Good evening.

Committee members.

Bob Osseli, Chair of Metropolitan Economic Development Committee.

I will ask my colleagues to introduce themselves, starting from the first row.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Derek Cahill, District 23.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Michael Paul Hart, representing District 20.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Paul Lenay, District 22.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Brian Mowray, District 25.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Jesse Brown, District 13.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, Briandelini, District 2.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, Nick Roberts, District 4.

Very good.

Oh thank you, Mr.

Chair, Ron Gibson, District 8.

Thank you, Chairman.

Andy Nielsen, District 14.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

John Barth representing Council District 7.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Kristen Jones, District 18.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Councillor Jared Evans representing District 17.

Lee Wire Robinson, Mr.

Chair, District 1.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Maggie Lewis, District 5.

All right, very good, and thank you all very much.

Uh tonight we have the bulk of reappointments.

And we can always ask them to come back during the year to provide a report.

So let us begin with proposal number three, which reappoints Brandon Hergett to the Metropolitan Development Commission.

Mr.

Hergett Good evening, Mr.

Chairman and members of the committee.

It's a pleasure to be back with you all here this evening.

Happy to entertain any questions you might have.

Before that, I just make the comment that it's uh been a tremendous opportunity to serve on the MDC over the last year.

Um I had a conversation with one of your colleagues here earlier today and explained this.

Um I I thought I knew a lot about the MDC.

I thought I knew a lot about the process, and I've been very humbled in the first year with the learning curve, uh, the amount of time and attention that staff pay to all of the matters that go before the MDC.

And so uh feel grateful for that opportunity to continue to learn um as a public servant and uh like I said, happy to entertain any questions you might have for me.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Hergett, I want to say thank you for your service.

Um very much appreciated.

Any questions from counselors?

Chairman Barth.

Thank you.

Uh um Brandon, um, like everyone, I'm sure, uh, shares the same opinion.

We appreciate you serving uh in this important role.

And you came to it with a lot of knowledge and information.

Um it's uh great to hear you say you've even learned even more.

Um I'm just curious from having a lot of knowledge about the city um in uh having spent the last year on um the MDC.

Is there anything um that was surprising to you that you learned or anything that was that was really new in a way that was unexpected?

Uh I'm just curious with all your your depth of knowledge if there's anything that just was surprising or unexpected.

Yeah, there's so many different developments and things that the city is involved with approving um at a technical level that never passed my desk when I was working with you all in the council or working at DPW.

Uh we would always see the higher um sort of big ticket items to call them that, things that involved abatements or TIFF districts, uh things that were maybe affordable housing, something that was a priority for the administration or for for the council.

Um and so just the number of projects, the number of approvals um that that mass, if you will, of the body of work, um I think was the biggest surprise, and I think maybe the biggest opportunity as policymakers or potentially as commissioners to try to make sure that all the departments and all the different energy that's put in, um, whether again from the administration or thinking about User and Vision Zero as a priority, right?

Uh when departments are talking to each other and all the different policymakers or or or bureaucrats implementing policy or talking to each other, you can get better results.

And so I think there's still some opportunity there when we get down into those uh uh different redevelopments or developments that maybe aren't rising to the level of scrutiny um that that the ones we often talk about or read in the papers are, if that makes sense.

Excellent additional questions.

Council Cahill.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh couple questions and maybe a comment.

Uh so it I would tell you I I don't have any of these examples in my district, but we have had what seems to be an unusual level of uh call down activity over the past year or so uh where the the district counselor has had pretty vocal opposition to something, and then it has very often passed with uh unanimous MDC uh votes.

So I guess my my question is when how do you approach when there is a disagreement between what the administration is supporting or wants and what the local counselor wants?

Yeah, that's a good question.

Um I guess commenting on the first observation, I think that the data would dictate yes or no if if that's a uh an accurate statement or not, and I imagine it would be true.

Um just um my own uh observation as well.

Um and and I wonder if that's not just the nature of you all as political actors continue to change and evolve.

I've had the luxury of working for three different council bodies now.

Um going back to to 19 through today when I first entered the the picture in the city county building, and I think all of you as individuals representing your individual districts in different ways behave differently.

And so um I I don't know that I could speak to anything beyond just that change with any uh degree of certainty.

Beyond that, my own approach is to do my best being an appointee of the council to weigh your all's consideration on any matter with um the utmost respect, obviously, um the respect that it's due, but then also it could tip the balance one way or the other for me, um, if I'm being honest.

