Transcript
City CouncilSep 10, 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
- Terre Haute City Council · Sep 10, 2026
- Length
- 0:42:29
- Lines
- 82
- Transcribed by
- mlx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo
0:00:00 — open the recording at 0 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) At this time I call to order this public hearing for the 2027 City of Terre Haute budget by the Terre Haute City Council. Michelle, will you please call the roll?
0:00:10 — open the recording at 10 secondsMichelle L. Edwards (clerk) Councilperson Azar. Present. Councilperson Bowen. Present. Councilperson Chalos. I'm here. Councilperson Devon. Here. Councilperson Dingle. Present. Councilperson Hinton. Present. Councilperson Launamilk. Present. Councilperson Nation. Here. Councilperson Thompson. Here. All are present.
0:00:26 — open the recording at 26 secondsSpeaker 6 The purpose of this meeting is to conduct a public hearing on Appropriation 14-2026, the 2027 City of Terre Haute budget, and Appropriation 15-2026, the 2027 City of Terre Haute sanitary budget.
0:00:40 — open the recording at 40 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) This meeting is for public comment only. There will be no council discussion or comments from the administration. This time I will open for any public comment. Hearing none, we will close public comment. At this time I entertain a motion to adjourn.
0:00:56 — open the recording at 56 secondsSpeaker 12 Second.
0:00:57 — open the recording at 57 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) It's been moved by Councilperson Azar, seconded by Councilperson Bolton, that we adjourn. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Nay.
0:01:26 — open the recording at 1 minute 26 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. 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. 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.
0:28:26 — open the recording at 28 minutes 26 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) Thank you.
0:28:56 — open the recording at 28 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 21 This evening, the pledge will be led by Councilperson Curtis DeBauw.
0:29:08 — open the recording at 29 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 23 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
0:29:13 — open the recording at 29 minutes 13 secondsSpeaker 25 and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
0:29:26 — open the recording at 29 minutes 26 secondsSpeaker 8 Thank you.
0:29:56 — open the recording at 29 minutes 56 secondsMichelle L. Edwards (clerk) Councilperson Laudamilz. Present. Councilperson Nation. Here. Councilperson Thompson. Here. All are present.
0:30:04 — open the recording at 30 minutes 4 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) At this time, we reserve up to 30 minutes for public comment on non-agenda items. Public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to address the council. It is not a question and answer period, and the speakers should not expect a back and forth discussion with the council members, staff, or others present. Please direct your comments to the council as a body and maintain respectful conduct so that everyone has a fair opportunity to be heard. We had nobody sign up in advance. Is there anyone from the public who wishes to make a comment on a non-agenda item?
0:30:31 — open the recording at 30 minutes 31 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) Hearing none, we will close public comment.
0:30:33 — open the recording at 30 minutes 33 secondsMichelle L. Edwards (clerk) Corrections to the journal of the preceding meeting. There are none. Communication from the mayor. There are none. Reports from city officials. There are none. Reports from Board of Public Works and Safety. There are none. Reports from standing committees. There are none. Reports from non-standing committees. There are none. I am previously tabled. There are none. Items, tax abatements for confirmation.
0:30:53 — open the recording at 30 minutes 53 secondsMichelle L. Edwards (clerk) There are none. Items on second reading. General Ordinance 10, 2026, Amending City Code, Chapter 7, Article 1, Division 2, Creating Section 7-40, Groundwater Usage Restrictions.
0:31:04 — open the recording at 31 minutes 4 secondsSpeaker 45 Petitioner.
0:31:05 — open the recording at 31 minutes 5 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) Good evening. Marcus Meyer, City Engineer. So last week we talked about this and there was some concern about any existing well users.
0:31:13 — open the recording at 31 minutes 13 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) So we have reached out to IDEM and it is their standard policy to push it through with the cleanup crew to check and see.
