REGULAR MEETING – MARION COMMON COUNCIL – JUNE 5, 2018 – 7:00 P.M., CITY HALL

The Common Council of the City of Marion, met in regular session on Tuesday, the 5th day of June, 2018 at the hour of 7:00 pm in the Council Chambers, City Hall.

On the call of the roll the following members were shown to be absent or present as follows:

Present: Miller, Homer, Cain, Henderson, Johnson, Batchelor, Brunner and Luzadder. Absent: Smith. (NOTE: Councilman Smith entered the meeting at 7:03 p.m.)

The minutes of the previous regular meeting of May 15, 2018 were presented. On a motion by Homer, 2nd by Henderson, the minutes were approved as presented by the following vote. Aye: Miller, Homer, Smith, Cain, Henderson, Johnson, Batchelor and Luzadder. Nay: None. Abstain: Brunner.

COMMITTEE REPORTS: Councilwoman Lynn Johnson said she has minutes to report from May 21, 2018 on a Code Enforcement Committee meeting. They began at 4:03 pm. They were brought to order by Deb Cain and present were herself with committee members Jan Bowen, Linda Wilk, Jerry Foustnight. They discussed and reviewed the Vacant Structure and the Vacant Abandoned Real Property Ordinance. They had to go through and look at different questions and answers and proposed explanations in order to explain the ordinance to the general public and they are going to have a questionnaire that will be ready by January of 2019 for the City Council to help them with any information they might not have been able to obtain by not coming to their meeting. And they are going to have that ordinance ready for a first reading by June 19th. And so they’re pretty excited about that and they look forward to all of them being able to read that ordinance. It’ll be in their packets before the next meeting. And they adjourned at 5:10 pm and they’re reserving the right to have a meeting at a later date, Johnson said.

Councilwoman Johnson then reported that tonight they had a Compliance Committee meeting and Mr. Steve Henderson as the Chair and Dave (Homer) and she were present and Councilwoman Deborah Cain joined them and they reviewed and approved 19 Compliance with Statement of Benefits for 19 companies and they made a motion to pass them all through to Mr. Luzadder for his signature. And then they had another set of two compliance, benefit requests that they are going to put up for review and they passed those into a review by the county before they ask Luzadder to sign them and they are going to have another meeting on June 19th at 6:00 pm in the 2nd Floor Conference Room and they’re going to continue to review any compliance and benefits requests.

Council President Brad Luzadder said he had a few things to bring to the attention of all of the members. He would first like to congratulate all of the 2018 graduates, Marion and all of the Grant County schools. He’s seen a lot of good young people walking across the stage with quite great honors. It’s pretty neat to watch the ones in which he was able to attend. He doesn’t know if anyone has seen but they do have one of Marion’s own, Caleb Marshall, he’s known as the Fitness Marshall. He’s a You Tube sensation. He was named the top 100 of the most influential people in health and fitness in the world. He is ranked #9 on the list which includes people like Oprah Winfrey, all the Biggest Loser coaches and so quite a great honor for a Marion alum. Also, everyone is invited tomorrow to the groundbreaking for Carey Services. That will begin at 1:30 pm tomorrow and it will be held at Carey Services. That will be a groundbreaking for Pleasant Square Apartments Project that they went ahead and voted through and so Jim has invited each and every member to that tomorrow, as well as the general public. If they would like to come out for the groundbreaking, that will be at 1:30 pm tomorrow afternoon. He would also like to wish the Special Olympics of Grant County good luck. They will be leaving here on Thursday to go down to the Indiana State Games in Terre Haute. They’ll be competing at Indiana State University and also at Rose Hulman University and there’s a delegation of about 125 headed down that direction to represent us here as Marion and also Grant County. Also starting this weekend, on Friday CSA is going to have their productions at Marion High School at the F. Ritchie Walton Performing Arts Center. Their I Dance will be on Friday evening at 7:00 pm, Saturday at 1:00 pm. Their I Perform will be Saturday at 7:00 pm. The I Create, which is their visual arts, will be in the gallery from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm reception. And then also they have the I Company which will be at 4:00 pm on Sunday afternoon. Then also, this Thursday, Let My Light Shine, the group that actually raises money to put the solar lights on the graves out at our veterans cemetery, they are doing their fundraiser and it’s Thursday through Saturday of this week and that’ll be at 700 Lancelot in Westlea Addition. So, a lot of things coming up for them in the community to be aware of and to get out and do things. So, six pretty great things for them to look at, Luzadder said.