That being said, I'm going to rely on staff and their technical expertise probably more than anything because these codes and ordinances that govern these processes are so technical, and I don't have that technical ability to do that myself.

So I think those are the two um uh most important factors.

I think there will be other factors in in any matter that goes before the MDC, but those would be the two sort of guiding principles in my mind.

Okay, thank you.

And one more if I may.

Please.

Uh there and and I don't know if this happened or not, but there had been some discussion that DMD was uh thinking about doing training because we had had uh I think it's slowed down.

We have all reappointments tonight, but it about a year ago when you came in, we had a flurry of new appointments, and there had been some discussion of DMD doing some staff training for MDZ and the BZAs.

Uh is I don't know if that happened, but if if that whether or not that happened, would there be value in your opinion for once we get the council staff back to fully staffed to do an equivalent from the council perspective?

Would that be something you'd be open to and do you think it'd be valuable?

Oh yes, I do.

I think that'd be great opportunity for all of you for council staff as well.

Um I can't remember what it was called, but there was a um like a planner for a day or a planning 101 uh opportunity that was if I if memory serves it was through the Indy MPO.

Um looking back at Director Vuskich there, and uh I did attend that.

I know uh Commissioner Moriarty did attend that.

Um several city staff.

I think those type of opportunities would be wonderful from the relationships I've had and the opportunities I've had to work with you all in the past for you all as policymakers because again it does get so in the weeds so quickly.

Um council staff certainly um if I could be a part of helping facilitator pull something like that together, I think that would be well worth the energy.

Okay, thank you, and thank you for your uh service over the past year.

Uh thank you.

Uh thank you thank you.

Very good.

Uh councilor Mowery.

Thank you.

Uh thank you for your interest in serving again, Brandon.

Uh I do look forward to supporting you tonight.

I just have a question for you that maybe you can answer for me since you were with DPW prior.

What is DPW's role in so we we had a neighborhood that wanted to come into Franklin Township that I recently called down?

I think it's since pulled the petitioner since pulled the petition.

However, from my understanding, DPW didn't really have a role until after it went through the MDC, and it was gonna be pretty well on the way to being built.

The problem with I had with this development was that for instance Mays Road is a two-lane road, but I've said it many times, it's more like a one and three-quarters lane road because it's not really it was originally made for tractors to go from field to field.

I and to my understanding from what I've heard is that DPW was not involved from the start of this project, so they didn't know much about it leading up to it.

To me, that seems backwards, especially for a neighborhood uh anywhere, uh, but especially neighborhood that's wanting to bring in 421 homes.

Um we need to one thing Franklin Township's been hit with is a lot of the these housing developments and in that it's created a lot of congestion, and I think DPW had needs to do a better job of fixing the roads and the infrastructure prior to these huge additions coming in and maybe having the the developer kick in as well.

So, where is DPW fit at in that in the before it gets to the NBC?

Sure.

I'd I'd really need to defer to to DMD staff to walk through the the exact process.

Uh not in any way trying to put them on the spot, but I I don't want to speak unintelligently and misinform you all.

In general, I know that there are uh traffic studies that are oftentimes conducted as part of a process.

Again, I can't speak to the specifics of the process.

I would find it hard to believe that at least the traffic team at DPW was not consulted, um, either directly, uh DPW traffic staff, engineering staff that used to be Nathan Sheets.

Everybody I know knows Nathan.

Some of you all probably know Jill Palmer, Jill is uh I believe in that role uh for the department today.

Um so I imagine they're at least signing off on a a consultant's technical report, if not doing some analysis themselves.

When it comes to that broader question of um how a potential development might be interacting with the existing built environment, that's actually you mentioned Mays Rose, and I remember us talking about Mays Rose for years together.

Uh that's exactly what I was referring to when I was answering uh Councilor Bar's question, right?

Which is some of these developments that might not be the big sexy ones that you see as the front page of the Indianapolis Star are something that maybe we could with probably more you know staff capacity and things like that.

I don't want to set uh uh uh an unintended, you know, um set folks up for failure.

There could be opportunity for better coordination and and lead to a better end result for constituents, right?

So that you're not building a development where it's inaccessible because of potholes, right?

I appreciate that.

And I'll uh I have a meeting with DMB tomorrow, so I'll save that for we can talk about that tomorrow, so thank you.

Very good.

Additional questions, uh Councilman Lightning.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, and thank you, Mr.

Hergett, for being here tonight.

I um heard my colleague Kay Hill's comments, and it reminded me that we have a bunch of data center projects coming up as well as I had one project that I called down before the full council.

