The Common Council of the City of West Lafayette, Indiana met in the Board of Works Room at City Hall on April 27, 2000 at the hour of 4:30 p.m.

Mayor Margerum, who presided, called the meeting to order.

PRESENT: Cohen Keen Mills O'Callaghan Satterly Sparby Windler

Also present were City Attorney Bauman, City Engineer Snyder, and Assistant City Engineer Emmanuel Ngwu.

Mayor Margerum said for our visitors, the purpose of the Pre-Council meeting is to review the agenda to see if there is additional information that is needed. We do not take any final votes unless we have notified people that there will be a final vote. Generally, it is just information for the Council to give them a heads-up, if they want more information, or there is something that needs to be corrected. It is not the time to debate. It is a time to ask questions. Some of the people here will have questions, but the purpose of this is not to debate the issue; that is Monday night.

Ordinance No. 8-00 An Additional Appropriation (Fire Department) (Prepared by the Clerk-Treasurer)

Mayor Margerum said the additional appropriation for the Fire Department is on public hearing and final reading. This is to appropriate money that has been donated to them for Public Relations.

There was no discussion.

Ordinance No. 10-00 An Ordinance to Set Wastewater Treatment Utility Rates (Prepared by the City Attorney)

Mayor Margerum said we will have Gary Malone here on Monday night. Unless you have some more information or questions that I need to forward to him, you might want to wait until Monday for that.

Councilor Satterly said the revised data, is that going to be handed out?

Mayor Margerum said no, because all I have is the draft. So I would rather have the revised one that Gil [Councilor Satterly] is talking about, as Purdue has discovered an error in their billing. They have gone back seven years to correct that error. Have you gotten the check [referring to Clerk-Treasurer Rhodes]? Or they have notified us?

Clerk-Treasurer Rhodes said the money is in the bank.

Mayor Margerum said they have sent a check for $423,000. They had made an error in their calculations, so they have sent us a check for that amount. So I asked Mr. Malone if he would recalculate the rates based on the additional dollars that we received. All I have is a draft, so I would rather wait. If you want to postpone for a month then to look at it, that's fine. But I think we ought to wait and have him give the explanation of how he did the calculations and how it was done.

Councilor Sparby said so Purdue gave a check for $423,000 for back rates. Then the supposed unexplained extra flow we had last year will continue?

Mayor Margerum said yes, it will. That was, evidently the source of that, because that went back to October when they started with the additional income.

Councilor Sparby said that should have a dramatic impact on what he presented.

Mayor Margerum said the $500,000 addition was calculated in the rates. That was in there. That was carried forward. That was already taken into account.

Councilor Sparby said but the $423,000 was not.

Mayor Margerum said it was not taken into account, because we didn't know it at the time.

Councilor Mills said how will that affect this since we voted on it once already?

Councilor Sparby said we can amend it or we can postpone the vote and vote on it in the June meeting, if we want additional information.

Councilor O'Callaghan said it would still be second reading in June, even if we change it, it would still be second reading and so if we still wanted something to take into effect in July, we would still have time.

Mayor Margerum said yes, July 1 is the effective date.

Councilor Sparby said we can actually vote on it at the July meeting and have it still effective July 1 because the billing is done a month later. We've done that before.

Mayor Margerum said but that depends on the billing cycle. I think it is preferable to do it earlier because the billing cycle, some of it begins before, and then the bill comes after the first of July and they have to prorate it, so it would be preferable to do it before. We'll postpone any discussion of that until Monday night when we get the additional information.

Ordinance No. 11-00 An Additional Appropriation (Mayor, Kalberer Road Improvement Fund) (Prepared by the Clerk-Treasurer)

Mayor Margerum said there is a $2,000 City contribution to the July 4, 2000 Stars and Stripes event. That was one that we did last year also. Each one, Lafayette, West Lafayette, and the County, have each contributed it. They raise about $30,000 or so in private contributions and then the two cities. Purdue provides the location. Although they pay some of that, they discount some of the cost of Purdue.

Councilor Sparby said wasn't that in the budget?

Mayor Margerum said no, I didn't put it in again. If you remember, you had an additional appropriation last year for this also. I should have put it under Public Relations, but I neglected to do so.

Councilor Cohen said what would be the status of that next year with all the construction down there? Will it be at another site?