NEW BUSINESS

City Clerk Kathleen Kiley told the Council that Randy Miller is going to speak tonight for Lockwood Real Estate Investment & Development to address the Council to seek support in an effort to redevelop the Five Points Mall. Randy Miller from Randall Miller & Associates thanked the Council for allowing them to be here. Before he starts, he guessed another good thing for the community is that, he believes it’s been in the paper, June 12th is the ribbon cutting for the new hotel for the Holiday Inn Express. He hopes to see everyone there. It’s another great advancement for their community. This is a very interesting presentation because they’re not asking for anything, which is kind of unusual for him. He was talking to Mr. Stephenson and he wouldn’t be Randy Miller if he didn’t bring some drawings and pictures to entertain all or at least (inaudible) and have some fun discussing it. But he’s here representing Lockwood Real Estate & Development. Charles Everhardt is here and he will be making a few comments a little bit later and he also has Jim McDowell, who is the manager of the Five Points Mall, he’s also here and if he (Miller) gets in trouble, he (McDowell) can try and bail him out, along with cutting off his mike. So, this is a very interesting and unique development that they’re looking at but if he can regress, about a year and a couple of months ago, they were here and they were doing a Planned Unit Development for the mall. Do they remember that? About a year ago last March? And he said, you know, we’ve got some things coming. We’ve just got to get this organized and we’ve got to try to see what we can do to energize the mall. And then we lost Carson’s and he bet they thought well, what was Randy talking about? What’s he got up his sleeve? Miller said well, fortunately, very fortunately, they have a gentleman here, Mr. Everhardt and Lockwood Developments, who has taken an extremely keen interest in an extremely unique development. Malls as they know them today are all having very much a hard time. It’s very difficult. In fact, he remembers they rejuvenated one, the , and they actually took out sections of the buildings and removed them and put in courtyards. They condominimized or PUD’d or they made lots and subdivisions. They’re doing everything they can across the United States to keep the mall, to keep those base stores. Well, Mr. Lockwood has years and years of experience and he has many, many, he’ll say it one more time, many developments. If they’d like to look at his website, they certainly can. He’ll give them that. He’s very experienced in what he does, well financed. He has all the wherewithal to do something and what’s interesting is he’s doing something that is near and dear to us, us having a Veterans Administration Health Care Facility in our community. In fact, there’s only two cemeteries in the State of Indiana, the one at Crown in and the one here and this is the only one in Indiana that actually has burial spaces available. Crown is full and that’s why we’re having so many funerals and burials at the V.A. Well, as part of that, leading to this, he has a huge relationship with the Veterans Administration and the veterans as a whole. The concept that they’re going to do is kind of, well it is very unique. It’s never been tried before in the United States but he and his investors and his group have decided and they’ve went all the way through the V.A. channels and they’ve talked to some very important people in the government at the United States level and said, “you know what, we need to do a different model”. And kind of like with some of the schools, people have created condominiums or apartments or things, they’re looking for a reuse. Well, they’re going to try to do something at the Five Points Mall that is completely out of the norm but right in line with what they should be doing for veterans and also still try to maintain the integrity of the retail spaces that they have available at the mall. What they intend to do, no, what they will do is they are going to create, and he’s got some diagrams and illustrations that he can kind of graphically show them that are very, very, very preliminary, please don’t hold him to them, but in the front, where the large parking lot, across that front is going to be maintained as retail and they’re going to bring in some new people. They have some new people they’re talking to. On the back side is what’s really going to be completely unique. They are going to create a college for veterans only. Veterans only. And there will be men and women veterans. They’re going to bring in professors, they’re going to bring in security, they’re going to bring in food services, dining services. They’re also going to do something that he didn’t think could happen but his genius is talking different and he’s going to construct homes, small apartments, inside a vast majority of that mall so that there’s going to be housing and the only housing that can be there is for the students who are veterans who are approved. He’s going to have his own commissary. He’s going to have his own security. He’s going to have approximately, he believes and he’ll (Everhardt) correct him if he’s wrong, just initially about 60 new employees, just to start. He’s already talking to him (Miller) about expansion. Now, he’s got some drawings and he’ll show them to them really quick, and again, it’s all preliminary so please forgive them if they’re not quite up to what they’re used to looking at but it’s something they need to at least talk to them about. And the reason why they’re addressing it to them today is they are going to spend a lot of money and they’re going to hire a lot of people and they know the benefits of the employment and the trickle-down effect of having employees move here and buy here and have children here and all those residual effects of having new families or new jobs. Well, if they would, if they would allow him, he’ll show the drawings to them first and then if the public wants to look at them later, they can but he wanted to show them. First off, he wanted to just show them what they were able to accomplish before. He showed them where the Planned Unit Subdivision they did