57 — open the recording at 1 hour 29 minutes 57 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) Okay, thank you. I have nothing further, Mark.
1:30:02 — open the recording at 1 hour 30 minutes 2 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Nothing further for me. I'm going to answer Tim Berry. I assume you're sticking around. I'm trying to hold my questions. I may ask one or two here and there, but I'm going to try to hold mine until the end,
1:30:10 — open the recording at 1 hour 30 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 437 because somebody may answer them, and then I won't need to ask them.
1:30:12 — open the recording at 1 hour 30 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 333 I think, as you know, President Ellis, I'm pretty easy to get a hold of. Thank you. I'll be here. Without further ado, Tim Berry from Crow, financial advisor for the Oversight Board.
1:30:24 — open the recording at 1 hour 30 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 440 Good evening. Tim Berry with Crow.
1:30:34 — open the recording at 1 hour 30 minutes 34 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) We were engaged by the Oversight Board to review the county's financials, look at the county's forward plan, test it, evaluate it, and in so doing, make recommendations accordingly. One thing I do want to comment on was a comment that Councillor Anderson made to start off with regards to personal property taxes and the fact that the county would be losing $6 million. dollars and while there will be while today it is estimated that personal property tax revenues from those taxpayers will not be coming in Indiana is a property levy state a property tax levy state so there will not be lost
1:31:33 — open the recording at 1 hour 31 minutes 33 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) dollars there will just be a shift in where those dollars come from from the different classifications of property taxpayers within Vigo County and the state of Indiana so there will not actually be a loss of net revenue so I just want to make that point clear. We have, through our analysis, reviewed the revenue assumptions, both from a property tax standpoint and income tax standpoint. We have reviewed the estimates for expenditures moving forward and the county actually did one better. Instead of doing a five-year look forward they did a seven-year look forward and I assume they did that
1:32:28 — open the recording at 1 hour 32 minutes 28 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) because they wanted to see the full impact of Senate enrolled Act one and what impact that would have on the county as we know over the next five years additional homestead credits will be rolling in on an annual basis Additional credits into the 2% classification as well will be rolling in for all taxpayers across the state of Indiana as a result of Senate Enrolled Act 1 that was passed in 2025. So the county has conducted an analysis that I know you all have had access to, had an ability to review their comprehensive financial plan 2025 through 2033.
1:33:21 — open the recording at 1 hour 33 minutes 21 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) So we reviewed that and looked at the ending balances. initially we looked at your current financial state end of 2025 and your reserves are very healthy i know that comment was made earlier the question was asked earlier but not only is it expected that your reserves are healthy today but through the life of the next seven years through 2033, your reserves are expected to be very strong and healthy as well. We then took into account the ordinance that was passed by the county council in September of 2022 that took into account the reserves that were placed from both the Lit Correctional
1:34:14 — open the recording at 1 hour 34 minutes 14 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) and Rehab Facilities Fund, as well as the Special Purpose Lit for the purposes of repayment of bonds or to allow for the repayment of the current outstanding 2019 jail bond. With the additional reserves that that ordinance allowed for that was passed in September of 2022 you will have the capacity to pay off those bonds should the council choose or should the county choose to do so in 2019 when the bonds are callable throughout the future i'm sorry 2029 i said 2019 the bonds were issued in 2019 in future years though those reserve balances remain in
1:35:08 — open the recording at 1 hour 35 minutes 8 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) intact. Additionally, as additional safeguards in your financials, you have that bond payment coming out from those funds in each of those years 2030 through 2033 as well. So you have extra money in there to protect your needs, to address jail costs, issues moving forward from the county should you choose to do so at that point in time we then look at a commitment as as Mark mentioned a 15 million dollar upfront we have in this estimate a 16 million initial payment and then six million dollar annual payments moving forward throughout the life of the financial plan you would
1:36:09 — open the recording at 1 hour 36 minutes 9 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) continue to maintain reserve balances in nearly 50% of your total operating costs as you look at it from that perspective moving forward under this current plan and with that I would entertain any questions that you might
1:36:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 36 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 447 have mr president i didn't even have to look your direction go ahead
1:36:37 — open the recording at 1 hour 36 minutes 37 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) i hate to call you mr barry because i know he's tim knowing you for a long time so a couple different scenarios um if we dip in and two things that have been brought up in this meeting and and i lean on you to to kind of guide us on this one our balances generate income with our our county treasurer investing that as we deplete that our income that's going to come off of those is obviously going to be less unless we get some type of massive return on our investments the other thing i'm worried about is the assumptions that that we all know when you're
1:37:24 — open the recording at 1 hour 37 minutes 24 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) making projections you've got to make certain assumptions and while tonight may not be the night that everybody's going to want to go into those I would at least like to have a detailed conversation with you on the assumptions that Crow used to provide these projections because I'm a little concerned that once we start spinning this down whether it's the one-time payment are we are we going to continue to be able to maintain this and is that all calculated in and then what assumptions did you make because like councilman anderson a little concerned that crow may say
1:38:02 — open the recording at 1 hour 38 minutes 2 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) this and we've got another place that may say this another it seems like right now we have a lot of turmoil because of sea1 and and people are not real clear on on those projections so um i would like you to quickly address this but at the same time can we dive a little deeper I know how to get
1:38:21 — open the recording at 1 hour 38 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 207 a hold of you I'd like to dive a little deeper and talk a little bit more about this I certainly
1:38:26 — open the recording at 1 hour 38 minutes 26 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) am available afterwards or we can certainly have this in public dialogue as well I also will revert as well to Jason similar here with Baker Tilly if he wants to add anything to my comments Baker Tilly as you know prepared the initial budget expect look forward they looked at annual expenditures they looked at expected capital expenditures they looked at revenues by component from property tax income tax etc we did not do that same process that they did. We evaluated their review. We re evaluated their estimates. We stress test their estimates to ensure that they
1:39:22 — open the recording at 1 hour 39 minutes 22 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) were one solid conservative and based upon historical facts and based upon historical experiences that the county has had both from an expenditure side but also an income tax side. We saw everything was consistent with the past history. We also know that past history does not determine what will happen into the future. We also know that we don't know today what a future General Assembly will do. But based upon the facts that we have today is what we have to draw our conclusions on and based upon that the information the data that
1:40:07 — open the recording at 1 hour 40 minutes 7 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) Baker Tilly provided the review of that data we believe that the county will come up with these balances should they make that commitment okay well thank
1:40:21 — open the recording at 1 hour 40 minutes 21 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) you sir and thank you for that clarification I'll get with Baker Tilly then and we'll dive into the weeds I'm a little concerned that stuff coming out of Indianapolis tells us that the legislative session is going to attempt once again to cut the property tax and it could be a negative impact. But again, I'm just trying to make sure that these numbers that we're looking at are solid enough that we can figure out where to get the
1:40:46 — open the recording at 1 hour 40 minutes 46 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) money. And I think everything that I have read and heard says that if one tax is cut, there will be replacement for those revenues recognizing that local government continues to need to provide those services to their taxpayers okay thank
1:41:05 — open the recording at 1 hour 41 minutes 5 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) you any other questions from council I'll I'll actually ask one quick question if you don't mind before you walk away just because I think it's directed towards you short you mentioned that when personal property taxes go away for those of you that are sitting here that don't know what personal property taxes are the businesses in our community are currently paying tax on all of the items that sit in their store that are not attached to the ground so cases and computers and display cases and that type stuff you had mentioned and that
1:41:40 — open the recording at 1 hour 41 minutes 40 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) goes away starting next year you had mentioned that that tax will be
1:41:45 — open the recording at 1 hour 41 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 117 replaced or offset offset rather it will be shifted shifted and can you tell
1:41:52 — open the recording at 1 hour 41 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 44 me I think I already know this answer but can you tell me where it will be
1:41:54 — open the recording at 1 hour 41 minutes 54 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) shifted to to the other taxpayers within the county in a proportional balance to the one two and three percent classifications based upon your makeup of assessed value in Vigo on your property tax that is real property tax okay so if
1:42:13 — open the recording at 1 hour 42 minutes 13 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) we continue to spend the money that we are about to lose in real property taxes I'm sorry, in personal property taxes, if we continue to spend that once it goes away, then people who own property are going to see a property tax increase to offset it.
1:42:30 — open the recording at 1 hour 42 minutes 30 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) It is uncertain how that shift will be impacted based upon the additional homestead credits that will be put in in each of the next five years, as well as the additional credits that will go into the 2% classification in each of the next five years. The one classification that will not have additional credits will be the commercial and the 3% classification. So more than likely there will be a shift to that 3% classification. Okay, just trying to be total revenues.
1:43:05 — open the recording at 1 hour 43 minutes 5 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Perfect. I'm just trying to be as transparent as possible. So we understand that if we're still spending that money. Hang on, I had one more question, I think, for you. Give me a second here. This was just brought to my attention today. I am completely uneducated in this, so perhaps you may know more. And I wish our – is the assessor here today by chance?
1:43:30 — open the recording at 1 hour 43 minutes 30 seconds No?
1:43:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 43 minutes 31 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Okay. All right. Thank you. Perhaps you can answer this question. It's probably more directed towards him, though. And that is I was just informed this evening that there is some sort of a tax credit for veterans that starts next year that where some of them may no longer have to pay property taxes or it's based on their their their disability their level of disability so they could if they're
1:43:56 — open the recording at 1 hour 43 minutes 56 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) 80 disabled then it's 80 there's an additional um deduction exemption that is eligible and that would be processed actually through the county auditor's office okay so so do we know how much
1:44:13 — open the recording at 1 hour 44 minutes 13 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) money we're going to lose as a result of that as income to our community because I I've been told it is a huge amount that we don't realize and that some people may even transfer properties to people who are veterans causing our ink causing more properties to not have income coming in on them there are
1:44:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 44 minutes 31 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) limits to that I don't have the exact statute memorized I can get that for you So the auditor has already certified the net assessed values for all of the units of government within Vigo County to the Department of Local Government Finance. So we can take a look at those changes in CNAV values, certified net assessed values.
1:44:57 — open the recording at 1 hour 44 minutes 57 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Do you think it's important that we would know that before we make a decision? Like, should we know what our income is? Like, is that something that you find to be critical to making a decision?
1:45:05 — open the recording at 1 hour 45 minutes 5 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) Your income is based upon your property tax levy.
1:45:10 — open the recording at 1 hour 45 minutes 10 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Sure.
1:45:11 — open the recording at 1 hour 45 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 475 Okay.
1:45:11 — open the recording at 1 hour 45 minutes 11 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) So, and your certified net assessed values will change annually. Right. And that's what you do as a council. You take your CNAS, your budget that you will pass by the end of October to then determine what that tax rate will be for taxpayers in Vigo County for next year.
1:45:33 — open the recording at 1 hour 45 minutes 33 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) So if we as a council continue to spend the same amount of money that we are spending today or even more and Those money stopped coming in on those properties Then every tax every property taxpayer does because we still have to have that income coming in right to help pay the bills If we're not reducing our cost So in essence property Property owners will see property taxes potentially go up. I'm trying to understand is that correct?
1:45:59 — open the recording at 1 hour 45 minutes 59 secondsTim Berry (staff (Crowe, financial advisor)) It is. I don't have that answer based upon your shift in in one, two and three percent class.
1:46:07 — open the recording at 1 hour 46 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 270 OK. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Jason Jason similar Baker Tilly. And yes,
1:46:14 — open the recording at 1 hour 46 minutes 14 secondsJason Simler (staff) you're right. The assumptions are the projections that we prepare on both the revenue and the expenses do include a number of assumptions. And I'd be happy to meet with you as a group or individually to go over those assumptions because they are important as as you know and we want you to feel comfortable with those assumptions because you are right we did go out to 2033 for that very reason to try to implement all of the projections of SCA 1 and to your point with the again the reason we went out to 2033 is we did try to project some of those reductions in
1:46:49 — open the recording at 1 hour 46 minutes 49 secondsJason Simler (staff) property taxes that you'll receive due to the reduction of personal property or other things so in our details you would see some property taxes and you probably won't see it going down but it wouldn't increase as much as it normally would because even with these you know changes in SCA 1 you're still going to be allowed that maximum growth quotient increase that you see each year but because of you know the changes that due to SCA 1 you may not see the full three and a half percent or four percent or five percent that you typically would so those are embedded in
1:47:21 — open the recording at 1 hour 47 minutes 21 secondsJason Simler (staff) those numbers but yeah i'd be happy to go through those and others as well mr president may ask a
1:47:26 — open the recording at 1 hour 47 minutes 26 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) question yes sir this is this is hopefully something everybody can smile at but but it'd
1:47:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 47 minutes 31 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) be nice if you guys guaranteed these numbers because if you guaranteed these numbers and told the county you'd make us whole if it wasn't right we could we could we could probably make a decision
1:47:40 — open the recording at 1 hour 47 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 248 pretty quickly you know that well if i could guarantee those numbers i wouldn't be standing
1:47:44 — open the recording at 1 hour 47 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 483 here right now yeah thank you but I appreciate that thank you sir is there more presentation
1:47:52 — open the recording at 1 hour 47 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 180 no just uh Mark's coming in for a close here in a second but uh and then the closer he's our closer yeah uh I just want to say one thing I have a teacher here tonight uh that taught me
1:48:03 — open the recording at 1 hour 48 minutes 3 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) at West Vigo and I hope I've made him proud um Westview is a great place the Westbrook community is an awesome place truly bleed green believe in our community over there so just want to again reiterate to nancy and randy that we're going to do everything we can to make sure west ego stays whole and randy based off your comments earlier may i approach with a button in support of schools
1:48:25 — open the recording at 1 hour 48 minutes 25 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) i want a button put it in my collection i do have a question for you though if you go back to the
1:48:31 — open the recording at 1 hour 48 minutes 31 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) mic after you give me my button um uh and and i don't care commissioner clinkenberg you could answer it i wanted a t-shirt really but okay um i and this may be controversial it's not meant to
1:48:47 — open the recording at 1 hour 48 minutes 47 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) be controversial i just i i want to know with the casino foundation they gave us a deadline and is there a fundamental reason for that deadline i mean i understand everybody wants this to move fast i get it but is is where did that date come from we just grab it all on the
1:49:06 — open the recording at 1 hour 49 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 297 calendar or is there an actual reason for that okay thank you I don't know and I
1:49:15 — open the recording at 1 hour 49 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 333 guess an exact answer Randy but I worked pretty hard to negotiate that firm
1:49:20 — open the recording at 1 hour 49 minutes 20 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) commitment I would say as an accountant and I serve on a lot of boards that that board has a fiduciary responsibility to that foundation to send that money out into our community so I think it's more of a timing if we don't need use these funds we don't have them committed by 1231 they're gonna have to reevaluate and possibly send some of that money out into the community to other nonprofits before they're willing to hold on again to see what the school
1:49:46 — open the recording at 1 hour 49 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 207 project happens well I think I think and mr. Elliott I would say to use if you give us just a little bit of time so that we can pull this together I have no
1:49:55 — open the recording at 1 hour 49 minutes 55 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) pull with you know we can shoot for dates but I mean the bottom line is that you know what happens if we roll into January I'd hate to see that deadline line go by and then all of a sudden we don't got anything or whatever not saying that we're not saying that we're going to do that sir but i just there's there's a couple of the casino
1:50:14 — open the recording at 1 hour 50 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 333 foundation board members here i don't know if they want to explain yeah i just was again my
1:50:19 — open the recording at 1 hour 50 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 207 question i've seemed like i've got a bunch of people that are four months four months okay we
1:50:25 — open the recording at 1 hour 50 minutes 25 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) got four months i didn't say we're not going to make four months no no he said four votes uh the The key is I just was curious, and you've given me the answer.
1:50:35 — open the recording at 1 hour 50 minutes 35 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) I just wanted to know if that date was like a hard-set date or pulled. If somebody from the Concedo Foundation want to tell me, that's fine. They seem pretty serious about it. All right.
1:50:43 — open the recording at 1 hour 50 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 159 If there's somebody here that wants to tell me, that's a question I have.
1:50:54 — open the recording at 1 hour 50 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 506 What's up to you?
1:50:59 — open the recording at 1 hour 50 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 257 Chris Weitzer. I went to West Vigo. Where's my button?
1:51:11 — open the recording at 1 hour 51 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 513 Well, I'd wear it proud.
1:51:16 — open the recording at 1 hour 51 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 514 Hey, I will also, I may not agree exactly, but I will also wear it.
1:51:21 — open the recording at 1 hour 51 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 516 I want to see you put it on. There you go.
1:51:24 — open the recording at 1 hour 51 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 514 On my new blazer.
1:51:30 — open the recording at 1 hour 51 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 519 Yeah, Mr. Gentry, I think the biggest thing for us is our main goal is to, as I said, inject these funds into the community and make a strong investment into what we believe makes the biggest impact to the economic development for the community. Am I too far away from the mic? So from a time perspective on our side, we do have that obligation. And just as a reminder, these are my views and my opinions. And I don't speak for the whole board, but these are my views. I think the biggest thing is that costs go up, things get delayed, and you just kick the can down the road.
1:52:11 — open the recording at 1 hour 52 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 519 And I think that there's no bigger impact that we can make from our board's perspective to the economic development of this community than we can by giving those dollars to this project.
1:52:23 — open the recording at 1 hour 52 minutes 23 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Well, just what I would say is this committee has the ability to have these hearings and so forth.
1:52:33 — open the recording at 1 hour 52 minutes 33 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) We'd like you to participate in that because, again, out of some respect, we've got to pull these numbers, understand these numbers. Obviously, we've already got questions, but, you know, financially, I'd hate to see you guys pull the trigger on the gun. and you know we we all we we know we're this close and we're you know because again we're talking about contractual possibly adding some contractual things to this to make sure that it's groundbreaking yeah yeah so so the key factor is just work with us and i just i appreciate the
1:53:02 — open the recording at 1 hour 53 minutes 2 secondsChris Switzer (commissioner) answer in your time sir yeah absolutely thank you guys thank you okay last thing for me yeah for commissioner clinkberry guns i would please beg you i've been trying to communicate with you guys to get a meeting with jason somewhere and potentially tim berry as well the amount of knowledge they have concerning levies maximum growth quotients all those things would love to
1:53:23 — open the recording at 1 hour 53 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 524 have that meeting with you absolutely commissioner uh quick question for you would you prefer we ask
1:53:30 — open the recording at 1 hour 53 minutes 30 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) questions before your closing remarks or do you want us to wait until after that and then ask
1:53:33 — open the recording at 1 hour 53 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 291 questions either way doesn't matter ask questions okay we're here everybody's here ask questions
1:53:41 — open the recording at 1 hour 53 minutes 41 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) OK, so I don't know who to direct some of these to. Do we currently know a location and or do we have some ideas of locations?
1:53:53 — open the recording at 1 hour 53 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 529 Mark Elliott, do you want me to or do you want the school corporation to address that?
1:53:58 — open the recording at 1 hour 53 minutes 58 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) There is not currently a location, but it needs to be east of the river. I can't tell you how many hours I spent on Beacon looking for a place that we could build an Eastside High School. I've looked at Meadows School, looked at the Memorial Stadium, and the fact is there's just not enough room there for that. How many acres are you needing? They're needing between 95 and 130, I think. Something like that, 95 to 130.
