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Hello. I am Chris Pippenger, Mayor of Frankfort. You can call me Mayor Pippenger, Pipp, MCP, or just Chris and we would like to welcome you to our new website. On this site we will supply you with varying information, responses to editorials whether from the radio or newspaper and will also attempt to keep you informed on our city's finances, meetings concerning our city's well being, job openings when they occur, and other helpful information. The telephone number to my office is 765-654-7332 and should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call. We are a "Government of the people, by the people, for the people". As President John F. Kennedy once stated, "One person can make a difference and every person should try." |
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MCP |
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PUBLIC FORUM JULY 22, 2010 EAST SIDE DRAINAGE PUBLIC FORUM QUESTIONS FRANKFORT PUBLIC LIBRARY July 22, 2010 8:30 am BOARD OF WORKS AND PUBLIC SAFETY 1. Would it be in the best interest of all concerned if one County individual was put in charge to drive the east side flooding project so we stop getting so many different answers as to why there is no progress, someone who is the “go to” person ? 2. We think it is safe to say that east side flooding will not be completed before the Jefferson project starts, we also think it is safe to say that Jefferson will be completed in 18 months, we also think it is safe to say that east side will not even be started in 18 months, what is your current start date for the east side flooding project? 3. These east side floods have been a hardship on the city workers, and has cost the city thousands of dollars in overtime money, would the County be willing to share the cost of overtime to help us fight back the water from peoples homes and business as well as the High School? 4. Is there any work at all being done on maintaining and reestablishing the drainage ditches, and cleaning the tile openings if so, where ? 5. Why did it take 5 months to deliver the Harris appraisal to Mr. Shultz ? 6. After Mr. Shultz received the Harris appraisal on October 19, 2009 he responded with an unacceptable position on November 11, 2009 on the Counties appraised offer of 4,600 per acre, did negotiations take place after Mr. Shultz refusal to accept the 4,600 dollar offer? 7. What was the last date the County and Mr. Shultz negotiated? 8. Why did it take 5 months to petition the court to appoint three independent appraisers? 9. Why was the city constantly being told that the hold up was the delay caused by the 3 appointed appraisers when they were never appointed? 10. The 600,000 dollar OCRA Grant is a 50/50 possibility of receiving, and we may not get it at all, are we losing valuable construction bid time at depressed construction rates due to the slow time table for applying and receiving word on this Grant? In laymen’s terms are we spending a quarter to save a nickel? 11. There seems to be a lot of discussion about dirt and the landfill, could the County give the City the dirt they have requested, then transport the rest to County owned property along Burlington Avenue for holding purposes to speed this up. 12. It appears from the aerial views of the flooding as well as the elevation readings that the lower/Frankfort pond will hold a overwhelming amount of the water that settles in the lower/Frankfort pond area after the larger fast rains. Would that lower/Frankfort pond be able to contain say 85% of the spilled out water that settles in the lower/Frankfort Pond. 13. For Butler Fairman & Seufert; Is the engineering done for the lower/Frankfort pond? If yes, is there any reason the lower/Frankfort pond could not be dug at any point as a stand alone project. 14. For Butler Fairman & Seufert; Please explain the “bottleneck” that is causing a restriction and how effective is this restriction at holding back water. 15. A lot of citizens have questioned us as to where there ditch assessment money is at, how much is there and why are we not using it? 16. After the eastside flooding rears its ugly head the Mayor’s Office is flooded with calls, as there is very little communications between the City and County on the flooding issue, and the information is somewhat clouded when we ask. The residents want to know what is going on with the project, recently we have been telling them to call the County, they in turn call us back and tell us that so and so said it was the Cities fault, recently we received a call from a lady that spoke with a Commissioner she mentioned by name, she told us he told her the City won’t give us any money. Question: Have any of you been told by any City official the City will not pay its share, or we are holding back for any reason on this project? Is there any reason to believe that the city is not totally on board with this project? BOARD OF WORKS AND PUBLIC SAFETY 301 East Clinton Street Frankfort, In. 46041 765-654-7332 EAST SIDE FLOODING TIMELINE July 19,2010
