The Lyons Town Council met at 5:30 p.m. in the Community Building Tuesday evening.

Greg Jones, executive director of the Southern Indiana Development Commission (SIDC) opened the meeting with a packet outlining available grants, amounts and deadlines, and a separate report about happenings at SIDC, such as a new director for the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, Jodi Golden. Lori Buehlman Daniel will be the new OCRA liaison for the region. The SIDC was also the only Regional Planning Commission in the state of Indiana to be awarded Phase VII Stronger Economies Together assistance.

“We’re looking to generate a multi-county economic strategy,” said Jones, “and it’s often the small rural communities that don’t speak up.”

Jones also said that the Southern Indiana Community Rehabilitation Alliance (SICRA) is accepting underutilized properties in order to rehabilitate and create housing opportunities.

Jones also announced that the relationship between Purdue and WestGate will continue to grow and further opportunities will be created, due to a signed agreement that Purdue will take over management of the Academy and “start work on pairing the intellectual property of Crane with Purdue in order to grow entrepreneurship and seek to commercialize products.”

Workforce development programs, such as the ones taking place at the Battery Innovation Center within Crane@Westgate, are still seeking students for training in the sought-after fields of industrial maintenance training, heavy equipment operation, computer pneumatic control training, electric technician training and IT and security. To date, 51 students have completed this training, with the most students training for heavy equipment operation. People of all ages are encouraged to enroll for this training.

“It can change the life of a family,” Jones said. “A family can come out of this [program] making a living wage.”

“It seems like a great deal,” Powers agreed.

For more information on these short courses, see here.

SIDC outlined the status of seven projects receiving funding from the Brownfield Grant, with Huron School, Mitchell Bank, the Tokheim site and the Vincennes Grain Silos completing Phase Environmental & Hazardous Materials Assessments. The silos have also completed Phase II of the environmental assessment. Petroleum funding from the grant has paid for progress on the Vincennes Gas Station, Monroe City Gas Station and the Elnora Gas Station.

Jones concluded his presentation to the council and Town Attorney Sam Drummy approached the council with suggestions for refining the new ordinance regarding Amish campers or other “tiny home” structures, and Powers was selected to run point on the topic.

Drummy said that mobile homes and these structures need to be further distinguished in the language of the ordinance because “there are some statutes that apply for mobile homes that may not apply to tiny homes.”Utilities are usually the ‘teeth’ [for enforcing].”

Drummy will help the council update language in the ordinance while taking note of the ways that other cities and towns have reacted to tiny homes.

“I think everyone’s starting to see this,” Drummy said, using an example of a man who converted his camper into a tiny home by setting the structure on a brick foundation.

“People are getting kind of inventive.”

After opening presentations by the public, the council passed a motion to accept an offer to purchase the property of 345 N Jefferson from the town.

The council then moved on to ordinance violations, making the decision to send a bill to two properties of $50 for the month. After a month has passed, the property owners will be billed $50 a day for every day the respective properties are still in violation.

“I’ve been on this council for a long time,” said Powers, who is on his fourth term. “I can’t remember the last time we’ve had to bill somebody.”

The council also passed a motion for the town to pay $500 maximum to tint windows on a police car.

Before the meeting was adjourned, Clerk-Treasurer Darla Robison mentioned that should “burn the midnight oil” in order to to submit an application in time for the Community Crossings grant to receive funds to blacktop town streets.

The next scheduled meeting of the Lyons Town Council will take place Tuesday, August 8 at 5:30 p.m. in the Community Building.

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