Mayor Margerum said well, it's at the Slayter Center, so I don't think it will be affected by that. It might be that we get more traffic down Cherry Lane and Stadium extended because of it, but I don't think it will be any problem.

Councilor O'Callaghan said the City of Lafayette and the County, are their contributions along the same line?

Mayor Margerum said it's more. I can't remember how much it is, but theirs is more. I think it's more like $5,000. I'm pretty sure Lafayette's is $5,000. I don't remember what the County was. But I think the idea was this is a community event and we all benefit. All of our residents benefit by it, so the Stars and Stripes Committee is just an ad hoc committee that devotes their time and effort to it and there is a tremendous amount of volunteer work that goes into it. This is really supportive of the total community event which I think is, by everybody's rights, has been a very popular one and one that everyone enjoys. So that is our portion of it.

Improvement of Kalberer Road is appropriating payments in lieu of improvements and interest earnings. Scott [City Engineer Snyder], maybe you want to bring them up-to-date as to where we are on the improvement and how much it entails.

City Engineer Snyder said Kalberer Road from Salisbury to Soldiers Home has been partially widened during the previous approval of phases of University Farm. The last phase of University Farm subdivision is not yet accomplished. They are widening and properties on the north side of Kalberer have not accomplished their widening. So rather than have them do it individually as previously, we drafted contract agreements with all those property owners, of which there are about four, and asked them if they would contribute payment in lieu of their construction and we will then construct the remainder under one contract possibly, or two phases, in the future. So they put that money in escrow. So the first thing was to escrow the money. The second thing is to appropriate the money back into whatever fund so we can actually spend it on Kalberer Road. We already have a contract with a consultant to design the widening. It is a pretty straight shot from one end to the other.

Mayor Margerum said the ordinance to establish the fund is Ordinance No. 12-00, the additional appropriation is Ordinance No. 11-00.

Councilor Keen said we are just appropriating this money now so the construction can go ahead and begin and then get reimbursed by these other people.

Mayor Margerum said yes, we have a cost, too. This will be their portion.

City Attorney Bauman said no, I think they are escrowing money now. It won't be a question of being reimbursed later.

Councilor Keen said they are going ahead.

City Engineer Snyder said they are reimbursing us now, I guess, you would say.

Mayor Margerum said this establishes the fund that money goes into, the escrow fund. But the City will be entering into the contract to do the road and then we will draw from that escrow fund.

City Attorney Bauman said it was exactly the same process that was used with the Blackbird Farm development and Lindberg Road.

Mayor Margerum said Greenwalt, Calvary Baptist Church, and Purdue Research Foundation are the property owners abutting Kalberer Road.

Ordinance No. 12-00 An Ordinance Providing for the Establishment of the Kalberer Road Improvement Fund (Prepared by the City Attorney)

There was no further discussion.

Ordinance No. 13-00 An Ordinance to Amend the West Lafayette City Code on Wastewater Treatment (Prepared by the City Attorney)

Mayor Margerum said Bob [City Attorney Bauman], could you go over that. Then I have asked Scott [City Engineer Snyder] to bring a map so people can see what it is we are talking about in terms of the two pieces, about service to the area, formerly West Lafayette Regional Sewer District, and the other area. Will you explain the purpose of those two?

City Attorney Bauman said when we adopted the sewer use ordinance, the area which was served west of town was in what is called the West Lafayette Regional Sewer District. That was a regional sewer district that was formed many years ago when a private utility went bankrupt and the Indiana State Board of Health ordered West Lafayette to receive the sewage for treatment. At the time we passed this ordinance, we were still treating that sewage, pursuant to contract with the Regional Sewer District, which was covered by subsection 1 of 30.06.9. Since that time, the Regional Sewer District dissolved itself. They just said we've had enough fun, and went away. So those assets have become a direct part of the West Lafayette system. This left it in a gray area that we needed to clean up, so I've drafted the language of 30.06.9.3.

Mayor Margerum said that says service to the area served by the facilities formerly a part of the West Lafayette Regional Sewer District.

City Attorney Bauman said then we were approached by the Morrisseys who would like to put in a development on Road 75 East. Apparently, some of the land owners between the current city limits and that project do not wish to currently be annexed and so this provision would allow us to provide service to that development.

Councilor Sparby said why would we want to do that?

