The Richland Township Board of Trustees approved a general bond issue up to $485,000 at its Sept. 28 meeting. The money will support construction of a new 2,400-square-foot building for the Township Trustee’s Office.
All board members – Candi Haley, Todd Durnil and David Williby – attended. Richland Township Trustee Marty Stephens, Richland Township Deputy Trustee Terri Francis, Richland Township Controller Sharon Yoder and Ellettsville Fire Chief Mike Cornman were also present.
The planned trustee’s office building would be located on the hill next to the baseball diamonds at the intersection of Park Street and Ritter Street.
Analogous to a loan paid with taxes, the five-year bond obligation would be unlikely to affect taxpayers equally.
“Specifically, what it would be for each person over that period of time would depend on the individual,” Stephens said. “I don’t think (the average) is a significant amount.”
Durnil asked if the bond conformed to the requirement that it be less than 2% of one-third of the total net value of the township.
“The total net value of the township is the valuation of the personal property,” Stephens said.
Yoder told the board that the township was limited by that number, but the bond was “way less” than the township’s limit.
“Even though we think the amount is high, we could still borrow more,” she said.
The board considered the cost of issuing the bond versus the cost of flood cleanup.
“Look at the money we’ll save on flood control,” Haley pointed out.
“Really, that’s what it boils down to,” Yoder agreed. “It has to save money from all the times we’ve had to replace carpet and walls.”
“I figure if anyone complained (about the tax increase) to me, I would ask them next time it floods to bring their boots and come down to help clean it out,” Williby added.
Besides the cost, there may be health concerns as Durnil and Yoder suspected the water coming from the creek wasn’t clean. During the Sept. 8 flood, Yoder said the water smelled like sewage and the humidity pushed the temperature in the office as high as 105 degrees afterward.
Approval of the bond required a petition with 25 signatures from township residents in support of it.
The township petitioned the Ellettsville Board of Zoning Appeals to approve the property for township office use, even though the property is zoned residential. If approved, the variance will only allow the land to be used for township business.
“The township couldn’t sell (the building) for someone else to use it for commercial,” Yoder said.
Rick Coppock will represent Bynum Fanyo on behalf of the trustee’s office at the BZA meeting.
Since the bond was approved, Stephens said, the next step will be Bynum Fanyo issuing an invitation for bids. All parties involved felt the bids would be substantially less than $485,000.
The next meeting of the township board will be held Oct. 12 at the trustee’s office. It will petition for the zoning variance at the BZA meeting at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 18.
Originally published in Ellettsville Journal, 2016. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.