before. Remember that? They had the outbuildings or the out lots as they call them, affectionately, with BW3 and Gabriel’s Pancake House, Ruler’s, JoAnne Fabrics and the main mall here, Sears, and they have this little lot over here where One Hour Cleaners used to be. Anyway, that’s what it looks like. Now, what they’re talking about and if they remember him talking about the front end being retail. Councilman Jim Brunner said, if he can help him, the front end being the east side and Miller told Brunner that would be correct, towards the large parking lot. The front end will be, that and Rose’s will be and remain retail. The back part is going to be a college for veterans. They’ve already spoken with the Governor. They’re getting approvals, full accreditation, the whole deal. But anyway, this back part will be veteran education. So they can see the veterans area is going to be back here where Carson’s was, Sears, Penney’s, all of that area is going to be housing and it’s also going to be an educational facility only for veterans and veterans only, which is just absolutely mind blowing considering it’s a mall. Well, as they talked, they have to rethink what they’re doing. They have to realize this is a new world and they’re not going to be able to get a Sears back or a Carson’s back or a J.C. Penney’s or some other department store. They’ve got to do something with that space. This gentleman is willing to spend $10,000,000, $15,000,000 in their community. Thank God that he is willing to do that. Thank him for being willing to do that. Now what’s interesting is he wants to put housing, something similar to this but this is just a rough diagram of housing units, individual housing units. He’s going to build these inside so it’ll maintain the integrity of the structure. But they will have to go through all of the permitting, all of the design, the architectural design, the civil design, all the permitting. He’s going to keep Jerry Foustnight busy, which if he’s not busy enough, they’re going to keep him busy, and they’re going to go through the Plan Commission and everything they do will have to be approved. But this is just such a unique look inside a mall. Now he doesn’t know if it’s going to be exactly looking like this, maybe they’ll have flat roofs, but there will be individual, stand alone units which is absolutely, totally different than he has ever thought would happen inside a mall. But they have such large spaces that they can use and, if they think about it, what’s interesting about this is the fact that the veteran housing will now have housing that’s brand new. They’re going to have a place to eat. They’re going to be educated. It’s run through the G.I. Bill through the Veterans Administration so it has to have all of this mound of regulations that’s going to be accompanying that and that’s what Mr. Everhardt is bringing to their community. He believes he can make this happen, and if so, it is the pilot program for the entire United States. He thinks they’re fortunate to at least give this an opportunity. Now again, at this point, they’re not asking for anything. They don’t think they’ll need anything but they’ll see. He thinks they may end up coming back for some variances. He thinks they have a very abled Plan Commission Director. They work with him well. He seems to at least tolerate him (Miller) so that’s a good thing. Although he sends Jason (Miller) over because he’s a little bit better at this than he is. But at any rate, they will be going through all the procedures that are necessary, through not only local but state and federal. So, as they can see, this is kind of a big deal. It’s going to be kind of unique. And if it doesn’t go, the integrity of the mall is still there in case something else happens. In case they try to reuse it. He’s (Everhardt) looking at also some activities for teenagers to be involved with, some different types of businesses that might come in. Those are things they’re going to look at. That’s all preliminary. They’re trying to figure out what they can do and so, tonight, all they’re asking for is an atta boy, thanks for coming, they appreciate what they’re trying to do. He’s (Everhardt) got some investors who, yes it’s Marion, Indiana, maybe they need a little reassurance, maybe he needs a little reassurance, you know. He’s looked at this, he’s done a market analysis, he’s talked to some pretty important people but still there’s a lot of money at play. They need some assurances that this is more or less a good thing for them and they (Council) are elected to represent the community, the City of Marion. Now granted, Marion is more than just Marion. It’s the whole county and sometimes, hopefully, some of the counties next to us too. But what they’re looking for is for them to tell this investor, you know what, they’ll back him, this is okay, they’re going to give it a try, they’re not going to get in the way. They’re going to have to meet all the regulations that the Plan Commission requires. They’re going to have to go through the Building Department, not only local but the state. They’re going to have to have all the federal regulations. They (Council) can get copies of all that stuff. They may or may not be back, depending upon how things are arranged or what they have to do to do this. But really, they’re looking so that A, a comment from them will go a long way, some assurance that says you know what, yeah, they’re not against, let’s give it a try. This is different. He would have never dreamed of doing what he (Everhardt) is doing but he’s glad that he is because they have to do something and if this turns out to be successful, they could be saying, hey, let’s do this in Ohio. Marion, Indiana did it. Let’s drive over to Marion, Indiana and see how they did it. He doesn’t care where they go as long as they go here, as long as they come here, spend their dollars here. So, with that, he’d like to introduce them to Mr. Everhardt. Charles Everhardt thanked everybody for inviting him tonight. You know, technology seems to be a mixed blessing. Technology is good on the one hand, it creates a lot of jobs, it creates a lot of new advances in the entire world but it also changes a lot of things as they