Sullivan City Council: No quorum, no problem

Tuesday.

The only council members participating were Tom McClanahan (in person)

and John Ellington (via cellphone). Roger Smith, Scott Brown and Gene

Bonham did not attend.

Mayor Clint Lamb discussed the proposed animal ordinance, which has

been in process for about a year.

"There are still issues on who is going to enforce the ordinance, and

the ongoing hope to have a countywide ordinance for better coverage,"

Lamb said.

Greg Kreilein, a Sullivan County Sheriff's Department deputy, talked

about a personal experience as a resident with a neighbor's aggressive

animals and how a countywide ordinance would be more effective in his

role as a law enforcement officer.

Sullivan City Police Department Chief Micheal Garrett feels the

proposed ordinance will have more teeth in it for problem animals and

pet owners.

He noted a deterrent is the three-tiered violations contained in the

proposed ordinance:

• First offense — $100 due and payable at City Hall within 30 days of

imposition.

• Second offense — $500 due and payable at City Hall within 30 days of

imposition.

• Third offense — The animal will be taken into custody by the Humane

Society of Sullivan County and evaluated. Such evaluation will

determine if the animal is suitable for adoption. If such animal is

determined not to be suitable for adoption, then, and in such event,

such animal will be euthanized and owner will be fined $750 plus costs

due and payable at City Hall within 30 days of imposition.

"We'd rather have something in effect that so that we can handle those

kinds of animals," Garrett noted, who pointed out many of the new

rules in the ordinance comes largely from Terre Haute's current

ordinance.

Lamb said the next step is to have the council vote on the final

version of the ordinance at the October meeting, then because it has

to deal with money, publish it and adopt it at the November meeting.

"We'll send that over for final draft of what we've already discussed

and let's get it passed … put it on the books as one of those things …

if we find some glitches in it, we can always amend the ordinance," he

said.

During the 2022 city budget hearing, Lamb said it won't be adopted

until the October meeting.

"The clerk's office has uploaded the budget so its transparent at

www.budgetnotices.in.gov," he said. "It's online, anybody can go and

check it out. "

The mayor said the budget estimate is $1,492,258, maximum estimate of

funds to be raised is $1,443,975, current tax levy is 1.34393, so a

levy change of 4.3%, and the total overall city budget will be about

$3.3 million.

Lamb assured council members are emailed a copy of the budget before a

final vote.

The one piece of business acted on was the council passing a

resolution to approve the county's Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan,

created and presented by Sullivan County Emergency Management Agency

Director Jim Pirtle.

Pirtle, who is getting similar resolutions from other county

government boards, said this approval is a requirement for the county

to apply for federal grants.

Needing a third vote to pass the resolution, Smith was contacted by

phone long enough to join McClanahan and Ellington in a 3-0 unanimous

voted.

During the earlier Sullivan City Board of Public Works meeting, a

sewer problem was discussed.

A representative of First Presbyterian Church located on the Main

Street explained the church, which was built in 1908, has had

inoperable restrooms in the basements since 2017, due to drainage

issues with the city's sewer system.

"So they've worked for approximately 108 years," he said.

Both the church representative and board agreed they were not certain

who. might, or might be responsible for this problem

"We're asking for some consideration to replace a 108-year-old tap-in

that used to work and not be responsible for the entire $2,500 tap-in

fee," the representative said.

Board member Jean McMahan said she was not against consideration of

the fee, but not to waive the fee because then every household would

want the fee waived.

After further discussion, the BPW unanimously agreed to cut the fee in

half to $1,250 due to these unique circumstances, and with the church

already paying out about $6,000 for sewer upgrades.