NOTE: The signing of the documents to proceed ( May 11, 2009 ) and today’s date ( July 20, 2010 ) have expired approximately 14 months of the 18 month completion date. The Harris appraisal took (5) five months to complete from start to delivery to Mr. Shultz The delay caused by not timely filing the appointment of Independent Appraisers court documents cost (5) five additional months of delay. Clearly an estimated (10 ) ten month delay. Respectfully Submitted, Board of Works and Public Safety | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mayor Pippnenger and City Engineer Chuck Toney have worked for months attempting to convince CSX Railroad to rebuild their crossings within the City of Frankfort. They have each spoken with several different CSX offices repeatedly to report the state of our crossings. This process has proven very effective and it is our hope that those of you using these crossings have noticed the great improvement to our town. Following is the letter sent to CSX expressing our gratitude. February 2, 2010 CSX Railroad Ms. Adama Harris 301 Bay Street, Suite 301 Jacksonville, Florida 32202 Dear Ms. Harris: We would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your company for the repairs that have been made to the CSX crossings here in Frankfort. Many of these crossings were so rutted out and broken down that they were unsafe. The folks that did the repairs came into the Mayor's office, introduced themselves and kept us informed as to what crossings were going to be closed and when. Once these improvements were complete, the difference was remarkable. We have received many compliments from citizens who are most thankful for the work you have done in our town and the only question remaining is if the cleanup of the removed railroad ties, etc. will be happening soon. These folks have been assured that we have an open line of communication with you and we feel confident this will be the case. The area along the railroad tracks is taking shape with the keeping the weeds mowed down and these new crossings. Again, many thanks and continued success. Very truly yours, Chris N. Pippenger, Mayor City of Frankfort Charles L. Toney, City Engineer |
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September 3, 2009 As you know The City of Frankfort is in a financial recovery period and we are making progress in our endeavor to return to a more stable financial condition, many important programs have been sacrificed, however we remain dedicated to the safety of our community, industry, business, and to the programs that have an outreaching impact on the appearance of our city. One program that stands alone and is very important to our community, our children and the presentation of our city during the holiday season is our Holiday Festival of Lights, or most may know it as, “The Christmas Lights in the Park”. This Holiday Festival of Lights is very expensive to operate with the electric bill alone near 6,000 dollars per season, and contrary to belief, we as the city do not get “free” electricity. We are required to purchase our electricity from out local utility company. We must also purchase new runs of lights as some of our runs are becoming aged and weathered, replacing bulbs becomes a very expensive endeavor and very time consuming, as well as maintaining a number of large, colorful displays that are available for viewing by both the local citizens and the many out of town citizens who visit Frankfort for this spectacular display, which is listed in the Indiana Festival of Lights Directory. The City Administration certainly understands how the recession has impacted your company. We share your pain but we have limited methods to offset our financial burdens. We have cut to the bone. The City of Frankfort, Board of Works and Public Safety, is sending out twenty requests to the industry and businesses of our community in an effort to keep this Festival of Lights available for viewing, safe, and well maintained to protect the public while they enjoy this marvel of colorful lights and displays, as well as last year’s new addition, the horse drawn carriage rides. If you could find it in your heart to donate 500 dollars to this most worthy cause, we would be most grateful for your generosity. If you find this too challenging, maybe a smaller offering would be in your thoughts. We would be most appreciative of any help you may offer! If you desire to help with this most worthy cause, please make checks payable to: The Festival of Lights, c/o City Clerk/Treasurer, 301 East Clinton Street, Frankfort, Indiana, 46041. Very Sincerely, Mayor Chris N. Pippenger |
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April 29, 2009 It appears as though discussions are around that question our credibility as to weather the City of Frankfort was in fact 4.2 million dollars in debt beginning January 1, 2008. The only real way to settle this issue once and for all is simply to print the facts as reported in the 2007 City of Frankfort year end official report. Copies of these reports are available in the Clerk Treasurers office and are public record, help yourself, it is your right as a citizen. We will post the numbers from the General Fund Number 320, this fund is where the cities operating expenses are taken from. The city also has other funds that are designated for individual areas such as Fire Pension, Police Pension, Pool Escrow, Petting Zoo, etc etc. The measurer of efficiency of a municipality is the stability of the General Fund, so here we go.