Land use in general, not just things that come before the MDC is that and roads are probably the top two issues in my district.

Um I ask you to to truly be cognizant of what the citizens are saying, really listen to them, take what they have to say to heart.

Sometimes it is just a lot of loud voices that aren't really representing the district, but there are often times where the people that are here or that come in front of the MDC are representing the will of their neighbors in the district, and I just ask you and your fellow members of the MDC to really listen to them, especially when the city councilor is present and shows up to the meeting.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Any additional questions from counselors all right?

Seeing none, is there a motion?

Well, I'll say this just a moment.

Is there anyone in the audience who would like to comment on proposal number three?

All right, seeing none, counselor Gibson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

I move that we stand proposal number three, which reappoints Brandon Hergett to the Metropolitan Development Commission to the full council for final adoption.

All right, motion promptly moved and seconded.

Any additional comment?

Not uh sir, would you help us with a roll call?

Councillor Anne.

Aye.

Councillor Barth.

Aye.

Councilor Brown.

Aye.

Councilor Cahill.

Aye.

Councilor Delaney.

Aye.

Counselor Jones.

Aye.

Counselor Evans.

Aye.

Counselor Gibson.

Aye.

Counselor Hart.

Aye.

Counselor Lewis.

Aye.

Counselor Mowry.

Aye.

Counselor Nielsen.

Aye.

Counselor Roberts.

Aye.

Counselor Robison.

Aye.

This is recommended with a due pass set proposal 15 to 0.

Sir, I think you might have missed just one person.

Huh?

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Not that it would make much difference.

Chair Osley?

Yes.

Aye.

Sorry, sorry.

Very good.

Thank you.

That motion carries.

Um, so uh let's see.

Proposal next item on our agenda supposed number four, which reappoints Jennifer Witt to the Metropolitan Zoning Appeals Board Division One.

Um I don't believe that she's here.

As I said, we have her attendance records.

Are there comments from Counselors?

So moved to share.

All right.

All right, so properly moved and seconded.

So no comments, sir.

Counselor Annay.

Aye.

Counselor Barth.

Aye.

Councilor Brown.

Aye.

Counselor Kayill?

Aye.

Counselor Delaney.

Aye.

Counselor Jones.

Aye.

Counselor Evans.

Aye.

Counselor Gibson.

Aye.

Counselor Hart.

Aye.

Counselor Lewis.

Aye.

Counselor Mowry.

Aye.

Counselor Nielsen.

Aye.

Counselor Roberts?

Aye.

Counselor Robertson.

Aye.

Chair Osley?

Aye.

Recommended the council do pass set proposal with a vote count 15 to zero.

Very good.

Thank you very much, sir.

This next item on our on our agenda is proposal number five, which reappoints Patrice Ducket Brown to the Metropolitan Zoning Appeals Board, Division 2.

Ms.

Brown.

And first let me thank you for your service.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh good evening, everyone.

My name is Patrice Ducett Brown.

I think I've been on the zoning board for about four years, and I've been ecstatic about participating, enjoyed every moment of it, and being advocate for our city.

Excellent.

Are there other questions for Ms.

Ducket Brown?

All right.

Saying none, may I have a motion?

So moved.

Alright, probably moved and seconded.

Uh sir.

Counselor Annay.

Aye.

Counselor Barth?

Aye.

Counselor Brown.

Aye.

Counselor Cahill.

Aye.

Counselor Delaney.

Aye.

Counselor Jones.

Aye.

Counselor Evans.

Aye.

Counselor Gibson.

Aye.

Counselor Hart?

Aye.

Counselor Lewis.

Aye.

Counselor Mowry.

Aye.

Counselor Nielsen.

Aye.

Counselor Roberts?

Aye.

Counselor Robinson.

Aye.

Chair Osley.

Aye.

Recommended that the council do pass that proposal with a vote count of 15 to 0.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Bellamy.

And thank you, Miss Ducket Brown.

This next item on our agenda is proposal number six, which reappoints uh Percy Bland Jr.

to the Metropolitan Zoning Appeals Board of Division Three.

He's not present.

As I said, we have his attendance record.

Are there comments from Counselors?

All right.

Seeing none.

Is there a motion?

So very good.

Alright, Miss Bellamy.

Councilor Annay.

Aye.

Counselor Barth.

Aye.

Counselor Brown?

Aye.

Counselor Cahill.

Aye.

Counselor Delaney.

Aye.

Counselor Jones.

Aye.

Counselor Evans.

Aye.

Counselor Gibson.

Aye.

Counselor Hart.

