Unknown Speaker
Start Recording. Testing one two.
Unknown Speaker
Hello. Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU I'm Joe Hren. second Wednesday of the month, we're in Terre Haute. It's been a while since I've been here. So nice to be back with Mayor Duke Bennett Hello, and welcome. It's always good to be here. And I'm glad you made the trip over. Can't wait to go see a few things in town. Before we get to that, though, I have to ask if you've recovered from the storm. And I know there have been a few big ones the past couple of weeks, and a lot of power out probably a lot of cleanup, what's the latest tear and tear hook? Well, after that storm,
Unknown Speaker
we could go Thursday, we had about 80% of the people in Vigo county that were without power some for short periods of time, some for up to four days, or longer in some cases. So it was a bad storm and Duke Energy had to bring a lot of resources in I think they did a great job. Yeah, I know people were frustrated, there was no doubt about it, we were getting a lot of phone calls in the office. But you know, it was a mess. It really had we had a lot of lines, Poles and transformers that were destroyed, basically, and had to be replaced. You know, the old stuff had to come out and the stuff had to go in and they had to fire it back up. So if you look at the severity of all that, I think they did a really good job. So now we're in the limb pickup mode. So we still got trees down across sidewalks in some places, none blocking roads, all of our roads have been open now for a week. But we've got debris everywhere. So it's probably going to take us another two to three weeks to get everything picked up. It was significant, a lot of limbs and trees that we're going to have to be picking up for the next few weeks. We did a little bit of reporting, our environmental reporter talking about this might be more of the new normal with with climate change, and so forth. I mean, do you is that something that? I hope not? Yeah, that was a that was a really bad storm. Typically when we get a bad storm here, it will affect a certain part of town, the south and north and maybe the central part, this affected everything. I mean, county wide am, I'm not used to those are at least you know, from my perspective as being the mayor and having to clean up afterwards. This one was different. And so we'll have to see. I hope that's not the case. But I guess we'll see what the future holds. But those kinds of storms make you really kind of think your individual plan. As you know, as a homeowner, as the city. We just need to make sure we put some things in place to protect us for multi day power outages. And I don't think that's been a problem in the past. So well, I guess we'll just see what the future brings, as I said, but we're going to be more prepared as we move forward. So I'm going to be heading out past the casino just to get some video take a look at what it's bad because it's been a few months since I've been out there what what what are people going to see if they were to drive by right? You know, the the exteriors pretty much in place, I haven't checked every inch of it. But they've got the glass on the outside. And it really stands out as you drive by whether you're on i 70 or in town, you're like I think is risen up out of the cornfield, they're they're still on scheduled open up in late March met the new marketing director recently, it was just hired and moved up here.
Unknown Speaker
They're continuing to hire people, there's roughly three to 400 people working out there every day to get it built. So it's a it's a beehive of activity as they, you know, the time goes by very quickly. But they should be in a really good spot by the time the cold weather comes and be doing all the interior work and finishing it out. So I'm feeling really good about the project and meeting those timelines. Any changes made so far or cost change? Now their costs went up a little bit just because of you know, overall costs, it's nearly a $300 million project, which is huge. I mean, that is a significant investment to make in a community. But I think they've got that all nailed down now and shouldn't have any surprises the rest of the way. Obviously, a lot of construction jobs right now. But I believe on their website, they're starting to look for dealers to go to a dealer school this fall. So those jobs are already starting. Yes, they've heard some of their upper management or HR people. But now they're beginning to what last I was told that it beginning in August, they would start bringing people on board and start that training in September. So I mean, that's great for our local economy puts people to work, and it just shows that they're on track to get that open in the spring. I see the International Paper building has been raised. We talked about this a long time ago and I believed I thought that was had an objective plan for housing. No, that was a particular piece of the county owned property where the mill is our entertainment complex, you know, the privately owned right on county property. That was a building that's been there for a very, very long time, kind of in the way of future development. So the county went ahead and moved ahead with getting that torn down. So the foundation work and all that
Unknown Speaker
That is pretty significant. There's a lot of concrete there. That's the last piece are working on and should have that done soon. So is there another part to that that I'm thinking about? No, not the
Unknown Speaker
national paper, though. The mill was built their facility and they're continuing to expand on that property. I see. And the mill was privately Oh, yes. One county owned property. They're leasing property from the county. I see. And I believe you were there was, I mean, that wasn't too long ago, was it a year or so when they when they opened? It's been a couple of years now this, it's it's gone quickly. But they continue to increase the number of concerts they have. And it's really, it's exceeding expectations, I think.