State law requires that a municipalities General Fund have a positive balance by December 31 of that operating year, when cities have negative balances as ours did on December 28, 2007 they must borrow money on short term, from banks, city owned utilities, they may borrow from solvent Police and Fire Pensions, or other investments the city owns. This borrowed short term money is deposited in the Cities General Fund making it in compliance with State Law by December 31, then after the official paperwork shows a cities general fund in the positive column and we turn the calendar to January 1, 2008 and begin our new fiscal year, the borrowed funds are returned, and the city starts off with the original General Fund balance as noted on December 28, 2007, plus or minus posted transactions, in this case $ 167,526.45 was posted to the December 28, 2007 balance. In summary Mayor Chris N. Pippenger was delivered a city with a General Fund deficit of $ (4,130,463.39). Mayor Chris N. Pippenger City of Frankfort Board of Works |
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Improvements beginning 1-1-08 Budget Items Lowered Budget Items Lowered |
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Annual Spring Cleanup will be held Monday, April 27, 2009 through Saturday, May 2, 2009. Items may be taken to the Street Dept. those days from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.. Wednesday, April 27, the Street Dept. will be accepting items from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. to assist varying working hours. Items must be taken to the Street Dept. due to rentals, foreclosure properties and people out in the county stockpiling and taking advantage of former free pickup. The Mayor’s office was bombarded with calls last year with people needing multiple pickups. Should you have a problem with delivery to Street Dept, please call 659-2912 and we will try to work something out with you. You MUST have a photo ID showing living in a city residence. Thank you. |
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MAYOR CHRIS N. PIPPENGER 301 East Clinton street Frankfort, Indiana 46041 765-654-7332 APPROXIMATE CONSULTING FEES FOR SUBMITTAL $ 20,000 2ND ATTEMPT STIMULUS MONEY REQUEST FOR THE FOLLOWING ROADS March 27, 2009 BLINN AVENUE FROM BARNER ST. TO ROSSVILLE AVENUE BARNER STREET FROM BLINN AVE. TO 200 WEST CLINTON STREET FROM HOKE AVE. TO DOYAL STREET DELPHI AVENUE FROM KYGER ST. TO 100 NORTH DOYAL STREET ALL OF DOYAL STREET (2) TWO BLOCKS FIFTH STREET ST. RD. 28 TO FREEMAN STREET FREEMAN STREET FROM ST. RD. 39 TO FIFTH STREET KELLY ROAD FROM WILLIAMS ROAD TO OAK STREET STATE ROAD 28 FROM HOKE AVE. TO 200 WEST ( PRINCIPAL ARTERIAL) TAYLOR STREET ALL OF TAYLOR STREET (2) TWO BLOCKS WASHINGTON AVENUE FROM SYCAMORE ST. TO MAISH RD. WASHINGTON STREET FROM HOKE AVE. TO ROSSVILLE AVE. WILLIAMS STREET FROM WASHINGTON AVE. TO FOREST DR. > All streets are Minor Arterial except State Road 28 which is Principal > All funding is 100 % > All selected streets and cross streets must have handicap ramps and inserts @ 100 % funding from stimulus money > Some streets may require milling Submitted By, Mayor Chris N. Pippenger |
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STIMULUS MONEY REQUEST FOR ROADWORK + DRAINAGE FEBRUARY 18, 2009 RESULTS OF REQUEST DRAINAGE FRANKFORT PLACE ROADWORK RESURFACE / MILL EAST STREET * FROM WASHINGTON AVE. TO ST. RD. 28 Reject FIFTH STREET * ALL Approved to be submitted KYGER STREET * FROM ST. RD. 39 TO HAWTHORNE AND PARK Reject HAWTHORNE STREET * FROM KYGER TO BARNER Reject CLAY STREET * FROM ST. RD. 28 TO WASHINGTON AVE. Reject MONON STREET * ALL ( INCLUDING MILLING ) Reject WHITE STREET * ALL Reject STATE ROAD 28 WEST * FROM CSX RAIL TO PRAIRIE AVE. Reject INDIANA STREET * FROM COLUMBIA ST. TO THIRD ST. Reject GARD STREET * FROM HAWTHORNE TO MAGNOLIA Reject BILL GOODWIN DRIVE * FROM GREEN ST. TO COUNTRY CLUB Reject REPAIR ALL UTILITY CUTS IN ENTIRE ROAD NETWORK Reject NEW CAPITOL PROJECTS CONSTRUCTION OF OVERPASS OR UNDERPASS TO ELIMINATE EMERGENCY RESPONDERS DELAY BY TRAINS Reject RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED CHRIS N. PIPPENGER MAYOR THE CITY OF FRANKFORT, IN. |
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Fire Hydrant Fee |
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EastSide Flooding |
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Editorial Reply January 22, 2009 Every good editorial deserves a good editorial reply, this in reference to the Times article titled “ Mayor, public poll don’t agree on job performance.” It seems as though the Times is on a seek and destroy mission, for what purpose we do not know, nor are we concerned, as many other issues take priority over criticism from the newspaper, it should not be the objective of any Mayor to please the local newspaper, to please one political party or another, to please any one political body, or to try and keep the newspapers poll in a favorable position at all times, it is however the Mayor of any Cities responsibility to provide safety for the citizens, to make sound well thought out decisions, to protect the financial well being of the City, and most of all to make sound well thought out decisions when spending the tax payer’s money. The times poll reported that 53% of it voters think his performance has been poor, we apologize for your unhappiness, and would ask you contact us and share your concerns, we may be able