see in retail malls. Most of the retail malls throughout the country are being decimated because of internet sales from Amazon and other places and locations like this Carson’s closed because it was, not that it wasn’t a profitable store here but the entire Carson’s chain closed. Sears is pulling locations, J.C. Penney is pulling locations so, from a real estate perspective, they look at things and say what can we do, what can we do to try to adapt the use from what it was because what has been traditional in the world of mall sales is a varying market and they don’t see it coming back. So they’re trying to look at the entire industry and say what are good uses in order to try to do different type of offerings. Entertainment, restaurants, items like that are all important to try to adapt the use. But as they started to think about some additional adaptive uses, part of their thought process was an education type of process so that it’s not just the idea of doing something to make money but doing something that is good for, potentially, some different groups. So the veterans is something that has been near and dear to them for a while. They have a lot of their team members, one of their attorneys is a Purple Heart recipient. He, many years ago, was involved with doing a Congressional Medal of Honor Dinner. So they’ve been involved throughout the years with good, solid supporting of the veterans and it’s, obviously, an extremely important part of our society. Our entire freedom is based on it so when he thinks about trying to do something that would help the cause, he gets a little bit more passionate than if he was just putting in a restaurant. So, they are putting in a lot of resources into this thought process, being able to try to focus on not only the money that is being invested but also trying not to make a mistake. You make mistakes, it’s not just losing money, it’s the idea that you’re coming into something and it’s not going to work. So they try to spend a lot of time on a prototype that could be used for other malls throughout the country and this is because they have a relationship with the current ownership, they’re under contract to purchase the mall, they’ve been trying to work their way through a business model that would make sense and what they’ve come up with is under the G.I. Bill. When government induces someone to join one of the services, there is this absolute right of education and under that, his company owns currently four hotels, Hilton Hotels, down in Alabama, two Hampton Inns, a Hilton Garden and a (inaudible) Suites and the management company that they work with manages about 50 hotels. So, job placement is critical for a program to work. It’s not just getting education to someone, it’s giving them the ability to get an education and then placing them so one of their baseline curriculums will be to have hospitality training which is different than what typical colleges do. A couple of colleges but those colleges that do hospitality type of training cost a lot of money and whether it’s Cornell or some other top line universities, they are not local so they are trying to, in addition to offer a hospitality type of course, they are also talking about offering some additional wellness programs, maybe working with the local V.A. here to try to see if they can do a transition so that they can actually get back into the workplace. And to them, if they are not able to get them into the workplace and get them a job then their mission really is not complete. That’s what they really want to focus on. They also are going to have some curriculum that’s going to include some film studio training so vets that might want to be part of the back of house of the film industry, they have some relationships that could place them with some studios. So these are the types of courses that your typical colleges don’t offer and they want to make that available. Their first goal is to try to attract about 100 students. They’re not sure exactly how much their design, is it one space or two spaces. They’re still discussing keeping men and women in different areas so that they try to anticipate whatever potential problems would come up. They understand that security is something that is very important to them so they are putting a lot of emphasis on that thought process. But overall, this is an embryo type of a business model so they’re trying to work their way through being able to preempt any of these items that are coming up. They’re spending a lot of time talking to the different agencies and different houses that are currently housing vets so that they can anticipate some of the problems that may be coming in but they think it’s a potentially good adaptive use. It would not be open to the public. It would be completely in its own secured area. The retail that would be facing the street would be with single entrances to the front so that it would not be a mall. It would not be considered a mall. It would be a retail center so that it would be operating in a different fashion and the rest of the mall would be cut off from the public. So, it keeps the security better. It keeps the maintaining of patrols and checks and balances better and they think that that approach is something that will work and they’re here tonight to just tell them about it, explain it to them and with the help of everybody on their team, they’re trying to be able to see if this is something that could work. He thinks their investment will be somewhere between $10,000,000 and $15,000,000 overall and they think that they’ll be able to generate somewhere between 50 to 100 jobs, in the neighborhood, and hopefully they’ll be able to be successful with not only the educating of vets, taking them possibly off the streets, but also being able to place them which is, in their view, an extremely important element of what they’re doing. Any questions, Everhardt asked the Council. Councilman Alan Miller said, yeah, let him begin with a caveat. He’s the Public Relations Director at Indiana Wesleyan University so a little understanding of the higher education process. He answered a couple of his questions (inaudible) talking 100 students. He mentioned a couple of academic programs