City Attorney Bauman said I don't know why you would want to do that. The Mayor asked me to prepare this because she felt that it, I think, made sense for the City to do that because the City will be growing into that area. It is a part of the service area that was delineated and approved by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management under the 20-year facility plan which this body has also approved.

Mayor Margerum said Scott [City Engineer Snyder], why don't you talk a little bit about the service area and which service area we serve and then American Suburban and just a little bit about those.

City Engineer Snyder said I'll explain the boundaries shown on the map first. The red boundary, which extends south clear to the river, is the franchised area that can be served by Suburban Utility's sewer system. The orange boundary is the City of West Lafayette City limits. The overlap that we show here is because the city has annexed this portion here and actually overlapped into the Suburban Utility's area. The green boundary is the old West Lafayette Regional Sewer District. The yellow boundaries are the Komark/PRF-West Lafayette agreement to transfer an area, out of the old boundaries of that district and transfer this area in. Those are an equivalent exchange of areas, one within, one without. This property of less than 50 acres on the left of 75 East is the current request for service that we have been discussing. This is a possibility of a future additional service area. Other areas that the City serves with City sewer are delineated in green here. That's the Soldier's Home; that's the County park, the amphitheater; this is Wabash Hospital and this is the North River Road sewer line coming all the way down here into West Lafayette to the lift station. We serve many homes along that sewer which face the river and are outside the City limits. Some other areas that are outside the City limits here are Indian Village and a few other little subdivisions along Soldier's Home Road. Any questions about the boundaries?

Councilor Mills said how long have you served those homes along the river there?

City Engineer Snyder said that main sewer was build in [19]74 or [19]76, that era. There was a rash of connections immediately, then sporadically ever since.

Councilor Keen said how far is it from the northern part of Westport out to the southern edge of this development?

City Engineer Snyder said that's Westport. That is 1,000 feet to the inch and it is four or five inches, less than a mile.

Councilor Keen said we don't have a line there now.

Mayor Margerum said it is the responsibility of the property owner to build that line.

City Engineer Snyder said we serve Westport, but the main sewer that serves Westport runs right down through here. They would have to come from there to there.

Councilor Sparby said is that to be single-family homes?

Mayor Margerum said they are asking for a rezone, I think it is R1B.

Councilor Mills said it is single-family.

Mayor Margerum said that's been heard once?

Councilor Mills said it's been heard once and approved.

City Engineer Snyder said there is 4.1 homes to the acre.

Mayor Margerum said of course, that does not come back to us, that is still in the County.

Councilor Cohen said that is not annexation, that is just the sewer.

Mayor Margerum said that is not annexation.

Councilor O'Callaghan said it is outside the boundary of American Suburban.

City Engineer Snyder said yes, this is the Suburban boundaries.

Councilor O'Callaghan said it's like a gray area.

City Engineer Snyder said when the North River Road sewer was designed, it was designed to come up through here and then cross somewhere in this area and serve extended land on the north and south. It included enough to go north a little ways. I don't know if it would be big enough to serve everything with varying densities, but that's what it was designed to do.

Councilor Satterly said this Morrissey property, you would say, is in the West Lafayette sewer district?

City Engineer Snyder said it is in limbo because it's not in the City and it's not in service area of Suburban Utilities.

City Attorney Bauman said it was within the area identified in the facility plan which was approved by the City Council and accepted by IDEM as a future service area for the City.

Mayor Margerum said American Suburban above that red line would serve that area, or they have the right to serve that area. Isn't that right? But below that, we would have the right to serve that area. And if we don't, then they could move into that. I think it is a question of whether it would be, in terms of future planning, better to have it within the West Lafayette sewer district.

Councilor Sparby said where is the lift station going in?

Mayor Margerum said it is already in.

City Engineer Snyder said which one?

Councilor Sparby said where is the lift station at in that area?

City Engineer Snyder said it is behind Harrison School. You mean for Suburban Utilities or are you talking about for West Lafayette? Westport, second phase is the north half, roughly, of this rectangle here. That required a lift station to get into our gravity sewers in the south half of that subdivision. It is a very small lift station and it is capable of serving a certain area around about it.

Councilor Sparby said is it capable of handling that property?

Councilor Keen said would we have to have another lift station.?

Councilor O'Callaghan said it could go to the North River Road.

City Engineer Snyder said I don't think it's capable at this point. It is expandable, like most of them are.