Unknown Speaker
I know, you've been really trying to get a parking garage there by the new convention center, you want another hotel, any updates on how that's going over there just had a meeting this week, and got some taken a new look at it, you know, costs have gone up labor and material costs up dramatically. So we're trying to figure out the best solution for the taxpayer and the private entity, because it's going to be a public private partnership on that. But I think now we're we might be able to start moving forward with something here. So I don't have a lot to report today. Other than the conversations have started, again, we're getting new estimates. We're gonna figure out what role the city will play in that, and how much money the private developer will be spending on that project very soon. About road project updates. I know the city was working on some infrastructure there by the casino. Yeah, we got there, several litter done. We're doing some paving right now through community crossings, the casino road behind the casinos going in the turn lane going in and front. All those things are right on schedule that we had hoped for, for this season. You know, we still have time here. We haven't we've had some rain, but it really hasn't slowed us down too much.
Unknown Speaker
That's the key is keeping these things on schedule. So we don't get into a crunch at the end of the construction season. But right now, we're right where we want to be.
Unknown Speaker
How about an update on the American rescue plan money funding allocation? Last month, we talked about meetings that you were having many meetings with county to there's there's so many individual things, but so much collaboration has to happen? Absolutely. It's a lot, you know, and we're talking about spending a lot of money one time, we wanted to have the biggest bang for the buck. So this week with the City Council would bring in another appropriation to them to spend some money on our local parks, to spend money to pay for police and fire radios that we purchased in in radios for the rest of the department's an ISU childcare related project, and a taro Humane Society, expansion of their facility that will create more kennels for our code enforcement officers. So all of those things are things that we've been talking about, we're ready to move those projects forward. And then soon, we'll file another appropriation probably for the September meeting for some additional projects. I know a couple of shows ago, you talked about how much you want to put into the parks, or is that still in the planning phase? We're just starting. So we're asking for a million dollars right now to help pay for the final design and the bid documents for all the projects. And we'll get Ray Park and Hertz rose Park. Hopefully construction will start yet this year, probably in November, December. So yes, we're moving ahead. Anything new on waterpark? Now there's a feasibility study. It's still underway, we just had a meeting about that this week to kind of an update, they're still working on that they're going to report to us in August, we've moved it back a couple of months, giving them a little bit more time to do their due diligence. So that'll roll out that'll be a whole story within itself about that feasibility of doing an athletic complex with a waterpark component.
Unknown Speaker
We've got some great information for the public, they've done a lot of research about what makes sense what we can afford. And all that will come out in August. Okay.
Unknown Speaker
Always budget stuff. I know, it's not the funnest thing to talk about. But you're working on it now. And it's not due until is that October? Well, that's when they'll vote on it. So it's basically due to be advertised in August. So we're kind of reaching that point. And then over MIT will have several meetings in September, and then they'll vote on it in October, and you have to have it done by November 1. So we're right on track. It's always a challenge. It takes a lot of time we make everybody we use zero based budgeting here. So they have to come into us and justify every cent in their budget. They can't just add more to it just because and so we lower some raise others and make the budgets balanced. And that's our obvious goal.
Unknown Speaker
And so we've gone through round one of that we've met with all the departments and we've completed that first cycle. Now we plug everything into the spreadsheet and make sure that we make the overall budget work. So you know, we'll work hard on it for the next month if you will, and then we'll add
Unknown Speaker
advertise it, make it a public document. And then those conversations will start with the council thereafter. If I remember to correctly most city budgets don't change too much, not a lot, you know, some of our edit budget, our CCD budget, some of those things that have projects in it can change. But you know, we're pretty static on our general fund budgets, we have x number of people, and it costs us this much to operate. But you know, costs go up, our fuel costs continue to be up. I mean, they're fluctuating, but our utility costs continue to be up, our insurance costs go up. So there are things that do cost us more every year. And so we got to find that balance. Before we go any summer plans for the mayor this summer, any vacations are really may take a long weekend here or there. But
Unknown Speaker
you know, there's so much to do. It's an election year, too, that adds some extra layer of things on to everything that you do. But I've not been this busy just from city projects. In my career here. We have got so many things that we've been working on the last few years are now they're starting to happen. Because just the timing of things, and then we have more revenue and finances, to be able to afford to do more things. I mean, it's really it's fun, but it's challenging, because there's only so much time and each day and going from meeting to meeting and and knowing that we got certain deadlines to meet. It makes the time go really fast. Here it is going to be the middle of September, September, the middle of July, September. fast enough, but just we just had the Fourth of July and you know, it's before and then the next few days. It's going to be the middle of the month. And so I find that challenging and frustrating at times. But you know, I love what's going on in Taro. So we're just trying to keep the ball rolling down the field. We're trying to do those things that make Terre Haute a better place. So we're all working on doing that. Thank you so much for your time. We'll see you next month. Thank you Joe.