1:54:29 — open the recording at 1 hour 54 minutes 29 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Out of curiosity, why so much acreage for a school this size when we've looked at schools in other communities that don't have anywhere near that much an acreage?
1:54:40 — open the recording at 1 hour 54 minutes 40 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) I'm going to let Dr. Hansel come up here and address these questions. Because he knows all this and I'm going to let him address those questions.
1:54:50 — open the recording at 1 hour 54 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 534 He's got more pins than us.
1:54:57 — open the recording at 1 hour 54 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 536 I do have more pins because I'm not going to short change any of the kids. So I've got West Diego North and South on here.
1:55:03 — open the recording at 1 hour 55 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 540 I still have my order to hear that. The rest of them, too.
1:55:08 — open the recording at 1 hour 55 minutes 8 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) I think they're aware of that. The answer to the question is it depends on where we're at with water drainage and so forth. Traffic flow is very different than it used to be. There was a time when everyone rode the bus. There is now more parent drop-off and things like that, so traffic flow is a bigger deal. I'm trying to make sure that we do that. We've extended drives at multiple schools to try to get people off the road. to not have a traffic hazard, such as down at 41 with Dixie B and so forth. As an example, Lost Creek out on the west side to keep people off of Hunt Road.
1:55:50 — open the recording at 1 hour 55 minutes 50 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) That's something we need to consider. That's a change in the culture of communities and parents and how they drop their kids off. We also need to accommodate girls' forts. Our facilities were built at a time when girls' forts didn't exist. And we need to make sure that that is built into the system that we're taking a look at. Water drainage is the number one thing. if you're taking a look at it might be 95 to 100 acres to do all that if we've got really good water drainage and good systems there it might be more than that if we have some land that has a little
1:56:20 — open the recording at 1 hour 56 minutes 20 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) bit more wetlands and things like that that we have to work around and and so forth for the
1:56:24 — open the recording at 1 hour 56 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 89 retention so you can stay up there if you want i'll probably have more questions that are directed
1:56:27 — open the recording at 1 hour 56 minutes 27 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) toward that i assume you'll be the proper person to answer if if we or you don't have to uh okay so so we currently have means me i say we it's really you guys the school corporation owns two and and i don't think it's any secret i'm a proponent and i'll talk about this in a minute of keeping all three high schools and i understand there's a lot of objections to that on your end but if we were going to only two high schools one east one west we own two pieces of property that are larger than if you go to several other cities that are bigger than our cities we have
1:57:10 — open the recording at 1 hour 57 minutes 10 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) two pieces of property that are already larger than what those cities are using and we already own them why would we want to acquire a new piece of property which means we can't just stop maintaining the properties and we don't want to stop taking we don't want to sell them for a dollar we've everybody's made that clear so if we don't want to sell them we still have to maintain them and we already own two properties here in our community why wouldn't we why would we not use
1:57:37 — open the recording at 1 hour 57 minutes 37 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) one of those we are going to be continuing to use those properties we are advocating for them to become middle school so that our middle school students also have equalized opportunities currently our honey creek and our otter creek are not equal they do not provide equalized opportunities that has been something that's been ongoing that is something that we want to address with our board we also know that if we put the school at south it creates a domino effect of being unable to close other facilities which does not yield the savings that we need in the
1:58:09 — open the recording at 1 hour 58 minutes 9 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) flexibility of dealing with the state funding that we're dealing with north is a viable option but it does not create the situation of creating those middle schools that are more equal otter creek as a middle school is never going to be quite the same opportunities of what south high school would be as a middle school. The state has been over the past several years the funding formula has been working in a way to try to consolidate resources. That's been a statewide issue. That's the reason why you see school districts all across the state looking at operational referendums to avoid
1:58:45 — open the recording at 1 hour 58 minutes 45 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) consolidations or having the consolidation question. One of those consolidation questions just happened north of here up in Southwest Park. those are conversations we're having statewide it's not unique to Vigo County we're trying to figure out how to have the flexibility of the funding situations that we've had that the state has been implementing since the early 2000s those have been ongoing those continued to go we're also trying to make sure we equalize our opportunities if we have the funding mechanisms in
1:59:20 — open the recording at 1 hour 59 minutes 20 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) place from the 1990s so that we could continue to sustain 250 300 350 student elementary schools
1:59:28 — open the recording at 1 hour 59 minutes 28 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) so that we didn't need to put them into bigger facilities like honey creek or otter creek
1:59:32 — open the recording at 1 hour 59 minutes 32 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) to gain those efficiencies we would do so we don't live in a world that bases on that's based on 1990s funding that's not the system that we've been working in this has been something that's been going on for more than two decades in terms of the school finance and the school funding
1:59:48 — open the recording at 1 hour 59 minutes 48 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Okay, so do you said several times and the school board has also said several times that we are closing several schools down. Those are properties we have to continue to maintain.
2:00:02 — open the recording at 2 hours 2 secondsSpeaker 437 We're not just going to neglect them, are we?
2:00:04 — open the recording at 2 hours 4 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) Our hope is that we will not have to maintain, that we will be able to partner with city or county resources or others to reuse those buildings for other purposes. That is something that the state legislature has been entertaining over the past several legislative sessions. There's actually examples where in other cities they have allowed schools that have closed buildings to transfer those into other taxing units to be able to be reused for other purposes. And I have no reason to believe that that is a trend that we may be seeing on a more regular basis.
2:00:37 — open the recording at 2 hours 37 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Okay, but as of now today, we still need to maintain those other facilities. So my question to you would be if we were going to have to maintain these facilities either way and there's not a mechanism that allows us to To get rid of them short of selling them for a dollar two as my understanding to the to the charter schools Why would we not now? We're just gonna have one more piece of property we have to maintain. Why wouldn't we? Whether it's north or south Why would we not utilize one of those and and I'm still gonna be I'm hearing a little bit
2:01:08 — open the recording at 2 hours 1 minute 8 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) I'm going to make an argument to keep both. But why would we not utilize a piece of property that
2:01:14 — open the recording at 2 hours 1 minute 14 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) we already own instead of acquiring more properties? We are advocating using the properties we have.
2:01:22 — open the recording at 2 hours 1 minute 22 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Again, but we're going to not use some of these properties, correct? We're not going to use a
2:01:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 1 minute 26 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) three-acre plot of land that's landlocked as around an elementary school. That's an example of one of the facilities that would be vacated. But we have two high schools. But we also know
2:01:37 — open the recording at 2 hours 1 minute 37 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) that that facility none of this is going to happen all in one fell swoop and that the legislature is moving in a different directions on how these partnerships are being done in fact there was a bill last year to be able to transfer those to the county or to the city and other taxpayer
2:01:54 — open the recording at 2 hours 1 minute 54 secondsSpeaker 560 entities so that taxpayers did not lose those those assets okay can i interject real quick sir
2:02:00 — open the recording at 2 hours 2 minutesRandy Gentry (councillor) go ahead just to follow specifically on this topic and i don't care um sir if it's you or the or the commissioners one of my concerns is is that again you're we're putting skin into the game
2:02:13 — open the recording at 2 hours 2 minutes 13 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) we're trying to help you get to where we're trying to go one of the things that that i would like you to consider the commissioners to consider is is that if you abandon some of these facilities as time goes along that if they're sold off via the cdc or any other avenue it would be nice as part of the whole package is that the county taxpayers would maybe hold be made whole by that money coming back if it's sold off so that again our investment into the school corporation could be partially paid back so i don't know whether you would entertain that but i would would hope
2:02:53 — open the recording at 2 hours 2 minutes 53 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) because it seems like to me the legislature is trying to allow the county to grab these properties I just want to make sure that it gets into the general fund of the county to help reimburse us
2:03:06 — open the recording at 2 hours 3 minutes 6 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) for our assistance to you. We are fully understanding that this is a collaborative project and our attorney, the county's attorney, the casino foundation's attorney, the city's attorney, if the city puts this in, is going to be having a collaborative meeting to work out these
2:03:22 — open the recording at 2 hours 3 minutes 22 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) details. None of those people are going to work on it until they know that there's a commitment from the county to move forward.
2:03:30 — open the recording at 2 hours 3 minutes 30 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) I think you've got to be careful. Don't get the cart before the horse. Okay? So, I mean, the key is the proof is going to be in the details. So the details have to be we can't just say, yeah, let's do this and then have a bunch of lawyers get in a room. And, again, we've eliminated everything from the public purview at that point.
2:03:49 — open the recording at 2 hours 3 minutes 49 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) I understand your point, Mr. Gentry, but I also know that none of us are going to pay for attorneys to sit in a room and create billable hours until we know we have a direction to send them on.
2:04:03 — open the recording at 2 hours 4 minutes 3 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Just want to make sure we have safeguards. I don't think that's a bad thing. A lot of people pay for attorneys to get these documents pulled together.
2:04:11 — open the recording at 2 hours 4 minutes 11 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) I think that the law already creates an oversight board, and the legislature was very intentional of making sure there was accountability and so forth.
2:04:19 — open the recording at 2 hours 4 minutes 19 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) So do you oppose the idea if a property is sold off that that money would come back to the county general? you're telling me that no just give me the money and then if we can work that out later we can work it out later I don't think that that's what we're
2:04:32 — open the recording at 2 hours 4 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 560 talking about here I think that what you're asking is is the school corporation open to a collaboration with these entities and the answer is yes
2:04:39 — open the recording at 2 hours 4 minutes 39 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) we're open to a collaboration with these entities all right this one may be directed I apologize these are not in order so this one may be directed towards Mr. Elliott, but also perhaps superintendent.
2:04:54 — open the recording at 2 hours 4 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 134 I'm not sure who. How did you come up with the, were you still in the middle of the question? No. Oh, okay. Just click on my button.
2:05:02 — open the recording at 2 hours 5 minutes 2 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Oh. How were you able to come up with the estimate of $222 million? How did that come about?
2:05:08 — open the recording at 2 hours 5 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 89 And are there any type of plans out there that you have put together?
2:05:13 — open the recording at 2 hours 5 minutes 13 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) We listened to our architect who works in this field every day and took their advice
2:05:23 — open the recording at 2 hours 5 minutes 23 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) as to how to go through this. We've modeled our work after some basic buildings that are very low-key and conservative. They've been very conservative in their estimates. Gibraltar, this is what their business is. This is what they do. Okay.
2:05:43 — open the recording at 2 hours 5 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 439 they're the ones who did that work Gibraltar okay have we yeah yeah please
2:05:50 — open the recording at 2 hours 5 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 333 do yeah I would say that you know Gibraltar was under already under engagement with the school corporation so that's kind of the one area that we couldn't independently engage somebody so we called around and did some fact checking on Gibraltar we've got to know them directly as well some contractors that they've worked with everyone speaks very highly of them they're an efficient architect they build what you need they don't overbuild it they kind of just hit the mark perfectly I think for the situation we're in here in Vigo
2:06:21 — open the recording at 2 hours 6 minutes 21 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) County the oversight board we we cold cold called another school architect and they they gave us the same opinion okay and I apologize I have I do have a lot
2:06:31 — open the recording at 2 hours 6 minutes 31 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) of questions so I apologize yes sir
2:06:38 — open the recording at 2 hours 6 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 588 these answers could be better if we did it can you turn your if we created the executive session
2:06:47 — open the recording at 2 hours 6 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 592 and bring the all the boards in to us and sit there and do that i am happy to do it either way
2:06:52 — open the recording at 2 hours 6 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 598 but i have a feeling the public wants to hear it instead of me okay i'm good i'm good either way
2:06:57 — open the recording at 2 hours 6 minutes 57 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) you know you know what this this is the one time we will ask for your input do you want me to ask
2:07:01 — open the recording at 2 hours 7 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 605 him now or do you want me to put it off okay okay all right we're going we're going to
2:07:08 — open the recording at 2 hours 7 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 89 we're gonna keep going so my apologies it's not that I don't appreciate your
2:07:11 — open the recording at 2 hours 7 minutes 11 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) position Brad okay all right and there's no order these I apologize sixth grade it is a contention with a lot of teachers and a lot of parents here in this community why would we treat them differently east of the river and west
2:07:29 — open the recording at 2 hours 7 minutes 29 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) the river whichever one is the right choice should we not be treating them the same on both sides and have you modified that maybe you've already done
2:07:37 — open the recording at 2 hours 7 minutes 37 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) that our intent is make sure all of our kids have the same learning experiences just because a sixth graders in one building doesn't mean that they have to have the exact same experiences as a lower
2:07:47 — open the recording at 2 hours 7 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 543 grade they can have the same experience as other sixth graders throughout the entire district
2:07:50 — open the recording at 2 hours 7 minutes 50 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) so you're saying I guess are you saying that they would be either on both sides they'll either be
2:07:56 — open the recording at 2 hours 7 minutes 56 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) a middle or on both sides will be an elementary no what I'm saying is experience very similar to other rural districts around the state where in some cases sixth grade is located in an elementary school or sixth grade is in a middle school that doesn't mean that the sixth graders don't have the same experience regardless of which building they're in okay so if sixth grade is in elementary
2:08:21 — open the recording at 2 hours 8 minutes 21 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) over there are you going to keep them longer so they go to the same amount of time as the sixth
2:08:24 — open the recording at 2 hours 8 minutes 24 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) grader over that is something that we can have a discussion with with the west side to find out if that's that's important enough to do we've not made any decisions along those the west side
2:08:32 — open the recording at 2 hours 8 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 306 Like who would you ask if that's important?
2:08:34 — open the recording at 2 hours 8 minutes 34 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) We would obviously engage teachers. We would engage parents. We would engage people who are involved in the process before we make any final decisions on that. I see. I mean, if we're going to make a decision to put the sixth grade in that situation, we're going to have a conversation with our teachers and parents to make sure that we're meeting the needs of those sixth graders in the way that they're advocating for those. those the question came up from the oversight board as a way to try to reduce the overall cost of the project and to do so without having to add
2:09:06 — open the recording at 2 hours 9 minutes 6 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) classrooms at consolidated and at Fayette and the because the questions that they asked led to a solution that actually did lower the overall cost because there would not be a need to add classrooms at Fayette or at consolidated if we came up with the configuration of a primary in one of buildings and an intermediate in the other building would you agree that a
2:09:28 — open the recording at 2 hours 9 minutes 28 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) middle school would have extra amenities that a an elementary might not have for instance tennis courts or tracks or whatever and so we actually do have
2:09:37 — open the recording at 2 hours 9 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 560 tennis courts at some of our elementary schools okay will you have that over east
2:09:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 9 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 280 at your elementary or over west at your elementary school I think that what we
2:09:43 — open the recording at 2 hours 9 minutes 43 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) would be doing is providing opportunities for our kids that's what
2:09:47 — open the recording at 2 hours 9 minutes 47 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) we're gonna do okay all right let's move on to the next one I think you guys already answered this but it's on my list so I'm going to ask it just so we have a definitive straight answer will you be decreasing staffing of teachers
2:10:03 — open the recording at 2 hours 10 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 467 or will you maintain the exact same number that you have now we have no
2:10:08 — open the recording at 2 hours 10 minutes 8 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) intentions of laying anyone off we do intend to use attrition over time to make sure that just as we do today as we lose students we are right sizing our staff to match the number of students that we have in the programming that we need. We've been doing that for many, many years. We don't have the same number of teachers today that we had back when we had 17,000 students. What will happen to, say, a principal when there's not
2:10:32 — open the recording at 2 hours 10 minutes 32 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) as many schools? Will that principal still be, will there be two principals at a school, or will
2:10:37 — open the recording at 2 hours 10 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 543 that person get a demotion? How does that work? We will not lay anyone off or fire anyone as a result of this, but there could be a change in job functions and job duties. Okay. So a third-grade
2:10:50 — open the recording at 2 hours 10 minutes 50 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) teacher as we had before when Meadows closed. The third grade teacher at Meadows may be teaching fourth grade at a different building, but they continue to be employed. Okay. Next question. You
2:11:02 — open the recording at 2 hours 11 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 44 guys are going to get a peek into my brain and how it works because my brain goes all different
2:11:06 — open the recording at 2 hours 11 minutes 6 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) directions. Mr. President, we'll stop for a second. Let your brain rest. Will you guarantee that? I mean, you know, that's an important thing for Nancy and I. I have, we have, the board is committed to
2:11:17 — open the recording at 2 hours 11 minutes 17 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) not laying people off my first superintendency was during the Great Recession I have worked really hard throughout my entire career to make sure
2:11:25 — open the recording at 2 hours 11 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 55 I never live layoffs ever again all right this one is I'm gonna guess it may
2:11:31 — open the recording at 2 hours 11 minutes 31 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) be Commissioner Klinkenbeard or it may be mr. Elliott where what what fund are you suggesting we would be taking the 15 million from
2:11:43 — open the recording at 2 hours 11 minutes 43 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) We would suggest that all these be taken out of edit and the $6 million payment in the future be taken out of edit. Okay.
2:11:54 — open the recording at 2 hours 11 minutes 54 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) Thank you. Mr. Ellis. Yeah. With all due respect, we're happy to answer these questions all evening. I am a little frustrated though because we have had, I don't know how many oversight board meetings now this year. I guess why didn't you come and ask those then? I mean, you've got a list this long tonight you're asking and I don't understand. We have literally begged for participation
2:12:28 — open the recording at 2 hours 12 minutes 28 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) at the oversight meetings. So that's I guess I'm gonna push back on that.
2:12:33 — open the recording at 2 hours 12 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 55 No, no, that's all right. That's absolutely fine. So to answer your question is there are many of us up here
2:12:39 — open the recording at 2 hours 12 minutes 39 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) that also have this is a part-time position many of us have full-time jobs
2:12:44 — open the recording at 2 hours 12 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 643 and I've been averaging 75 hours a week at my job the last two months thank you
2:12:49 — open the recording at 2 hours 12 minutes 49 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) and I still make all right so so so to all right hold up people please I'm to answer your question I don't think there's any of us up here I have I have walked away from my day job at this point I don't think there's any of us up here that have not been putting time into council we are working on budget we have been trying to work on budget and we are also trying to work on or at least look at the school project I know I have watched literally every oversight meeting I have met and I can't even tell you how many times but they're sitting
2:13:24 — open the recording at 2 hours 13 minutes 24 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) in here I've met multiple multiple times with school board members both in groups and individually. I've asked a lot of these questions. And so I am happy to hold off on these questions and ask them at a later meeting. I don't have a problem with that. You tell me which way
2:13:43 — open the recording at 2 hours 13 minutes 43 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) you want me to proceed and I'm happy to do it. Mr. Ellis, we will stand up here until midnight to answer any question that you have. I'm just asking you a question. Why weren't you? Why didn't you ask these in oversight meetings? And I'm not insinuating that the council is not doing their job. I know this is a tough job. I mean, we've suggested a special call meeting so that we can
2:14:03 — open the recording at 2 hours 14 minutes 3 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) handle this so you didn't have to handle it on a budget meeting night. We are always available to to talk but go ahead. We'll answer every question you have. Okay.