Councilor Sparby said so it could incur additional capital expenditure.

Mayor Margerum said no.

Councilor Keen said would that be the responsibility of the property owner?

Mayor Margerum said that would be up to the property owner.

City Engineer Snyder said it is kind of a design question and a choice question by the City. If we wanted to do it and let them design it that way, we could, I suppose. It's almost better to let it be independent.

Councilor Keen said I'm assuming that once this development would get on line, should this go through, then they would pay the appropriate flow rate.

Mayor Margerum said of course, plus the hook up, tap fees.

Councilor Keen said one other concern I was thinking about. On here, item (c) in 30.06.9.4, it says that one of the requirements would be that if such area should become a part of the corporate limits of the City in the future. It doesn't give a time frame there, obviously. I guess, one of the questions that is plaguing us now is police and fire service for that area. If at such time this did become a part of the corporate limits, then we would obviously have to provide those services, as well. Have we given any thought toward that end?

Councilor Windler said we only cover fire and service within the City limits. In order to annex out that far, you have to annex in contiguous boundaries. So we would have to annex in sections along there. So we don't have to provide fire and police right now. That is years down the road. When we get to that point, there is going to be a future Council some day, then they have the option, because of this agreement right here, of annexing at that time. But this isn't something that we are going to just run out and do next month.

Councilor Keen said I understand that.

Mayor Margerum said in fact, in any annexation, there is a very elaborate procedure about how you are going to provide police and fire. If you remember, even just on the Greenwalt and the Calvary Baptist, there is a very specific area as to how you are going to provide police and fire and street. So you have to provide city services up to that quality that you identified in the plan.

Councilor Sparby said if the Council has responsibility for annexation issues, why would the Council want to assign over authority for sewer connection to the Board of Works instead of retaining that authority themselves that they currently have?

Mayor Margerum said that's not really connected because this cannot be annexed because it's not contiguous.

Councilor Sparby said but if you read the way this ordinance is written . . .

City Attorney Bauman said this has to do with the sewer connection. Any decision on annexation would remain with the Council.

Councilor Sparby said but the sewer connection would be under the assumption that the property would eventually be annexed. So why would the Council want to give that authority up?

City Attorney Bauman said under State law, the utility is governed by the Board of Works or utility board and they are delegated the exclusive management of the utility, other than setting the rates. Under State law, the Council has the sole authority to decide on annexation. It just follows the statutory scheme from the State.

Councilor Satterly said just because the city utility provides sewer service doesn't guarantee we are going to annex them later.

Councilor Keen said according to this it says if we provide that, if such areas should become part of the corporate limits in the future.

Mayor Margerum said it says "if," it's not "should."

Councilor Sparby said the way I read this is we would be giving authority to the Board of Works to approve service or connection to any group that they want. The Council would then have no say in it.

Mayor Margerum said as Bob [Bauman] explained, that isn't.

Councilor Sparby said then why is it in the ordinance?

Mayor Margerum said this is the sewer use ordinance that governs all this. You are not giving it up, because you didn't ever have that ability. This is the policy that the service to any area that is expected to become a part of the corporate limits. It is kind of a general statement.

Councilor Windler said it is saying that eventually one day, if we get out that far, the residents in that area, because of the agreement with the developer, they cannot oppose annexation.

Mayor Margerum said this has been in the City since 1976. It's never been annexed and there is no intention to do so in the near future.

Councilor Sparby said but this is not the way the current ordinance is written. The Board of Works does not currently have the authority to grant connection to any group that approaches them. Is that correct, Bob?

City Attorney Bauman said yes, I think that is correct. If you don't want the Morrissey project to have service, then you want to vote against this ordinance. It's that simple.

Councilor Sparby said OK, that's what I thought. Thank you.

Councilor O'Callaghan said but this doesn't give authority for the Board of Works to approve other people coming in. This isn't a blanket approval.

City Attorney Bauman said no, it restricts the circumstances.

Councilor Windler said if we should vote against this, then where are they going to go for sewers? Obviously, American Suburban Utilities.

Councilor Sparby said or septic.

Councilor Windler said I doubt if they could do that though, it's so close to the Wabash.

City Attorney Bauman said I think they have had some discussions with American Suburban. So what would happen would be, they would have service from American Suburban. It would put a crimp in the plan that the Council has already approved in terms of future City service. It would mean that that area, in perpetuity, would be served by a utility, which in past history, has experienced difficulties.