Start Recording. Testing one two.
Unknown Speaker
Hello. Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU I'm Joe Hren. second Wednesday of the month, we're in Terre Haute. It's been a while since I've been here. So nice to be back with Mayor Duke Bennett Hello, and welcome. It's always good to be here. And I'm glad you made the trip over. Can't wait to go see a few things in town. Before we get to that, though, I have to ask if you've recovered from the storm. And I know there have been a few big ones the past couple of weeks, and a lot of power out probably a lot of cleanup, what's the latest tear and tear hook? Well, after that storm,
Unknown Speaker
we could go Thursday, we had about 80% of the people in Vigo county that were without power some for short periods of time, some for up to four days, or longer in some cases. So it was a bad storm and Duke Energy had to bring a lot of resources in I think they did a great job. Yeah, I know people were frustrated, there was no doubt about it, we were getting a lot of phone calls in the office. But you know, it was a mess. It really had we had a lot of lines, Poles and transformers that were destroyed, basically, and had to be replaced. You know, the old stuff had to come out and the stuff had to go in and they had to fire it back up. So if you look at the severity of all that, I think they did a really good job. So now we're in the limb pickup mode. So we still got trees down across sidewalks in some places, none blocking roads, all of our roads have been open now for a week. But we've got debris everywhere. So it's probably going to take us another two to three weeks to get everything picked up. It was significant, a lot of limbs and trees that we're going to have to be picking up for the next few weeks. We did a little bit of reporting, our environmental reporter talking about this might be more of the new normal with with climate change, and so forth. I mean, do you is that something that? I hope not? Yeah, that was a that was a really bad storm. Typically when we get a bad storm here, it will affect a certain part of town, the south and north and maybe the central part, this affected everything. I mean, county wide am, I'm not used to those are at least you know, from my perspective as being the mayor and having to clean up afterwards. This one was different. And so we'll have to see. I hope that's not the case. But I guess we'll see what the future holds. But those kinds of storms make you really kind of think your individual plan. As you know, as a homeowner, as the city. We just need to make sure we put some things in place to protect us for multi day power outages. And I don't think that's been a problem in the past. So well, I guess we'll just see what the future brings, as I said, but we're going to be more prepared as we move forward. So I'm going to be heading out past the casino just to get some video take a look at what it's bad because it's been a few months since I've been out there what what what are people going to see if they were to drive by right? You know, the the exteriors pretty much in place, I haven't checked every inch of it. But they've got the glass on the outside. And it really stands out as you drive by whether you're on i 70 or in town, you're like I think is risen up out of the cornfield, they're they're still on scheduled open up in late March met the new marketing director recently, it was just hired and moved up here.
Unknown Speaker
They're continuing to hire people, there's roughly three to 400 people working out there every day to get it built. So it's a it's a beehive of activity as they, you know, the time goes by very quickly. But they should be in a really good spot by the time the cold weather comes and be doing all the interior work and finishing it out. So I'm feeling really good about the project and meeting those timelines. Any changes made so far or cost change? Now their costs went up a little bit just because of you know, overall costs, it's nearly a $300 million project, which is huge. I mean, that is a significant investment to make in a community. But I think they've got that all nailed down now and shouldn't have any surprises the rest of the way. Obviously, a lot of construction jobs right now. But I believe on their website, they're starting to look for dealers to go to a dealer school this fall. So those jobs are already starting. Yes, they've heard some of their upper management or HR people. But now they're beginning to what last I was told that it beginning in August, they would start bringing people on board and start that training in September. So I mean, that's great for our local economy puts people to work, and it just shows that they're on track to get that open in the spring. I see the International Paper building has been raised. We talked about this a long time ago and I believed I thought that was had an objective plan for housing. No, that was a particular piece of the county owned property where the mill is our entertainment complex, you know, the privately owned right on county property. That was a building that's been there for a very, very long time, kind of in the way of future development. So the county went ahead and moved ahead with getting that torn down. So the foundation work and all that
Unknown Speaker
That is pretty significant. There's a lot of concrete there. That's the last piece are working on and should have that done soon. So is there another part to that that I'm thinking about? No, not the
Unknown Speaker
national paper, though. The mill was built their facility and they're continuing to expand on that property. I see. And the mill was privately Oh, yes. One county owned property. They're leasing property from the county. I see. And I believe you were there was, I mean, that wasn't too long ago, was it a year or so when they when they opened? It's been a couple of years now this, it's it's gone quickly. But they continue to increase the number of concerts they have. And it's really, it's exceeding expectations, I think.