so it appears, from the examples he gave them, more of a vocational rather than an academic approach. Are they offering certificate programs, would most of them be or would they rise to the level of Associates or even Baccalaureate Degrees? Mr. Everhardt told Miller, no, he thinks that they’re vocational by approach. You never know (inaudible) get into it so they’re certainly open for different ideas but at this point, they want to try to keep it as simple and basic as they can. And GED’s would be part of the program as well. Miller asked, what would be their marketing area? How far out from Marion? Adjoining states? Everhardt said, that’s a good question and they’ve put a lot of time thinking about it. He thinks initially their thought process is to focus on the State of Indiana because it is a state supported allocation of money that comes from different states. Each state has a different amount that goes for vets. Even though it’s a G.I. Bill, there are different limits that come with it so he thinks that they would probably be looking at a combination of Veterans T.V. which is a marketing outlet for them and they have some relationships that have tens of thousands of emails of veterans in different states and they would probably send out different levels of this is what they’re doing, if they’re interested, respond back and they’ll talk to them. Miller then asked, what contact, if any, has he had with the Ivy Tech system, be it locally or at the state level, about possible overlap duplication of programming? Mr. Everhardt answered, they haven’t. They haven’t. They’re doing a venture with a school called Jump Start. They’re out of New Jersey and they’re now applying for Indiana. They’re a non-profit organization that would be basically the operations of the school and they would enter into a relationship with them as they’re (Everhardt) basically the funder and they are the landlord and they (Jump Start) will be doing the operations. Councilman Miller asked, what about conversations with neighboring properties out there? They have a convenience store, they have a large portable housing project to the west, they have some beauty shops, car dealership. Any conversations with any of those people about how receptive they may or may not be? Everhardt responded that he hasn’t had any conversations with them. They didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag until they spoke with them (Council) first so they didn’t go into the neighborhood to see exactly what anybody’s feelings were. But he thinks that from purely an optic or ascetic standpoint, the mall right now is perceived as a dying mall. Places are closing and that’s not healthy for anyone so they take, he guessed, a look at it and say is it better to tear some of the spaces down or is it better to try to do adaptive uses and as long as the adaptive uses are not infringing upon any of the neighbors and helpful to groups like the vets, they feel it’s a good step forward. Mr. Miller stated, this is a more critical question about doing some homework. Has he talked to the current tenants in the mall? They’ve got Applebee’s, Rose’s, Planet Fitness. How receptive are they to his coming? Everhardt told Miller he could probably get Jim who is the current manager of the mall maybe to ask because he’s the one that’s on site (inaudible) to them. Miller said he guessed he would like to just feel that there had been some attempt made to talk to these people about what’s on his agenda. Everhardt stated, again, they haven’t let the cat out of the bag until now so they haven’t actually gone through that process but from their perspective, they are bringing more people to the center which is good for all the retailers and because they are blocking off the back portion of the mall. Right now the mall, when you go in there, is just (inaudible), dead mall. He doesn’t know what else to call it. Miller told Everhardt he guessed he would disagree with him about his so called letting the cat out of the bag. Are the people at Applebee’s and Rose’s going to find out about this for the first time tomorrow when they read the newspaper? Everhardt replied, yes. Miller stated that he guessed he would disagree seriously with that particular approach, not sounding out the people that are currently there, what their attitude might be, whether they want a university in their backyard as it were. Everhardt said, versus being closed and vacant. Miller replied, yeah, that’s a logical option but he would like to know what they feel about this. Everhardt told Miller, sure, he would be glad to. Jim will talk with them tomorrow and they’ll get back to them (Council) and tell them exactly what their first impression is. Councilman Henry Smith asked, will there be a go through from north to south in the mall? Everhardt told Smith, no. Smith said, so in other words, all those stores will be independent of each other, the south, the north and then the east. Everhardt stated, they’re going to break out the front portion of the mall with Planet Fitness, Rose’s, Applebee’s, maybe a couple of other tenants so there will be no other entrances to the mall. This will be basically a retail center. So, there will be security and there will be levels of (inaudible) safety to make sure that they’re doing it the proper way but it’s not going to be like it is now, walking through the mall and having entrances at different parts of the mall. Smith said, so basically speaking, there’s just going to be one entrance and that will be at the south end. Everhardt said he actually envisions the main entrance for where the veterans education is going to be back by J.C. Penney’s in the back. Smith stated, so will they be able to, that’ll be completely from the mall, per se. Everhardt replied, well within the mall, there’s going to be reconfigurations of classrooms and a commissary and some items that are going to be supporting them and so the entire back part of the mall, which is 300,000 square feet, will be a design that will be self-contained as part of this education program. The front part of the mall, which is what they are talking about with the retailers, about 80,000 square feet, will be in front with no access to the mall. Councilwoman