to make changes to accommodate you, maybe not, and who knows you may have some suggestions as to how we may recover more quickly from a 4.3 million dollar deficit, without reorganizing our structure, our spending habits, or our attitudes in general. There are those in the political circles that believe, we should move full speed ahead with the tax payer’s money and our old spending habits, we simply think we should be very guarded at this time and make wise and taxpayer protected spending decisions. We are in an unfortunate financial position at this time, we have made great strides in the recovery process, we will continue to push forward to resolve our financial issues, and we will be successful, we are seeing results, the credit goes to the Leadership of this City, The Department Heads, and the Employees, all are contributing to the recovery period. It may appear that Mayor Pippenger never takes the blame for anything, that is the opinion of the Times newspaper, we certainly believe this not to be true, being an Independent elected official he is free to speak, without repercussion from any one political party, or political agenda, he is not concerned about the next election, he forms many of his opinions from input from the taxpayers on the street, as opposed to political agendas, many apology’s have been dealt out, for a variety of reasons, we simply do not notify the Times every time we make an apology. The employees of this City are the driving force of our appearance, safety and success, when Mayor Pippenger after days of discussion, thought, and financial studies, posted a 3% pay raise for the employees, he created a list of methods and events that could be used to fund the raise, including the financial gains we had made in restructuring our employee staffing with no one loosing their job, our drastic spending restrictions put on the department heads, the recapturing of our E D I T monies after the jail bond pay off, the possibility of the passing of the L O I T income tax, both which may not be used for wages or benefits, but would free up other money for pay increases, another support idea was the advancement of the industrial annexation, soon to be full blown annexation, they are all on the list, come to the office and get one, when the Mayor presented the budget to the City Council, they immediately went on the attack, and one Councilman stated in public “you are not doing your job” and immediately cut the pay raise without discussion, blaming the Mayor for “putting the monkey on their back,” what fascinated us was that 4 of the current Council members including the one that made the statement voted in 2007 to give City Employees a 5% pay raise for 2008 and the City was 4.3 million dollars in debt with no plan for a recovery, at least when Mayor Pippenger proposed his 3% raise he had made progress in solving our financial problem and had procedures in place to fund the raise, but the Council voted it down immediately and blamed it on the Mayor. We will not base our decisions on what is best for the Times, nor what is best for the Democrats, nor what is best for the Republicans, nor what is best for the special interest groups, nor what is best for the outcome of the next election, but what is best for the Taxpayer. Sincerely, Mayor Chris N. Pippenger, The Board of Works |
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BY MAYOR CHRIS N. PIPPENGER’S ADMINISTRATION 1. Taco trailer and surrounding lots on 28 West torn down and cleaned up. 2. Residential trash boxes removed from streets and put back into alleys. 3. New sidewalk bordering East Side Park on Crescent Drive. 4. Goodwill Store strip mall water run off problem with bordering neighbors. 5. Genco property cleanup on West Morrison Street. 6. Opening up intersection of McKinley Avenue and West Walnut Streets. 7. Improvements of truck traffic and keeping semis off residential streets. 8. Monon Street-cleanup on both sides of street, truck traffic, curbs, etc. The Administration is aware as monies become available work will be completed. All work was done to cleanup a blighted neighborhood and to assist Genco so the city would gain an estimated 18% tax increase from the development of their property. This also follows the Comprehensive Plan which was put into action. 9. Opening up North end of Fifth Street and 28 West intersection. Due to budget restraints, blacktop is yet to be completed. 10. Improvements to West Green and Delphi Avenue intersection for traffic flow. 11. Working with Frankfort Municipal Utilities for their assistance in paving of White Street and Hawthorne Avenue to repair utility cuts made in these roads but due to budget cuts, this has yet to come to completion. Once money becomes available, we hope to move forward with this project. 12. Working with Clinton County Fair Board to resolve noise issues with the sur- rounding residential neighborhoods after hours. 13. Working with Norfolk & Southern we have been able to keep tracks from being blocked by stationery trains. Yes, we know nothing is 100% foolproof but we have had many calls that this is working. 14. Also working hard with Norfolk & Southern, CSX for cleaning and trimming of the railroad system. 