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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCM-11-01-93CARMEL CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Date: November 1, 1993 7:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS / ONE CIVIC SQUARE The regular meeting of the Carmel City Council was called to order by Mayor Ted Johnson. Councilors Frank Fleming, James Quinn, Alan Potasnik, Tom Kendall, Luci Snyder and Tim Story were in attendance. City Attorney Gordon Byers and Clerk-Treasurer Susan Repp were also in attendance. The invocation was given by Councilor Quinn followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Councilor Potasnik made a motion to approve APPROVAL OF MINUTES: the minutes of the regular meeting of October 18, 1993 with an amendment to the third page, second to the last paragraph, the word "and" to be changed to the word "an". The motion was seconded by Councilor Story. All members voted aye. Motion carried. Councilor Story made a motion to approve the minutes of the executive session on October 18, 1993. The motion was seconded by Councilor Quinn. All members voted aye. (Members Kendall and Snyder abstained from voting. Motion carried. Seymour RECOGNITION OF CITIZENS WHO WISH TO ADDRESS THE COUNCIL: Hoffman, 4262 East 116th Street, Carmel, Indiana asked for consideration in the reimbursement of his sewer and water availability connection fees. Mr. Hoffman presented each member and the Mayor with 41 pages of documents regarding his difficulty in being hooked up to city water and sewer. Mr. Hoffman outlined the 18 years of legal and bureaucratic problems he had to go through to get hooked up to the city's water and sewer system. Mr. Hoffman stated he paid his fees and was finally connected to the sewer in 1991 but was upset to learn recently, that his neighbor's fees were waived by the Mayor in July of 1993. Mr. Hoffman presented a copy of the document that showed the fees were waived. Mr. Hoffman was also concerned that he had called City Hall many times this week, and in his opinion was lied to by 3 members of this administration. After Mr. Hoffman completed his summary he respectfully asked that he be reimbursed for his fees. The Mayor responded by saying he had been on vacation and had just returned today at 1:00 and was not aware of Mr. Hoffman's problem but he would check into the matter. The Mayor said the last he heard was back in 1991 when the Clerk-Treasurer brought this matter to his attention but understood Mr. Hoffman was finally hooked on to the sewer and was finally settled and satisfied with the results. Mr. Hoffman stated he was settled and satisfied until he found out, especially after he was told that he shouldn't find out, that his neighbors had been exempt from the very fee he had to pay. Mr. Hoffman felt everyone should have been treated equally. Mr. Hoffman said he was disturbed to learn that the neighbor did not hook-up in the time frame set out by law and didn't have to pay the fee. Councilor Quinn asked Mr. Hoffman to allow the Mayor two weeks to look into the matter. Quinn said he felt confident that the Mayor could or would give Mr. Hoffman a satisfactory answer, but if in two weeks nothing had been resolved, Mr. Hoffman should return to the Council for further action. Councilor Kendall asked the city attorney to render an opinion at the next Council meeting regarding who has authority to waive a sewer and water connection fee and on what grounds could they waive the fee. Byers said he would do that and would also provide a summary for the Council on the legal remedy for reimbursement of the fee for Mr. Hoffman. Byers stated he felt the answer would probably be judicial and could also be with Mr. Hoffman petitioning for disannexation from the City. Councilor Quinn made a motion to add the agenda item MAYORAL VETO: on mayoral veto for Ordinances D-1022, 1024 and 1025. The motion was seconded by Council Story. All members voted aye. Councilor Story made a motion to sustain the Mayor's veto. The motion was seconded by Quinn. After much discussion Councilor Story re-phrased his motion and exchanged the word sustain to over- ride. The motion was seconded by Quinn. The Mayor presented three new or amended ordinances and asked for consideration. The Clerk-Treasurer objected stating the new ordinances had not been properly added to the agenda and these new ordinances should be assigned new numbers and treated as new and separate ordinances and would return at the next regular meeting for a first reading. The Council agreed. The council unanimously voted nay. The Mayor's veto was sustained. The Clerk-Treasurer asked the Mayor if he would outline the changes he has proposed so that everyone would not have to go through the vetoed ordinances and compare them line for line and word for word to find the proposed changes in the new ordinance. The Mayor said he would. Councilor Kendall made a motion to approve claims dated CLAIMS: October 17, 1993 in the amount of $354,666.81 and to approve claims dated October 19, 1993 in the amount of $1,021,499.54. The motion was seconded by Quinn. All members voted aye. Motion carried. SECOND READING/ORDINANCE Z-288, 10605 BELLEFOUNTAIN/R-1 TO B-2: Councilor Kendall made a motion to approve ordinance Z-288. The motion was seconded by Councilor Potasnik. Councilor Quinn spoke in opposition to the ordinance. Quinn said that he continues to speak out for affordable housing in the community and these types of re-zones help that problem. Mayor Johnson called for the question. Councilor Quinn voted nay and all other members voted aye. Ordinance Z-288 passed by a majority vote. FIRST READING, ORDINANCE D-1030, STOP INTERSECTION ON BROOKSHIRE PARKWAY & BRIARWOOD TRACE, HAZELWOOD DRIVE & BRIARWOOD TRACE, BROOKSHIRE PARKWAY AND CHEVAL PLACE AND HAZELWOOD DRIVE AND ABBOT Councilor Quinn made a motion to introduce Ordinance D-1030 PLACE: and suspend with the rules for reading of the same. The motion was seconded by Councilor Kendall. Ordinance D-1030 will return on the next agenda for discussion and second reading. FIRST READING/ORDINANCE D-1031/ADVANCE PAYMENT