Councilor Windler said they are currently under a ban.

Councilor Sparby said but you almost make it sound like it's almost like a duress situation. That we need to provide it so that anybody then that would be choosing to add a development out in that area, would be in a similar situation and would . . .

City Attorney Bauman said it's not a duress situation. It's a question of whether the city wants to go ahead and follow the facility plan in terms of the future service area or if you choose not to, then the other utility will serve it. But whatever decision is made, probably whatever decision is made this year, will be a decision that will then have ramifications forever.

Councilor Satterly said as far as future growth.

Councilor O'Callaghan said the facility plan that's already on the books.

City Attorney Bauman said I can't speak to what other areas, Mike [Darter] is probably familiar with that, but I know at that location the future service area went up to 500 North.

Councilor O'Callaghan said so that was in the facility plan, but it wasn't necessarily part of West Lafayette's Regional Sewer District. That's this area over here.

City Attorney Bauman said yes, it didn't have anything to do with it.

Councilor O'Callaghan said but we didn't have anything about West Lafayette Regional Sewer District in the ordinance before this came up that they asked us to take on.

City Attorney Bauman said because it was a separate, legal entity when we adopted this. At that point, they didn't really ask us to take it on. They said "We are going out of business." The original private utility went into bankruptcy, and later the Regional Sewer District, they came to us and said as of the end of a particular year, we are going to quit. They wanted to make orderly arrangements for the transfer, but it wasn't a matter of negotiation or request. They came to us and told us 'We are gonna quit. We're gonna go out of business."

Mayor Margerum said under the contractual arrangement that was with the Regional Sewer District, they had this limit. There was a limit to the area to be served and also the number of gallons per day. Then this switch here does not change that, because Purdue has given up their sewer rights to this area. So when they switched the two, they didn't add any territory, they just substituted this for this.

City Attorney Bauman said historically, I think when it was still the Regional Sewer District there had been some previous swaps done.

Mayor Margerum said this would not expand that area. That does not at all, because that has that gallonage limit and it has the territory limit.

Councilor Sparby said has the density of that region changed?

Mayor Margerum said yes, there has been more building in it, but it is still within that limit that was established in that agreement, but I think it's pretty close right now.

City Attorney Bauman said I'm not sure the density has changed. Additional parts of it have been developed that were not developed before.

Councilor O'Callaghan said that's Green Meadows, right?

City Attorney Bauman said yes, they have added onto a couple of subdivisions out there.

Councilor Satterly said one advantage of this ordinance, it states if we do provide sewer service to the Morrissey property, for example, they agree to develop the property to City standards. So that as the City expands out that way, that property will have already been developed to our standards, rather than the County's standards. They are willing to make that agreement in order to get City sewers.

Councilor Sparby said just as an aside, is one thing the City has always prided itself on is their school system. I realize now that the City boundaries and the school districts are not contiguous and this is going to make that situation even . . . because that's the County school corporation.

Mayor Margerum said sure, but if they don't go here, they'll go to American Suburban. They would prefer to come to the City. Ideally, if you are going to annex you would annex contiguously, but these properties are not willing to do that. Our policy has been not to, up to this point, to annex areas that don't want to become part of the City. So that was why this has this, if they are expected eventually to become part of the corporate limit if the City grows that way.

Councilor Mills said anywhere we grow isn't ever going to be in the school corporation unless those boundaries change. We are already past that, unfortunately.

Councilor Sparby said that's something a lot of people do not understand.

Mayor Margerum said here are the limits way down here and, of course, this whole area is in the County school district, too.

Councilor Satterly said so is Blackbird Farms.

City Attorney Bauman said also part of Williamsburg and part of the complex on Happy Hollow Road and various other places in the city.

Councilor Windler said married student housing goes out.

Councilor Sparby said that's not in the City limits.

Councilor Windler said but it's close.

Mayor Margerum said it's within our service area.

Councilor Windler said it used to be part of the West Lafayette School Corporation.

Mayor Margerum said what you are saying in this sewer use ordinance is that the City serves the residents of West Lafayette with wastewater services except for these possibilities. So you are saying that within these possibilities, like Purdue University, a valid agreement, that this former district that we've always served. The purpose of this is really to say this is the policy of the City regarding extension of City services outside the City limits and then the particular one about what area to be served would be then the decision of the Board of Works. But in most cases that's going to involve the Council anyway, if it were an annexation.