15. Re-bid and establish improvement on Recycling Program such as tires so the charge to the taxpayer is $2 instead of $5. These tires are then recycled. Better development of resources of cardboard, newspapers and magazines, steel and aluminum cans, plastics and glass which created a great savings for the City of $10,000 in dump fees in the first year. The program has also been setup to bring appliances at an affordable cost, house- hold items such as bedding, sofas, chairs, etc.. Any questions or ideas may be discussed with the Street Department at 659-2912. This has all occurred at a significant savings for city taxpayers. 16. Cost savings on Workmen’s Comp and city liability insurance at a savings to the Tax and rate payers, Employees of the City and Utilities of $160,000. Thanks to the help of the Insurance Committee there is another net savings to the Tax and rate payers and employees who were faced with a 45% increase on health Insurance alone. Through several strenuous meetings their goal was achieved so there was no additional costs involved in spite of rising insurance costs. Mission accomplished. Thanks to Frankfort Municipal Utilities for their assistance in the shortfall. 17 . With the Sewer Department and Ed Laflen we have been able to save taxpayer money through usage of a sand/salt mixture. Salt is $120 a ton versus sand at $3.75 a ton. Unfortunately, like many other counties and cities we are only able to do corners, bridges, curbs. Some city alleys are much cleaner and have been graded by the Street Department. 18. Again, a taxpayer savings of one 1978 model grader that took a roller, a truck, trailer and 3 to 4 men for grading of one alley at a time. The old grader was traded for 2 grading boxes which only require 2 men and 2 tractors. 19. Building Inspector’s Office-We have been able to manage many tear-downs and cleanups such as in the alleys, the old McClure stations on 28 East and West, the old chicken hatchery behind Coomer’s Mill, the old laundromat behind Coapstick Insurance, clean and maintain the old Chevy garage on Washington Street which was very dangerous, have houses painted and sided, roofs replaced that have been complained about for years. Exide was forced to put a new roof on at their Hoke Avenue site, demolition and cleanup of the old Deluxe Cleaners Building, some houses and garages torn down that have been eyesores for many years, many fences repaired or replaced, the condemnation and ongoing cleanup of the old Barner Street trailer park, the Indiana Brass property and the old light plant building, major cleanup of railroad property which runs along Railroad Street between Jefferson and Barner Streets (beside Kayco). We are currently in talks to procure a tenant for the old Walmart Building. Ongoing work and communication with property owners and landlords regarding number of units per house, number of tenants per unit and parking issues for houses converted to apartments. 20. Letter written to Indiana Department of Revenue on behalf of Papa John’s Pizza requesting a payment arrangement for delinquent taxes rather than closing. Result: Papa John’s payment arrangement was granted and local store remained open, saving jobs in the community. 21. Work with businesses to keep loading and unloading out of city streets which was causing a safety concern for citizens. |
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TRASH PICKUP ATTENTION CITIZENS OF FRANKFORT: Because of the bad economic times and fuel costs we are asking for your help. If you can get by on one day trash pickup, please do so. On your pickup day(s) kindly remember to return your emptied trash cans to an area at the back of your property. This will prove to be a great help to our children playing and also to drivers who will no longer have to avoid the trash cans which have blown into the street. We are looking for safety and beautification of Frankfort so please remember your neighbors. Keep in mind that Wednesday is “RECYCLE DAY” all over town. Recycling is a great way to help our budget while assisting the town in “going green”. As Mayor of Frankfort, I am begging for your cooperation so that you can avoid citations, remain on the right side of the law and avoid paying a fine. Should you have bulk items, you must purchase a bulk tag at the City Clerk/Treasurer’s office at Old Stoney. Do not set out any of these items until the bulk tags are picked up and paid for. A price list for bulk items and tires is enclosed. I have had many calls from residents ranging from elderly to second shift workers. Their main concern seems to be that they are unable to get their cans put away by 7:00 p.m. on pickup day. To avoid this problem, just set your trash out in bags after 7:00 p.m. the night before your pickup is scheduled. Don’t worry that animals will get into it. If they do, the Street Department is instructed to clean up the debris. If this does not happen, first contact the Street Department at 659-2912. If you still are not satisfied or have any other questions, please feel free to contact my office at 654-7332. Thank you, Chris N. Pippenger, Mayor City of Frankfort |
