Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee Meeting - September 15, 2025
Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee Meeting - September 15, 2025
The Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee met on Monday, September 15, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. in the Public Assembly Room of the City-County Building. The meeting included two appointments to the City Market Corporation Board of Directors and budget hearings for the Marion County Recorder’s Office and the Marion County Assessor’s Office. Both appointments were approved unanimously, and the budget presentations were received with questions and discussion.
Appointment: Proposal No. 277, 2025 – Courtney Howell Rissman
- Appointee: Courtney Howell Rissman, Senior Director of Events and Public Spaces at Downtown Indy, Inc.
- Position: Expressed interest in serving on the City Market Board, noting her 25 years of downtown experience and enthusiasm for the market’s revitalization.
- Council Discussion: Councilor Cahill asked about benchmarking the City Market against similar markets in other cities. Rissman replied that she was not the appropriate person to answer but supported research and replication of successful models. Councilor Paul Hart encouraged benchmarking, specifically citing Milwaukee’s thriving market, and urged the board to be proactive. Councilor Delaney welcomed Rissman and thanked her for her service.
- Public Comment: None.
- Vote: Motion to approve passed unanimously.
Appointment: Proposal No. 278, 2025 – David Herron
- Appointee: David Herron, Executive Director of the Business Ownership Initiative at the Indy Chamber of Commerce.
- Position: Expressed interest in serving, emphasizing his 15 years of experience in entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and supporting small businesses. He noted the importance of helping entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses at the City Market.
- Council Discussion: No questions or comments from councilors.
- Public Comment: None.
- Vote: Motion to approve passed unanimously.
Budget Hearing: Marion County Recorder’s Office
- Presenters: Recorder Faith Kimbrough and Chief Deputy J.R. Writer.
- Staffing: The office has 17 positions with one vacancy for an executive assistant (the agenda slide stated 17 of 17 positions filled, but the oral presentation noted an opening). Staff is diverse: African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, and Asian, both in frontline and leadership roles. Retention strategies include an annual incentive and a “HIGH FIVE” recognition program with financial and edible rewards. Training includes on-the-job training and professionally produced videos.
- Programmatic Successes: Implementation of eCertification for obtaining certified copies online; a new phone system for training and customer service; a new microfilm scanner for clearer images; and a new “Doc Numbers Upfront” recording process starting October 2025, which will allow customers to receive recorded documents the same day and reduce printer/paper costs.
- Community Engagement: “On the Record” show on Channel 16, HOA meetings, fraud awareness campaigns with yard signs in underserved areas, partnerships with IMPD (Jamboree, National Night Out), and translation of all handouts and key website resources into Spanish.
- 2026 Goals: Educate 1 million residents about property rights and fraud prevention; digitize records back to 1920 (currently digitized to 1961). The office plans to invest its cash perpetuation fund into a TRUST INDIANA account with the Marion County Treasurer to earn 3–4% interest (~$3,500/month) for fraud and veterans outreach.
- Budget Overview: Total 2026 introduced budget is $1,915,820, an increase of $4,787 from 2025, primarily due to a 2.9% COLA increase. Character 1 (wages/benefits) increased by $33,499; Character 2 (supplies) remained flat at $6,061; Character 3 (services/charges) decreased by $28,712 due to a 4% budget cut; Character 4 (capital) remained flat at $2,500.
- Council Questions: Councilor Hart asked about the previous $200,000 for digitization; Writer confirmed that effort completed and records are now indexed back to 1961. Councilor Gibson praised eCertification and asked about accessing deeds online; Recorder Kimbrough explained the process. Councilor Delaney commended the office’s outreach efforts.
- Public Comment: None.
- Outcome: Budget presentation received; no vote taken.
Budget Hearing: Marion County Assessor’s Office
- Presenters: Assessor Joseph O’Connor, accompanied by Director of Assessment Gabriel Deaton and CFO/Director of Administration Theresa Bates.
- Staffing: The office has 93 full-time positions, with 75 filled and 18 vacant. Employment is 65% minority/female; management is 58% minority/female. The office promotes from within, offers assessor university for continuing education, voluntary overtime, and a telework policy (two days remote per week).
- Programmatic Successes: Handling gentrification through valuation policies; all commercial-industrial appeals assigned to analysts; timely residential appeals; met statutory DLGF certification schedule; critical review of vacancies for duty consolidation.
- Community Engagement: Attendance at neighborhood meetings; homeowner information pamphlet; increased online services; use of appeals data to improve neighborhood delineation; “Cattle Call” hearings to resolve appeals informally.
