Grow appointed to fill vacant NC City Council seat

Grow appointed to fill vacant NC City Council seat

NEW CARLISLE- Members of the New Carlisle City Council approved the appointment of new council member Karriane Grow during their regularly scheduled meeting held on Tuesday, Sept. 3.

“I would like to congratulate Karianne as the newest member of the city council,” council member William Lindsey said. “God Bless You.”

Grow was nominated for the city council seat by council member Kathy Wright; two other candidates were also nominated by Vice-Mayor Peggy Eggleston and Mayor William Cook. Council members voted 4-2 to appoint Grow to the position; Eggleston and Cook voted against Grow’s appointment.

Grow’s term will end on Dec. 31, 2027.

In other business, council members also heard an announcement from Mayor William Cook regarding a ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for the new McDonald’s location currently under construction on North Main Street

“I did receive a note from McDonald’s,” Cook said. “September 12 at 8:30 in the morning, they will be having their ribbon-cutting.”

Council members also approved an ordinance amending garbage collection and disposal regulations, and an ordinance to incentivize pay for city water and wastewater workers who complete additional training. Council members also held a public hearing and approved an ordinance amending the city’s regulations to address unmanned aircraft systems.

“I was surprised at the number of things that people can do terribly wrong with what I assumed was a toy,” Council Member Kathy Wright said. “This is not much of a toy; there’s very much that can go wrong, and this addresses some of those things.”

“What this says is that if you want to ride or play in somebody’s backyard, you need to get permission from that person,” she said. “That’s basically what this is about: protecting people’s right to privacy.”

Council members approved the new regulations 5-1; Mayor William Cook voted against the changes.

“I don’t understand the redundancy behind it,” resident Mike Lowery said during the public comment portion of the meeting. “This is what the FAA is for.”

“They’ve got the rules, as far as everything that you guys are concerned with,” he said.

Council members also heard an update on the city’s new no-knock registry from Municipal Manager Randy Bridge.

“We’re excited to get that program up and rolling,” Bridge said. “It’s going to allow citizens to go online on our website to see what current door-to-door salesmen have an active license. If they don’t have an active license, there’s a way to report that through a non-emergency number.”

“Once you sign up for the no-knock registry, we’re also going to give you a little sticker to put on your front window that says please do not knock.”

Council members went on to vote against a proposed change from the current two-reading cycle for ordinances to a new three-reading cycle.

“I think this is a really good idea,” Bridge said. “Some of these ordinances as the city grows are getting a little more complicated, and that trend is going to continue.”

“That will give it time to set a little longer on the agenda before it is actually voted on, and to also give council an extra two weeks to digest the material. You can always suspend that by doing an emergency ordinance; if we have something pressing, you can still pass that by emergency ordinance.”

Council members voted 4-2 against changing to a three-reading cycle; Mayor William Cook and Vice Mayor Peggy Eggleston voted for the change to a three-reading cycle.

“Even though we have some growth coming with the two developments and there will be more things that we need to address, I think that two reads is sufficient for now,” Council Member William Lindsey said. “Three reads would be basically six weeks from the time something was introduced until we voted on it. I just think it would hold a lot of things up.”

“For now, I’d like to stick with the two, and then maybe look at it again next year or something and see how things are progressing or developing in the city.”

“Perhaps by going to three readings, maybe it would give the citizens a little more input,” Cook said. “In the past, I don’t think we’ve had much citizen input. I think I’d like to see it go to three, but I’m willing to wait.”

Council members also heard a presentation on proposed upgrades to city council chambers, including the installation of raised seating for council, and an update on the New Carlisle Community Garden.

“I’m going to suggest that we hold off on this and making any kind of a formal decision, and possibly throwing this in for a work session for further discussion,” Cook said of the proposed upgrades, which would cost an estimated $34,000.

Pat Krabacher addressed council regarding the New Carlisle Community Garden.

“We appreciate the support of the city at the Community Garden,” she said. “Things are going really well this year; we have lots of new gardeners, and lots of new things growing.”

“We are raising a lot of funds to support ourselves,” Krabacher said. “We’re concerned about the future. We would love for somebody from the community to step forward, who has an interest in food security, and eventually taking over.”

“We also want to have a discussion with the school board,” she said. “Over the last five years or so, we have really been helping to improve that property there around the old Westlake Elementary School, and it really could be a learning center for the schools.”