Deb Cain said, so, Planet Fitness has their own entry and when you walk in there, you can’t get to any part of the mall. So that’s kind of what this will be like. She thinks this is a great idea, especially to provide extra education. The G.I. Bill is a great program. She’s worked with that all the years that she worked in accounting at Indiana Wesleyan. She thinks this is a way to offer self-worth to veterans that can no longer serve for various reasons. They chose a hard career and they risk their lives to give us freedom and to protect us so she appreciates his (Everhardt) compassion for the veterans and for coming up with this idea. If those little individual houses look like one of those pictures that they got, she’s been through those, she’d love to have one of those someday. She thinks they’re really cute. Everhardt said he can’t give her one, sorry. Cain told Everhardt, awwww, but thank you. She thinks this is a great idea and if we can be the idea, the starting point of an idea for cities around the U.S., she thinks that’s great. Everhardt told Cain he appreciates her comments. They’re open to suggestions because this is uncharted territory. They’re trying to have an adaptive use. They’re trying to do something (inaudible). Councilman Jim Brunner asked how many spaces, how many actual “openings” would they have on the east side from north to south? Everhardt answered, again, their focus is to start with 100. He doesn’t know what the nix is but probably 50%. Brunner told Everhardt maybe he misunderstood his question. As he’s looking at the east side where they have the Planet Fitness and those, how many actual businesses could he put in there? How many (inaudible)? Everhardt replied, he would say, so right now, there’s Rose’s, there’s Planet Fitness, there’s Applebee’s. The entrance where you have the awning, they’re going to talk to the shoe store and bring them up front and do a build out for them. On the side over here, that’s potentially another retailer. And next to Planet Fitness, there’s a space with a door. That’s also potentially a build out space. And then whatever they do over with Carson’s, it’s a big space so they’re not sure exactly what the thought is but they don’t know that they need it for 100 vets. He thinks J.C. Penney and maybe some overflow through Sears may be enough, certainly, with all of the inside vacant spaces that are there. Brunner asked, in a perfect world, if everything went according to his plans and everything went the way he wanted it to happen, what would be from this evening to the fruition of his entire project, how long would that be? Everhardt told Brunner, six months. Brunner asked, that’s all? Everhardt stated, if everything went according to plan, which it never does. Councilwoman Lynn Johnson welcomed Mr. Everhardt to Marion, Indiana. Everhardt said it’s great to be here. He didn’t know James Dean was here. He drove by today and got educated. Johnson said, well, she’s terribly thrilled that he’s here. For one thing, it’s very highly unusual that someone from Florida would know….. She lived in Florida for 20 years and not too many people that she knew knew where Indiana was. Everhardt told Johnson, well, his son was born in Chicago so he spent a lot of time in Chicago. He developed many buildings and lots of properties in Chicago. He’s also developed a number of things in Indiana, some gas stations, over the years. Johnson stated, she used to receive a lot of teasing. Everhardt said, the Chicago Bulls vs. the Pacers? Johnson replied, well maybe that and I.U. and Ball State. But, you know, people didn’t know where we were so how did he find them? Everhardt told Johnson, well from his real estate network, he found the owner of the mall and there’s another mall that they own in Iowa and they’re buying both malls. Johnson said, oh, okay, so he has an Iowa mall on the docket too. Everhardt replied, that’s correct but this is the first one because when he was doing some developments in Chicago, he was working on a couple back in 2010 and 11, they were looking at some closed hotels over by Merrillville but they were looking at it more to just house veterans under an affordable type of program but that’s a much different type of a program than they’re talking about here. That would just be taking them off of the streets but in order to rehab a closed Hampton Inn, which is what they were talking about then, you had to comply with a Section 8 type of housing requirement and it was too difficult to do it and there wasn’t a voucher program that they could rely on so they decided not to do that. Because they have rethought and because the winds are all blowing very favorably to help veterans right now, they believe that this is something that is workable and could be successful. Johnson told Everhardt she has a couple of questions. Since he is going to be working with a lot of veterans, are they going to be handicapped accessible and having visions for them and these adorable little houses which, she agrees with Deborah, they’re pretty cute. Everhardt told Johnson he can’t give her one either. Johnson said, so, she’s thinking about the handicapped, she’s thinking about people who have challenges and she’s thinking about how handicapped his facilities are going to be and then she does not know anything about the Jump Start organization and how did he connect with them and exactly what kind of things is he going to (inaudible) turn over to them? Do they have the ability to be accredited within six months? Does he have an organization that can actually come in and actually obtain the accreditation so he can receive funds or is he going to create another shell corporation so these things can all happen simultaneously? Everhardt responded, a lot of good questions. So he thinks that they’re at the front end of all of those questions and without getting too deep into any of those categories, he thinks that he would probably continue to feed them as they make progress. If they were not successful in explaining this and getting an endorsement for this and closing the deal then they would probably not be spending that amount of time fine tuning all of those things. But they do have that relationship with