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SOME FACTS • The Indiana Brass property is owned by Mr Lou Moonshower ( Frankfort Properties LLC 812-334-1191 ) • The Brass property was purchased in a tax sale by Mr Moonshower • The City of Frankfort has no vested interest in this property, however the city taxpayers may have spent as much as $56,000 completing phase 2. • The back 1/3 of the property is owned by John Cunningham and he has denied access to his portion of the property • Mr Moonshower is delequent in tax and wants to donate property to our city • Mr Moonshower has contributed no money to this project as of December 13, 2007 • This project was started by Bud McQuade and Mr Paul Troy • The grant for this project is a 50/50 matching grant • Phase 1 of this project is complete, it appears at a cost of $6000.00 to The City Taxpayers • Phase 2 of this project is complete, it appears at a cost of $50,000 to The City Taxpayers • In order to start phase 3 of this project a large portion of the west side of the Brass structure must be torn down and removed, so access to the earth under the floor of the removed structure may be available for boring and testing. The expense of the demolation and removal would be the taxpayers responsibility and is undetermined •Phase 3 will cost another $50,000 with the Taxpayers portion appearing to be $50,000 •Cleanup cost of the groundwater contaminated plumed area of the boring plan (figure 6) dated 8/23/05 could potentially be $500,000 • Petroleum hydrocarbons have been located as deep as 14 feet • Extremely hazardous substances have been located on site triclorethyline (T C E ) • Elevated levels of chromium, arsenic, lead, benzo(a)pyrene, P C B’s and other chemicals have currently been located on the property, and testing has only been completed thru phase 2. • If we were involved in the remediation process, and aquire a remediation grant, remediation must be complete in 2 years or the grant reverts to a loan at 3% interest for the total amount of grant. This project which was started under the Stock ( 2003-2007) administration is actually related to the roundhouse project which was started by a special interest group who set out to renovate the roundhouse, at some point the city became involved and became the financial support system for this project, The City of Frankfort has no ownership of any of this property, and has not contacted Mr Moonshower to our knowledge for his financial support. This project starts with geological studies of the old Indiana Brass Property, and at this time has been stalled because the Troy Risk Group doing the geological studies needs the City of Frankfort and its tax payers to pay to have the west portion of the building torn down, and hauled away, then they can aquire the phase 3, $50,000 matching grant, and continue their studies, remember these grants are a 50/50 match so the taxpayers must come up with $50,000 also, it is unknown to us how many grants are going to be needed for this geological study or how much, if not all of the Indiana Brass structure will have to be torn down and removed to determine the extent of the cost for remediation which we have been told by Troy Risk Group that the remediation cost could be as high as $500,000, for the Brass property alone. Several chemicals have been found in the soil borings (mentioned above) as well as triclorethyline (T C E) pollution in a groundwater plume (see figure 6 Troy Risk Inc. Boring plan), all of this chemical pollution in the soil and the water will have to be remediated. It has been told to us, but not confirmed, that the Stock administration was working with the owners of the Winski property and had made them an offer to purchase their property at taxpayers expense, and to purchase them land at taxpayers expense to move their operation to, this also being related to the roundhouse project, as this all leads to a grand entrance into the roundhouse, if in fact this is true we would be doing additional boring studies and remediation to this property, demolation and removal of buildings at taxpayers expense, and remember we have not gotten near the roundhouse property yet, for the testing and remediation work there, also at taxpayers expense, with matching grants. Let us assume for a moment that all the above is completed, at an estimated cost of around $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 out of the taxpayers pockets, now it is time to begin work on the roundhouse, we start off with the geological boring to discover the involvement of soil and water contaminates, then we must remediate the hazards, all on the taxpayers, now we can begin work on the roundhouse, at this point we have no financial involvement from any private foundations or special interest groups, this project is funded totally by the taxpayers, hopefully with matching grants. We have not seen any cost estimates at this time for the roundhouse renovation, however the deterioration, and damage is very extensive both to the structure and to the surrounding support items, to complete this project to tourist attraction quality one would believe that to meet building codes, electrical codes, A.D.A accessability, water lines, electrical work, bathrooms, heating and cooling systems, etc,etc,etc, it could easily be seven figure money from the taxpayer. Then we have to find and fund train equipment to put in our museum. If the endeavor were successful reality tells us that the roundhouse will not self sustain itself, and who will be called upon to pay the massive water bill, light bill, heating bill, cooling bill, maintenance of the grounds, maintenance of the building, employees wages and benefits, liability insurance, the costly storm water run off fees, etc, etc, etc, once again the taxpayers. Who will pay for the constant monitoring of the many groundwater monitoring wells that have to be located on all of this property ? Our guess is it will be the taxpayers. This project has the potential to afflict a great long term tax