Councilor Sparby said I guess I'll be looking forward to more discussion on this Monday, because I'm sure we're going to hear from Wabash Township on this issue.

Mayor Margerum said would any of you like to ask any questions? I said this debate isn't really what we are involved in here, but if you'd like to ask any questions.

Patricia Mason (Wabash Township Trustee) said I would like to know the rationale for the City to extend the sewer services and as a result direct building within the Township. All you are going to provide is sewer services and get the revenue from the sewer services, yet the Township is going to have to pick up the fire protection and the County is going to have to pick up the other things, and we are not going to make up in assessed valuation for what they require in services. So you guys are simply driving the growth up.

Mayor Margerum said isn't this in Tippecanoe Township?

Ms. Mason said but I'm talking about if you have the ordinance in there, you can extend that to Komark, you can extend it to anything once you have it in there, as long as the developer agrees to not to fight annexation. And so you are opening it up for a whole lot more development out in the Township and you guys are only providing sewer service and getting the revenue from that and the Township residents are the ones that are going to have to bear the brunt of fire protection and increased taxes.

City Attorney Bauman said actually, that's not true.

Councilor Satterly said assessed valuation would still be in the Township. The only revenue the City would be getting would be the sewer fees.

Councilor Mills said that would be going to American Suburban.

Councilor Satterly said assessed valuation wouldn't go to the City of West Lafayette.

Ms. Mason said the increase in assessed valuation does not cover the costs for the services granted.

City Attorney Bauman said but factually, that's not likely to occur because most of the area is in the American Suburban CTA (Certificate of Territorial Authority). That area, under decisions of the IURC (Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission), can only be served if the City annexes the property, in which case it is responsible for providing all the services.

Councilor Mills said so American Suburban has their own boundaries that they get to provide services for.

City Attorney Bauman said Scott [Snyder] spoke to that a moment ago in terms of this overlap. The City's right to serve this exists only because it's been annexed into the City, in which case the City provides all the services.

Councilor Mills said I understand that, but I'm talking about outside the red area, in the area like we are talking about now. Do they have some leeway, American Suburban, in what ground they can take?

City Attorney Bauman said they don't currently have any legal right to serve it. But they could apply to extend their CTA. We are talking about up here [pointing to map]. This is in Tippecanoe Township. The other areas which are not in the American Suburban CTA are parcels that are adjacent to the City, for example the future growth in the Research Park, which would be annexed to the City. So again, that wouldn't apply either.

Mayor Margerum said this area where you are concerned, unless we annexed it, we couldn't provide the service.

City Attorney Bauman said unless American Suburban wants to give away customers, which I would be surprised if they would want to do that.

Ms. Mason said so what you are saying is that American Suburban's boundary defines the City limits.

City Attorney Bauman said no, what I said is unless the City annexes into that area, the City has no right to extend service within the American Suburban CTA.

Ms. Mason said so if you annex into American Suburban territory, you take away their right to provide the service to that area. Is that right?

City Attorney Bauman said that is correct. That's what State law provides. In that situation, then, the City would provide all of the police and fire protection services.

Jim Lewis (2150 Old Oak Dr.) said does that mean you would construct new sewers in that area then?

City Attorney Bauman said yes, there would have to be sewers constructed.

Mr. Lewis said you wouldn't take over their sewer lines and cut them off?

City Attorney Bauman said typically what's transpired has been developments, which are in an areas that wasn't previously developed, and the developer either built sewer lines, which are connected to American Suburban, or sewer lines that are connected to the West Lafayette system. I don't know that there have been any situations where an area has been annexed that already had existing sewer lines.

Ms. Mason said look at the Carrington Estates area, Pine View Farms up there. That's very close to Great Lakes, very close to an area that could be annexed. They have American Suburban sewers. What happens if you go out that way?

City Attorney Bauman said I don't know. That situation, as I just said, has not arisen.

Ms. Mason said but it could.

City Attorney Bauman said the City would have to look very carefully in that if the lines are set at going a different direction, that might be difficult to work with, but also I doubt that any of the lines which have been installed and monitored by American Suburban have been installed to the standards the City requires for developers in terms of attaching to our system.