FOR TRAVEL EXPENSES: Councilor Quinn made a motion to introduce Ordinance D-1031 and suspend the rules for reading of the same provided the Clerk- Treasurer would give a brief explanation of the ordinance. The motion was seconded by Councilor Story. Repp stated that it was the current policy of the City to issue advance payments for travel for hotel, airfare and registration in advance that there wasn't any home rule or state law that gave her authority to do so and was looking for this ordinance to do that. She also explained this ordinance would eliminate the use of cash advancements for per diem and personal expenses for travel from funds that were under the control of the various departments. Repp went on to say that she discussed this with the State Board of Accounts field examiner and while he said he wouldn't take audit exception to the advance payments for hotel, airfare and registration fee he agreed that it was always a good idea to put policy such as this in ordinance form. Councilor Kendall asked what would happen if an employee were advanced money for a hotel and then chose to stay in a cheaper hotel and keep the money. The clerk-treasurer stated in all cases where there was an issue like this or an over-payment of wages, the State Board of Accounts would be alerted, they would complete their audit, issue their findings, ask the employee to pay the money back and if the employee refused the matter would be turned over to the Attorney General's office for collection. FIRST READING/ORDINANCE D-1032/AN AMENDMENT TO THE 1994 SALARY Councilor Kendall made a motion to ORDINANCE/UTILITY DEPARTMENT: introduce Ordinance D-1032 and suspend the rules for reading of the same provided the Mayor or the utility manager would give a brief explanation. The motion was seconded by Councilor Snyder. James Dougherty, Utilities Manager stated he wanted the position of Administrative Assistant because all the other departments have one and he would like to be afforded the same. Dougherty explained that person would be primarily responsible to the department head for doing their major and more sensitive types of work. Dougherty explained that Lee Dolen would be retiring from his full- time position and would like to make himself available to work for the utility on a part-time basis so he is asking for a permanent part-time assistant to the manager. The next position would be temporary for training the new Assistant to Manager prior to Lee Dolen's retirement. The senior accountant position would be to assist the CPA. Dougherty explained the current CPA needs help with the work-load. Dougherty then requested a higher salary of $10.00 an hour for temporary help rather than the $8.50 that was passed by the Council in August. Dougherty said he has problems finding qualified persons to work in the billing department for anything less than $9.50 an hour. A second reading and further discussion will take place at the next meeting of the Council. FIRST READING/ORDINANCE D-1033/SALARY FOR 1994/CITY JUDGE: Councilor Quinn made a motion to introduce Ordinance D-1033 and suspend the rules for reading of the same and would provide a brief explanation. The motion was seconded by Councilor Kendall. Councilor Quinn stated that last year the Judge's salary had been reduced based on the work hours and caseload and the over-all future of the Court. Quinn said that since the new Judge has taken over and most of the Council had made up it's mind that they understand the court is a good function of the City and serves the people well at the local level, that the Judge's duties necessitate a full-time salary. The Councilor proposed a salary of $1,923.08 Bi-Weekly for the City Judge position. The Clerk explained that before action could be taken on this ordinance, the ordinance had to be published, a 30 day remonstration had to lapse and a public hearing held at the next available Council meeting. The Clerk stated she had advertised the ordinance and December 6th has been set for the final disposition of the ordinance. Councilor Potasnik did ask the ordinance be amended to reflect the year of 1994 to begin the salary rather than 1993 as typed on the ordinance. Councilor Quinn seconded the motion to amend. All members voted aye. Motion carried. Councilor Quinn made a motion to approve the transfers, TRANSFERS: CC-11-1-93-1 for the Plan Commission in the amount of $270 from office supplies to stationery and printed materials. The second transfer was Resolution CC-11-1-93-2 for Department of Community Development in the amount of $100 from promotional and special printing into library reference material. The motion was seconded by Councilor Kendall. Councilor Quinn called for the question. All members voted aye. Councilor Story stated that he WOODGATE/COMPLAINTS FROM RESIDENTS: had, along with fellow members of the Council, received approximately 80 letters from residents of Woodgate charging that after homes had been sold and the neighborhood developed that someone is coming in and attempting to change the rules. Councilor Story went on to say this is the exact platform that he and other members of the Council were elected on and that the City was going to have a more orderly form of development. Story stated he had great confidence that the Plan Commission will see fit to up-hold that line of thinking. Councilor Quinn then stated the forming of the Park Board cost the Council 2 seats on the Plan Commission and again, this is one of the main reasons he disapproves of the way the Park Board was formed. Councilor Story urged all residents to attend the public hearing before the Plan Commission. Councilor Kendall asked the Mayor to WINTER BALL/ATTORNEY FEES: separate out the attorney fees for the Winter Ball so they could be considered separately. The Mayor said he would do so. There being no further business before the Council the meeting was duly adjourned. Respectfully submitted, _____________________________________ Susan W. Repp, Clerk-Treasurer Approved: _____________________________________ Ted Johnson, Mayor Attest: _________________________________________ Susan W. Repp, Clerk-Treasurer