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PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF .-
TEE CITY OF RICHMOND, INDIANA, MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2003
The Common Council of the City of Richmond, Indiana met in regular session at 7:30 p.m., Monday,
December 1, 2003, in the Council Chambers in said City. President Bing Welch presided with the
following Councilmembers present: Howard "Jack" Elstro, Etta J. Lundy, Karl Sharp, Bruce Wissel, Larry
Parker, Stephen H. Rabe, Phil Dickman and Sarah "Sally" Hutton. The following business was conducted:
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
PRAYER BY PRESIDENT WELCH
ROLL CALL
Nine present.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Councilmember Lundy moved to approve the minutes of the November 17, 2003 meeting, second by
Councilmember Elstro and the motion was carried on a voice vote.
PRESENTATIONS, MEMORIALS, REMONSTRANCES, PETITIONS AND INTRODUCTIONS
MOTIONS OR RESOLUTIONS. (MUST BE IN WRITING)
RESOLUTION NO. 11 — 2003 — A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE ANNEXATION OF CERTAIN
PROPERTY INTO THE TOWN OF CENTERVILLE
Explaining the small maps he had distributed to Councilmembers, City Attorney Bob Bever said the map
shows the area which Centerville wishes to annex. He said shown on the map is also the current two-mile
boundary around the current city limits of Centerville and it shows how that two-mile boundary would be
extended based upon the proposed annexation, as well as the current two-mile boundary from Richmond's
city limits. In saying that, Bever pointed out that there exists an egg -shaped area where there is currently an
overlap of two-mile fringe jurisdictions.
Continuing, he said, what has occurred in the past is, through the County Commissioners and agreement of
Centerville and Richmond, a kind of a bold gray line going down through the middle of that egg separates
what is currently Richmond's actual two-mile fringe jurisdiction and Centerville's two-mile fringe
jurisdiction with an area that is colored being outside of both of those agreed areas.
He said it was Richmond's intention for next year to present as part of a master plan a request for extending
its two-mile jurisdictional area due to the annexation that occurred a few years ago for the Midwest
Industrial Park. He pointed out on the map exactly where that is located, adding that this is a little
premature of what the City was going to do but because of Centerville's request for this annexation it
caused an acceleration of the discussion of the topic.
Bever explained that the state law now requires that any time a town asks for annexation, if the area that
they are annexing comes within three miles of a city limits it must get the approval of the legislative body
of that city (in this case meaning Richmond) in order to approve the annexation. He stated that the area in
question is within two miles. However, that is why Centerville has been required to come to the City of
Richmond to ask for the Council's approval to the annexation and it was due to the timing of that that the
City of Richmond felt it made the most sense to then go back to Centerville to ask for its approval of some
sort of compromise agreement on the areas that are currently outside of both the two-mile fringes that will
ultimately need to be placed in one of the other two-mile fringes.
Continuing, Bever said, the administration had proposed to Centerville (and this was presented to the Plan
Commission when they took up the resolution) that the two blocks in green (on the map) be placed in the
City. of Richmond's two-mile jurisdiction. He said that would be joining the interstate and adjoining the
industrial park to the west and also adjoining it to the south. Then, he said, in turn Richmond would agree
that the city of Centerville could claim the two-mile jurisdictional area over the two orange areas on the
map, which is the interstate exchange at the Centerville Road exit and the other orange square that would
be neater to Centerville that would make sense for them to exercise jurisdiction of those two blocks.
With that proposal to them, Bever said, the Plan Commission heard from Centerville, discussed it and
ultimately decided that they would recommend to Council the approval of the annexation subject to
Centerville's approval of the compromise on the two-mile jurisdictional areas that would ultimately go to
the Commissioners. Bever said that through Planning Director Bob Goodwin he understands that
Centerville has rejected Richmond's proposal for a compromise. He added that the administration of the
City of Richmond at this time believes that until things can be worked out it is asking Council to table this
resolution.
Councilmember Wissel reported on the Planning Advisory Commission meeting and voted for the
annexation approval as long as it met the compromise offered by the City Administration of Richmond.
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Common Council Minutes Cont'd
December 1, 2003
Page 2
Councilmember Dickman moved to table the resolution, second by Councilmember Wissel and the motion
was carried on a voice vote. President Welch said the resolution would remain tabled until brought back
before Council by the City Attorney.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE MAYOR
Mayor Shelley Miller announced that she had received notice from the Department of Natural Resources
that the City has obtained the status of a certified local government which allows it to perform all of the
preservation activities that will be delegated from the state to allow this to be done at the local level
working through the historic preservation commission. She added that there have been many times that the
City would ask for a review to be performed at the state level that it would take in excess of six months.
REPORT FROM BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY
Minutes of the Board of Works meetings of November 6 and 13, 2003 were in the Council packets.
REPORTS FROM DEPARTMENT HEADS
REPORTS FROM STANDING COMMITTEES
REPORTS FROM SPECIAL COMMITTEES
REPORTS FROM ORGANIZATIONS
MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS
Councilmember Rabe announced that donations are currently being accepted for wounded U.S. troops who
are currently at the Air Force Base hospital in Germany. He said these could be dropped off at the
Army/Navy Store at 612 North A Street or Health Care Professionals Credit Union at 1810 Williamsburg
Pike.
President Welch asked three Centerville High School students who were in the audience to stand and be
recognized. Councilmember Hutton also noted that Boy Scouts from Troop 114 were in the audience.