burdon to the already struggeling taxpayer, and it will be a continuing hardship as some of the cost to fund this project are never ending. It is our belief, that in the spirit of prioritizing the spending of the taxpayers money, this project falls low on the list of priorities, and should be shelved, notwithstanding the fact that our political platform stated that no tax money should be spent on the roundhouse project, the taxpayers of this city cannot be involved in a project of special interest that has never ending tax ramifications. It may be in the best interest of whom ever spearheaded this project to seek other funding sources, or explore other avenues of support rather than place this project on the back of the hard working taxpayer. THE FRANKFORT BOARD OF WORKS MAYOR Chris Pippenger MEMBER Gary Zink MEMBER Jim Osbon |
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Tax Dollar Pie Chart |
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November 3, 2008 The recent headlines “Mayor releases wrong tax rate data” may have indicated that the reporter did not study the document well enough to present a true, factual story on the document. We will attempt to explain in true facts. It might be noted that this document was in the Frankfort Times about 2 or 3 months ago and has been circulated in the Home Pages Phone Book that was printed about 2 or three months ago, hence the reason for the disclaimers, we knew things would change but we printed our most current numbers and added the word “PROPOSED and the *ASTERISK to be more realistic. First we must present the definition of terms and they are as follows: PROPOSED= Offer for consideration; suggest; not definite ASTERISK=A character * used as a reference mark COUNTY=Local government division of a state as in Clinton County CITY=A place larger or more important than a town; as in Frankfort TOWN=A division of a county; small residential area; as in Michigantown, Mulberry, Kirklin, Forest, Jefferson, Kilmore, TOWNSHIP=A unit of local government; in the U.S. usually 6 miles square; as in Center Township, Washington Township, Union Township, Jackson Township, Michigan Township LEVY=Access or collection of a tax DISCLOSURE=To reveal; to make known * Definitions taken from Webster’s Dictionary Lets talk about the pie chart first, this pie chart was developed by the Department of Local Government Finance who works directly for the Governor, it was delivered to The Mayors office by Indiana Republican Senator Phil Boots, copies are available in the Mayors office if you like, it is very important that you understand that the pie chart reflects as stated in the document just over the top of the pie chart “HOW COUNTY TAX DOLLARS ARE DIVIDED” the key word here is COUNTY This pie chart does not reflect any individual Frankfort City or School tax numbers contrary to what the times reported. If there is question about the pie chart one must contact the Governors office he put it out. Lets talk about the numbers on the right of the document as it states “CITY RATES PER $ 100 ASSESED VALUE IN RED, below that in blue it states “2007 PROPOSED PAYABLE IN 2008, there is that word PROPOSED, now if you look in the blue print you will see an * beside the words “Frankfort School 2.1637*” you will also note an * beside the words “Frankfort Corp. 1.7524* now if you follow down the blue print to the bottom you will see another * that states “*Exceeds Levy Should Lower” this is our disclosure language the word PROPOSED and EXCEEDS LEVY SHOULD LOWER. It could be made no clearer the numbers were proposed and would lower because they exceeded the levy. The problem comes when The Times reported that the Frankfort Schools receive 58.8% of the tax rates, The times took this number from the pie chart which is all County Schools not just Frankfort, if you look at the city rates you get Frankfort’s rate which indicates 2.1367* with an asterisk, remember the asterisk denotes “rate will lower”. In short it appears as though The Times took all the city tax rates from the County chart and reported them as City and School tax rates. Dr. Caress we apologize for our inaccurate rate reporting, however we published our most current numbers at the time that had been obtained from the Auditor, we knew it would change, that being the reason for the word Proposed and the * both disclaimers announcing the anticipated changes. To say that the Mayor purposely printed the wrong numbers would be a presumption; on your part “something believed on inconclusive evidence” We stand behind our document however you report it, and if you must attack us we only ask that you print the facts. Never the less we will continue to work hard for the taxpayer, to protect their investment, be honest, and hold no secrets and be true to our promise; GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE. Mayor Pippenger Board of Works |