0:31:21 — open the recording at 31 minutes 21 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) We took it a step farther and went to our best resource that we know for wells, which is sewage billing, and Jesse helped out with that. There's 1,081 parcels inside of that. That area was there, and every user of the sewer has a water account associated with their sewer bill use.
0:31:37 — open the recording at 31 minutes 37 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) So we feel pretty confident there's nobody there relying on well water solely for their household use.
0:31:44 — open the recording at 31 minutes 44 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) I don't know if there's a way we'll ever know if there's not a well in there that's not been properly abandoned or not been abandoned.
0:31:50 — open the recording at 31 minutes 50 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) but the best due diligence done on that probably would have been done through the cleanup and that process through the survey process for cleanup to be approved. This is something I-DEMS came to us and they're comfortable pushing forward. It helps close the site that's taking resources but also helps protect the community because they've determined this legacy contamination of the ground makes groundwater unsafe for human use and consumption. So it's just kind of a protection
0:32:27 — open the recording at 32 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 52 effort and helping get some resources better used elsewhere.
0:32:33 — open the recording at 32 minutes 33 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) Thank you. Anyone from the public who wishes to comment on General Ordinance 10-2026? Hearing
0:32:43 — open the recording at 32 minutes 43 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) We will close public comment, open for council discussion.
0:32:46 — open the recording at 32 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 58 Mr. President. Councilperson Nation.
0:32:48 — open the recording at 32 minutes 48 secondsSpeaker 59 Marcus, I remember when this all started.
0:32:51 — open the recording at 32 minutes 51 secondsTodd Nation (councillor) This is Irmish Cleaners were the people who created these sites. But as you know, there were dry cleaners. We had facilities throughout the community. As you know, there were many more dry cleaners spread throughout the community. I also remember Pat Martin and his good work back when he worked for the city to identify brownfields. I wonder if there's any current project going where we're trying to follow up either on the work that Pat did back then or do a renewed effort to identify whether or not there are other messes like this that need to be cleaned up.
0:33:34 — open the recording at 33 minutes 34 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) That's a great question. We do still have a brownfields program. It's administered by Department of Redevelopment, now the brownfields funding. that does have further testing, we have a few properties that we're still looking at,
0:33:46 — open the recording at 33 minutes 46 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) one of them being 19th and Beach, we recall, is an old industrial property. Columbia Enamely, yes. Sorry, I've forgotten to call it 19th and Beach. That is the correct name. So as we come across them, we're trying to get some testing done. If there was one good thing that came from the dry cleaners, it's pretty common for them all to be polluted. So, I mean, that was an easy target. I don't know the history and area of those well enough, but those are being picked off. And I would hope that we're getting near the end of those. Of course, it is a legacy pollutant that comes there.
0:34:26 — open the recording at 34 minutes 26 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) The source can be stopped, and the rest of it that's buried under the ground below several probably miles of city is really difficult to clean up and really impossible.
0:34:42 — open the recording at 34 minutes 42 secondsSpeaker 52 But providing protections like this ordinance does lower the risk level.
0:34:50 — open the recording at 34 minutes 50 secondsTodd Nation (councillor) We also got some Brownfield money to test, and again, like you said, it's through redevelopment, to do some phase ones and maybe phase twos. And when I asked about that, I guess it was early this year or last year, many, if not all of those, were aimed at either Colombian enameling or the old Coke plant, 13th and Holman.
0:35:19 — open the recording at 35 minutes 19 secondsSpeaker 67 Is there anything recent with 13th and Holman?
0:35:25 — open the recording at 35 minutes 25 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) I'm not aware of anything extremely recent. I know on the Colombian enabling side, I know that we're working through the process of meeting the IFA's criteria for having authority to enter the property. That one's in a unique situation of ownership. I'm not super familiar with what's going on at 13th and Holman, though. Okay.
0:35:47 — open the recording at 35 minutes 47 secondsTodd Nation (councillor) Okay. I was also hopeful that some of that testing would be directed toward the former commercial solvents property in my district.