2:14:17 — open the recording at 2 hours 14 minutes 17 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Have we entertained the idea of building a going to north and south turning them into middle high schools just as we are doing over West so that the community can continue to keep three high schools here and and separating them by a corridor where they would be using this may be a question for the superintendent maybe where we would be able to keep three high schools and reduce staffing I know some of the staffing that you said you would that you would be reducing is like more administrative as opposed to teachers and be able to utilize
2:14:57 — open the recording at 2 hours 14 minutes 57 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) counselors in the middle that maybe serve both sides maybe a Spanish teacher serves both sides can go from one to the other but it would allow the community to still keep what they so what they want by but still reducing staffing or reducing the staffing so that we can save money there and by taking and building a building say I'm just gonna use south because I know that one better in my mind if you were to build the building in front of the current classroom area where the where they drop kids off connect it and and then keep
2:15:33 — open the recording at 2 hours 15 minutes 33 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) the parts that are still usable my understanding is the gymnasiums the cafeteria and the offices are very usable the football fields or the football field and soccer field and all of that's very usable there's parking Lots that are already there there's curbs that are there plumbing is already there electric is already there You you have access you have and I'm not saying that it's in great shape I'm saying the there's the access points there so you could still connect to the system Which is the same thing you have to do if you're putting a middle school there anyway
2:16:03 — open the recording at 2 hours 16 minutes 3 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) So by doing that we're able to keep and then and then once that's built that could be built while kids are still in school
2:16:11 — open the recording at 2 hours 16 minutes 11 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Once that facility is built you could then demo the back portion of the classrooms, which is my understanding, the part that is in very bad condition.
2:16:20 — open the recording at 2 hours 16 minutes 20 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) To keep the buildings that we have is estimated to be about $100 million more than the plan that we have proposed.
2:16:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 16 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 651 Do you have an estimate on that that shows that? Yes.
2:16:29 — open the recording at 2 hours 16 minutes 29 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) Gibraltar showed us option three that you saw earlier was keeping all the buildings. We also know that the idea that you've just proposed of that junior-senior high idea, that I think is what you're implying, is something that is very common in rural schools. In urban schools, it was tried in IPS. It was done with Dr. Pat Pitred as their superintendent in 2001 under a Gates Foundation grant, and it was completely done away with in 2007 for budgetary reasons as well as lack of effectiveness reasons.
2:17:04 — open the recording at 2 hours 17 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 652 Meaning it didn't work out to have middle high?
2:17:06 — open the recording at 2 hours 17 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 533 It didn't work. Because it was a middle high or because of something different? Because it was a joint middle high school or because?
2:17:12 — open the recording at 2 hours 17 minutes 12 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) They did it to try to do what you're asking us to do, which was to save Howell, to save Washington, to save Short Ridge, to save some of those schools. And it failed miserably, and they resulted in ending up closing some of those buildings and abandoning the plan.
2:17:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 17 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 652 I'm trying to understand why they failed.
2:17:30 — open the recording at 2 hours 17 minutes 30 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) I didn't work for IPS at the time, but I know that in 2001 they implemented it. In 2007 they abandoned it. And one of the primary reasons given was financial reasons, considerations.
2:17:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 17 minutes 40 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) How much is it going to cost to turn north and south into a middle school?
2:17:47 — open the recording at 2 hours 17 minutes 47 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) They're estimating, based on the 2026 estimates, which we're not going to be putting a shoveling ground then, I believe was in the $48 to $52 million range.
2:17:57 — open the recording at 2 hours 17 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 655 $48 to $52 million, and how are they going to do that?
2:18:00 — open the recording at 2 hours 18 minutesDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) They will be raising part of the building and repurposing the other part and making it for a middle school.
2:18:07 — open the recording at 2 hours 18 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 655 Okay, can you elaborate on that? What will they be doing?
2:18:10 — open the recording at 2 hours 18 minutes 10 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) Well, they're going to replace all the electrical. They're going to replace all the plumbing. They're going to fix the roof so it has a proper slant to it and it drains off of the roof.
2:18:18 — open the recording at 2 hours 18 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 560 Those types of things.
2:18:19 — open the recording at 2 hours 18 minutes 19 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Okay. So that's 42. You said about 42 million?
2:18:22 — open the recording at 2 hours 18 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 631 I said about 48 to 52. I'm doing this off the top of my head.
2:18:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 18 minutes 26 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) That's okay. And so for let's go high and call it 55. Why would we not take the 55 million in renovation to each one for a total of 110 million and have two new high schools?
2:18:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 18 minutes 40 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) To do them as high schools, they were over 200 million because we would not be raising any of the facilities. And we also asked Gibraltar to do it at the level we would do the new school at, not to put lipstick on the pig and bypass and cut corners, which has been done since 1971.
2:18:58 — open the recording at 2 hours 18 minutes 58 seconds Okay. All right.
2:19:00 — open the recording at 2 hours 19 minutesDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) We would also be double the size of what we would need. We wouldn't need, we could put everything at North if we remodeled that and not need it. We could then use Otter Creek as a middle school. Otter Creek as a middle school is not going to even be close to being equal to what South would be as a middle school. Those are some considerations that were also done. It was financial as well as opportunities for kids.
2:19:27 — open the recording at 2 hours 19 minutes 27 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) How does, and this is probably a question maybe for one of the Marks, how does each
2:19:35 — open the recording at 2 hours 19 minutes 35 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) phase get funded? That is something that we're working with our financial
2:19:42 — open the recording at 2 hours 19 minutes 42 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) advisors as well as our attorneys and so forth to figure out how this gets done over time. But the first thing we need to know is and while we're committed to and asking about right now is what are we doing with the high schools? Okay. We need to get our high schools done. When we know the timeline for the high schools we can then start to put together a timeline for the other buildings.
2:20:04 — open the recording at 2 hours 20 minutes 4 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) Okay. The longer we keep putting this off the more those also get kicked down
2:20:07 — open the recording at 2 hours 20 minutes 7 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) the road. To be to be stewards of of our finances should we be planning ahead enough to say okay here's our plan so that we know how we're going to find a
2:20:21 — open the recording at 2 hours 20 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 674 fund each of these phases. That's exactly what we're working on. Okay. So is that
2:20:25 — open the recording at 2 hours 20 minutes 25 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) something we would have we would have knowledge of and a plan in front of us
2:20:28 — open the recording at 2 hours 20 minutes 28 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) before we're not going to have a plan in front of you that quickly because this is the first domino that helps us understand the timeline for everything else all right so you don't think
2:20:38 — open the recording at 2 hours 20 minutes 38 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) we need to have an understanding if we spend all this money on a high school we don't need to have
2:20:43 — open the recording at 2 hours 20 minutes 43 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) an understanding as to how we're going to fix the rest of them a plan some some kind of plan there
2:20:48 — open the recording at 2 hours 20 minutes 48 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) is a plan okay but that's what i'm saying is what the specifics of the plan that you're asking for the financial advisor needs to know where we're at with this particular plan so he knows how to
2:20:59 — open the recording at 2 hours 20 minutes 59 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) plot this out and plan this out so if we said hey assume we do this plan could you then tell us
2:21:05 — open the recording at 2 hours 21 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 560 how you're going to fund everything else can you tell me what the state law is going to be in 2032 okay so what the state law is going to be in 2035 no no and and and to your point these are that's
2:21:16 — open the recording at 2 hours 21 minutes 16 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) the same concerns that we have about what's going to happen with our funding starting in 2029 and going forward, those are some of our concerns about what our income is. So if you're saying we can't predict the future, we can't either.
2:21:29 — open the recording at 2 hours 21 minutes 29 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) We have the exact same concern as a school board trying to predict this and trying to manage what we're doing at the state. What we're trying to do is to give us the most financial flexibility so that we can meet the needs with kids without having to respond in knee-jerk reaction ways and doing layoffs. That's what we're trying to avoid. We're trying to make sure that we stay focused on with a plan on how we can address this with the flexibility to address the things that come at us from the state and to be able to move forward with that. We plan on using geo bonds.
2:22:03 — open the recording at 2 hours 22 minutes 3 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) We plan on using refinancing of bonds. We plan on doing all those different things that we are currently doing to try to get those things done. But the first step is to find out are we even going to have a partnership with the county to do the high school so that our high school kids are taken care of so that we can then do that. When you see, if you can't see all the steps of a staircase or you can't see the end point of the journey that you're taking, you still have to take the first step.
2:22:30 — open the recording at 2 hours 22 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 135 Ms. Mr. President, can I piggyback on that before you go on to the next question?
2:22:34 — open the recording at 2 hours 22 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 684 Mr. Yes.
2:22:35 — open the recording at 2 hours 22 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 24 Ms. Have you addressed, I don't think you've maybe said, what would be the maintenance cost savings after we build these new high schools? Wouldn't that fall into, I mean, we would be saving tremendous amounts of money on maintenance, correct?
2:22:49 — open the recording at 2 hours 22 minutes 49 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) We're anticipating significant savings on the HVAC, the heating and cooling and so forth. We're hoping to be able to utilize materials that don't have maintenance costs to them. There are some different ideas that we've learned about in the school visits that each person was invited to go to. Those are all things that we're exploring so that we can reduce those ongoing costs going forward.
2:23:11 — open the recording at 2 hours 23 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 24 so those funds could then possibly i mean i know that we're short on the funds right now for maintenance but some of those cost savings could go towards the next step in the process
2:23:22 — open the recording at 2 hours 23 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 692 in the process that's part of the hope okay it's part of the hope which is why we need the high
2:23:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 23 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 469 schools built exactly i understand that thank you anything further brenda okay all right when you did
2:23:33 — open the recording at 2 hours 23 minutes 33 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) did your study what percentage of the population will have a harder time getting to after hours activities due to transportation so so so what percentage of of of the student population is due to a lack of transportation for after hours activities being a school being further away as opposed to being more centrally located in the inner cities or in the inner city what percentage of the population is gonna have a harder time getting to their after-school activities be it banned or sporting or sports or whatever they're already at the
2:24:15 — open the recording at 2 hours 24 minutes 15 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) schools no no no so transportation back and forth so I know I know sometimes like a practice might be a little you leave and you come back and you go back
2:24:24 — open the recording at 2 hours 24 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 55 a little bit later or a band practice might be a little bit later part of the
2:24:27 — open the recording at 2 hours 24 minutes 27 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) reason why we we now have to leave school and then come back for practice because we don't have enough facilities and inadequate facilities to be able to offer the practices immediately after school.
2:24:36 — open the recording at 2 hours 24 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 229 Okay. And what percentage of families are going to have a harder time going to events,
2:24:47 — open the recording at 2 hours 24 minutes 47 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) sporting events and things of that nature that are located far out of town due to either being single income homes and not being able to have the income to pay for fuel or a vehicle, or maybe they don't have the time to get off work to travel a couple hours each direction.
2:25:03 — open the recording at 2 hours 25 minutes 3 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) Again, I don't follow your question. North and South already traveled to Evansville. They already traveled to Columbus. They already traveled to Indianapolis. Sure. They're already doing that.
2:25:14 — open the recording at 2 hours 25 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 596 Okay. By being, and again, I'm not educated, so I'm asking.
2:25:17 — open the recording at 2 hours 25 minutes 17 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) I mean, no offense to our local communities,
2:25:19 — open the recording at 2 hours 25 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 560 but Terre Haute North is quite a bit larger than our surrounding communities, which is why they travel to these locations to place similar size schools.
2:25:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 25 minutes 26 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Do, do, so again, I don't understand classes for sports, so you can educate me.
2:25:31 — open the recording at 2 hours 25 minutes 31 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) My understanding is we potentially get into a higher class by having more students. Is that correct?
2:25:36 — open the recording at 2 hours 25 minutes 36 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) The bigger school would be probably, depending on how fast some of the schools around Indianapolis are growing, would be borderline between a 5A or a 6A school.
2:25:45 — open the recording at 2 hours 25 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 89 Okay, and I don't know what that means. What are we now?
2:25:48 — open the recording at 2 hours 25 minutes 48 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) We're currently, north is a 5A borderline 4A. South is currently a solid 5A.
2:25:54 — open the recording at 2 hours 25 minutes 54 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Okay, so as you get higher in those classifications, do you then play a little bit further away?
2:26:03 — open the recording at 2 hours 26 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 117 Is there the potential that that happens?
2:26:05 — open the recording at 2 hours 26 minutes 5 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) They're already playing schools that are 5A and 6A. That's why we travel to Evansville and Indianapolis and Columbus and Bloomington.
2:26:11 — open the recording at 2 hours 26 minutes 11 seconds All right.
2:26:13 — open the recording at 2 hours 26 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 213 Excuse me, Mr. President. I'm sorry. I just want to make a point. Yes, please do.
2:26:16 — open the recording at 2 hours 26 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 24 I just want to make a point to one of your questions. The fact that you're asking about lower income. the city provides free bus service and I'm sure they will accommodate a route that would would go to all these schools for the people that are lower income that would give them rides to wherever they need to go that's a good idea when
2:26:33 — open the recording at 2 hours 26 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 712 we will have to look into that that's excellent it's already happening it's
2:26:36 — open the recording at 2 hours 26 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 686 already there's already free bus service yeah they already provide it for free
2:26:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 26 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 173 thanks to our moment you know so that it's scheduled around I'm sure Mayor
2:26:45 — open the recording at 2 hours 26 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 333 SACC phone can make that happen while you're kind of touching on location oversight board member mark Matheny did some due diligence last week and drove
2:26:59 — open the recording at 2 hours 26 minutes 59 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) from a narrow number of points throughout the county the highway 46 corridor which my opinion is where the school should be 10 minutes from wigwam skate park all the way up north 10 minutes from Stucky's on the south side
2:27:12 — open the recording at 2 hours 27 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 333 and it's 10 minutes from downtown so I would say it's pretty centrally located given the major thoroughfares accessible to that location
2:27:23 — open the recording at 2 hours 27 minutes 23 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) questions that I will have that I honestly don't think are appropriate for tonight at some point maybe we can we can talk about the budget for the school corporation both for their teachers and their buildings and and look into that a little bit what how much does each phase cost is our estimate what is our
2:27:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 27 minutes 40 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) estimate for each phase of this? What we're talking about with the high schools is approximately 90 to 100 million for West Vigo and about 220 million for 220 to 225 million for the new high school.
2:27:56 — open the recording at 2 hours 27 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 653 I think 222 is the number, 222 million. All right. And then subsequent phases after that?
2:28:02 — open the recording at 2 hours 28 minutes 2 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) We have lots of estimates. Are we talking 10 years down the road where they have to add inflationary rates? Are we talking three years down the road that have to add inflationary rates? And so what we did is in $2,026, we know that the most expensive option is to keep all the buildings. We know that the second most expensive option is to put the new high school, to do two high schools with the new high school being at South High School.
2:28:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 28 minutes 26 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) We know that putting it at north and putting it at a new building is roughly the same. If there's a commitment to also bring Otter Creek up to have more closer to the amenities.
2:28:39 — open the recording at 2 hours 28 minutes 39 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) It is cheaper to put it at North if you're not going to equalize the middle schools and continue to not have that at Otter Creek
2:28:46 — open the recording at 2 hours 28 minutes 46 seconds Okay
2:28:47 — open the recording at 2 hours 28 minutes 47 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) My next question. I'm apologize in advance. I don't mean anything offensive by this and I don't want this. I'm just asking the question Do you guys during your interview and and actually not just during your interview
2:29:01 — open the recording at 2 hours 29 minutes 1 secondSteve Ellis (chair) I've talked to school board members that have told me the same thing That the current plan is not the most economical plan. Is that a fair assumption?
2:29:09 — open the recording at 2 hours 29 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 728 I don't understand your question. Is that for me? Whoever wants to answer. Sure. Yeah. That's one high school.
2:29:15 — open the recording at 2 hours 29 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 333 Yeah, I mean, the most economical plan is to close all three high schools and consolidate them into one. And make one.
2:29:22 — open the recording at 2 hours 29 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 551 And I'm not in favor of that. I'm just asking. I don't know that anybody is. All right.
2:29:25 — open the recording at 2 hours 29 minutes 25 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) So, but the reason that you gave that you guys are not doing that is because the kids over West are very passionate about their school.
2:29:32 — open the recording at 2 hours 29 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 117 the kids at North and South are also very passionate the families at North and South
2:29:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 29 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 333 are also very passionate I mean I graduated from Terre Haute North I'll drive the bulldozer through
2:29:45 — open the recording at 2 hours 29 minutes 45 secondsSpeaker 363 it tomorrow I mean it it was a dump 20 years ago I'm sure it's more of a dump today we didn't we toured South but but I think I think Councilman Ellis it was a multitude of reasons
2:30:02 — open the recording at 2 hours 30 minutes 2 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) the efficiency being one of them yeah you can recognize 80 percent of the operational savings by going with the two high school method but you also have the logistical concerns of getting kids across the river there's really only two major ways across 70 and 40 and when one of those is down which it has been for seemingly the last year around the courthouse it's a pain to get across and so I think I think people would be late to school I don't think it works and there's not a central location to do it if the mayor would give us Fairbanks Park maybe we could talk about it
2:30:35 — open the recording at 2 hours 30 minutes 35 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) but I still don't think it would be big enough but so there's more than more than one reason
2:30:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 30 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 117 about than just the sentiment at West Vigo all right so let's assume this passes tonight or not tonight but at some time in the next oh yeah I perked up there for a second I'd like to call
2:30:53 — open the recording at 2 hours 30 minutes 53 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) a vote right now all right let's assume this passes in the next four months what amount of money how will you divide up what you the resources you have right now would like you're are you gonna take part of your bonding capacity for the school corporation and that's gonna go to West Vigo immediately or or where are
2:31:15 — open the recording at 2 hours 31 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 44 you where and how are you playing that and how much of a loan is needed I'll
2:31:20 — open the recording at 2 hours 31 minutes 20 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) I'll first address that, I mean, the first step is to release the architects to design these schools, the renovation and the new build. I mean, that's going to take at least six months. So until we have a funding commitment, it's going to take at least six months. I think best case scenario, if you voted tonight, which I hope you will, we'll save more money on bringing consultants from Indianapolis.
2:31:41 — open the recording at 2 hours 31 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 363 You maybe break ground on the Eastside High School a year, 12, 14 months from now.
2:31:47 — open the recording at 2 hours 31 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 738 August, September would be the best case scenario.
2:31:49 — open the recording at 2 hours 31 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 741 It'd be a year. but my so i don't even think this would be a 27 appropriation the funding of it where
2:31:54 — open the recording at 2 hours 31 minutes 54 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) where are you where are you taking the money from to fund west vego
2:32:01 — open the recording at 2 hours 32 minutes 1 secondDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) our 24.2424 debt service rate will generate enough money to be able to construct or remodel
2:32:10 — open the recording at 2 hours 32 minutes 10 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) or completely rebuild or whatever basically modernize west vego high school okay um and also have money left over to supplement the gap that we're talking about. Now our preference would be if we could find a different way of closing that gap would be to put that money towards other buildings that have needs. But if we can't, our priority is to make sure all high school kids are accommodated and have modernized learning facilities as soon as possible. All right,
2:32:37 — open the recording at 2 hours 32 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 745 I'm asking more questions around that when you say your ability your ability
2:32:48 — open the recording at 2 hours 32 minutes 48 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) to pay from your current income that that it's going to go towards West Vigo and
2:32:53 — open the recording at 2 hours 32 minutes 53 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) is that am I correct it's around 75 79 million I think it was about I think I
2:32:58 — open the recording at 2 hours 32 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 560 said 90 to 100 million is what I said 90 to 100 for West Vigo to do the West
2:33:01 — open the recording at 2 hours 33 minutes 1 secondSteve Ellis (chair) Vigo middle school junior senior high okay so so and and am I correct you're current bonding capacity is around 150?