Councilor Keen said so basically what you are saying is if we did actually go out, there is a strong possibility that we would have to reconstruct these sewers anyway.

City Attorney Bauman said yes, I think that is a possibility. Again, I don't think there's been any proposal that I'm aware of to annex and provide sewer service to an area that already has actual service from American Suburban. There have been areas such as Blackbird that are within their legal service area or the Great Lakes Headquarters which was in their legal service area, but there were not, in fact, sewers.

Ms. Mason said but didn't you have to go to court to get that Great Lakes thing? Didn't American Suburban fight that?

City Attorney Bauman said American Suburban did fight that. They went not to court, but to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and they ruled that American Suburban did not have the right to object because it had been annexed into the City, which is what the statute said.

There was no further discussion.

Ordinance No. 14-00 An Ordinance to Annex Certain Lands into the City of West Lafayette (McAlister) (Prepared by the City Attorney)

Mayor Margerum said the property owners have asked that this be tabled until June.

Councilor Windler moved to postpone Ordinance No. 14-00 until the June meeting. Motion was seconded by Councilor Cohen and the vote was AYE.

Ordinance No. 15-00 An Ordinance to Vacate Utility Easement (DeSilva) (Prepared by Paul J. Couts, C&S Engineering)

City Engineer Snyder said I think that's the home on Pawnee. It's a private lot. Apparently the pool and deck have been built over the utility easement line, which is 5' I believe. The property owner wants to clear it up. One way to do that is to have the utilities vacate that easement. Then they are not violating the easement. I might add that doesn't change the fact that they may be too close to the property line with their setback, but that's another problem.

Councilor Satterly said did they get a building permit to put the improvements in?

City Engineer Snyder said I think they have a permit to have put that pool in.

Councilor Satterly said over the easement?

City Engineer Snyder said they weren't given permission to put it in over the easement. They just built it where they built it. I don't how long ago that might have been, quite frankly. Is there a date on that sketch? That's probably their permit sketch. Or it could be a new one. We have the permit upstairs. If you are interested in that date, we can find it.

There was no further discussion.

Resolution No. 10-00 A Resolution Appropriating Insurance Recovery Received for Damage to City Property (Police Department) (Prepared by the Clerk-Treasurer)

Mayor Margerum said this one is for damage to police cars. These are the funds that we have received from the insurance to cover those damages. I have always been puzzled as to why we have to do an appropriation, why we can't just do it, but that's the way we are required, so we have to do that.

Resolution No. 11-00 A Resolution Appropriating Code Enforcement Revolving Fund On Hand Resulting from Payment of Inspection Fees from the West Lafayette Target Area (Prepared by Department of Development)

Resolution No. 12-00 A Resolution Appropriating Housing Rehabilitation Revolving Loan Funds On Hand Resulting from Repayments of Loans Previously Made by the West Lafayette Housing Authority (Submitted by Department of Development)

Mayor Margerum said these two are our usual quarterly appropriation of housing rehab revolving loan funds and code enforcement revolving loan funds. That is just transferring those into the proper accounts into the code enforcement revolving fund, the repayment in the case of code enforcement, the fees.

Resolution No. 13-00 A Resolution Requesting the Transfer of Funds (Mayor, Engineering, Economic Development Income Tax, Cumulative Capital Improvement) (Prepared by the Clerk-Treasurer)

Mayor Margerum said from my office, from Information Printing to Membership & Dues, this is for the Chamber of Commerce annual dues, Arbor Day, and Lafayette Leader. Engineering, from Office Equipment to Contract Services, for expense for temporary help in the office upstairs. The EDIT is for the taxes on the Cinergy property that was transferred to the City. There was a period of time that we owned it and have to pay the taxes.

City Attorney Bauman said taxes are payable in arrears.

Mayor Margerum said there will not be any further taxes then.

City Attorney Bauman said I don't know what that's for. Whether that's for the whole year or whether that's for the spring installment. There will be the spring and fall installment this year.

Councilor Mills said is that for the towers?

City Attorney Bauman said yes.

Mayor Margerum said Cum Cap Improvements, Furniture & Fixtures. My furniture was purchased at the same time City Hall was, so I would like to put a conference table in there and some kind a place for my computer, a filing cabinet, and various things. That's for $10,000.

There was no further discussion.

