Redkey council OKs Fisher abatement

REDKEY — Fisher Packing continues to grow.

Plans are to renovate its Redkey location to add a new freezer, smokehouse, linking line and other equipment.

Redkey Town Council approved new tax abatements Tuesday for the local business.

Fisher Packing plans to renovate approximately 8,000 square feet of its building to increase processing, packaging and dry good storage capacity, as well as add a 2,000 square-foot-freezer onto the existing building.

New equipment would include a smokehouse, linking line, rollstock packaging machine, link separator, pallet racking, material handling equipment and manufacturing resource planning hardware or software, according to tax abatement forms shared Tuesday.

The company is investing approximately $3.6 million into the project. Michael Fisher of Fisher Packing, with help from Jodi Hayes of Jay County Development Corporation, requested a 10-year abatement and five-year tax abatement in correlation with the project.

With the additional equipment, Fisher is expected to add eight jobs. (Currently, 45 employees work at the facility.)

Fisher Packing started processing meat at its Redkey facility in November 2016 after a July 16 fire that year at its Portland site. The company repurposed the former Bell Aquaculture facility after the fire, which caused more than $1 million in damage.

In September 2021, Redkey Town Council approved two similar tax abatements for Fisher Packing for adding a new linking line and smokehouse, a $3.5 million investment at that time. (The project proposed Tuesday is a new investment for another addition, noted Fisher.) Fisher Packing currently has six tax abatements from Redkey, not including the two approved Tuesday. It also has a tax abatement from Portland.

Council member “Watermelon” Jim Phillips questioned Hayes and Fisher about the Redkey Economic Development Corporation.

Hayes noted the entity is separate from JCDC.

Council then approved both tax abatements, with Phillips dissenting. (He said he would like to investigate more before approving it.)

Also, council approved, with Phillips dissenting, an ordinance establishing a penalty for unauthorized individuals tampering with water meters.

Redkey’s water ordinance establishes unauthorized individuals as any person, firm or corporation not employed by Redkey or given written permission by Redkey to handle water meters in town.

The ordinance approved Tuesday says if a water meter is installed, removed or otherwise tampered without authorization from the town, “there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the resident of the dwelling or business where the water meter is located, is the unauthorized individual who installed, removed or otherwise tampered with the water meter.”

If an unauthorized individual tampers with a water meter in town, they are subject to up to $500 in fines. According to the ordinance, first offenses draw a minimum $150 fine, Second offenses have a minimum $300 fine and third and subsequent offenses draw a $400 minimum fine. (Council president Brenda Beaty noted fourth offenses would draw a $500 fine along with the town filing the issue in court.)

Likewise, any damage resulting from tampering with water meters shall be paid by the person convicted of the offense.

Also Tuesday, council approved, with Floyd Life and Dave Dudelston dissenting, an amendment to Redkey’s animal ordinance to allow hens.

Per the ordinance, property owners may have up to six female chickens on a parcel of land. Property owners may keep chickens for non-commercial, personal use only, and they may not be slaughtered on the property.

Chickens must be kept enclosed and under control of the owner on their property, either in a coop or within a fenced-in area no larger than 100 square feet. They must have an enclosed structure that is at least 8 feet tall and located 20 feet from the property line that provides at least 10 square feet of space per chicken. It must be kept sanitary per town, county and state health regulations.

Chickens and their coops must be confined to the back yard of properties, and waste must be removed in an environmentally responsible manner. Dead chickens must be removed immediately.

Council also decided, with Phillips dissenting, to revisit the town’s water adjustment ordinance after discussion about several water bill adjustments, including for one bill totaling more than $1,700.

Phillips pointed to the town’s water ordinance, which allows each resident one water bill adjustment per year. Beaty suggested taking another look at the ordinance — it was last discussed nearly a year ago — and making clarifications. She asked council members to write down their thoughts before the next meeting and share them with town hall.

“Yes, they get an adjustment a year, but on these big, big costs like this, we can’t afford to eat it, Jimmy,” Beaty said. “We’re going to be in trouble when they come do the water audit.”

She noted the town had $85,000 worth of water loss in 2023 per the audit done last year.

Council then agreed to make $2,361.36 in water bill adjustments.

Utility worker Ted Kolodka talked about the Indiana Department of Environmental Management violation regarding the town’s existing combined sewer overflows (CSOs). 

He filed an update to Redkey’s long-term control plan addressing CSOs on Dec. 31. (The entire 50-page plan will be available online, he added, and includes projects proposed in the master utility study completed by Choice One Engineering last year.) 

Kolodka said the town has contacted Indiana Financial Authority to look into grants, forgivable loans and other opportunities to fund the multi-million dollar projects.

Also, council agreed, with Dudelston dissenting, to make officer Jon Cave the temporary town marshal. 

Relatedly, council OK’d Cave to hire two reserve officers. Hopes are to transition one of the reserve officers into a full-time deputy role in March or April. Cave noted he will be attending Indiana Law Enforcement Academy beginning May 4.

In other business, council:

•Hired Seth Fugiett as a utility worker.

•Approved paying $1,093 to fix a wiring issue with town’s Dodge Durango police vehicle and replacing four on the town’s Chevy Tahoe police vehicle and two tires on the Durango.

•Decided to discontinue the town’s website managed by Emerald Business Solutions. Beaty agreed to look into other options for the town’s website.

•Heard Valhalla Axe Hall is starting an axe-throwing league. The business will host a callout meeting starting at 6 p.m. Friday.

•Appointed Beaty as board president and Phillips as board vice president.

•Selected council members to oversee departments as follows: Phillips for wastewater department, Gavin Grady for streets department, Beaty for water and police departments, Life for fire department and Dudelston for parks department.