Jump Start. They can send them (Council) information on that. They have current programs right now in New Jersey and this is a new program strictly for this so they’re talking to a number of the different agencies, including HUD, including the V.A., about how they can help them with the overall program and they’re still fine tuning it. So, he will keep all of them abreast of their progress. Mrs. Johnson said she’s really excited about this project herself. She finds that this is unique. She also likes the idea that he’s an entrepreneur, like herself, however, she’s more of a Baltic Avenue as opposed to having a lot of hotels. She doesn’t know if she’s made it past the jail yet. She’s been an entrepreneur for like 25 years and she has an entrepreneurial (inaudible) and she does a lot of work helping a lot of entrepreneurs. And so this excites her with the creativity that it’s bringing to our universe in Marion. We need a lot of help. Welcome and if there’s something that he wants to discuss with them any time, whenever Mr. President allows him, they’d like to have him keep them abreast on how things are going. Everhardt thanked Johnson and said he thinks that maybe two things. If there’s a channel, he can maybe once every couple of weeks send an update to them so they can see their thoughts. So rather than just being completely disconnected, he’d be glad to do that. And as they get a little further down the line, he’s sure he’ll be here again, telling them he still can’t give them any houses. Johnson said, that’s okay. As long as she knows there’s someone living on Park Place, she’s cool. Councilman Steve Henderson told Everhardt he wanted to thank him for getting him involved early in this process. It was awful hard to keep his mouth shut. So he appreciates the work that he was able to do for him (Everhardt) for the past three weeks and move this forward and get this here because he thinks it’s a great idea. He thinks they can, with his help, put Marion back on the map and they appreciate his investment. Council President Brad Luzadder said he would like to say that we were the first Purple Heart Community so they voted that in a number of years ago. They were the first and now people have followed after them. He likes to be the first at a lot of things. He’s learned a lot about government and very rarely do you ever have someone come before you and not want something financially in return. So far as he’s listened this evening, he hasn’t asked for anything. He likes that. He’s also realized that if you’re going to spend money and most people will spend money, he would much rather you spend it here than anywhere else. Saying that, he believes that each and every one of their veterans deserves education, a good place in which to live, a good place in which to stay and possibly give them that opportunity that they may not have any place else. And to work. We have a great facility that is not being used. He thinks it’s a great idea. He thinks this is going to, as Mr. Henderson said, it could open up a whole wider array of things. And he likes Mr. (Randy) Miller saying that they’re looking for just an atta boy. Well, he would say much more than that. He would say to him thank you and he would say welcome to our community. Anything that is going to be done for the men and women who have paid the sacrifice with their life to defend him, here and abroad, he thinks they deserve a mansion. And so anything that he can do to help to honor our veterans, to give them what they couldn’t get anywhere else, then he believes that they, as a community, should be opening their doors and not causing any problems to get in the way. And so, he has his support and any time he wants to come back before them and fill them in on the information, he has that open door in which to come through. Hopefully the rest of the Administration will also jump on board with it as well. He doesn’t know about each of the members but for him, sitting as President, he says welcome and he says good luck. Mr. Everhardt told Luzadder, thank you very much and his team is as important. They’re local and they’re here to help and communicate and he thinks this is a working process because this is not something that is like you’re buying a franchise. They’re trying to make this work, think it through, try to make all the decisions right which not all decisions are right and they’ll correct whatever mistakes they might have to go through the process. Luzadder said, and they like that he’s looking at keeping things local. That’s always good for their community.

Councilman Alan Miller said one thing he thinks worth noting, Luzadder was handing out kudos at the beginning of the meeting. He thinks he overlooked the 200 people that showed up at the Estates of Serenity over the weekend. If they’ve driven by there, it’s dramatic what people can do in one day, no matter how many of them show up. If any of them are here, thank you so much.

Councilman Dave Homer told Luzadder he had spoken to him last week about the upcoming meeting for July 3rd. Fireworks at the park, big program. Has he thought about resetting the date for that which would be the 2nd reading on the ordinance that they’re proposing June 19th? Luzadder told Homer, yes, he spoke with Mrs. Kiley (City Clerk) and for them to stay within the calendar in which they are given so that they have the time between their meetings, it would look like they would not have the first meeting in the first part of July but they would look to having their meeting on the 17th of July. Of course, the 3rd being what Marion would be housing their holiday and then on the 4th, of course, they have the other communities that will be having festivities going on as well. He agrees with him (Homer), it puts them in a very precarious situation of trying to….. They want to keep everything as transparent as they can and so it was Mrs. Kiley’s suggestion to him for them to look at the 17th being their meeting for July. The 3rd reading then would put them into August the 7th would be then the next meeting after that. They’re within the law in which they need to stay within and that seems to be the easiest way in which to look at the calendar to adjust the dates.