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To the Editor Board of Works replies October 19, 2008 Mrs. Kelley-first of all, we do not agree with you that Frankfort is no longer a safe place to live. I would call your attention to the blotter in the weekend edition, the very paper that your letter appeared, on Thursday 10/16/08 the Police Department responded to 9 crime calls in a 24 hour period. That's 1 call every 2.6 hours. The calls were a stolen purse, a stolen porch chair, harassment, suspicious vehicle, a burglary, an ordinance violation, underage drinking, on Friday 10/17/2008 the Police Department responded to 5 crime calls in a 24 hour period. That's 1 call every 4.8 hours. The calls were an intoxicated driver, hit and run accident, child neglect and theft. We are sure there were traffic stops as well that were not posted but we are talking about crime and based on our crime rate studies, these are typical days for us and all other small communities. We know these types of crimes have been in all communities for years and years and from time to time, more serious crimes arise and our Police Department does a wonderful job keeping our town safe, contrary to your statement. It would be nice to believe that if we hire that 29th officer, the crime rate would drop, it would scare all the criminals away and the crimes would get less serious, but that makes about as much sense as saying if we hired 1 more teacher all our schools would come off academic probation and everyone's grades would get better. When offering crime statistics, it is important to offer apples to apples numbers. It is not practical to offer the entire year of 2007 crime statistics against eight (8) months of the 2008 crime statistics and say "crime is up". One might believe that as the weather gets colder, people move inside, kids go to school, older kids go to college so crime could be less in winter months. When offering crime statistics, it would be more true to offer the first eight (8) months of 2007 crime against the first eight (8) months of crime in the 2008 year or wait until the end of 2008 then compare all of 2007 against 2008. Regardless of how we do it, let's keep things apples to apples. History shows us that for no apparent reason, crimes goes up and down all the time. Next, we looked closely at our work force and studied the historical work force numbers and the current work force numbers, as well as run volumes, criminal statistics, special even work force numbers, overtime, as well as hours worked and staffing performance. One of our discoveries was that the Police Department is working a lucrative five (5) day on and three (3) day off work week. It was then surmised that in order to make this schedule work, more employees had to be hired to cover this extra day off. It only makes sense if we returned to a normal five (5) and two (2) work week we could conceivably add twenty eight (28) Police Officers back on the streets one more day per week, thus relieving the so called manpower shortage. However, we are not in favor of taking benefits away from the Policeman but will do what is necessary if we are forced to and do not reach continuity. We must work together as a team and stop this bickering. Secondly, your statement "and without any support from Mayor Pippenger and his band of followers" is unfounded and without fact. In fact, you might be surprised to know that Mayor Pippenger is the one who added a 3% pay raise for Police and it was removed by the City Council. Mayor Pippenger approved sending our Police Officers to medical response school and the City Council refused to fund it. Mayor Pippenger added the 29th Police Officer to the 2009 budget in case we found financial daylight and the City Council cut it out of the budget. Mayor Pippenger has allowed all Police Officers a take home car and even removed the payroll deduction fee for use of the car. We pay for all fuel, vehicle insurance, service on the car, as well as the officer having freedom of use inside Clinton County. Mayor Pippenger has sent food, coffee and supplies to the Police Department for their enjoyment at his expense. Mayor Pippenger appointed Jeffery Danner, one of our local policemen as Police Chief, something that has not been done for years. Mayor Pippenger has met with the Police Department's Meet and Confer Team in good faith. The list is much bigger but space is limited. Our Police Officers have one of the best benefit packages in the State of Indiana and, we would say that for a town our size, it is the best. Benefits such as the most benefit rich health insurance in the State of Indiana, very competitive pay, fully funded take home cars, a pension, very lucrative vacation schedules, a very lucrative sick leave policy, very lucrative holidays off, very lucrative personal time off, and there is more. And all but the pension is controlled by "Mayor Pippenger and his band of followers". It is not our desire to lose our Policemen, we hope it does not happen, if we do we will push on with new Police Officers. We have the utmost respect and appreciation for our Police Officers' efforts and we will continue to fight for their pay raises and the stability of their benefits. On a separate note concerning Mrs. Danner's letter to the editor, it might be noted that shortly after Mayor Pippenger's notification of Jeff's heart attack, Mayor Pippenger had Jeff put on 3 prayer lists, we were in constant contact with Deputy Chief Emery, not withstanding the fact that we had Police Officers tell us that "this is no big deal". Oh, and you forgot to mention in your letter that Mayor Pippenger was, in fact, at your home and no one would answer the door so he left his card in your door and we do know you got the card. Nevertheless, we pray for Jeff a speedy recovery and return to work. Get well soon, Jeff!! |
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Mayor Pippenger; Gary Zink, B.O.W. President Jim Osbon, B.O.W. Member |
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