President Welch asked them to come- forward and state what badge they were working on. As they
introduced themselves, each said the name of the badge -was the Citizenship and the Community Merit
Badge.
Another visitor came forward and introduced herself as Dee Williams, saying she hailed from Colorado and
is a student at Earlham College and a Bonner Scholar.
ORDINANCES ON FIRST READING
Councilmember Elstro moved to suspend the rules and read Ordinance No. 88 — 2003 on first reading and
read by title only, second by Councilmember Sharp and the motion was carried on a voice vote.
ORDINANCE NO. 88 - 2003
The Clerk read Ordinance No. 88 — 2003 — A SPECIAL ORDINANCE VACATING A PUBLIC WAY
President Welch said this ordinance would go to Planning Commission which would meet December 18,
2003.
Councilmember Wissel suggested that it might be a good idea to say that the location mentioned in this
ordinance is South 7 h and South M Street in the 1200 block which is near the Recycling Center.
ORDINANCES ON SECOND READING AND ENGROSSMENT
Councilmember Parker moved to amend the agenda and bring Ordinance No. 23 — 2003 to second reading,
second by Councilmember Sharp and the motion was carried on a voice vote.
City Attorney Bob Bever explained that earlier this year there was discussion about the general fine for all
those items in Richmond Code that didn't otherwise have a fine was $50 and because of the major ones that
were being utilized, the Law Department was asked to draft an ordinance to change that $50 to $100.
However, he said, before taking final action he asked the Assistant City Attorney to go through the code to
see how many items that general fine applied to and came up with a list of 113. At that point in time, he
said, a committee was appointed to go through that list and after doing that, the committee made a
recommendation that many of the fines were justified in being increased to $100, and others were justified
in staying the same at $50 and some were so antiquated that they could be completely eliminated.
Common Council Minutes Cont'd
December 1, 2003
Page 3
Bever said he had presented to Council tonight a proposed Amended Ordinance No. 23— 2003 and pointed
out some of the changes he had made. He asked Councilmembers to look at the listed 113 items he alluded
to earlier, pointing out that if the word "same" was at the left of the item, it meant that the $50 fine could
stay intact; and those that had the $100 figure at the left.it was felt that the fine could be increased; and if it
had the word "omit" at the left; he said it meant that those could be omitted. He said .there were 53 at $100;
52 at $50; and 8 eliminated.
He asked that Councilmembers look the list over and if they thought changes should be made to bring that
to the next meeting of Council when Amended Ordinance No. 23— 2003 would come back on second
reading..
ORDINANCE NO. 85 — 2003
The Clerk read Ordinance No. 85 — 2003 — A SPECIAL ORDINANCE ANNEXING CERTAIN
CONTIGUOUS LANDS INTO THE CITY OF RICHMOND
Councilmember Wissel reported on the findings of the Planning Commission after its public hearing on
November 20, saying that this is a voluntary annexation of 531/2 acres. He said this is a subdivision put
together by Jerry Kircher and it was one of the conditions that the Planning Commission had put on the
development for approval that it would go forward and request annexation. He said the vote was 10-0 to
recommend the annexation to Council.
Assistant City Attorney Joel Harvey explained that when a landowner owns 100 percent of the property
contiguous to the City and files a voluntary petition to have that property annexed into the City, the Council
must have a public hearing on it, which is taking place tonight, and cannot take action on that ordinance for
another 14 days. Therefore any action to be taken must be held off until the next meeting, he said, adding
that prior to its passing the Council must adopt the resolution which would detail how certain capital and
non -capital services would be administered to the new area. He said he had spoken to the Police Chief, Fire
Chief and head of the Sanitary District and all three feel there would be no additional cost required to this
annexation. He also said Kircher is taking the responsibility for any of the cost for additional sanitary lines
or sewage lines required for the subdivision.
Bever recommended that at the next meeting when action is taken on this ordinance there will be a
resolution stating that there will be no additional costs then it is in strict compliance with the statute.
Councilmember Parker brought up the subject about sidewalks and streetlights and whether or not they are
included in this. Andy Craig of Beals Surveying said that subject did not come into the discussion at the
Planning Commission. Councilmember Parker said he would like to see that made a condition when
something like this comes before Council. What ensued was discussion on that subject which resulted in a
comment by Bever who said it is something that he would look into to see if there is anything Council
could d o when they approve the annexation to have that condition at least noted on the deeds of those
potential homeowners.
President Welch said that Ordinance No. 85 — 2003 would remain on second reading and at the next
Council meeting on December 15 any amendments or changes that might be necessary could be made and
that would be followed by an engrossment.
ORDINANCES ON THIRD READING
There were none.
President Welch read into the record a letter from the Pentecost family which has operated a farm on Gaar
Jackson Road for over 60 years in which they stated that it is their wish to be "under the jurisdiction of the
town of Centerville and to remain zoned for agriculture." President Welch commented that that would be
decided as the annexation resolution is discussed along with the boundaries of jurisdiction between
Richmond and Centerville. Bever stated that the Pentecost family owns property that is in the top green
block that the administration has asked to be part of Richmond's two-mile fringe area.
CALL FOR ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, on a motion duly made, seconded and passed, the meeting was adjourned
at 8:15 P.M.
ATTEST:
Norma Schroeder, Clerk
Bing Welch, President