TIPP CITY — The Tipp City City Council approved legislation for the annexation of land into the city limits and, also, to increase the contracted funds for SwimSafe Pool Management for the operation and management of the Tippecanoe Family Aquatic Center during its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
The ordinance approved by council on Tuesday evening accepts the application for the annexation of +/- 78.270 acres from Monroe Township into the city limits of Tipp City. The land being annexed is located at 4180 Tipp-Cowlesville Road.
After approving the land annexation ordinance, council moved on to a resolution that was brought forth by City Manager Timothy Eggleston. The resolution, as presented, allows Eggleston to enter into a contract amendment with SwimSafe Pool Management regarding an increase in funding for SwimSafe to operate, maintain and manage the Tippecanoe Family Aquatic Center in 2023.
SwimSafe Pool Management is asking for an increase in funds from $246,167 to $307,750 due to the price of chemicals increasing by 20% and their struggle to maintain and attract a staff. The increased funds would allow SwimSafe to hire workers for up to $15/hour as a way to increase the interest of potential employees.
This increase in funding is something that the council hopes to offset with a slight increase in entry and membership fees to the Tippecanoe Family Aquatic Center, the potential spike in fees will be discussed further at the next council meeting.
In other business, there were three motions before the council during Tuesday’s meeting. The first motion was to grant attendance awards to full-time employees who worked the entire calendar year of 2022 and used eight hours or less of sick leave in 2022. The attendance awards are $100 for employees who did not use any of their allotted sick leave and $50 for those who used eight hours or less. For 2022, the total amount awarded to employees is $750. While Council member Ryan Liddy expressed his concerns that these awards are encouraging employees to come into work while sick, the motion passed unanimously.
The second motion before the board was a motion to approve the list of noncollectable tax accounts and authorize the Finance Director John Green to write-off these balances. Green and the staff are requesting approval to write off a total of $51,914.72 in noncollectable tax accounts. According to Green, these accounts are all mostly 10 to 20 years old and are noncollectable unless the city can track down these individuals and convince them to agree to a payment plan on an overdue balance that is at least 10 years old, if not older. Green is also requesting to write off these balances because the city is switching tax software packages and it would make sense not to carry these noncollectable accounts into the new system when it is put in place later this year. The motion passed 7-0.
The final motion passed by the council Tuesday evening was a motion to appoint Gregory Stout to the Civil Service Commission for an unexpired term expiring on April 5, 2027.
