Zionsville Mayor John Stehr released a mayoral update following the last Zionsville meeting with
updates regarding the possibility of overtaking the Whitestown Court Docket, financial statuses and more.
The update began with an overview of Zionsville’s consideration of taking over the Whitestown Court docket, which would potentially double the current caseload for Zionsville. Prior to the decision, the Zionsville administration is seeking to ensure that the action would be cost-neutral with no additional days required to be added to the monthly court calendar to ensure that the community’s resources continue to be utilized efficiently.
“This possible change would alleviate the extra burden on our county court,” Stehr wrote. “This change would require Whitestown and Zionsville Town Council Approval.”
Stehr also announced that the financial policies have been updated and posted on the Zionsville-in.gov website for public transparency, and the town’s purchasing policy was also discussed as the town intends to revise and streamline the town processes with a completion date in the near future.
“These policies do not need to be approved by Town Council, but the Mayor wants complete transparency into the town’s finance policies,” the town released. “Cleaning up the financial house for the town is mandatory for getting the town’s credit rating restored.”
During the meeting, five new policies were presented, including the cash reserve and liquidity policy, budgeting and financial planning policy, capital planning policy, debt service payment policy and internal controls. Tim Berry from Crowe also discussed the logistics behind the town’s reserves, which are currently at 65% of the town’s operating budget while the policy was confirmed at 15% to 20%. Cautionary words were given to the council regarding spending down reserves too soon, and Berry is expected to give the council a 5-year financial plan to address the situation in June.
Among new business related to rezoning, drainage issues, allocation areas and annual approvals of investments and deposits, the council also heard a new ordinance intended to add a code clean up, which the Town Code Ordinance Council approved the introduction of the ordinance on the first reading.
The next regular Zionsville Town Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Zionsville Town Hall Council Chambers.