Aye.

Counselor Lewis.

Aye.

Counselor Maori.

Aye.

Counselor Nielsen.

Aye.

Counselor Roberts.

Aye.

Counselor Robinson.

Aye.

Recommended that the council do pass set proposal.

Oh, my I keep forgetting sorry.

Chair Osley?

Aye.

Recommended that the council do pass said proposal 15 to 0.

Very good.

Thank you, Ms.

Bellamy.

This next item on agenda is proposal number seven, which reappoints Roderick Bohanan to the Metropolitan Zoning Appeals Board, Division Three.

Again, he is not present, but we have his attendance records.

Is there any comment from Counselors?

See none.

So moved.

Second.

Promptly moved and seconded, Mr.

Bellamy.

Councilor Nay.

Aye.

Counselor Barth?

Counselor Brown?

Aye.

Counselor Cahew.

Aye.

Counselor Delaney.

Aye.

Counselor Jones.

Counselor Evans.

Aye.

Counselor Gibson.

Aye.

Counselor Hart.

Aye.

Counselor Lewis.

Aye.

Counselor Mowry.

Counselor Nielsen.

Aye.

Counselor Roberts.

Aye.

Counselor Robertson.

Chair Osley.

Aye.

Recommended that the council do pass a proposal 15 to 0.

Thank you, Mr.

Bellamy.

This next item on our agenda is proposal number 8, which approves an additional appropriation totaling $2,840,000 in the 2026 budget of the Department of Metropolitan Development.

For the purpose of funding the cost associated with Section 108 debt and a permanent supportive housing project.

Who here will be speaking on behalf of this proposal.

Good evening, Counselors.

My name is Lucas Anderson.

I am the CFO COO for the Department of Metropolitan Development, and I am joined here tonight with Director Vukusich.

We will speak be speaking specifically to fiscal ordinance proposal number eight, um, totaling $2.84 million in character three.

The first item in our fiscal requests is a additional appropriation request from the Housing Trust subfund totaling 1.34 million dollars in character three.

This will be contributing toward a permanent supportive housing project located at 233 Lynn Street in um partnership with Horizon House and Anglewood Development Corporation.

We'll be looking specifically to um contribute funding for a two-story multifamily building with 16 units that will provide housing for those experiencing chronic homelessness.

The total project cost is estimated at 4.8 million.

This item was an application that the Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee received in November of 2025, which is why this was not able to be incorporated into the 2026 annual budget.

Moving to our next item, it is a 1.5 million dollar character three request for the city non-departmental and the revenue bonds fund.

This is a very similar action that some of you may recall from 2025 in May that we did in partnership with the Office of Finance and Management.

This funding will look to contribute towards the pay down of existing Section 108 loans, which is a loan program through the housing or through the federal housing and housing and urban development department.

This is coming from existing federally available funds.

Um it is specifically contributing to the outstanding loans with um for infrastructure improvements at the former central state site as well as along South Meridian Street.

Ultimately, we consider this a very fiscally responsible action as this will look at say long-term savings on interest payments by paying down existing debts, of which our HUD programs are the ultimate pledge.

With that, um I am happy to address any questions that the committee may have.

Thank you very much.

Questions from counselors?

Councilor Hart.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you for the presentation.

I can't say if that's on or not.

Either way.

Okay, it is.

So in this program or this purchase, does that uh interact with the streets to home program?

I know there's two separate things, but I'm curious if you know if they're looking at the master lease and looking for units, is this qualify as a unit for that program?

Are you referring to the housing trust subfund?

Yeah, yeah.

What the facility that's being built here with this permanent supportive housing project?

Yeah.

So I would say we we coordinate closely with the streets to home effort.

This is focused on a new housing development that will ultimately serve individuals through the coordinated entry system.

So there is some alignment, but it's not a direct connection to streets to home.

Okay.

Thanks.

Very good.

Additional questions from counselors.

Counselor Nielsen.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um just a few uh a couple quick questions uh and then education for maybe the public.

So um Mr.

CFO, the the housing trust subfund of the consolidated city.

Can you maybe talk a little bit about how the the trust fund is funded?

Yes, counselor.

The housing trust subfund um receives a portion of transaction fees that are processed by the Marion County recorders office, and that is stipulated by state statute.

It also receives um revenues from pilots that have been approved by this body and the council at large.

And it's not it's pilots that I believe were from 2021 and forward with the change in state statute.

Those are the principal revenue sources, sir.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh Mr.

Chairman, may have a few more please thank you.