2:33:11 — open the recording at 2 hours 33 minutes 11 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) Around 150 to 170 depends on the interest rates. We've been using 150 as our low mark. Okay. And that creates about 60 million dollars left over for us to be able to navigate this. Those numbers include soft costs, Steve. All right. I know that you stated that they don't,
2:33:25 — open the recording at 2 hours 33 minutes 25 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) but they do. Okay. Well, I was just going based off of a presentation I saw where you guys said that it was a holding place in the, it was an actual presentation you guys made, where you said it was a holding spot and that it did not include all soft goods. I can try to find that for you.
2:33:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 33 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 560 If I did that, I misspoke because it's been the soft costs have been in there from the very beginning.
2:33:45 — open the recording at 2 hours 33 minutes 45 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Actually, I don't think it was you that said that. I think it was a presentation by might have been an oversight. I'll look and see if I can find it for you. All right. So my question is 150.
2:33:56 — open the recording at 2 hours 33 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 467 I'm going to use it just to make it simple. 150 million, 100 million to do that. That leaves you a 50 million.
2:34:01 — open the recording at 2 hours 34 minutes 1 secondDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) 150 minus 90. if you're going to go low on the one side we would probably go low on the other side in terms of making decisions we might even come in at 2 215 instead of 222. we're going to live within our
2:34:12 — open the recording at 2 hours 34 minutes 12 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) means i mean that's what we've been doing that's what okay we've been doing for a long time so
2:34:17 — open the recording at 2 hours 34 minutes 17 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) that leaves you if you say 150 and and you spend 90 over west that leaves you 60. all right you've
2:34:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 34 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 467 got 60 million to apply towards this new school now is that correct based on what you just gave
2:34:32 — open the recording at 2 hours 34 minutes 32 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) Dave is a hypothetical situation. Okay.
2:34:34 — open the recording at 2 hours 34 minutes 34 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) And then you're going to add to that, assuming the casino gives you 10, that takes you up to 70. Correct? Okay. And if we were to give 15, that takes us up to 85. Your goal, we're trying to get to 222 at the low end, maybe 250, maybe who knows what. That's more than 60 million more. Where are you getting the rest of that money?
2:34:59 — open the recording at 2 hours 34 minutes 59 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) The $6 million that you're providing on an annual basis, which has been recommended, isn't $6 million.
2:35:05 — open the recording at 2 hours 35 minutes 5 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) That's done as a bond. It's similar to like a mortgage.
2:35:08 — open the recording at 2 hours 35 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 44 So you're going to use our income or our payment to you to offset the remaining portion of that?
2:35:13 — open the recording at 2 hours 35 minutes 13 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) To use a bond to do that, yes. Okay. All right. That's what I'm trying to understand.
2:35:16 — open the recording at 2 hours 35 minutes 16 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) It's not a bonding capacity. All right. And the school district would hold those bonds is, and I think Mr. Berry may have some information here, that schools have some advantages on those bond holdings that the county does not, which actually
2:35:33 — open the recording at 2 hours 35 minutes 33 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) maximizes those bond capacity greater. And I see him nodding in agreement. So I learned from him
2:35:39 — open the recording at 2 hours 35 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 761 well. Can you say that again? Just what you said? According to what Mr. Berry had informed me,
2:35:49 — open the recording at 2 hours 35 minutes 49 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) bonds from a school have some advantages built into them that actually allows us to maximize
2:35:53 — open the recording at 2 hours 35 minutes 53 secondsDr. Himsel (staff (superintendent)) the bonding capacity more so than using it from the county bonding capacity. That is something that I learned from Tim in some previous conversations.
2:36:02 — open the recording at 2 hours 36 minutes 2 secondsMark Elliott (staff (oversight board chair)) Yeah, there's a state intercept that they get a double bump in their bond rating, that the school corporation holds the bonds. So they're able to juice the proceeds a little more, getting a lower rate.
2:36:14 — open the recording at 2 hours 36 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 55 All right. First off, are there any more questions here on the council? Either direction.
2:36:19 — open the recording at 2 hours 36 minutes 19 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) I do have several more questions, but we do need to get on with the rest of our meeting. I will reserve them for an upcoming meeting, and I know there's several people out here
2:36:29 — open the recording at 2 hours 36 minutes 29 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) that would like to tell me what they think of me, so we're going to get on with the rest of the meeting, and then you guys can come up for public comments.
2:36:38 — open the recording at 2 hours 36 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 141 Excuse me, I have a question. Yes. The next meeting, you're going to make it a public meeting, right? We're going to have a special call public meeting, okay, so that you can ask your other
2:36:46 — open the recording at 2 hours 36 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 59 questions or whatever then.
2:36:49 — open the recording at 2 hours 36 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 31 most likely it will be the but but anybody can come but this way we can have a meeting sooner than later because I don't know when seven people are gonna be able to get together so anyone that is available is welcome to come and attend including the public including the commissioners including the council
2:37:07 — open the recording at 2 hours 37 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 117 now I've lost my agenda all right something Steve yes sir what is the
2:37:12 — open the recording at 2 hours 37 minutes 12 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) council's timeline on this will it be on the October agenda I would like to see
2:37:17 — open the recording at 2 hours 37 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 776 on the November agenda.
2:37:19 — open the recording at 2 hours 37 minutes 19 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Because I would like to not have to do a special call meeting in December, which I know is the deadline.
2:37:23 — open the recording at 2 hours 37 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 777 Why will it not be on in October?
2:37:25 — open the recording at 2 hours 37 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 458 Well, I mean, it depends on how many meetings we have before then and whether or not we have all of our questions answered.
2:37:31 — open the recording at 2 hours 37 minutes 31 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) So we answered quite a few tonight, but they're on a timeline as well. So they need a lot of that.
2:37:39 — open the recording at 2 hours 37 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 280 My understanding is their timeline is December 31st.
2:37:46 — open the recording at 2 hours 37 minutes 46 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) So correct. before the election how about october let's put it on the agenda in october we will proceed so the october fourth meeting commissioner clinkenbeard said they were presenting it to the council so you've had since october or august excuse me the august fourth meeting so you've had since august the fourth to the meeting in october to get a lot of your questions answered why will it not
2:38:09 — open the recording at 2 hours 38 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 790 be on the october agenda i still have several pages more uh so why will it not be on the october
2:38:16 — open the recording at 2 hours 38 minutes 16 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) agenda it may be it may be i i have no idea it depends on whether you have to understand not you you should understand this already but everyone has to also understand we are still in the middle
2:38:25 — open the recording at 2 hours 38 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 117 of budget and and that has to be our primary focus right now the reason it was not on the agenda
2:38:31 — open the recording at 2 hours 38 minutes 31 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) tonight according to you and the council attorney was because tonight was budget night and we didn't have time to do this and we're two and a half hours into our meeting right now why and we still have to go through budget why can this not be on the october agenda we still look if we have all of
2:38:46 — open the recording at 2 hours 38 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 458 our questions answered and everybody if this council decides it's ready to vote i don't have a problem with that but we don't know that yet i would i would say we have a special meeting for
2:38:56 — open the recording at 2 hours 38 minutes 56 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) the budget and put this on the october agenda i'm sorry i would say have a special meeting for the the budget and put this on the October agenda.
2:39:06 — open the recording at 2 hours 39 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 792 What's the... Mr. President, Mr. President.
2:39:12 — open the recording at 2 hours 39 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 796 Yes, sir. Mr. President. Mr. President.
2:39:13 — open the recording at 2 hours 39 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 74 I'm not done talking yet.
2:39:16 — open the recording at 2 hours 39 minutes 16 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) I know he likes to step in, but I say we put the budget again on a special call meeting. That will be less attended by this, less questions by the public, which we're trying to accommodate in the schools and put this on the agenda for October.
2:39:32 — open the recording at 2 hours 39 minutes 32 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) I will stand by what I have said before. Once we have our questions answered, we will move forward.
2:39:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 39 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 799 Ask the questions.
2:39:42 — open the recording at 2 hours 39 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 800 There are going to be more.
- Highlight drawn from this moment: Commissioners ask the council for $15 million up front and $6 million a year for 20 years toward a $222 million school planHighlight drawn from this moment: Council pulls the county's school-funding vote from tonight's agenda, refers it to a new three-member committee
2:39:46 — open the recording at 2 hours 39 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 805 Could I offer a suggestion? Yes, sir. Your three-member committee that you appointed was yourself, Mr. Gentry, and Ms. Alsop. Is that correct? Yes. Okay.
2:39:57 — open the recording at 2 hours 39 minutes 57 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) I would like to propose that we meet at time of your convenience in the next week with all of your questions. Any questions from anybody else, the commissioners will be there. Or if we can't all three be there, one of us will be there. Mark Elliott will be here. Mr. Hemsall will be there. And we will answer every question that you have. So I actually agree with that. All right. Let's go. Thank you, Commissioner Klinkenbeer. Thank you. Okay. I'm going to end this right now. my portion of this, if that's okay. Can I make a final statement? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to do your closing.
2:40:32 — open the recording at 2 hours 40 minutes 32 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) Well, you know, I've been sitting here trying to think of what I'm going to say all night.
2:40:36 — open the recording at 2 hours 40 minutes 36 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) I've scribbled out some stuff, because I think some of it's already been addressed. But just one last thing that I want to leave with all of you.
2:40:48 — open the recording at 2 hours 40 minutes 48 secondsMark Clinkenbeard (commissioner) I'm seeing from both sides of this issue, on Facebook, on everything else, we hear it at the grocery stores, People are tired. They're tired of this being the only thing that they see on Facebook. They're tired of the constant back and forth between all of us.
2:41:06 — open the recording at 2 hours 41 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 805 And they're tired of the division this is causing in our community. They won a decision, and they won it soon. Not after the election, and not next year. The time is now. It's time to move Vigo County forward. Thank you. Thank you.
2:41:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 41 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 713 all right moving on to thank you everybody moving on to reports from
2:41:38 — open the recording at 2 hours 41 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 820 committees
2:41:49 — open the recording at 2 hours 41 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 596 yeah I mean yeah so we're gonna we're gonna proceed on with reading our
2:41:53 — open the recording at 2 hours 41 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 59 initial budget stuff in public comment is after this just so you know yeah
2:41:59 — open the recording at 2 hours 41 minutes 59 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) public comment comes after that you can stay for that all right resolutions I'm sorry budget committee update which I assume there's not gonna be much of one since we're getting ready to read that stuff you good okay all right no report
2:42:16 — open the recording at 2 hours 42 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 31 their resolutions and ordinances other than appropriations and this is gonna to be the first reading. Mr. Auditor, if you'd like to take over. This is a notice to taxpayers
2:42:28 — open the recording at 2 hours 42 minutes 28 secondsHutchings (auditor) is available online at www.budget.notices.in.gov. This is complete details of the budget estimates by fund and or department and may be seen by visiting the office of this unit of government at 131 Oak Street, Terre Haute, Indiana, 47807. Notice is hereby given to taxpayers of Eagle County that the proper officers of Eagle County will conduct a public hearing on the year 2027 budget. Following this meeting, any 10 or more taxpayers may object to a budget, tax rate, or tax levy by filing an objection petition with the proper officers of Eagle County, not more than seven days after this hearing.
2:43:15 — open the recording at 2 hours 43 minutes 15 secondsHutchings (auditor) The objection petition must identify the provisions of the budget, tax rate, or tax levy to which taxpayers object if a petition is filed. Vigo County shall adopt with a budget of finding concerning the objections in the petition and testimony presented. Following the aforementioned hearing, the proper officers of Vigo County will meet to adopt the following budget. Today is what we are calling the public hearing, which is Tuesday, September 1st of 26th at 5 o'clock at 127 Oak Street, Terre Haute, Indiana. The adoption meeting will be held Tuesday, October 13th, 2026.
2:43:59 — open the recording at 2 hours 43 minutes 59 secondsHutchings (auditor) That time will be 5 o'clock, and that will be held at Terre Haute City Hall, 17 Harding Street, Terre Haute, Indiana, 47807. I will not read that anymore. I will simply refer to that as I follow through on each one of these. Is that all right? Okay. So the first one that we are going to do is Vigo County, and I will also preface by stating that we have what we call Series Ones, and that is to deal with payroll, FICA, and PERF on the advertised budget, and we have inflated that 5%. just to give the budget committee and also the full council the ability to move as they need to.
2:44:41 — open the recording at 2 hours 44 minutes 41 secondsHutchings (auditor) As also the series two, threes, and fours are the rest of the budget. So that's the operating budget for each department that they have proposed to the budget committee. That has been inflated 10% for the sake of movement.
2:44:57 — open the recording at 2 hours 44 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 14 So for Vigo County, the operating budget for Vigo County is $124,231,122.
2:45:19 — open the recording at 2 hours 45 minutes 19 secondsHutchings (auditor) As I mentioned before, the notice to taxpayers, as I've already read, so I'm going to just refer back to that. This one is for the Terre Haute International Airport, and the budget for that is requested is $4,343,580.
2:45:46 — open the recording at 2 hours 45 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 829 Mr. Auditor, what page are you on so we can follow along, sir?
2:45:50 — open the recording at 2 hours 45 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 831 That was nine.
2:45:52 — open the recording at 2 hours 45 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 833 Thank you.
2:45:53 — open the recording at 2 hours 45 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 831 Sorry about that, sir.
2:45:55 — open the recording at 2 hours 45 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 837 Again, before he starts back up, men's restroom is out that door, women's restroom in this door. There's also a water fountain if anybody needs it. Sorry, go ahead.
2:46:08 — open the recording at 2 hours 46 minutes 8 secondsHutchings (auditor) Moving on to page 10. This is for Vigo County Solid Waste Management District for Vigo County. And the operating budget total request for that is $455,920. Moving on to page 11, Honey Creek Fire Protection, Vigo County. Total budget request is $4,203,050. On page 12, Lost Creek Fire Protection District, Vigo County, $535,524. That's a total budget request for Lost Creek. page 13 new goshen fire protection district for vigo county total budget request 288 868 page 14 prairie ton fire protection district vigo county total requested budget is 366 685
2:47:15 — open the recording at 2 hours 47 minutes 15 secondsHutchings (auditor) Page 15, Riley Fire Protection District, Vigo County. Sorry, Brad.
2:47:29 — open the recording at 2 hours 47 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 844 I said Vigo. Yeah, Vigo. Yeah. I'm getting a button.
2:47:35 — open the recording at 2 hours 47 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 845 Rick Berger's from Clay County, so he didn't know.
2:47:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 47 minutes 40 secondsHutchings (auditor) That one is $698,719. Total requested budget. Page 16, Sugar Creek Township Fire District of Vigo County, $1,071,111. That's total requested budget for that. CIB budget for 2027. receipts $4,714,334 with a projected cash on hand at the end of $9,150,000.
2:48:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 48 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 849 That is the budget.
2:48:29 — open the recording at 2 hours 48 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 268 Mr. Carter, can you read that last page? I'm confused, but just clarification.
2:48:34 — open the recording at 2 hours 48 minutes 34 secondsHutchings (auditor) So they have receipts. And on the receipts, Terre Haute, these are things that they are required to pay. For Terre Haute, $500,000. Vigo County, $269,334. Vigo County CBB, $250,000. Interest earnings, $65,000. Food and beverage tax, $3,630,000. with a total receipt of $4,714,334. Disbursements, capital projects, replacements, $4,500,000. Operating account transfer, $1,750,000. Professional services, $400,000. Miscellaneous expenses, $500,000. and debt service $2 million.
2:49:34 — open the recording at 2 hours 49 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 598 Thank you. should those numbers in that column add up to that I'm going to refer to Baker
2:50:13 — open the recording at 2 hours 50 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 415 Tilly on this real quick you want to explain what you did there yeah just if you won't look right there you can should should that match up
2:50:30 — open the recording at 2 hours 50 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 270 Jason similar with Baker Tilly yes to put together the budget we looked at the estimated
2:50:42 — open the recording at 2 hours 50 minutes 42 secondsJason Simler (staff) revenues for 2027 and then also looked at the estimated ending balance at the end of 2026 and basically looked at an illustrative budget if we were to spend all the revenue received and the ending cash balances for 26.
2:51:01 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 59 It's labeled as total disbursements of 9,150,000, but he said cash on hand. I think that's where we're getting confused.
2:51:10 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 269 Yeah, the $9 million is the disbursements for the year for the budget.
2:51:14 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 14 secondsJason Simler (staff) It's a combination of revenue received in 2027 plus cash on hand at the end of 2026.
2:51:21 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 136 So it should still be labeled total disbursements?
2:51:26 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 26 secondsHutchings (auditor) It is.
2:51:27 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 136 But should it be?
2:51:29 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 29 secondsHutchings (auditor) In a conversation I had, he had mentioned projected cash on hand. That's what I put that down there.
2:51:34 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 876 All right, thank you.
2:51:39 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 878 So Mr. Otter's cash on hand, is that bottom number?
2:51:43 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 880 I would say that's a projected number.
2:51:46 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 881 Okay.
2:51:47 — open the recording at 2 hours 51 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 882 This adds up to that and it's total disbursements.
2:52:01 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 59 It's not cash on hand. Yeah, total disbursements.
2:52:03 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 885 So this would be the budget for 2027.
2:52:05 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 887 Okay, so not cash on hand. Correct. That's where we're getting all the information.
2:52:10 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 888 That $9 million, if the question was, how could we afford to spend $9 million if we're only bringing in $4 million? Yes.
2:52:16 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 16 secondsJason Simler (staff) That's because the other $5 million is what we think we're going to have at the end of the year, cash on hand.
2:52:21 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 893 So it should equal out. Cash on hand should be the difference between those two. Thank you.
2:52:28 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 28 secondsSpeaker 422 Thank you, everybody.
2:52:31 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 31 secondsHutchings (auditor) We do have a budget committee meeting.
2:52:36 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 895 14th and 16th.
2:52:37 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 37 secondsHutchings (auditor) 14th and 16th. At 10 a.m. In here. and we will be going over more of the budget to shore that up.
2:52:50 — open the recording at 2 hours 52 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 893 So cash on sand would actually be $4,435,666. Okay. Anybody cares.
2:53:07 — open the recording at 2 hours 53 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 908 Okay, now where are we?
2:53:11 — open the recording at 2 hours 53 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 911 Larry, where are we currently now?
2:53:23 — open the recording at 2 hours 53 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 834 5E.
2:53:25 — open the recording at 2 hours 53 minutes 25 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) I think we're on 5E because you just read all the budget in, right? So we're on 5E.
2:53:33 — open the recording at 2 hours 53 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 598 All right. No. 2026-3, an ordinance amending ordinance number 96-2-1996, providing for reimbursement of expenses incurred during the investigation and prosecution of forfeiture and RICO actions. This is on page 18.
2:53:51 — open the recording at 2 hours 53 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 916 There's Jerry.
2:53:52 — open the recording at 2 hours 53 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 173 Page 18.
