Crawfordsville Common Council members gave their full support Monday to a plan that allows the city to provide emergency medical ambulance service to all county citizens.
An inter-governmental agreement between the City of Crawfordsville and Montgomery County was unanimously approved by the council at their regularly scheduled meeting Monday. Commissioners signed the agreement earlier in the day. The county council was expected to give its approval Tuesday.
The deal outlines how all incorporated towns and incorporated areas in the county will be served by the city’s ambulance service. It has a first-year price tag of $928,152. The cost will increase annually the first five years and will be renegotiated in 2027 for upcoming years. The annual stipend for 2027 is $1,044,644.
Crawfordsville paramedics will provide advanced life support ambulance services to every town and township in Montgomery County beginning Jan. 1, 2023. The department currently provides its services to the city and to the residents of Union Township. This new agreement with the county will not affect those services or contracts already in place.
The city will provide one ambulance dedicated to the contracted areas and will provide all personnel to man that ambulance. In the event more ambulances are needed in an emergency, the city will send more units.
The agreement also outlines how the city must stay compliant with the county’s acceptable response time; provide training for first responders in the outlying communities; and creates a joint city-county EMAS board.
In other business, the council:
• Adopted an ordinance appropriating $75,000 from the city’s COVID relief funds to pay TMap, doing business as MakeMyMove, to help the city develop and execute a remote worker recruitment strategy.
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance requesting an additional appropriation of $273,090 from the city’s Riverboat Revenue Fund to pay for maintenance at the old landfill. The city and the county are splitting the costs of a cap stabilization project.
The landfill, which was closed in the mid-1980s, has been regularly monitored. In the past few years, studies indicated that erosion at the site meant rainwater may have been seeping into the site, so city and county officials began making plans to make the necessary repairs.
Using free dirt left over from a construction project at Random House, the city and county paid to have the dirt hauled to the site. It was spread over the landfill and seeded. The project also included some ditch and drainage work. This helps keep the rainwater from seeping into the landfill and potentially pushing contaminants out towards Sugar Creek. Most of the work at the site is now complete.
Two additional readings are required before the ordinance is adopted.
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance making the following additional appropriations from the city’s general fund: $35,000 for gasoline in the police budget; $80,255 for utilities at Fusion 54; $28,040 for utilities at Elmore Street site; $61,821 for insurance; $184,330 for salaries for civilian paramedics; $190,183 for overtime at the fire department; $41,332 for motor fuels at the fire department; and $31,346 for fire gear.
Mayor Todd Barton told the council during last week’s committee meetings that moving forward in the 2023 budget, many of these issues have been addressed. The shortfalls, he said, were a direct result of rising fuel costs and inflation.
Two additional readings are required before the ordinance can be adopted.
• Approved the first reading an ordinance establishing a Health Issues and Challenges non reverting fund. The city fire department received a $900,000 state grant to expand Project Swaddle. The funding allows for the addition of two nurses and expands the project’s coverage.
Two additional readings are required before adoption.
• Approved a resolution designating an economic revitalization area and approving a tax abatement for W Enterprises Inc. Danny Walden, owner of W Enterprises Inc., intends to construct a transfer station on the 19-acre property in the 400 block of Oak Street. Improvement costs are estimated at $567,533 in real property. The company is requesting a three-year abatement.
Walden said the transfer station will be built south of the main building. He said it will be open to other cities, towns and trash hauling services.
“It’s really something that’s needed,” Walden said last week at the council committee meetings.
Councilman Andy Biddle was pleased with Walden’s efforts to expand, adding the new transfer station will likely help save the city money. Currently, city trash is hauled daily to a transfer station in Lafayette.
• Approved the first reading of two ordinances that create an unrestricted and a restricted fund for Opioid Settlement disbursements. Indiana’s share of the $26 billion national settlement is $507 million, which will be distributed between state and local governments over a period of years and is to be used for opioid remediation.
The city expects the first payment to be the largest at $51,000 in unrestricted funds and $12,000 in restricted. In subsequent years, the grant money disbursements will likely be $10,000 to $12,000 annually for 18 or 19 years.
Barton said he will come back to the council at a later date to discuss how the money will be appropriated. However, he expects it all will go toward combating addiction issues, and will likely be used to further programs administered by the community’s Mobile Integrated Health Program and Quick Response Team.
Two additional readings are required before the ordinances can be adopted.
• Adopted an ordinance establishing boundaries for the city of Crawfordsville. The realignment is conducted every 10 years to make sure the city wards are evenly balanced based on population. None of the subtle boundary changes will cause any currently elected official to lose their seat on the council.
• Appointed Allison Huenemann as a new commissioners to the Indiana Municipal Power Agency. She will replace Phil Goode, who is retiring as general manager of Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power in January. Huenemann is Goode’s replacement at the city utility as well.