0:35:57 — open the recording at 35 minutes 57 secondsSpeaker 73 I believe some of that is planned as well. Okay, good.
0:36:01 — open the recording at 36 minutes 1 secondMarcus Meyer (staff) That's in a similar situation of getting the access agreement to be able to unlock those funds.
0:36:08 — open the recording at 36 minutes 8 secondsSpeaker 77 Yeah. Okay, I'll stop. Thanks. I appreciate your patience with me.
0:36:12 — open the recording at 36 minutes 12 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) I will note, hopefully, we do have some potential to tap into some IFA funds through some old sewer loans. They have a brownfield reserve, so once we tap into some of those access agreements, we're hopeful that we may be able to free up some, not exactly grant dollars, but funds that we don't have to pay back, if that makes sense.
0:36:37 — open the recording at 36 minutes 37 secondsTodd Nation (councillor) That's a new one on me. Tap through sewer funds?
0:36:42 — open the recording at 36 minutes 42 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) We've borrowed money in the past. So 13th and Holman is a great example. When we built the main wastewater treatment plant, we borrowed a significant amount of funds, and using the Brownfield Reserve Program, we were able to capture an interest rate reduction that added the funds that could help pay to clean up. And that's how the portion of 13th and Holman that was cleaned up was cleaned up. There may be a potential to tap into some of those funds on either future or existing loans with some of these. So we're hopeful to find some cleanup money, too.
0:37:16 — open the recording at 37 minutes 16 secondsTodd Nation (councillor) That's great.
0:37:17 — open the recording at 37 minutes 17 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) We don't know the number yet.
0:37:21 — open the recording at 37 minutes 21 secondsTodd Nation (councillor) So, you know, I remember, as I said, Pat and the good work that he did for the city. And then we've recently lost the other person who had the title of planner who was under your command, Matri Desai. Are we looking for another planner? Are we?
0:37:40 — open the recording at 37 minutes 40 secondsSpeaker 44 So right now, Maitrey has left town. She's still working for us and working with us remotely.
0:37:45 — open the recording at 37 minutes 45 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) And we'll probably be heading down that path soon. But for now, we have a good thing, and we're going to keep it going as long as we can, as long as it makes sense.
0:37:56 — open the recording at 37 minutes 56 secondsSpeaker 64 And when we hire the next planner, is that part of that person's job to be identifying these brownfields
0:38:05 — open the recording at 38 minutes 5 secondsTodd Nation (councillor) and identifying funds to get them cleaned up? Or is that just a target of opportunity when it shows up?
0:38:10 — open the recording at 38 minutes 10 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) I think it's probably, you know, it depends on who we hire and what their capabilities
0:38:15 — open the recording at 38 minutes 15 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) are. We always want to put, you know, whoever we hire in their strongest position. If it's a skill they have, certainly.
0:38:22 — open the recording at 38 minutes 22 secondsSpeaker 64 Well, I remember that Pat was really good at it.
0:38:26 — open the recording at 38 minutes 26 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) Yeah. It's a unique skill, and it would be something we do want to have. They'll
0:38:33 — open the recording at 38 minutes 33 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) be involved regardless because as much as we like to clean up, having a plan for after
0:38:40 — open the recording at 38 minutes 40 secondsMarcus Meyer (staff) the cleanup helps get the momentum going, right? MR.
0:38:44 — open the recording at 38 minutes 44 secondsSpeaker 84 Okay. I'll yield.
0:38:46 — open the recording at 38 minutes 46 seconds Thank you. MR.
0:38:48 — open the recording at 38 minutes 48 secondsTodd Nation (councillor) If there are no further questions, I move that we take action on General Ordinance
0:38:57 — open the recording at 38 minutes 57 secondsTodd Nation (councillor) 10, 2026. MR.
0:38:59 — open the recording at 38 minutes 59 secondsSpeaker 98 Second. MR.