2:53:59 — open the recording at 2 hours 53 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 917 Good evening. Terry Modis of Vigo County Prosecutor. I'll try to explain this ordinance in less than an hour so for the times get late I'm joking this is an ordinance the revised or amends an ordinance that was passed back in 1996 for Vigo County that basically attempts to mirror the statute Indiana that discusses how the prosecutors offices to handle any forfeitures and the money that they received from forfeitures and actually the taft law firm represents our office on the forfeitures and Julie here prepared this ordinance we've had a couple questions about this so there
2:54:42 — open the recording at 2 hours 54 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 917 may be a couple tweaks that we're going to work out between the next meeting but we have had this a few discussions with mr. Gentry about it good discussions just questions that we're trying to make sure that he's comfortable with the
2:54:55 — open the recording at 2 hours 54 minutes 55 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Mr. President? Yes, sir. I just want to say, Terry, thank you for your time. We spent several times on the phone talking about this.
2:55:06 — open the recording at 2 hours 55 minutes 6 secondsRandy Gentry (councillor) Members of the council, the one thing that's still outstanding is ultimately a judge will decide how the forfeiture funds will move, and state law requires it to go a certain way. What happened was we were operating off an old ordinance that didn't comply with Indiana law. There's still a couple of tweaks that likely need to be sorted out between now and next week, but all conversations are heading in the right direction, and it looks like to me that the ordinance will be ready to go next week. Thank you, Terry, again for your time.
2:55:40 — open the recording at 2 hours 55 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 917 Every forfeiture action, there's a court order that directs how the money is to be paid out. And there was a court order on this particular case that we're here about, too.
2:55:50 — open the recording at 2 hours 55 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 929 Thank you. Appreciate it.
2:55:55 — open the recording at 2 hours 55 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 598 All right, ordinances relating to appropriations. This is 2026-37. Commissioners, courthouse elevator, they have said they are tabling that for the moment, or? Okay, just remove it for now, okay. 2026-42.
2:56:14 — open the recording at 2 hours 56 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 134 Prosecutor, Seize Assets, Drug Task Force, page 25.
2:56:25 — open the recording at 2 hours 56 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 930 I actually discussed this request for additional appropriation at the meeting before last, I think it was,
2:56:33 — open the recording at 2 hours 56 minutes 33 secondsSpeaker 917 and we asked that it be tabled tonight. The good news is this is a forfeiture, and it's related to us actually asking that the ordinance be amended that we previously discussed about. But as you can see, we were able to obtain in a forfeiture action over $500,000. dollars and so we're asking for an appropriation additional appropriation that two hundred fifty thousand dollars of it goes to THPD for vehicles fifty two thousand for contractual services and two hundred thousand dollars for equipment purchases so it all passed through to law enforcement will you be
2:57:12 — open the recording at 2 hours 57 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 932 here next week yeah any questions I have questions okay no thank you it's not
2:57:21 — open the recording at 2 hours 57 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 917 taxpayer money it's all money we were able to obtain my question was gonna be
2:57:25 — open the recording at 2 hours 57 minutes 25 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) I'll go ahead and ask it now is there any chance that any of the what was it 200 at the end that you said or something like that that was is there any chance any of that would be spent at a business that I own I mean I guess it could it's
2:57:37 — open the recording at 2 hours 57 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 917 possible okay so I don't know so I need to recuse myself okay okay that's why to be completely up to the city we just disperse the money we disperse the money
2:57:48 — open the recording at 2 hours 57 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 935 and it's up to them the mayor has made an executive decision there's not a chance
2:57:55 — open the recording at 2 hours 57 minutes 55 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) thank you mayor for answering that thank you all right uh additional appropriation 2026-47 sheriff gasoline
2:58:10 — open the recording at 2 hours 58 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 945 good evening derek fell beagle county sheriff um as i spoke with the budget i believe budget hearing in May or June. I can't remember exactly when that was. We knew there was going to be a shortfall with fuel this year for gasoline, for patrol vehicles, and basically all the vehicles we drive. So with that being said, we estimate we're going to be about $98,000 to $112,000 short throughout the end of this year. Our request was for $110,000 to get us through
2:58:34 — open the recording at 2 hours 58 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 948 2026. Okay. Any questions on the council?
2:58:39 — open the recording at 2 hours 58 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 549 Nope. Thank you, sir. Thank you.
2:58:44 — open the recording at 2 hours 58 minutes 44 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Probably the part everybody's looking forward to public comment. Does there happen to be anybody?
2:58:52 — open the recording at 2 hours 58 minutes 52 seconds All right.
2:58:53 — open the recording at 2 hours 58 minutes 53 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Go ahead and step up.
2:59:01 — open the recording at 2 hours 59 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 415 Did you guys do an actual commissioners? Did you do like an actual sign up where people did an order? Okay.
2:59:07 — open the recording at 2 hours 59 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 958 That's Gwen from Casey and she needs this one.
2:59:11 — open the recording at 2 hours 59 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 962 Do what now?
2:59:13 — open the recording at 2 hours 59 minutes 13 secondsRichard Bowers (resident) Richard Bowers, Northern Viggo County. I had a whole list of stuff to ask tonight. But that gentleman there, when he started talking about the taxes, that's what changed my mind again. You were taxed on everything. And he's saying our taxes are going to go up again. You and Mr. Schweitzer, I watched the video. Never, or Mr. Not Schweitzer. Clinkenbeard? Clinkenbeard. Okay. I watched your video. Nobody said anything about who was going to pay for North and South to be refurbished I never heard nothing on it I don't care if the new school gets billed or not I don't care where it's at or not
2:59:55 — open the recording at 2 hours 59 minutes 55 secondsRichard Bowers (resident) All I got to say is the taxes were taxed on everything You're saying we ain't going to get taxed But this guy said right here and said that we're going to get taxed I heard it you can't deny it so we're gonna get taxed on refurbishing north and south so that means to me I don't care if West Viggo gets reaped on or not I don't know what I mean I had a whole bunch of stuff but that really that what that's what stopped me tonight so mr. Kedick if you're here if you got something you want to ask me tonight I'm here I told you I'd be here I'm here my thing is I'm vote no because I
3:00:44 — open the recording at 3 hours 44 secondsRichard Bowers (resident) know I'm going to get taxed one way or the other have the vote I'm going to get taxed if I do the school I'm going to get taxed if I don't do the school you just made my mind up tonight so I care less if West Viggo gets bail I want the vote If we can get the vote I know he keeps saying it's against the law Whatever That's my opinion But I'm sick and tired of getting taxed On everything that I own Everything that I build Or a tear down Or anything Now that's I ain't bitching about the kids I ain't bitching about the schools Where it goes, anything I'm just tired of being taxed.
3:01:31 — open the recording at 3 hours 1 minute 31 secondsRichard Bowers (resident) Me and Mr. Gardner went the last three springs over these taxes. And I thank the mayor. If I remember watching the video in the mayor, when the governor put the cap on it, he whined and cried because he couldn't pay the people in the county or the city or anybody. So they come up with this thing about not what your house is worth, but what it would cost to rebuild it, which raised the taxes. The last three years, my assessments went up. My insurances went up. I care about less schools. My grandkids are going to go to Clay County or Park no matter what.
3:02:15 — open the recording at 3 hours 2 minutes 15 secondsRichard Bowers (resident) Just because you guys sound like a bunch of kids running around in here and can't decide on what the hell you want to do.
3:02:23 — open the recording at 3 hours 2 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 837 Thank you, sir. But they're taxes. thank thank you sir I do appreciate it once again everybody please try to keep
3:02:31 — open the recording at 3 hours 2 minutes 31 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) comments nice as civil as possible I know there's gonna be some people that want to say stuff not and I'm not directed towards anybody but and then something new that we have I had no idea we had this we've got a timer that's
3:02:48 — open the recording at 3 hours 2 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 975 amazing we've never had this before yeah all right yes sir thank you
3:02:54 — open the recording at 3 hours 2 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 977 Mr. President members of the council Eddie felling here tonight as a local resident my questions for you Mr. President tonight you rambled off several things at the beginning of the meeting I'm absolutely certain that almost no one in this room understands what you did and I believe probably a lot of your council members don't know what you did so could you
3:03:14 — open the recording at 3 hours 3 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 437 please explain I may not know what I did you may have to tell me well either you explain it or I
3:03:18 — open the recording at 3 hours 3 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 983 can explain it for you I don't I don't know what you're referring to I so specifically with the
3:03:23 — open the recording at 3 hours 3 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 977 creation of the committee that you made this morning this evening at the beginning of the meeting yes sir what did you do did you form a standing committee an
3:03:31 — open the recording at 3 hours 3 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 190 ad hoc committee I believe it's referred to a standing committee if I'm not
3:03:36 — open the recording at 3 hours 3 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 112 mistaken it so what you know I first caution you because there is a pending lawsuit filed by him so this makes me very nervous to speak about something I'm not asking anything about the lawsuit I'm in I'm moushing my clients because there's a lawsuit pending and you're asking for information directly related to a lawsuit that you filed yesterday. No, I'm not asking. So the committee that was, it's under the rules, if you want to look at the council rules, the president can establish a committee.
3:04:05 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 993 Is it a standing committee or an ad hoc committee? I'd have to look at the exact specifics in the
3:04:09 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 994 rules. It's really important for where I'm going with this. Okay. So the president doesn't know
3:04:13 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 986 what type of committee he made. Right? I just want to be clear and who he put on the committee.
3:04:18 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 268 Mr. Felling, Mr. Felling, my issue is that you have sued the county council. I have. Well, my children did. Yeah, but we can debate this in court.
3:04:34 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 1001 This has nothing to do with the case that I filed. I'll ask him if I'm not suing him.
3:04:38 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 994 No, no, no. I'm not asking anything related to the lawsuit.
3:04:41 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 1003 I'll ask him, and then they don't have the excuse. Yeah, ask him what he did because he doesn't know what he did. Can you start the timer, though?
3:04:47 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 1006 Oh yeah, I need a new three minutes. Certainly.
3:04:51 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 1008 I'm going to retain my leftover time, please, because I'm not done. Okay.
3:04:54 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 1010 Does this take away from, wait, does this take away from my time?
3:04:59 — open the recording at 3 hours 4 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 1013 Because I had, oh, I had a lot I wanted to say.
3:05:04 — open the recording at 3 hours 5 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 1015 So, yeah, Steve, was that a, Matt Larmor, 363 Westgate Senior Drive. Was that a standing committee or an ad hoc committee?
3:05:13 — open the recording at 3 hours 5 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 89 I would have to defer to my council.
3:05:15 — open the recording at 3 hours 5 minutes 15 secondsSpeaker 437 my apologies oh you're fine okay thank you she'll look up that for you and get you an answer
3:05:29 — open the recording at 3 hours 5 minutes 29 secondsSpeaker 1022 say aren't we paying her you want me to say mine you want me to give my spiel on me okay so so
3:05:37 — open the recording at 3 hours 5 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 280 So does Mr. Felling want to come back up or?
3:05:42 — open the recording at 3 hours 5 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 1026 Well, it's, I mean, the rest of where I'm going with this is pertinent to the answer to that question, which is what you did first thing with the meeting tonight. It's okay. Well, maybe we'll get an answer. So my question is. Go ahead. You formed this committee, correct? And what did you assign to that committee?
3:06:00 — open the recording at 3 hours 6 minutesSteve Ellis (chair) the ability first off I am gonna I'm gonna defer to her one more time because I don't know if I should be answering these questions because you are suing
3:06:10 — open the recording at 3 hours 6 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 986 us I sued you for removing an item off the agenda well and you're asking him
3:06:14 — open the recording at 3 hours 6 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 1029 you're asking me about that no I want you to explain to these people what
3:06:22 — open the recording at 3 hours 6 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 994 you've done because I know what you've done you assign this to a committee so you can sit there and die and it could sit there forever and it's three people that are against the school no that is exactly what you did that's exactly what you did you assigned an item to a committee for three people that are vocally against the school and it can sit there for excuse me let me finish and it can sit there forever you and it wasn't even an item that you had on the agenda that you've assigned to a committee which I also believe is
3:06:52 — open the recording at 3 hours 6 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 994 probably out of order so I mean to ramble that off at the beginning I don't think they know what you've done and these people didn't know that but that's exactly what you've done okay thank you
3:07:06 — open the recording at 3 hours 7 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 135 Mr. President before we get any further I'd like to address that too I had that
3:07:11 — open the recording at 3 hours 7 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 24 question too and I apologize I forgot I was gonna ask that same question earlier because I did not understand what that meant and how you came up with
3:07:17 — open the recording at 3 hours 7 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 1043 the decision of who you put on this committee and why yeah all right thank
3:07:21 — open the recording at 3 hours 7 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 1044 you all right three minutes are starting again go ahead sorry good evening my name is Ross
3:07:29 — open the recording at 3 hours 7 minutes 29 secondsRoss Caddick (resident) Caddick I'm here tonight to ask you to support the findings of the oversight committee I'm here to ask for you to approve the recommendations to help fund new schools I know this isn't Facebook Facebook forum but I want to make this personal I'm sorry would you guys please since he is
3:07:44 — open the recording at 3 hours 7 minutes 44 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) speaking would you just hold it down while he's speaking and for any speaker sorry go ahead
3:07:49 — open the recording at 3 hours 7 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 301 Excuse me, is she going to leave before she answers the question? Are you going to leave before you answer the question?
3:07:55 — open the recording at 3 hours 7 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 1052 I'm sorry, what is the question?
3:07:56 — open the recording at 3 hours 7 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 301 Was it an ad hoc committee?
3:07:59 — open the recording at 3 hours 7 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 1052 Are you asking the question or the general public?
3:08:01 — open the recording at 3 hours 8 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 301 I'm asking you to answer his question. You said you were going to look it up.
3:08:06 — open the recording at 3 hours 8 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 1053 You can break your voice down. You don't want to be like that. You can talk to a public.
3:08:09 — open the recording at 3 hours 8 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 301 You said you were going to answer the question, and now you're trying to leave.
3:08:14 — open the recording at 3 hours 8 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 307 We would like an answer to the question that our constituent asked.
3:08:19 — open the recording at 3 hours 8 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 469 All right, Mr. Ross, I'm sorry. Go ahead and continue.
3:08:22 — open the recording at 3 hours 8 minutes 22 secondsRoss Caddick (resident) That's okay. I know this isn't a Facebook forum, but I want to make this personal for just one moment. Councilman Thompson and I were both members of what I believe was the best graduating class in Terre Haute North history, the class of 1991.
3:08:34 — open the recording at 3 hours 8 minutes 34 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) I am sorry. I apologize.
3:08:36 — open the recording at 3 hours 8 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 31 Well, I think it's two of you. If the two of you would like to step out and have a discussion, you can.
3:08:46 — open the recording at 3 hours 8 minutes 46 secondsRoss Caddick (resident) All right. All right. We were fortunate to attend a 20-year-old high school that, despite some issues, served us well. When we traveled to Northview, Riverton Park, Crawfordsville, or Sullivan for different events, we visited schools that were not much different from Terre Haute North, Terre Haute South, or West Vigo. But something has changed over the past 30 years. Those communities looked at their schools and decided that their children deserved facilities designed for the future. One by one, those schools were rebuilt or substantially remodeled.
3:09:15 — open the recording at 3 hours 9 minutes 15 secondsRoss Caddick (resident) In fact, virtually every school surrounding Vigo County has made that investment. Vigo County did not. And that brings us to an important question. Why? The answer isn't that the schools we grew up in were bad. They weren't. They were good schools. They gave us opportunities. They gave us great teachers, great memories, and an education that prepared us for our lives. But what was good enough for us in 1991, 1981, or 2001 isn't good enough for us in 2026. That's where perspective matters. When we think about our schools today we
3:09:48 — open the recording at 3 hours 9 minutes 48 secondsRoss Caddick (resident) remember where we sat, where we played, the teachers who influenced us, and the friends we made. And through that lens it's easy to think what's wrong with this building? It was good enough for us. But I believe we have to change the lens. We need to see these schools through the eyes of our children. Their world is different. The way they learn is different. The technology they use is different. The careers they're preparing for are different. And the facilities needed to prepare them for that world are different. This isn't about saying
3:10:15 — open the recording at 3 hours 10 minutes 15 secondsRoss Caddick (resident) what we had wasn't good enough. It's about recognizing that our children deserve better than simply having what we had. For 30 years, every community surrounding Vigo County has been investing in their students and preparing their schools for the future. Tonight, we had an opportunity to do the same thing. Our children shouldn't have to inherit yesterday's facilities and be expected to compete in tomorrow's world. The facts supporting this recommendation are clear the doubts and skepticism come when we look at those facts through our own perspective so tonight I ask each of you to look at
3:10:50 — open the recording at 3 hours 10 minutes 50 secondsRoss Caddick (resident) this decision through a different lens don't ask what these schools were good enough for in the past ask what our children need in 2026 and beyond and if we do that I believe the answer is also clear please support the oversight Commission's recommendation thank you thank you sir
3:11:10 — open the recording at 3 hours 11 minutes 10 seconds Next.
3:11:11 — open the recording at 3 hours 11 minutes 11 secondsSpeaker 112 Did you want your answer to the committee?
3:11:16 — open the recording at 3 hours 11 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 1027 If you're prepared, sure.
3:11:17 — open the recording at 3 hours 11 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 112 Yeah, it's under Rule 5A.
3:11:19 — open the recording at 3 hours 11 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 1063 It looks like there's one standing committee of the council, so this would be ad hoc, because the president of the council may appoint any other committee as necessary for business of the council.
3:11:27 — open the recording at 3 hours 11 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 1066 Thank you. Appreciate that. Yes, ma'am.
3:11:30 — open the recording at 3 hours 11 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 1067 Hi. My name is Glennon Cheeseman, and I'm the Vigo County CASA director.
3:11:34 — open the recording at 3 hours 11 minutes 34 secondsGlenna Cheeseman (resident (CASA director)) I was supposed to speak earlier this evening to give the council an update on my CASA program but was unable to do so so now I'm using public comment to make that because I also had multiple members of the community to give support to the CASA program because we had a request before the budget committee to help us with our financing situation so my situation is I'm here to give you an update of the CASA program and I have a couple people who are willing to give a little bit of what we were going to try to tell you earlier this evening but it was not
3:12:05 — open the recording at 3 hours 12 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 712 afforded that option sure I apologize I were you I didn't see you on this I was
3:12:11 — open the recording at 3 hours 12 minutes 11 secondsGlenna Cheeseman (resident (CASA director)) supposed to speak during the agency part where it was the Department Commission and the other agencies and I was not given that opportunity my apologies I did not realize that so I will not take much more of the time but what I do if you do not know who I am we speak for the abused and neglected children of Vigo County Vigo County Casa right now is serving 949 children but I want you to understand because the conversation tonight has been about the schools what you need to understand about the CASA program is is we are serving the
3:12:41 — open the recording at 3 hours 12 minutes 41 secondsGlenna Cheeseman (resident (CASA director)) population of multiple schools the total population of Hoosier Prairie the total population of Riley the total school population of Fayette any one of those schools together we serve that that's 949 children that we serve that completely encompasses those entire school populations we had budget cuts this year We lost a tremendous amount of money that helps us, helps what we do. Our program serves as the voice of the abused and neglected children who attend those schools. We are in those schools every single day.
3:13:18 — open the recording at 3 hours 13 minutes 18 secondsGlenna Cheeseman (resident (CASA director)) There is not a child on our caseload that I do not serve with 15 staff members and 21 CASA volunteers. We serve every 949 of those children, and they are not on a wait list. I am angry because I wish our community had as much passion about the children that we serve that don't have a voice. The children who are abused that go to all of these schools. We are in every single one of these schools. Every one of them. Daily. Multiple times. Because we are their voice. High schools. It's not just the elementary schools.
