INGALLS — Ingalls Town Council created a new commission and made changes to other groups during Monday’s board meeting at town hall.
At an Aug. 12 meeting, the council moved to create an economic development commission.
The commission will enable the town to “do more with our redevelopment commission and the potential development out at Interstate 69 and State Road 13 with regard to (DC Construction) moving its headquarters from Hamilton County to here,” said council President Justin Gardner, who will serve on the commission.
DC Construction Services, an asphalt and concrete paving company, plans to locate offices and house some of its trucks in the area, near County Road 800 West.
At Monday’s meeting, attorney Adam Steurwald from the firm Barnes & Thornburg, which is representing the town on the new development, advised and gave stipulations to creating the new group.
The commission will include three members, one appointed by the town council (Gardner), another appointed by the council president and the third to be appointed by Madison County Council.
“It is an advisory committee (for bonds and abatements), which will help give advice to both the town council and the redevelopment commission. They are not a decision-making body. They are an advisory body,” Gardner added.
Gardner said he will appoint someone and the council will give a recommendation to the county council for its September meeting.
“This will help cover us on our side to make sure we have everything in place to be able to move forward,” Gardner said.
The council also made changes to the town’s planning commission and board of zoning appeals.
Town attorney Gregg Morelock informed the council of an issue with the planning commission.
State code requires plan commissions to have seven members, and a municipal legislative body must appoint three members, each of whom must be an elected official, an appointed official or an employee of the town.
Prior to Monday’s meeting, the council had seven members, but only two who were elected/appointed — Kip Golden (town clerk-treasurer) and Melanie Johnson (BZA president). The rest of the group are volunteers.
The board appointed council member Georgia Parker, who had been a member of the planning commission before, to the commission to give it three members appointed by a legislative body.
To do that, the council had to remove a member from the commission. By a 3-2 vote, Don Bault was removed from the board. Parker and councilman Tim Green voted against Bault’s removal.
Gardner said the only reason he suggested Bault is that his term was set to expire at the end of this year.
Gardner asked plan commission member Terry Moody, who was at the council meeting, if he would volunteer to step down. Moody declined.
The town also replaced Chris Hull, who resigned his position, effective immediately, with the board of zoning appeals. Gardner named Bault, who was not at the meeting, to take Hull’s place.