0:39:01 — open the recording at 39 minutes 1 secondJames P. Chalos (councillor) Second. Second. Oh.
0:39:06 — open the recording at 39 minutes 6 secondsTodd Nation (councillor) Okay. I move for approval of General Ordinance Number 10-2026. Second.
0:39:11 — open the recording at 39 minutes 11 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) It's been moved by Councilperson Nation, seconded by Councilperson Chalos, that General Ordinance 10-2026 be approved. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay.
0:39:20 — open the recording at 39 minutes 20 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) Motion passes. General Ordinance 10-2026 is approved. Thank you.
0:39:24 — open the recording at 39 minutes 24 secondsSpeaker 104 Thank you, Marcus. Thank you, Michael.
0:39:26 — open the recording at 39 minutes 26 secondsMichelle L. Edwards (clerk) Next item.
0:39:27 — open the recording at 39 minutes 27 secondsMichelle L. Edwards (clerk) Preparation 13-2026, $604,377 from casino number 01800000 to casino principal on note number 018000003439178 for $541,536. and to casino interest on note 0180-0000-03-439-179 for $62,841. You must vote to take action.
0:40:01 — open the recording at 40 minutes 1 secondJessica Thome (staff) Petitioner. Good evening, Council. Jessica Thome, City Comptroller. This appropriation for the casino fund is basically just a prepayment for some fire leases for 2027. We saw an opportunity in the casino fund and we decided to take that just to relieve public safety as we try to do with casino. So the three leases that we are prepaying is the ladder number five truck, two engines, engine two and engine seven, and then three of our ambulances. So that total is $604,000. And if anybody has any questions, please let me know.
0:40:42 — open the recording at 40 minutes 42 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) Thank you. Does anyone from the public who wishes to comment on Appropriation 13-2026?
0:40:49 — open the recording at 40 minutes 49 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) Hearing none, we will close public comment and open to council discussion.
0:41:01 — open the recording at 41 minutes 1 secondSpeaker 118 Council President DeBond. Did you have a question? No.
0:41:03 — open the recording at 41 minutes 3 secondsCurtis DeBaun IV (councillor) Oh, okay. If there aren't any questions, I'll go ahead and move that we approve appropriation. I'm sorry. Take action on appropriation 13-2026. Second.
0:41:13 — open the recording at 41 minutes 13 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) It's been moved by Councilperson DeBond, seconded by Councilperson Loudermilk, that we take action on appropriation 13-2026. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. We may now take action on appropriation 13-2026. Councilperson DeBond.
0:41:27 — open the recording at 41 minutes 27 secondsSpeaker 124 Yeah, Mr. President, I make a motion that we approve appropriation 13-2026. Second.
0:41:34 — open the recording at 41 minutes 34 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) It's been moved by Councilperson DeBond, seconded by Councilperson Laudeville, that Appropriation 13-2026 be approved. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, say no. The motion passes. Appropriation 13-2026 is approved.
0:41:46 — open the recording at 41 minutes 46 secondsSpeaker 127 Thank you. Thank you.
0:41:47 — open the recording at 41 minutes 47 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) Before we adjourn, I'd like to remind everybody of a couple of upcoming meetings. On Wednesday, September 23rd at 530, we will have a special meeting for discussion on the budget between the Council, Mayor, and King Roller. No public comment will be allowed at that meeting. and then we will meet again for a regular meeting on October 8, 2026, at 6 p.m., where we will vote on the budget and salary ordinance. As a public comment, we'll be allowed at that meeting.
0:42:16 — open the recording at 42 minutes 16 secondsSpeaker 129 Move to adjourn.
0:42:18 — open the recording at 42 minutes 18 secondsAnthony J. Dinkel (chair) Second. It's moved by Councilperson A's, or seconded by Councilperson Loudermont, that we adjourn. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say no. The Carrow at City Council stands adjourned. Don't do it, Candace.
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