3:13:56 — open the recording at 3 hours 13 minutes 56 secondsGlenna Cheeseman (resident (CASA director)) We also, if you look at our numbers, we serve the entire population of West Vigo High School and Middle School. the entire school population but we don't hear anybody singing that for us we're doing that with 15 staff members who serve a caseload including myself of over 23 cases not 23 children 23 cases each one of my staff members who are in this audience tonight serve an average of 91 children that they see every single month they file a report with the court they are their voices every single month we don't work eight to four we work 24 7 7 days a week
3:14:40 — open the recording at 3 hours 14 minutes 40 secondsGlenna Cheeseman (resident (CASA director)) because abuse doesn't stop read your headlines look at your Facebook page it's there every day there's a headline of something so I will close this because I have 10 seconds left and I will stick to my thing we're asking the budget committee we're asking the council please vote and support us and give us what we requested for our financial assistance thank you
3:15:12 — open the recording at 3 hours 15 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 257 let me say this for Glenna last Friday night in the biggest rainstorm you ever
3:15:18 — open the recording at 3 hours 15 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 247 sauce you she cooked like a hundred pounds of spaghetti she did it with like just a handful of helpers up the creedstein post to raise money for Cassie and she served like a thousand people including about 500 motorcycle riders from Iowa in a rainstorm and she made all the sauce and she made all the garlic bread and and they served those people to raise money for those kids at that she serves every day every day of the week she is the most amazing woman you have ever seen in your life and and they're and they're remarkable and they're they're just amazing she's a godsend
3:16:05 — open the recording at 3 hours 16 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 1079 thank you go ahead sorry my name is leah erwood i am a staff advocate for the vigo County CASA program. Without the funding, my position will be eliminated at the end of this year. Right now, I have a caseload of 26 cases. That is 46 children I see every single month in the community. If my position is eliminated, those children will have to get a new CASA, a new face to see a new person to learn how to trust they've already gone through enough trauma with what they're going through with the abuse that they've suffered being removed from their
3:16:49 — open the recording at 3 hours 16 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 1079 parents being in the system not for just a few months it can be a year or more that i am in their lives. To have them start all over again and earn the trust of someone else, that hurts that child. I have several that they have a hard time now even learning me because they're afraid I'm going to believe. As the councilwoman has said, we do a lot of fundraising. We do a lot of our own fundraising. Last year during our Drunk or Treat we served, we handed out candy to over 3,000 children. It wasn't just kids in our program. It was the entire community.
3:17:36 — open the recording at 3 hours 17 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 1079 We provided a safe place for kids to trick or treat. Every year we have a Whoville event. We get donations of toys. We get donations of blankets, pillows, hygiene, you name it. these kids get to have a great christmas thanks to this casa program and i can't urge enough glenn is angry so am i it's like i said it's my position but these kids need us this program is vital to this community don't turn your back on these children thank you thank you
3:18:22 — open the recording at 3 hours 18 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 1084 Hi, I'm Renee Ziegler with Vigo County Casa and I am reading a letter that one of our parents wrote and she hoped to be here to read it but because we weren't given the space to have more people she wasn't allowed to read her own letter. Vigo County Council, my name is... I got to work with this family, so it's extra special to me.
3:18:53 — open the recording at 3 hours 18 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 1085 Sorry.
3:18:55 — open the recording at 3 hours 18 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 1084 My name is Jean Ginger Jenkins, and I had the opportunity to work with Vigo County Casa throughout the duration of my CPS case in the beginning. I honestly did not have much of a relationship with Casa, but my children did. My children love their first Casa worker. She's with someone they could turn to when they I'm sorry, when they could talk and someone who made them feel heard during a very difficult time. in their lives. When our second CASA worker became involved, which would be me, I will be honest,
3:19:27 — open the recording at 3 hours 19 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 1084 I did not like her at first. But over time she earned my respect because I watched her go to go to war for my children. She stood beside me and helped me advocate for my oldest daughter at school. Day after day she helped me fight for my daughter's IEP rights and made sure her needs were not ignored. Slowly my children began to trust her and she became one of their biggest supporters and strongest advocates. She earned my oldest daughter's trust through something as simple as endless games of Uno. She took the time to build a relationship with her instead of expecting
3:20:06 — open the recording at 3 hours 20 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 1084 trust to come automatically. Most importantly she showed up for my children when I could not and in doing that she taught me how to show up for them too. She taught me that being a parent takes more than providing a house, food, and basic necessities. She taught me how to listen to my children, how to advocate for them, how to understand what they needed, and ultimately how to become a more loving and involved mother. Kassa did not just advocate for my children during a court case casa helped me change the kind of mother i became i would not be the parent i am today
3:20:48 — open the recording at 3 hours 20 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 1084 without the influence of my casa and i will never be able to fully express how thankful i am for what she did for my family that is why i hope as you consider involving casa you under i'm sorry that is why i hope as you consider decisions involving casa you understand that this program is much more than another line in a budget. Behind those numbers are real children who need someone willing to speak for them. Behind those numbers are parents who sometimes need someone to show them how to do better. And behind those numbers are families like mine whose lives can be changed
3:21:32 — open the recording at 3 hours 21 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 1084 because one casa volunteer or staff member decide to keep showing up please continue and invest in vigo county casa i'm sorry to support and invest in vigo county casa the the work they do matters and my family is living proof of that thank you for allowing me to speak today ginger jenkins i know my time is up but i i beseech you to look out here in this audience and see the young ones that are here and they're here for their voice to be heard our children do not get that that choice or that chance that is us we have multiple multiple full-time staff members working two and three jobs
3:22:18 — open the recording at 3 hours 22 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 1084 to make ends meet we have part-time staff members who are on the line for losing their job I beg you to I know you got this letter and plenty more in your packet read them take them to heart because it's us that go to war for these kids day after day
3:22:41 — open the recording at 3 hours 22 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 1088 thank you
3:22:48 — open the recording at 3 hours 22 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 1091 Mr. President Julie Taftes Tenney's and Hollister real quickly I just want to I know that the speeches that were just given under that three minutes are very important information, but under the First Amendment, you have the right to restrict speech if it's not content-based. So if it is content neutral, what that means is even if it's a very important aspect, if you have a three-minute set timer, you have to stay at that three minutes. If you allow what you deem to be important speech to go beyond that three minutes, then any person that you restrict to that three minutes,
3:23:25 — open the recording at 3 hours 23 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 1093 you are now exercising content-based restrictions. And that's a violation of the First Amendment. Thank you.
3:23:32 — open the recording at 3 hours 23 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 837 I just wanted to get that out there just to keep going. No, I sincerely appreciate that. Thank you very much. I was trying not to be rude, but thank you for pointing that out. Thank you.
3:23:43 — open the recording at 3 hours 23 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 1096 Hi, it's Chase Nate Camper. First, I want to say, make the mics a little taller next time. They're perfect for me. Before I start, I do want to push back on a couple things that were mentioned earlier today. First, about moving it to another venue.
3:23:59 — open the recording at 3 hours 23 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 1101 I think we have three perfect high schools that would be more than happy, I think, to host a meeting or two. We did it last year, but I think only, I don't think everyone showed up that time. I'd love to see everyone go to these high schools, see the quality they are in person. Go to the bathrooms. I remember being at South four years ago and not having sinks. We could do better than that. I also wanted to mention something earlier we talked about, about not being able to attend the oversight committee meetings, as you guys have full-time jobs.
3:24:37 — open the recording at 3 hours 24 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 1101 Last time I checked your guys' payroll, you guys make more than I do, and I work full-time. I think you guys could make the time with this being such an important issue. One thing I wanted to talk about is something I talked about a lot earlier this year, and that's retention. Maybe less than 5% of the people in my graduating class are deciding to stay in Terre Haute. You have a room, or a section, better or less, of kids who are about to be graduates. Do you want them to contribute to Vigo County? I want them to contribute.
3:25:14 — open the recording at 3 hours 25 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 1101 We have lawyers, doctors, maybe future council presidents out of here. They are going to be exceptional contributors to Vigo County. And we must keep them. We must retain them. And I think the foundation of that starts in our schools. Let's look at some cause and effect here. If we go with 6.2, I believe opportunities will both improve academically. AP classes will be offered to more students. I know at South and North, there are differences in what classes are taught. I don't know if it's still taught. We had a Chinese class at North. South doesn't have that opportunity.
3:25:56 — open the recording at 3 hours 25 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 1101 Consolidating into one school allows more students that opportunity to learn a very important language in the ever developing world. If we focus on those opportunities, more people stay here, more people get, And more middle class jobs are also going to come organically to Vico County. Because these guys need to work somewhere. And you know what they end up paying? Taxes. And we need taxes to run government. So even if we're looking at it in a what brings the most money to Vico County, I think 6.2 is without a doubt the best option moving forward.
3:26:38 — open the recording at 3 hours 26 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 1107 and I'll be before I do any sort of civil rights infringements thanks
3:26:49 — open the recording at 3 hours 26 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 1111 so anyone else yes ma'am okay yes sir hi David German 86 Ferndale Drive first
3:27:03 — open the recording at 3 hours 27 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 1113 First off, I want to thank the elected officials that are here today and also our first responders. You guys are incredible. Thank you for making our community better. Thank you for the oversight committee and all the tireless work that you've done. I am so grateful for the care that you have for this community. I wish that I could do more to contribute. My expertise is in artificial intelligence and over the last few weeks I've spent time ingesting all of the city and county public meetings that have happened over the last
3:27:43 — open the recording at 3 hours 27 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 1113 year including the oversight committee to make a searchable index for people to go and ask questions to an AI and say, hey, what actually happened in this meeting? I did this because I think that there's a lot of misinformation that is going on around what actually occurred in these meetings. This is very evident in the fact that members, people in this room, have posted on social media very untrue things about the actual proposals of 6.2. I hope that using the tools out there, my website is Vigoledger.org, that you can be
3:28:26 — open the recording at 3 hours 28 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 1113 more informed about what actually happened, what actually is being proposed, so that you can fact check yourself before posting on social media. But I understand that the reason you're doing this, the reason you're going on social media to post is because you care. You care about the community. You care about the outcomes of the children and the students of this community. And I do not fault you for that. But I am also offering my time. If you email me at info at Vigoledger.org, I will be happy to walk you through how to
3:29:09 — open the recording at 3 hours 29 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 1113 use the artificial intelligence that I built out on that website and also will be happy to take the suggestions on how to make that website better. I am, like I said, so, so grateful for everyone that showed up here, for our elected officials, for the oversight committee, and thank you all for your time.
3:29:34 — open the recording at 3 hours 29 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 89 Thank you. you for making the website I actually look forward to looking at it
3:29:48 — open the recording at 3 hours 29 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 1122 my name is Regan Copeland and I'm a senior at Terre Haute North I spend the
3:29:53 — open the recording at 3 hours 29 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 1125 majority of my life within the walls of the schools of Vigo County not only because of my countless activities but also the fact my mother is a teacher I have seen all the good and most definitely all the bad in the schools as an elementary school student helping my mother set up her classroom I I vividly remember brown water pouring out of her sink faucet as a centipede crawled out of the drain. And that was the first time I questioned the integrity of my school.
3:30:17 — open the recording at 3 hours 30 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 1127 As a middle schooler, I saw my mom always under the weather.
3:30:20 — open the recording at 3 hours 30 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 1125 It seemed like every week was another cold. We later found out through mold testing that our classroom and all other classrooms tested in her hallway were full of it. The solution was to paint the walls and provide a dehumidifier for her room in order to conceal the mold. our district we are not only risking the health of teachers and teens but young children as well it was the first this was the first moment that I realized
3:30:46 — open the recording at 3 hours 30 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 1127 something needed to be done as a senior in high school looking back on my high school education I feel a ping of sadness as I think about all of the opportunities lost because of our schools to address your concerns mr. Gretty Grintree I'm sorry small population and not having enough teachers has made it difficult to take classes that align with my future career as someone who wants to be computer engineer it frustrates me that i cannot take ap computer science classes or either the physics c classes unless i self-study them which is nearly impossible with my schedule
3:31:21 — open the recording at 3 hours 31 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 1127 because my school does not provide many of the rigorous classes i want to take i have to create my own opportunities through extracurriculars not only is the state of our schools affecting elementary through high school students it was also affecting something that I believe our entire community is proud of which is Rose Hallman Institute of Technology I was given the opportunity to work at the Bick and kick at Rose Hallman this summer through this job I got to talk one-on-one with many professors during one of my conversations the schools got brought up
3:31:49 — open the recording at 3 hours 31 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 1127 they addressed the concern that many of the professors hired CR schools and don't want their children in such environments with such little opportunities leading them to not accept positions I love this town generations of my family have lived here and feel pride in this community but I am tired of being looked down upon by other schools as I enter for their facilities for sports I'm tired of hearing about the opportunities my friends have just because they go to school in different corporations I'm tired of not being able to wear my letter jacket with pride because of the
3:32:19 — open the recording at 3 hours 32 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 1127 shame I feel in our high school and the insults people make I'm tired of people not moving to our town because of the state of our schools I want to go to college here I want to start a family here so I stand here today begging you to see why this is so needed I beg you to think of your children and your grandchildren and the generations after and ask yourself would you put them in a school that negatively impacts their health while also taking opportunities away from them please consider all I have mentioned because I believe
3:32:48 — open the recording at 3 hours 32 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 1127 together with your support we can do great things thank you for your time
3:32:51 — open the recording at 3 hours 32 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 1130 Thank you. Thank you very much.
3:33:01 — open the recording at 3 hours 33 minutes 1 secondSteve Ellis (chair) Just per the advice of Julie, I'm going to knock it. I'm going to hit that at three minutes so that we're not violating anyone's rights.
3:33:10 — open the recording at 3 hours 33 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 55 And that's I don't mean disrespect when I do it. Thank you. Go ahead. Sorry.
3:33:16 — open the recording at 3 hours 33 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 1133 Good evening. My name is Rosemary Scott. I think we're missing a point ladies and gentlemen. Many of the things that are
3:33:26 — open the recording at 3 hours 33 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 1136 problems in these schools can be solved by new construction on site. We do not have to have a big mega whatever your adjective is high school to fix these problems sewage plumbing I don't think we have to do this then we're talking about our facilities on down the line with option point six six point have you talked to people that are losing their elementary school they're angry I see them every day they're not here they don't want to speak up talk to people at Dixie B talk to people at Hoosier Prairie Rio Grande talk to people who just were so happy that they finally got a gymnasium
3:34:25 — open the recording at 3 hours 34 minutes 25 secondsSpeaker 1136 at Otter Creek and now it's a proposal to make Otter Creek an elementary school this is a public relations nightmare this plan is grandiose this is biting off more than you can chew making promises about 20 years from now about 10 years from now you're all too smart for that mr. Gentry your line of questioning was right on target what are the guarantees there will be nobody to hold responsible when these promises don't come true? Haven't we all heard we're going to save money? And then we don't save money.
3:35:09 — open the recording at 3 hours 35 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 1136 Talking about the legislature in the future and that they may pass bills, that we may be able to repurpose some of our buildings or sell them to the city. Examine that Indiana legislature. You can't get things out of committee. And you have these wonderful people from CASA here this evening. Shame on all of us that we're talking in millions of dollars, and these people are up here asking us for thousands. Whose kids are those? Those are our kids. Every day, this community suffers. There's so much poverty. You do not make it better by putting 3,000 kids in your school.
3:35:55 — open the recording at 3 hours 35 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 1136 In today's numbers, there's people that will say, well by the time we built it we're planning on losing another three or four it's still too big it's still not what we need we need community we need the children to feel like they matter but they are not lost in the shuffle the parents complain now about bullying about their children not being seen you
3:36:19 — open the recording at 3 hours 36 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 1138 contribute to that if you allow this thank you to the deputies that are
3:36:27 — open the recording at 3 hours 36 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 726 standing back there is there any way we could have one chair for the like the
3:36:32 — open the recording at 3 hours 36 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 89 next speaker that and then they'll just see choose that that chair that way they're they're not sure what to do or when to step up
3:36:44 — open the recording at 3 hours 36 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 1142 okay thank you go ahead sir yeah I do think we are missing a point which is that consolidation is going to happen whether we like it or not it's just a matter of if we like it or not. I yeah that's all I have to say thank you.
3:36:59 — open the recording at 3 hours 36 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 236 Thank you so much.
3:37:05 — open the recording at 3 hours 37 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 89 The next person would like to step up into that yeah we'll just call it the chamber chair or whatever. Thank you. On deck thank you.
3:37:13 — open the recording at 3 hours 37 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 1146 Hello my name is Olivia Cordray my address is 8175 Wabash Avenue. Ms. Rosemary, I wanted to point out that if you missed the slide that said there were 725 graduates from North High School in 1972 and there's a proposed 600 and by the time the consolidated high school is done, that's not a mega high school, not by any means, especially not when Carmel High School has over 1,000 graduates. But I do want to thank everybody for being here. it's bittersweet being back because I'm taking time out of my day my homework time my extracurricular
3:37:51 — open the recording at 3 hours 37 minutes 51 secondsSpeaker 1146 time I took off work to be here and I have one and a half jobs by the way I have a full-time job in school that goes over to 10 to 12 hours a day plus a part-time job but with a combined east and West High School and a sorry not East and West combined North and South and a renovated West we can have change change can be hopeful and exciting it can give better direction for the future of Terre Haute a well-educated youth creates
3:38:22 — open the recording at 3 hours 38 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 1151 a better tomorrow that poverty that Miss Rosemary was talking about I'm sorry
3:38:30 — open the recording at 3 hours 38 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 1153 interesting
3:38:36 — open the recording at 3 hours 38 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 1157 I also want to point out that the education that I've received is not inadequate, but
3:38:48 — open the recording at 3 hours 38 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 1146 it can be better. And I think it could be better with updated facilities. A combined student population would allow for sports teams that can regularly compete at the class that we are in right now without having to downsize. classes like computer science ap human geography which would be one that i would love to take but i just don't have time to study it by myself and focusing specifically on west high school the choice to improve the facilities while keeping the smaller school and the community aspect that
3:39:21 — open the recording at 3 hours 39 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 1146 a lot of people desire is integral some kids need a smaller school and this would preserve the solution that the county already has without this though west vigo will close and i would personally hate to see the community that has been fostered over decades fall apart i have so much more i could say but i have a limited time and i wanted to focus on something more positive but it kind of got sidetracked i implore you all to make the right choice and nurture the fuser lather rather than letting it wilt in the immortal words of the doors the time to hesitate is through thank you
3:39:56 — open the recording at 3 hours 39 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 437 and good night thank you I'm gonna make one quick statement if I don't know if
3:40:06 — open the recording at 3 hours 40 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 89 this is legal or not but I'm gonna make the statement anyway if you are under the age of 18 please do not say your address I don't think it's needed for if you're a child please I don't think there's need for the public to know
3:40:18 — open the recording at 3 hours 40 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 1161 your address thank you hi my name is Abby Jones I'm at 6133 Hill Haven Road I I also own a company called Mindful Growth and here in Vigo County I'm known for my clinical face and the work we do clinically.