Resolution No. 14-00 A Resolution Ratifying an Interlocal Agreement Between the Cities of West Lafayette and Lafayette Concerning the Maintenance of the John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge (Prepared by the City Attorney)

Mayor Margerum said this is just ratifying the interlocal agreement which specifies what the roles of the Cities are.

City Attorney Bauman said the changes are in number one and number two. Previously, the Cities shared the responsibility on an alternating year basis, but Downtown Business Center had done all the programming and scheduling. Apparently, Downtown Business Center has an arrangement with Lafayette where they have a full-time Street Department employee to work on their various projects and they thought it would be more effective if they used part of that person's time to take care of the bridge, which they manage and schedule anyway, and West Lafayette reimbursed for the cost of that instead of alternating years-of-work. I think Josh's [Andrew] department and Dave Downey's department thought that that was an arrangement that made sense. What's going to be done is in one and we will pay for our share of that in number two, rather than doing the alternating year's maintenance. The other items in here I think are the same practice that has been followed under the previous interlocal agreement.

Mayor Margerum said these are costs for repairs, repainting, which it was repainted just recently, so fifteen to twenty years. Events will be scheduled by the DBC, which they have been doing rather than have them go the both Boards of Works and get permission, so they have been monitoring that.

Councilor O'Callaghan said the County doesn't have anything to do with this?

City Attorney Bauman said they were originally a part of that contract and signed it and it was official and then they unilaterally decided to renege and withdraw from it. That's been a number of years ago. Then Lafayette and West Lafayette has participated since then. As you know, it has become a focal point of a lot of community activities.

Councilor Keen said do have any idea what the annual, approximate cost of maintenance has been on the bridge.

Mayor Margerum said I don't think there's been any that I'm aware of, any large amounts.

City Attorney Bauman said well, it's been cleaning, snow removal. You'd have to ask Dave [Downey] on the alternate years. Either Dave Downey or the Park Department people have been providing service.

Councilor Sparby said it would be an hours estimate.

City Attorney Bauman said exactly, yes. Again, because DBC essentially had a Lafayette Street Department employee assigned to them full time that they coordinated and managed, everybody felt like it would work better that way.

Mayor Margerum said because trash removal, obviously, after a big event is a big chore, then we would have to put people on overtime, whereas, they have this person there all the time. I think it seemed like a very fair amount to provide.

Councilor O'Callaghan said this will be $5,000 every year, rather than alternating years.

Mayor Margerum said right.

There was no further discussion.

Councilor Cohen said I have some of these to pass around for perusal, I guess, investment policies.

Clerk-Treasurer Rhodes said Mr. Cohen, what is this? Is this the one in existence for a while? Is this the one we discussed several months ago?

Councilor Cohen said it is just a little bit cleaned up. It is not under motion.

Clerk-Treasurer Rhodes said we had a meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee and I marked up a copy. We had some discussion and this represents what?

Councilor Cohen said essentially what I got out of the discussion. We can read it and go from there. It's open to correction.

Councilor Sparby said I guess I thought the Committee was going to meet again.

Clerk-Treasurer Rhodes said I thought I would see a draft.

Councilor Cohen said OK, consider that a draft.

Mayor Margerum invited everyone to the Celery Bog dedication on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. There will be a presentation by Eli Lilly of a sculpture. I don't want to explain any more than that. I think you will enjoy it tremendously. There are more exhibits and they have done some more with the interior. So I want to invite everybody and I think you will be very pleased to see it. I was out there last week and they've done a wonderful job on the trails. We had a large group of volunteers pulling up invasive weed species. Garlic mustard is the bad guy. If anybody wants to know about garlic mustard, I'll explain it to you.

Councilor Sparby said I also would like to report that last Friday I had a very nice visit with Mr. Palmer in Newport Beach , California. They are doing quite well. He was very sun tanned.

Mayor Margerum said he signs his e-mails "Surfer Dude."

Councilor Sparby said he looked the part, other than he is not sporting a ponytail. He's golfing, and biking, and just enjoying.

Mayor Margerum said I think he's writing, too.

Councilor Sparby said they come back next month, then they are going to Ireland for the summer.

There being no further business at this time, Councilor Sparby moved for adjournment. Motion was seconded by Councilor Windler and the vote was AYE, the time being 5:24 p.m.

Office of the Clerk-TreasurerJudy Rhodes