Unknown Speaker
I know, you've been really trying to get a parking garage there by the new convention center, you want another hotel, any updates on how that's going over there just had a meeting this week, and got some taken a new look at it, you know, costs have gone up labor and material costs up dramatically. So we're trying to figure out the best solution for the taxpayer and the private entity, because it's going to be a public private partnership on that. But I think now we're we might be able to start moving forward with something here. So I don't have a lot to report today. Other than the conversations have started, again, we're getting new estimates. We're gonna figure out what role the city will play in that, and how much money the private developer will be spending on that project very soon. About road project updates. I know the city was working on some infrastructure there by the casino. Yeah, we got there, several litter done. We're doing some paving right now through community crossings, the casino road behind the casinos going in the turn lane going in and front. All those things are right on schedule that we had hoped for, for this season. You know, we still have time here. We haven't we've had some rain, but it really hasn't slowed us down too much.
Unknown Speaker
That's the key is keeping these things on schedule. So we don't get into a crunch at the end of the construction season. But right now, we're right where we want to be.
Unknown Speaker
How about an update on the American rescue plan money funding allocation? Last month, we talked about meetings that you were having many meetings with county to there's there's so many individual things, but so much collaboration has to happen? Absolutely. It's a lot, you know, and we're talking about spending a lot of money one time, we wanted to have the biggest bang for the buck. So this week with the City Council would bring in another appropriation to them to spend some money on our local parks, to spend money to pay for police and fire radios that we purchased in in radios for the rest of the department's an ISU childcare related project, and a taro Humane Society, expansion of their facility that will create more kennels for our code enforcement officers. So all of those things are things that we've been talking about, we're ready to move those projects forward. And then soon, we'll file another appropriation probably for the September meeting for some additional projects. I know a couple of shows ago, you talked about how much you want to put into the parks, or is that still in the planning phase? We're just starting. So we're asking for a million dollars right now to help pay for the final design and the bid documents for all the projects. And we'll get Ray Park and Hertz rose Park. Hopefully construction will start yet this year, probably in November, December. So yes, we're moving ahead. Anything new on waterpark? Now there's a feasibility study. It's still underway, we just had a meeting about that this week to kind of an update, they're still working on that they're going to report to us in August, we've moved it back a couple of months, giving them a little bit more time to do their due diligence. So that'll roll out that'll be a whole story within itself about that feasibility of doing an athletic complex with a waterpark component.
Unknown Speaker
We've got some great information for the public, they've done a lot of research about what makes sense what we can afford. And all that will come out in August. Okay.
Unknown Speaker
Always budget stuff. I know, it's not the funnest thing to talk about. But you're working on it now. And it's not due until is that October? Well, that's when they'll vote on it. So it's basically due to be advertised in August. So we're kind of reaching that point. And then over MIT will have several meetings in September, and then they'll vote on it in October, and you have to have it done by November 1. So we're right on track. It's always a challenge. It takes a lot of time we make everybody we use zero based budgeting here. So they have to come into us and justify every cent in their budget. They can't just add more to it just because and so we lower some raise others and make the budgets balanced. And that's our obvious goal.
Unknown Speaker
And so we've gone through round one of that we've met with all the departments and we've completed that first cycle. Now we plug everything into the spreadsheet and make sure that we make the overall budget work. So you know, we'll work hard on it for the next month if you will, and then we'll add
Unknown Speaker
advertise it, make it a public document. And then those conversations will start with the council thereafter. If I remember to correctly most city budgets don't change too much, not a lot, you know, some of our edit budget, our CCD budget, some of those things that have projects in it can change. But you know, we're pretty static on our general fund budgets, we have x number of people, and it costs us this much to operate. But you know, costs go up, our fuel costs continue to be up. I mean, they're fluctuating, but our utility costs continue to be up, our insurance costs go up. So there are things that do cost us more every year. And so we got to find that balance. Before we go any summer plans for the mayor this summer, any vacations are really may take a long weekend here or there. But
Unknown Speaker
you know, there's so much to do. It's an election year, too, that adds some extra layer of things on to everything that you do. But I've not been this busy just from city projects. In my career here. We have got so many things that we've been working on the last few years are now they're starting to happen. Because just the timing of things, and then we have more revenue and finances, to be able to afford to do more things. I mean, it's really it's fun, but it's challenging, because there's only so much time and each day and going from meeting to meeting and and knowing that we got certain deadlines to meet. It makes the time go really fast. Here it is going to be the middle of September, September, the middle of July, September. fast enough, but just we just had the Fourth of July and you know, it's before and then the next few days. It's going to be the middle of the month. And so I find that challenging and frustrating at times. But you know, I love what's going on in Taro. So we're just trying to keep the ball rolling down the field. We're trying to do those things that make Terre Haute a better place. So we're all working on doing that. Thank you so much for your time. We'll see you next month. Thank you Joe.