- 2026 Goals: Evaluate processes and consolidate departments due to SB1 statutory changes; explore AI for fair and efficient assessments; secure professional appraisals for large commercial appeals; utilize GIS functionality to improve neighborhood delineation during cyclical reassessment (quarterly reassessment over four years); continue to make processes available online (100% of assessor business can be done online).
- Budget Overview: Total 2026 introduced budget is $7,411,820, an increase of $235,534 from 2025. Funds: County General ($4,756,102), Reassessment Fund ($2,117,874), Sales Disclosure Fund ($189,102), Endorsement Fee Fund ($348,741). Character 1 (wages/benefits) increased by $250,001 due to COLA, health insurance, and union contract raises; Character 2 (supplies) increased by $36 to $27,601; Character 3 (services/charges) decreased by $14,502 to $1,890,526; Character 4 (capital) remained flat at $9,000.
- Council Questions: Councilor Roberts praised the GIS information on maps.indy.gov and asked about maintenance responsibilities. O’Connor explained that the Assessor’s Office maintains the cadastral (ownership) layer, while other agencies contribute their own layers. Councilor Delaney asked about methods for detecting property changes (e.g., decks, garages); O’Connor stated they use aerial photography overlay software to detect changes, supplemented by boots-on-the-ground inspections in dense neighborhoods. Delaney also asked about reassessment frequency; O’Connor clarified that cyclical reassessment is dictated by state law and that Marion County does it in-house, while many other counties use third-party vendors. He noted historic value increases since 2017, with a slowdown in activity but not values.
- Public Comment: None.
- Outcome: Budget presentation received; no vote taken.
Key Outcomes
- Proposal 277 (Rissman) and Proposal 278 (Herron): Both appointments to the City Market Corporation Board of Directors were approved unanimously by voice vote.
- Budget Hearings: The committee heard presentations from the Marion County Recorder’s Office and the Marion County Assessor’s Office. No votes were taken on the budgets; they were received and discussed. The committee adjourned without further business.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. I would now call to order the Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee to order for Monday, September 15th. We'll begin our meeting with introductions of my colleagues on the first row. Thank you, Madam Leader. Uh Derek Cahill, District 23. Thank you, Madam Leader. Michael Paul Hart, representing District 20. Thank you, Madam Leader. Brian Mowray, District 25. Thank you, Madam Leader Nick Roberts, District 4. Thank you, Madam Leader. Kristen Jones, District 18. Thank you, Madam Chair Brienne Delaney, District 2. Thank you, Madam Leader O'Ron Gibson, District 8. Thank you, Madam Chair. John Barth for attending Council District 7. Thank you, Madam Chair. Councilor Jarrett Evans representing District 17. Thank you, Madam Leader Lee Roy Robinson, District 1. Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, Councillors Maggie Lewis, District 5. The first item on our agenda is proposal number 277 appoints Courtney. And I apologize if I mess up your last name at Risman to the City Market Corporation Board of Directors. And I apologize. I can't remember how to pronounce your last name. No, my name's Courtney Rissman, um, and I work for downtown Indy Inc. Share a little bit why you're interested in serving this capacity. Yeah, I've always worked downtown. So I've been um a downtown worker for 25 years. I worked for Pacer Sports and Entertainment for about 14 and now I'm with downtown Indy. And I just have seen the the ebbs and flows of the city market and the vitalization that it you know it was so thriving when I first started, and just to kind of see where it's gone, and I'm really excited about the development that's to come and excited to be a part of that dialogue and and decision making and and just kind of helping to lead that that block forward. Wonderful. Thank you. Questions, comments from counselors. Counselor Cahill. Thank you, madam leader. Uh the uh question I guess I think I've asked everybody involved with uh city market. So if uh David wants to uh prepare himself for uh for the exact same question. The do you uh have any vision of doing any benchmarking of our city market uh and the offer and how it's operated to those uh similar in other markets, and if so, which ones? I think I'm not probably up to answer that question. I think that's probably more of the board chair, um Craig Ments or um for DMD to decide, but certainly whatever they you know I'm sure that there are different benchmarks and things that they're looking to do and different markets they're looking at. I know they've done you know significant research on other developments in other cities, and I'm happy to be a part of that, but I'm not sure that I'm the appropriate one to answer that question. Okay, thank you. Uh-huh. Thank you, Madam Leader. Um, I would just like to second Councilor Cahill's comment that I think as the board member, you know, sure you can get advice from the fo the other folks, but as the board of the city market, I would like to see the board taking the initiative to also look and see how they can mimic other cities. Um I said last time I think it was I noticed you were at the Pacers, and we had Laurie Miser as well. So apparently we have a lot of Pacer people going to the city markets. Um I told her as well that uh I have family that lives up in Milwaukee area, and they have a city market almost the same footprint as ours. And it is a thriving space.
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