Yeah, I just wanted to be sure that uh my colleagues in the public know you it on the fiscal ordinance that says it's from the consolidated county um uh fund and it's from one of the very specific line item uh subfunds of of our books.

Um the next question is for the uh project uh the first project, excuse me, uh at 233 Lynn Street.

What is how is the rest of the 4.8 million being financed?

I'm gonna invite Deputy Director Jenny Foltz uh to speak to that.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Uh my name is Jenny Foltz.

I'm a deputy director for the Department of Metropolitan Development.

And um I have some information, but I will make sure we follow up with you guys in an email to make sure I'm getting all of the accurate information to you.

But the majority of the funding is coming through IHCDA through a home grant that they get from the federal government, and that's about two and a half million dollars.

And I believe there's also a development loan fund.

That's when I'll need to get clarification on.

But this is not a LITEC deal or a tax credit project.

Thank you, Deputy Director.

Um that's great.

So we're using state home capacity on that.

Yes.

That's great.

Um, and then my final question is probably for Mr.

CFO.

On the on paying down our Section 108 loans, does that outside of the interest savings, uh, which I do do appreciate, does it provide any um additional capacity to leverage those resources further?

Is it is it kind of a revolving fund, like kind of the function of that specific specific fund?

You are correct, counselor, and I would defer to Deputy Director Fultz, but it well, it it it ultimately the amount that we are able to issue under our Section 108 loan program is dependent on our annual capacity under our larger CDBG funding or community development block grant funding.

So, yes, it it's tied to how much is our annual allotment due to that being the ultimate pledge of repayment, and then it backs out how many outstanding loans we have from a principal perspective.

So it's is is it a part of the CDBG allocation?

Yes.

Oh, it is, okay.

The amount that we're able to issue to loans is tied to the annual allocation from a capacity perspective.

And it is ultimately the backstop pledge for repayment.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Very good.

Additional questions.

Uh Chairman Barth.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Just a quick question.

I you had mentioned Horizon House, and I didn't understand their role in relation to the financing.

Um Horizon House will ultimately be the long-term owner and operator of the facility for the um supportive services that will be provided.

Okay, and it's just to be hyper technical, they were recently bought by goodwill, so is it really goodwill is ultimately them, or are they still function as a subset of goodwill?

That's probably too narrow of a question.

But I just we can follow up with them and ask and follow up with you.

Yeah, all right, thanks.

Very good.

There's no questions, uh, Councilor Delaney.

Mr.

Chair, um could you tell me where the funding from the housing trust subfund comes from?

I believe I know that answer, but I was hoping you could answer it for everyone else.

Um yes, counselor.

That's from dedicated revenues that are received as a portion of um recording transactions from the Marion County Recorder as well as some pilot revenues.

Um, those are then deposited within the housing trust subfund, which is a non-reverting subfund of the consolidated county general fund.

So ultimately it's the dedicated fund that is funded from those two primary revenue sources.

Is there still did we empty out the housing trust subfund by with this project or are there still funds left in it at this point?

There are still funds.

Okay, thank you.

Very good.

Additional questions.

Councilor Brown.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you for the presentation.

Uh the project sounds great, and uh thank you to my fellow counselors for helping me understand the housing trust subfund much better and to you as well.

Last question about funds for me.

Um what was the reason for the timing of the revenue bonds fund portion of this?

So I understand the benefits, just why the 1.5 million right now.

Um so semi-annually, our community investments divided division um prepares a analysis to review available funding to that could contribute towards um underspend from prior projects that were not able to move forward.

Um the timing of that analysis occurred in the roughly September window, which was post-2026 budget development.

Great.

And so in other words, you were coming before us for the Southern Housing Trust Summit as well, loop and end of the first available.

That makes perfect sense.

Very good.

Additional questions from counselors.

All right.

Seeing none, Mr.

Bellamy.

Well, well done.

Thank you.

Now, Mr.

Bellamy.

Counselor O'Neill.

Counselor Barth.

Aye.

Counselor Brown.

Aye.

Counselor Cahill.

Aye.

Counselor DeLaney?

Aye.

Counselor Jones.

Aye.

Counselor Evans.

Counselor Gibson.

Aye.

Counselor Hart.

Counselor Lewis.

Aye.

Counselor Mowry.

Counselor Nielsen.

Aye.

Counselor Roberts?

Aye.

Counselor Robinson.

Chair Osili.

Aye.

Lupass SIP proposal 150.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Bellamy.

It looks like we have concluded all the items on our agenda.

If there is a motion to adjourn.

Very good.

Thank you all.