3:40:31 — open the recording at 3 hours 40 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 1162 But the part of Mindful Growth that people don't see here in this county is that we serve 29 different school districts in Indiana. And that is exactly how we help the youth is through the schools, through more opportunity, through more access. It is the only way to fix an entire generation in a generation. And we have this opportunity, and it is being so severely closed off. I could spend my time here tonight talking about what I don't know, like finance and this little sheet that I created in my speech.
3:41:02 — open the recording at 3 hours 41 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 1162 I could talk about your messages to me last night that went unanswered when I directly asked what your questions are. What exactly did the oversight committee not answer? But you didn't respond to those messages. I am deeply concerned about your confirmation bias, the misinformation that you spread publicly on purpose. You are creating the divide that you publicly claim to try to negate.
3:41:27 — open the recording at 3 hours 41 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 1163 Thank you.
3:41:36 — open the recording at 3 hours 41 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 1165 Hello, my name is Rose Taylor. I'm a senior at Terre Haute South and a representative for the Vico County School Corporation Students for Change. I'm sure you are all tired of this process. So are we. We have spoken at countless meetings to try and get a point across, and so many people have heard our words, agreed, and supported us. We truly appreciate those of you. And if you look at this proposal for the new school with a wider scope, you'll understand that this is the correct solution. Terre Haute has seen a population decrease in the past 10 years or so.
3:42:06 — open the recording at 3 hours 42 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 1165 We all know that less people in Terre Haute is not great. We won't have workers, teachers, families, children who reside in Terre Haute. I don't want my city, my home, which I love, to be in disrepair. And this population crisis will only worsen if we don't do anything about our school system. Would you want your children to go to a poorly funded, broken school? I know I wouldn't. I love Terre Haute. I really do. I want to raise a family here, to live here, to grow here, to work here. However, I can't do that.
3:42:36 — open the recording at 3 hours 42 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 1165 I cannot justify sending my own children to struggling schools when I could give them a better life elsewhere outside of Terre Haute. Schools are the backbone of this community. Our high schools are absolutely stellar. South AP program as well as North is very rigorous. And our clubs are excellent and make actual change in our communities. And our arts programs are amazing and bring light to everyone. And we do all of these things without proper support like this new school, right? Imagine what we could accomplish.
3:43:03 — open the recording at 3 hours 43 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 1165 what we could simply be if we had these better facilities, these better resources. As Mayor Sackman says, I think he's back there, this is paradise. So let's actually make it that. I urge you guys to make the right decision. Grow a spine and actually stand up for the people you claim to love and support.
3:43:21 — open the recording at 3 hours 43 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 1164 That is, in fact, your job. Thank you.
3:43:23 — open the recording at 3 hours 43 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 1170 Thank you.
3:43:30 — open the recording at 3 hours 43 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 1172 Hi, I'm Curtis DeBon. I'm a teacher here. I wasn't going to speak, but I feel obligated after Ms. Scott said I wasn't here. I am an elementary school teacher whose school is going to close due to consolidation. I do recognize that this will probably happen if this plan is accepted or not. And the gentleman who recently spoke as well made the point that, hey, consolidation is happening either way, right? I don't like consolidation at all. I love the school I teach at. I've been there for seven, eight years. I don't want to teach anywhere else,
3:44:10 — open the recording at 3 hours 44 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 1172 but I also understand regardless of what you decide to do, my school's probably going to close, and it won't be the only one, right? So I do think that is a point that is being missed. Consolidation, if we like it or not, and I'm willing to bet none of us in this room like consolidation is going to happen so let's just do it right thank you all um hope you all have a great night and uh this is paradise and i love it here and i know you all living here too
3:44:46 — open the recording at 3 hours 44 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 1178 thank you thank you good evening my name is jody akimbo i appreciate the opportunity to talk this evening I'm going to try to stay on script but if I have some extra time I'd like to address a couple things and I am a citizen of Vigo County a taxpayer a parent and educator I actually spent my first four years of teaching at North High School all four of my children have been in Vigo County luckily I only have one left in Vigo County I chose to take my youngest son elsewhere due to the way he was treated and I am firmly opposed to the Vigo County School Corporation's
3:45:28 — open the recording at 3 hours 45 minutes 28 secondsSpeaker 1178 plan to build the one mega yes i said mega high school um on the east side of town yes we do need to maintain our schools and yes some buildings are very long overdue for a major renovation and yes there are probably elementary schools that we should consolidate and buildings we should sell but that does not mean building one enormous high school and creating a massive elementary and middle schools is the right answer the cost is astronomical the funding is not guaranteed assumptions is not a guarantee of funding and I the claim that this
3:46:08 — open the recording at 3 hours 46 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 1178 will not raise taxes is quite frankly laughable and I'm glad that the gentleman pointed it out after I've been saying this for very long doesn't matter what bucket it comes from is still coming out of our pockets and you oops sorry trying to stay on script here look I'm using my three minutes going into the schools that people are visiting and comparing our schools to whenever they go on these tours they're literally comparing apples to oranges our community is very unique we're one of the one of the highest tax communities
3:46:47 — open the recording at 3 hours 46 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 1178 in the state of Indiana on top of that we have a school corporation that serves the whole county we are considered to be a metropolitan through the Department of Education on top of that the schools that we are visiting are not necessarily metropolitan however we do have rural parts of our community which makes us very unique our free and reduced run reduced lunch rate is very high and especially compared to the schools that you go visit at the end of the day it's not the school building that gets the results a lot of studies have been done
3:47:18 — open the recording at 3 hours 47 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 1178 about the investment into education not the buildings themselves the buildings themselves have very little substantial impact it is the actual investment in education as a whole so that means recruiting high quality teachers retaining your teachers providing a good solid education making sure a lot of times that when people look at our buildings it's not just the buildings it's the test scores it's the other things that go along with it so just one last thought this is not a huge representation of the population that we
3:47:49 — open the recording at 3 hours 47 minutes 49 secondsSpeaker 1178 serve in Vigo County people that show up at these meetings aren't necessarily the kids that have the Springs poking through the bed that poke them and
3:47:55 — open the recording at 3 hours 47 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 1182 keeping up at night good evening council president Ellis and members of the County Council so I'm just gonna talk about two points today recently I had the the privilege to be appointed to a statewide task force through the Indiana chamber called Indiana 2035. And I'm the only mayor on this task force with businesses literally two to three to four times larger than what we have in Bego County.
3:48:26 — open the recording at 3 hours 48 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 1184 And 2035, that task force is all created because the Sagamore Institute, which is a think tank, created a textbook called Workforce 2040. The purpose of that textbook was to outline a very harrowing problem that counties across the state of Indiana are facing. Even with quote the fastest growing economy in the Midwest, if you look at our population data and you look at the reality that it is so much more expensive to raise one to two kids today than it was in 1990, you realize that as the birth rate fell, challenges like school corporation and
3:49:03 — open the recording at 3 hours 49 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 1184 college enrollment just got harder and harder and harder over time. And so this task force is charged with meeting with these employers, with looking at problems like public education and asking ourselves the question, how quickly can we attract families from states like Tennessee, Florida, Oregon, Iowa? And I know everyone likes to kind of bash on New York and California, but we actually lose more people to those states than we do gain from them. So we are in this race to get young families across the Midwest. And I know, you know, this is much larger than Vigo County.
3:49:38 — open the recording at 3 hours 49 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 1184 In fact, 38 school corporations are going through a referendum right now. Council President Ellis, I have an article that breaks down school funding. I have three copies that any of you can have. But as I close out here, as we look at this problem, we met with five large Vigo County employers in the last 10 weeks. And they asked for more people. They said, Mayor, we've got to get more homes. We need more infrastructure. We need to find any possible way to recruit more families because they want to expand in Vigo County
3:50:09 — open the recording at 3 hours 50 minutes 9 secondsSpeaker 1184 But they're struggling to get the people here and there's a number of factors that are that reason I have another article that outlines why education is so strong from former Ball State professor Michael Hicks and As we look at all these factors the housing the growth and that assess value the tax rate the circuit breaker What I would ask you to realize is Vigo County's unemployment rate is now 3%. And most elected officials would cheer at that. We have 3% unemployment.
3:50:38 — open the recording at 3 hours 50 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 1184 But the harsh reality is, if we have five large employers who want to add hundreds of jobs each, where are those people going to come from? There is opportunity in our county. And it's only going to grow, but we have to accept that there are challenges that are stopping us from realizing that opportunity. so in my last seven seconds i want to add this next month the meeting is at city hall i need to know if you're doing a special call meeting or not because early voting starts soon so if these committees want to meet or not meet you have to communicate because the meeting is not going to
3:51:12 — open the recording at 3 hours 51 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 1184 take place here anymore and i have to set up the chairs thank you we'll we'll talk this week thank
3:51:18 — open the recording at 3 hours 51 minutes 18 secondsSpeaker 1186 Thank you.
3:51:19 — open the recording at 3 hours 51 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 1188 My name is Louise Mayrose Caddick. I've lived in this town my whole life. I've been in College School Elementary, McLean, on to Garfield, then ISU. What I'm seeing is much more than the school. I'm seeing a dying city because we won't have anything to offer our kids to come back to. That's the bottom line with me. And it frustrates me beyond measure to see all this talent that we're not able to bring, like Mayor Sackman just said. And to hear the people of my generation, we've heard from everybody else,
3:52:08 — open the recording at 3 hours 52 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 1188 but of my generation, I wouldn't want my kids or grandkids or great-grandkids to come back to Terre Haute. What is there for them? Well, you know, they've got a valid point. And I find I'm even beginning to say that myself. Do I want my grandkids to come back to Terre Haute? No, I don't. Because we don't have anything to offer them. And just, I'm going to cut mine short. I just want to make a personal comment for myself Nancy I'm really sorry to see what appears to me your alignment with mr. Gentry and mr. Ellis thank you thank
3:52:50 — open the recording at 3 hours 52 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 1192 you
3:52:56 — open the recording at 3 hours 52 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 1194 hi my name is all Levine I'm a senior at Terre Haute South and I'm with Vigo County school system student for change first of all I want to thank you for your time tonight and also all those that showed up in support I want to say that after being here for over three hours staying stagnant is not the answer eventually there's got to be growth what are we going to do 20 years in the future when maintaining our schools isn't the answer when the costs build up as we've seen with the oversight committee's recommendation it's just not going to work we
3:53:30 — open the recording at 3 hours 53 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 1194 have to evolve we have to keep our pace with the other towns in Indiana that are making these innovations and we have a pretty solid plan for that and I urge you to take the oversight committee's recommendation and I do want to say that the environments of our schools do impact learning I can say that there have been many days I don't want to get out of bed to go to school because of the environment because of you know sometimes like the heavy air you know the broken air conditioning it really does contribute to the learning environment and students motivation and
3:54:05 — open the recording at 3 hours 54 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 1194 i really want to commend the vigo county students and teachers for working with what they got and creating so many great opportunities for us in a space where there usually wouldn't be that many opportunities so i urge you to take into consideration the oversight committee's recommendation and look through our lens as children as students and I trust you'll make the right decision thank you thank you
3:54:39 — open the recording at 3 hours 54 minutes 39 secondsSpeaker 1198 good afternoon my name is Robert Isom and I've come here to address you know when we make a decision about how things are going to go with the economy why the doctor mr. sackbun has talked about going forward you all know there used to be a man by the name of jim adams who used to be accounting commissioner a long time ago he did bring a company here by call the bsf he got marked down he said it was one of the worst times his life because the reason why he put so much work into it to get it here so going forward where we go we have to keep feeding companies into this in our community.
3:55:21 — open the recording at 3 hours 55 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 1198 Because if we don't, the community is going to die. And the students here are not going to have a chance to go forward in the schools we're trying to provide. But if we provide, keep on falling and keep on fighting hard to get companies to come in to feed in, because they do it over in Indianapolis all the time. They don't want to get funding, their companies feed into their schools. They keep doing they keep coming. We can do the same thing but we got to keep on doing you got to keep after it there's one long and
3:55:50 — open the recording at 3 hours 55 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 1198 much of we keep after it is going to get done and we got to keep on trying and basically you look at West Lafayette they got into Subaru back in the 70s at 56,000 in population look at their population now as the schools went to see Valparaiso looked at that I think you'd all do the same thing by going up and talk to people up in west lafayette and see how they got a major automotive plant going forward like princeton did do the same thing you know it has to go well either way we know that has to be fed in it has to be fed in committee so it'll help the students going forward to get
3:56:26 — open the recording at 3 hours 56 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 1198 the curriculum because if you don't do that it's not going to happen but we can do it if we keep on trying and never give up because uh that's how we go about getting because you got you got to do a jump start as I say you gotta jump start the city and one employer can do that but we gotta go after them and then basically when they see what we're trying to do with schools then they'll know that we're going in the right direction but you know either I always I was the first graduating class out of North High School so I know how important it is to basically go forward how it
3:56:59 — open the recording at 3 hours 56 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 1198 went down companies started leaping and our schools started going on because not any disrespect to the corporation but in previous one it could have been better and we wouldn't be here now i'd all have 33 seconds but my other questions is is that uh going forward i know basically i'm not really fond about real grand and hoosier prairie being refurbished uh going in another direction but i think they should keep those schools because it's vital to that real community and i'll end with that thank you for everything and thank all my fellow veterans we are here thank you for what
3:57:34 — open the recording at 3 hours 57 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 1198 they've done i hope that the school corporation will find a way to have the meetings at each
3:57:40 — open the recording at 3 hours 57 minutes 40 secondsSummer Liggett (resident (teacher)) school i end it with that good evening everybody i'm summer liggett proud mom of two boys and a special education teacher at tarahaw north i've learned more in the past 13 months of employment at Terre Haute North than I ever imagined was possible. I've learned that our teachers have no say in our working conditions. I've learned to dress in layers because one minute I'm sweating and the next I'm shivering. I've learned that we'll always be curious about the future and fearful if something bad might happen. I've learned that we're the living embodiment of insanity.
3:58:21 — open the recording at 3 hours 58 minutes 21 secondsSummer Liggett (resident (teacher)) I've also learned that it's important to know the difference between facts and convenient narratives. I've heard the suggestion that our staff have somehow intentionally failed to address problems in our schools to further the consolidation agenda. As someone who works in these buildings with these people, I find that accusation deeply insulting. Our staff does not decide when HVAC systems work, when roofs leak, or when plumbing fails. They show up and they do a job not many are willing to do for not nearly enough pay, and They do it with a smile, and they do it to the best that they can.
3:58:59 — open the recording at 3 hours 58 minutes 59 secondsSummer Liggett (resident (teacher)) So to anyone seeking a position of greater public responsibility, I sincerely hope your ability to separate fact from fiction is stronger than what I've witnessed over the past year. Because leadership requires more than a strong opinion. Leadership requires the ability to distinguish what you know from what you assume. Most importantly, leadership requires the courage to listen even when the answer isn't the one you wanted to hear. If the consolidation plan does not move forward in time to ensure funding from the casino
3:59:30 — open the recording at 3 hours 59 minutes 30 secondsSummer Liggett (resident (teacher)) foundation, are you comfortable looking these kids in the eye and telling them you've done everything that you can for them? I don't know if you are comfortable with that or not, but I am. And I'm willing to go a step further. I'm willing to do a lot more for these kids. I'm willing to wear leggings under my pants, drink coffee at 2 p.m., hot coffee, and stay awake until midnight waiting for the caffeine to finally wear off and my toes to thaw. At work. On a Monday. Again. Because it's not a one-time event. I'm willing to spend my personal money,
4:00:08 — open the recording at 4 hours 8 secondsSummer Liggett (resident (teacher)) of which there's very little on a teacher's salary, to buy a heater and a fan for my classroom when HVAC systems don't realize what season we're in. I'm willing to supply students with the things that they should already have before they even walk through the doors of a school building. I supply that with my own money. I'm willing to do these things for kids who aren't even my own because that's what adults are supposed to do. So as we've learned from the great Dolly Parton, our legacy is what remains when we're gone. Dolly's legacy is
4:00:42 — open the recording at 4 hours 42 secondsSummer Liggett (resident (teacher)) simple children are worth investing in so tonight I ask you are you willing to invest in our kids
4:00:57 — open the recording at 4 hours 57 secondsSpeaker 1211 hi my name is Alan nurse um I think I can see our oversight committee getting a little sleepy I wanted to thank you guys for your beautiful PowerPoint my favorite was the slide that had all seven available options and it broke down the funding and how we don't need to use taxpayer dollars I really liked that I feel like I've spoken at so many of these I don't have much to say but this past weekend I was auditioning for an independent ensemble it's percussion based and it was at Brownsburg High School as my dad was dropping me off he
4:01:31 — open the recording at 4 hours 1 minute 31 secondsSpeaker 1211 said to me wow look at all of those windows because that's that's what it is it made me laugh but in reality we're sitting there glorifying the bare minimum just because we're used to less than that as you should probably know Brownsburg was recently remodeled it's been praised for how beautiful accessible and useful the new facilities are and that overall leads to these independent organizations like the one I auditioned for giving money to those schools to use their buildings for their own situations and to me that's clearly an opportunity
4:02:07 — open the recording at 4 hours 2 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 1211 that we could never receive because we don't have those facilities that people would want to pay to use I don't want to have to drive two hours to rehearsal each weekend but if we want organizations like these based in Terre Haute we need to make an update to our buildings before we lose the funding and this opportunity becomes accessible that's all I have to say thank
4:02:27 — open the recording at 4 hours 2 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 1212 you
4:02:31 — open the recording at 4 hours 2 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 1215 I don't know if you need to take the 30 seconds off from my talking earlier, but I'm also
4:02:43 — open the recording at 4 hours 2 minutes 43 secondsSpeaker 1216 a teacher with a school corporation. I'm the building trades instructor. When my students are arguing, something I tell them jokingly is, remember, guys, this is what the ops want. So if you're not familiar with slang, I wouldn't fault you. But the ops is short for opponents. So our opponents want us fighting each other, you know, instead of fighting them. So I say that only because I want to remind everyone that's here today that we're having these debates in the most prosperous nation in the world. We're fighting each other over things that our community should and could easily be able
4:03:27 — open the recording at 4 hours 3 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 1216 to afford all of these things. And I'm going to apologize if there's any bankers in the room, and I'm gonna apologize to any consultants or lobbyists, I'm sorry, Rachel. But in situations like this, there are people who don't ever lose, okay? There are no matter what's decided here, there's going to be people who are upset or suffer. But in situations like this, there are people who don't ever lose. I say this because I think we sometimes lose sight of that we are all in this community together. And the people that have put us in this position are forces that are outside of us.
4:04:35 — open the recording at 4 hours 4 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 1216 And when this politics becomes theater, and when we look for mic drop comments at the podium to prove our point, or when we cheer because someone from our side gets a good zinger you know that's what the ops want there's people outside of this community and some within that are benefiting from us fighting each other and in order for us to come together we should be able to fund casa and fund our schools and fund all of these things for our community but there are people outside and some within who benefit from us fighting each
4:05:24 — open the recording at 4 hours 5 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 1216 other so all I'm asking is you don't have to change your opinion all I'm just saying is remember we're in this together the ops want us fighting each other try to resist the political theater and the mic drop comments okay
4:05:38 — open the recording at 4 hours 5 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 1223 and I love you thank you nice message good evening council council president
4:05:47 — open the recording at 4 hours 5 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 1225 anthony ronacci 4901 south robinson place i have created a petition that has reached 740 signatures majority of them are residents from terreau and vigo county it is a seven to one ratio against the opposition position petitions against my petition that has specifically cited me out it is your responsibility as elected officials to vote on the hard issues stop deflecting and put it to vote on the council our teachers our parents and families deserve an answer our schools deserve to know what they should do next six of you are elected one of you are caucus 10.
