The eighth council meeting of 2026 was called to order at 12:00 PM (based on provided date). The meeting included prayer and pledge, approval of previous minutes, introduction of a new staff member, public comments, city manager announcements, multiple legislative approvals, and council member recognitions. All votes were unanimous except for one variance approval.
Eighth council meeting will now come to order. We will start with a prayer followed by a pledge of allegiance. And if you'd like, you can join me in the prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love for us. Father, and I thank you for the City of Vandalia and the residents and the businesses. I pray that they would prosper. I thank you so much for the employees that helped make this city what it is. And Father, I just ask for your wisdom for this council and the staff as we endeavor to do your business. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Has council had the opportunity to review council meeting minutes from May 18th, 2026. And are there any comments or corrections? Being none, they stand approved. We have an introduction tonight, Mr. Aldhouse. Thank you, Your Honor. It's my privilege to welcome one of our newest staff members who has joined us here this evening. So I'm going to ask Miss Sylvia Eldridge if you'll stand while I read your bio, introduce you to counsel and our staff present tonight. So Sylvia Elderidge started on August 24th, 2026 as the new office manager for the Public Works Department. She was with Bethel High School as an administrative assistant for the athletic director for three years. She resides in Tip City with her husband Lance and their two children. Their family spends a lot of time here in Vandalia visiting in-laws and is very excited to continue being part of Vandalia. She brings a lot of office experiment management skills to the public works department and has already been a huge uh asset and help to getting a lot of the files there in order. We're excited to have her be part of our public works department and to help keep Vandalia top-tier community. So if you would please join us in celebrating and welcoming Sylvia Eldridge to our Vandalia team, and we hope we're giving it all the best in the upcoming years. Now it's time for comments from interested citizens. At this time, we welcome comments from interested citizens. As you come to the podium, please clearly state your name and address for the record. We further ask those who speak to please follow etiquette and communicating with respect to others. As a courtesy, please stay on topic with your statements while you address council. A reminder that this is not a forum for arguments. In an effort to give all citizens an opportunity to express their thoughts and concerns, we ask you to keep the comments as brief as possible with limit them to five minutes as stated in ordinance 84-01. Any comments? Step up to the podium, please. And although I don't work for the city, I do maintain what is along Stone Quarry Road from the Access Road all the way to down to the end where it becomes Butler Township on that side. And I was there for the groundbreaking on that. Just as a simple equipment operator. Within a year, he moved up to equipment operator three, as you can see. Shortly thereafter, he became parks and development of maintenance supervisor for the parks department for the city. At that time, he had left in 1976 from being the fire department lieutenant for Butler Township and became the assistant chief for the city of Vandalia. At that time, he had left in 1976 from being the fire department lieutenant for Butler Township and became the assistant chief for the city of Vandalia that at that time in 1976 finally got their own fire department and went underneath. So he was chief for there from nine uh 76 to 2001, which in that time period he went from parks and rec, he went to maintenance supervisor for the city of Vandalia, and then in seven or ninety-two, he became all the way to 2001 service department supervisor. So he was in the hole that you guys currently call the city garage. Um I've been in that building many times, I have to say, and man, we're gonna have a hell of an upgrade. It's it's been welcome, I think, to every citizen that knows what the environment is in that old garage, which it's poor. I mean, you're talking 40s. Um I don't know what it was prior. Somebody else may have that information. I don't know what it was, but it's uh a welcome addition to the city to be able to have that. And I only ask that you give the name to the building to somebody that worked in what their old service was in that building over there and put their name on the new building that gave his entire life to what working life to what was the city of Vandalia.