Councilman Homer asked Luzadder, has he gotten any notification on when the Tax Council will meet? It should be here soon at the county. Luzadder told Homer he had a discussion with our member who is handling our budget situation. He has not gotten information back from the county but, as he pointed out to him, we do want to be in the forefront of that and so he’s looking to move quickly. And Mr. Miller said he was also going to get in touch….. Councilman Alan Miller said their counselor may have a date. Council attorney Phil Stephenson said, well no, the Tax Council itself doesn’t ever meet. They never really physically meet. The County Council does a review, which they would invite everybody to come to. He can’t remember whether it’s this month’s meeting or next month’s meeting, probably next month because it has to be published in the paper first which he thinks they would certainly invite any of the City Council members who would like to be present to be there and to speak. But they just do a review at that time. What happens with the Tax Council is any entity, including the City Council, can come up with their own proposed ordinance. Then it gets shipped out by the Auditor to all the other voting members of the Tax Council. He has 10 days in which to send it out then those entities have so long in which to respond. It’s important because you can only essentially put up one ordinance a year. So whoever puts it up first and sends it out to be voted on, if it gets voted down, it’s dead, for a year, completely. So, all the feedback that could happen is extremely beneficial so that the plan which might be presented ultimately is one which meets with widely spread support. Because if the county puts it up like they did last time for example, the City Council doesn’t have the ability to amend it. You vote it up or you vote it down. Luzadder added, right, and whichever entity starts that is the one in which is able to control that. Stephenson stated, and of course the trouble with that is, you may have one entity putting up something and another entity wants something different and then it ends up failing because there’s no concurrence of opinion. He would encourage this Council itself to discuss that, the appropriate committee or whoever, because there are, of course, different things they can do, whether it’s raising the LIT which is now out or doing the public service. He means, there’s a variety of things that they could do amidst of (inaudible) and it would really be beneficial, he thinks, if the Council would decide to somehow discuss those and then be able to attend the County Council to provide some feedback which might be beneficial. Councilman Miller said, clarification. Assuming the County Council comes out with an ordinance, they still need the 51% approval of the, okay. Mr. Stephenson stated, they’re just simply one member of the Tax Council. Miller said, they can’t even do it with Gas City, can they? Stephenson answered, no. The city could do it with Gas City. The county would have to have Gas City and other entities. Miller stated, Sweetser, Fairmount or somebody to pick up a few more votes. So still, in effect, we control, ultimately…. He guessed they could look up the percentages. He guessed every municipality would be 2%, 3%, 4%. Stephenson said the bulk is covered by the city, the county and Gas City in that order. The other entities have just one or two votes each so they don’t have, they can’t do anything themselves essentially. Miller said, so basically, we hold the best trump card there is if there is such a thing as a trump card. Stephenson stated, well the trouble is the city can’t do it by themselves either so that’s why he thinks there needs to be some type of dialogue between the city and the County Council to see if they can come up with some kind of a mix and match of these. And if they had a committee, he’d be happy to meet with them and try to outline for them what the options even are because there are certainly several of which they can have. Luzadder said, and he knows there has been discussion with the President for the county as well. Miller said, yeah, he’s met with Jim McWhirt on some things. Mr. Stephenson said he doesn’t anticipate that the Council, when they do this, the Council is required by statute to do a review and they’re not required to do it every year. The statute says they have to do it at least every other year. Nobody else is required to have a public hearing, only the County Council. So that’s just going to be a public hearing. He would not anticipate, well he knows there won’t be because he’s (inaudible), they’re not going to pass anything that night so it’s really just going to be a matter of providing input but he thinks clearly the City Council should be providing input because number one, they do have the most significant vote in this and if they and the county get crosswise, unless Gas City comes along, the whole thing is going to fail and that may not be what they want. Miller asked, does the County Council have a regular meeting night monthly like they do? Stephenson told Miller it’s the third Wednesday of every month. They have a special meeting this month plus the third Wednesday but they always meet the third Wednesday. Mr. Luzadder said he would say that they move forward quickly to at least start getting together, being that their committee meets as a whole. So, whenever he wants to walk down that road, Luzadder told Miller, he has his support.

Councilwoman Deb Cain told the Council, just on a side personal note, talking about veterans, it was at a City Council meeting when she was informed that her father passed away five days after her mother. Her mother is a World War II veteran. She was in the first women’s division which is called (inaudible) and because of that, on the 15th, they are honored to bury her at Arlington Cemetery. So, she just wanted to say again, she is very thankful for veterans and for what her mom did over in Hawaii during World War II.

Being no further business to come before the Council, on a motion by Brunner, 2nd by Johnson, the meeting adjourned. Time being 8:04 p.m.