4:06:24 — open the recording at 4 hours 6 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 1227 i recently was asked why did i stay in vigo county for the future here in vigo county i could have moved anywhere i could have moved to dc or indy but i chose to stay in vigo county because i see a future here I recently purchased my first home on the west side I'm currently renovating it and I believe the majority of Vigo County taxpayers support this plan thank you to our commissioners thank you mayor Sack bun
4:06:52 — open the recording at 4 hours 6 minutes 52 secondsSpeaker 1225 thank you Brad Brenda David for your support so far Vicki Steve Randy Nancy please do what's right support our schools support our kids thank you thank you
4:07:06 — open the recording at 4 hours 7 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 1232 Well, I never speak at these things, but there's something I care about very, very much. I was a CASA for many years. I was able to help a lot of kids by being a CASA. I'm very happy for those people I was able to help. But the only reason why I could do it was because I had Glenna and her office staff to help me do all the tech stuff that I don't know how to do so that I could help clothe children, get food for them, talk for them at schools when nobody else would. And I'm just saying that of all the federal and the state cuts that were made in budgets,
4:08:00 — open the recording at 4 hours 8 minutesSpeaker 1232 CASA was the wrong place to make the cut. The children here need your help. Try to bridge the gap that was made when this funding was cut. That's all I have to say.
4:08:14 — open the recording at 4 hours 8 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 1240 Thank you very much.
4:08:14 — open the recording at 4 hours 8 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 1242 Hi, I'm Ben Caddick.
4:08:21 — open the recording at 4 hours 8 minutes 21 secondsSpeaker 1243 I am really bad at remembering things. Something comes to mind in my seat. I have to write it down because I have blanks when I get up here. What I wanted to say is look at all these students. I mean, my friends and my peers. They have sat here for almost what would be another school day. I know some of us got here at four, and I'm really bad at math, too. So I've already forgotten how long it's been. I hope it shows how much our student body cares. Like, we are begging, guys. I know we can do this. That's really all I'm going to leave off with you.
4:09:06 — open the recording at 4 hours 9 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 1243 They have put so much time into this, and it's time. we can do this and I trust you guys thank you thank you
4:09:26 — open the recording at 4 hours 9 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 1248 sir anyone else
4:09:32 — open the recording at 4 hours 9 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 1256 we have somebody hi Tammy Boland 2220 South 19th Street here in the city I'm I'm not going to comment on the school corporation. I just wanted to comment on the committee that was formed at the beginning. I know that the council president, council rules, has the right to form that committee. But whenever the attorney determined that it was an ad hoc committee, I believe that you have to state what the scope of that committee is. And there's a Robert's Rules of Order also is included in the council rules, I think. So there's that process for establishing the ad hoc
4:10:08 — open the recording at 4 hours 10 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 1256 committee needs to be stated before y'all leave tonight and hopefully you can tell us when the
4:10:14 — open the recording at 4 hours 10 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 24 meetings are going to be held to thank you thank you yes ma'am first of all I want to apologize to mr. Caddick for my part in interrupting your three minutes there I'm glad you were able to get your verbiage in there anyway and mr. felling I need to apologize to you because our attorney the attorney for the council did not speak for me and I apologize for her behavior and as a matter of fact I felt it was so extremely unprofessional that I'm making motion that we fire her I don't I don't
4:10:57 — open the recording at 4 hours 10 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 1110 Okay, good. We have a motion and a second on that.
4:11:06 — open the recording at 4 hours 11 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 31 We have a motion to fire the county attorney or the council county council attorney and a second. Can I say something? I don't know that we are allowed to vote today. But I do believe you could make that proposal at the next meeting and we could vote that day.
4:11:24 — open the recording at 4 hours 11 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 52 You bet I will. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir.
4:11:27 — open the recording at 4 hours 11 minutes 27 secondsHutchings (auditor) I regretfully just sent an email out to all the council with the very same.
4:11:38 — open the recording at 4 hours 11 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 48 And the fact that she's not here now.
4:11:41 — open the recording at 4 hours 11 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 14 And not only that, but I was told at one point she doesn't represent the auditor's office, which has always been the case.
4:11:49 — open the recording at 4 hours 11 minutes 49 secondsHutchings (auditor) We deal with a lot. and I don't feel that she adorably represents all seven of you equally.
4:11:57 — open the recording at 4 hours 11 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 1282 No.
4:11:58 — open the recording at 4 hours 11 minutes 58 secondsHutchings (auditor) And she is not from our area, so she is hard to obtain when needed.
4:12:07 — open the recording at 4 hours 12 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 879 And so I sent that email out probably 20 minutes ago. Okay.
4:12:14 — open the recording at 4 hours 12 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 135 Well, I mean, the fact that she got up and left. And who knows, somebody might have had a legal question to ask her,
4:12:20 — open the recording at 4 hours 12 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 24 and she didn't feel that it was her obligation to stay here and she was a downright rude she
4:12:26 — open the recording at 4 hours 12 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 686 doesn't represent me that's for sure and she doesn't represent the people that are paying
4:12:31 — open the recording at 4 hours 12 minutes 31 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) the taxes that pay her salary so uh again next meeting okay that'll be the first thing i do
4:12:39 — open the recording at 4 hours 12 minutes 39 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) i just want to make sure i we didn't skip anybody on public comments right everybody got a chance sorry yes sir
4:12:50 — open the recording at 4 hours 12 minutes 50 secondsSpeaker 1290 I typically don't get up and talk in these events, but I feel a necessity. My name is Tim Ramzier. I live in Edgewood Grove. I've lived in Terre Haute for approximately 40-plus years. I've worked with youth the entire time. Just last month, I retired from working with youth. The one thing I'm impressed with was what I saw here tonight with the number of youth standing up despite the adults. And I think if you want to look at the future, you start paying attention to what they're saying because they're not interested in north and south type stuff. They want a good school.
4:13:24 — open the recording at 4 hours 13 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 1290 I've been in the schools when the hallway's been blocked because water. When I'm called to come in and do some kind of counseling because of a suicide or a death, I've been moved around because the roof is so leaky we can't find a dry space. And that's reprehensible. That's just flat-out reprehensible. You cannot kick this down the road anymore. And I'll be very, very honest with you, too. Mr. Gentry I hope that when you propose something to the council next time you can answer the same questions you're giving that you are gonna give these
4:13:56 — open the recording at 4 hours 13 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 1290 people guarantees that when you want to propose something because you're creating a standard that's not attainable and it's ridiculous to even ask for guarantees thank you
4:14:17 — open the recording at 4 hours 14 minutes 17 secondsSpeaker 1294 hi I'm Jennifer Sears I live at 606 Valley Road I'm Jennifer Sears I live at 606 Valley Road I
4:14:26 — open the recording at 4 hours 14 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 1296 have been in this community I've gone to Vigo County Schools since first grade we
4:14:32 — open the recording at 4 hours 14 minutes 32 secondsSpeaker 1299 moved away for a little bit in kindergarten my dad is a graduate number first graduating class of South Tarot South and I've been in this community pretty much my whole life we came back because my family's here um i think the biggest thing that i
4:14:53 — open the recording at 4 hours 14 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 1300 have had pride in my community is my school my teachers the teachers that teach my kids the village that raised us the coaches that were there and not with their families I have so many, I have some adult relationships with some of my teachers that I've gotten to know them as an adult rather than a student. I'm tired of being the underdog. I went to Obachi, we called it Wabash, first grade. I went to Framington Grove, first through sixth grade. It was a new school then. It was great to have a new school. Then I went to Sarah Scott. Man, we were the biggest underdogs.
4:15:54 — open the recording at 4 hours 15 minutes 54 secondsSpeaker 1300 But it was a beautiful school. The teachers had a sense of community. We were loved. We were engaged. And it was before the new school was built. And I actually went to the school board meeting,
4:16:10 — open the recording at 4 hours 16 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 1303 and we were like we're tired of being the underdogs honey Creek has all these great things they have money and we have this and now I feel like I'm saying this
4:16:20 — open the recording at 4 hours 16 minutes 20 secondsSpeaker 1300 when I'm going to these other cities and we're going to Jasper we're going to Franklin community for these travel things why can't we have that why I have
4:16:36 — open the recording at 4 hours 16 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 1303 I have kids. I was a young mom. I had a child at 19.
4:16:41 — open the recording at 4 hours 16 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 1300 So I have a child that is 27 that went all through. Started at Lost Creek, went to North. I have a daughter who's a senior at North currently. I have a son that is at Otter Creek currently. There's a long range. There's only been seven years that I've been outside of this school corporation. I didn't have any students or myself in there. I feel like some of the questions that you have asked Mr. Ellis have already been answered
4:17:10 — open the recording at 4 hours 17 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 1303 a million times. I've sat here and watched everything.
4:17:14 — open the recording at 4 hours 17 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 1306 You've phrased them as innocent questions, but they've been answered over and over and over again. And I sat out there and I listened.
4:17:24 — open the recording at 4 hours 17 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 236 Thank you very much.
4:17:27 — open the recording at 4 hours 17 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 97 Sorry. the way I wasn't stopping you to be disrespectful it was the time I'm sorry
4:17:36 — open the recording at 4 hours 17 minutes 36 secondsSpeaker 1312 yes ma'am hello I'm Zion Okundari I was actually here earlier and then I went home because I had to do homework and then I came back because I was watching this and I just have so much to say and I have so many feelings and I get really emotional so I'm gonna try to keep that together I've come to a lot of these meetings I don't know if you remember me I came to the one at South last year some of you didn't attend thank you for that some of you were on your phones while I tried to speak also thank you for that but I really do appreciate you
4:18:06 — open the recording at 4 hours 18 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 1312 all being here and discussing this and I really appreciate all the students here and the oversight committee being here and it just really makes me sad to think that kids that are young now are going to maybe have to go through the same system that I kind of went through and I know you guys are sick of us hearing about this condition of the schools because you're worried about the bigger things in the bigger picture and I completely understand that but I feel like it's really important to know like it's not something small Mr. Caddick
4:18:38 — open the recording at 4 hours 18 minutes 38 secondsSpeaker 1312 actually my psych teacher we were having this conversation today about morality and existential dread we were going through Eric Erickson stages of life whatever but we were talking about how when you die you not a lot of people remember you and not a lot of people remember the things you do and I want And I'm not saying that any of you are close to death. I would never insinuate that you're old. But I'm saying here, as please listen to me, is that I want the things that you do as you serve on this council to be remembered. I want the choices you make to affect the future generations.
4:19:13 — open the recording at 4 hours 19 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 1312 And I really hope you realize that you have the power to do that. And you have the power to make a difference. So please, I know that you are set in your opinions, and you have been set in your opinions since last year. But there is still time. And I would really like you to think it through and think about how this can affect the future of Terre Haute, the economics of Terre Haute. There's so much to look at here. So please, please, I beg of you. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.
4:19:42 — open the recording at 4 hours 19 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 1231 Thank you.
4:19:48 — open the recording at 4 hours 19 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 1120 Yes, sir. I'm sorry, real quick. Is there anybody else from the public?
4:19:52 — open the recording at 4 hours 19 minutes 52 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) All right, you're up, David. I've got two things and then I'm done. Eddie, can I ask you a question? Do we have to do anything with this committee before we leave tonight, now that we know what kind it is?
4:20:04 — open the recording at 4 hours 20 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 977 The Vice President Well, that was the reason why I asked, because it's an ad hoc committee. You have to define what the reason for forming the committee is, and there has to be some defined end to it. If you don't define any of that, in theory, it just exists forever, and it never comes back to the council for a vote. So, yes, you need to do that. I'm not your lawyer.
4:20:24 — open the recording at 4 hours 20 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 1322 I'll dismiss my complaint and I'll move over there.
4:20:31 — open the recording at 4 hours 20 minutes 31 secondsSpeaker 1325 So I would ask what the purpose of the committee is.
4:20:34 — open the recording at 4 hours 20 minutes 34 secondsSpeaker 117 All right. Well, the truth is I would like to do a little bit of research to have a proper answer prepared,
4:20:42 — open the recording at 4 hours 20 minutes 42 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) but I will tell you what the, in layman's terms, the purpose of the committee is set together so that we can meet with commissioners, oversight members, perhaps the superintendent if he's willing to gather more information. I would like to meet with the assessor as well to find out what implications we will have from tax changes that are coming up so that we have a better understanding of what we will have coming in in the future. I don't think there's anybody up here that doesn't want to see something positive.
4:21:17 — open the recording at 4 hours 21 minutes 17 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) I can't imagine there's anybody up here that doesn't want to see something positive, majorly positive, happen with schools. At the same time, we have to make sure that the county, that we're not putting the future council people in a position where they are having to cut, be it resources and services to the community or maybe employees to the community as a result of us not doing our due diligence today. there are a few things that are still unknown to us starting with what exactly our income is going to look like in 2029 we don't wait okay but but but we are
4:21:57 — open the recording at 4 hours 21 minutes 57 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) tasked with with making sure the county has funding and I think that despite all of our differences up here I think we've done a decent job at making sure the County is being funded the one other thing that I think that we have to understand and I'm gonna lean on our County Assessor for this is to have a better understanding of what is going to happen when personal property taxes go away and also when the our veterans who are disabled when those taxes go away what impact that's going to have in our community those are some of the things
4:22:38 — open the recording at 4 hours 22 minutes 38 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) that we are looking for there is no effort to send this into the abyss and not come back to this before the end of the year the goal is to come back my goal is not wait until December because waiting till December means we have to have another special meeting and we don't typically have meetings in December so my hope is that we're not waiting till December to do this but but again
4:23:05 — open the recording at 4 hours 23 minutes 5 secondsSpeaker 117 you asked what what the purpose was that would be the purpose do we
4:23:12 — open the recording at 4 hours 23 minutes 12 secondsSpeaker 1332 yep
4:23:14 — open the recording at 4 hours 23 minutes 14 secondsSpeaker 1336 yeah yeah all right all right yep stand by I'm gonna ask the exact same question
4:23:21 — open the recording at 4 hours 23 minutes 21 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) okay all right good I do do we really think that three members of this council are going to do a better job than Baker Tilly Crow the oversight committee the school board the superintendent well I'm the orders office I think there were
4:23:39 — open the recording at 4 hours 23 minutes 39 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) some questions that I am that I asked this evening that those of us on the council that said hey we already know everything that could not have answered some of those questions so that in and of itself tells me that we have to have
4:23:54 — open the recording at 4 hours 23 minutes 54 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) those answers and if there's people in the council that don't know if there's nobody on the council that can answer those questions then how can we and yes
4:24:01 — open the recording at 4 hours 24 minutes 1 secondSteve Ellis (chair) and even Baker Tilly and Crow this evening said that they didn't know what
4:24:07 — open the recording at 4 hours 24 minutes 7 secondsSpeaker 1346 that was going to look like and so I don't I don't know I don't know if that's
4:24:13 — open the recording at 4 hours 24 minutes 13 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) true yeah so so go for it yeah all right here's the thing David if you want to talking please keep talking we will have this discussion with him as well but this
4:24:35 — open the recording at 4 hours 24 minutes 35 secondsSpeaker 122 is not the time for it it is the time for it that's what I want to know I want to
4:24:38 — open the recording at 4 hours 24 minutes 38 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) know what this committee is going to do it is not the time for him I have told you what the your question was what's the committee going to do and I have I
4:24:44 — open the recording at 4 hours 24 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 892 have answered your question if you excuse me I'm sorry
4:24:55 — open the recording at 4 hours 24 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 306 I truly don't understand what you're saying but David you have any other
4:25:00 — open the recording at 4 hours 25 minutesSpeaker 1358 questions the end date yeah when does this end if you need an end date I will
4:25:10 — open the recording at 4 hours 25 minutes 10 secondsSpeaker 117 say December 31st now now I have little doubt that this is going to happen before December 31st but yeah but a guarantee
4:25:23 — open the recording at 4 hours 25 minutes 23 secondsSpeaker 932 David, do you have any other questions?
4:25:30 — open the recording at 4 hours 25 minutes 30 secondsSpeaker 403 I guess moving forward, I want to thank everybody for coming because I know nobody else up here probably will. But I really appreciate your time. I guess you're right. I shouldn't have said that. I know some people won't. I do appreciate you guys coming. It was a long evening. I personally want to hear both sides of it. I want to hear the people that are for it. I want to hear the people that are against it. I want to hear the reasons why for both. So it was very important for me to hear your guys' opinion tonight. So I greatly appreciate that.
4:26:02 — open the recording at 4 hours 26 minutes 2 secondsSpeaker 403 The commissioners, thank you for your presentation. Most of all, I want to thank the Oversight Committee. You guys, I think Mark said you guys spent 170 hours, and I would imagine that was probably less than what you really spent. so you guys signed up for this and it has been a pain ever since I'm sure but you guys have done great work I for one greatly appreciate what you guys have done and to end it I want to thank the sheriff's department you guys have stood up here for the last four hours probably longer than that most of you guys yeah
4:26:38 — open the recording at 4 hours 26 minutes 38 secondsDavid Thompson (councillor) well yeah some of you guys been here all day but you guys have stood here you guys won't say anything negative about it so I greatly appreciate you guys
4:26:47 — open the recording at 4 hours 26 minutes 47 secondsSpeaker 1369 Hold on.
4:26:53 — open the recording at 4 hours 26 minutes 53 secondsSpeaker 247 I want to hold it just a second. Let me just say this. You know, one of the big jobs that's happened here in recent times was that we had to build a new jail. And we had to build that jail because the people in the old jail were in cruel and inhumane conditions. and right now we're hearing that the kids are in cruel and inhumane conditions too and this is something that I think we have to address post haste. Thank you. Mr. Penn, by the way, I made the motion to build that stinking jail and it was a shit storm.
4:27:37 — open the recording at 4 hours 27 minutes 37 secondsSpeaker 135 Are there any appointments? Mr. President, I've got one question.
4:27:41 — open the recording at 4 hours 27 minutes 41 secondsSpeaker 24 or was a suggestion. If you go back and look at when the oversight committee presented this proposal to the commissioners, you'll hear that our assessor, Mr. Gardner, was in full support.
4:27:55 — open the recording at 4 hours 27 minutes 55 secondsSpeaker 985 I did listen to that. I've also spoken to him since.
4:27:58 — open the recording at 4 hours 27 minutes 58 secondsSpeaker 686 And he's in full support. So that should eliminate one of your questions or people to talk to.
4:28:03 — open the recording at 4 hours 28 minutes 3 secondsSpeaker 1387 Wonderful. All right. Thank you so much, Brenda.
4:28:06 — open the recording at 4 hours 28 minutes 6 secondsSpeaker 915 I second the motion to adjourn.
4:28:08 — open the recording at 4 hours 28 minutes 8 secondsSteve Ellis (chair) Okay. We have a motion. All in favor and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you, everyone, and thank you to our law enforcement.
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