Hamilton City Council approves equipment purchases, public-records policy and hires police recruit

Hamilton City Council on April 18 approved a package of equipment purchases, a new public-records request policy, the official name for a new sports facility, security and HVAC work for city properties and the hire of a police recruit.

The council approved the purchase of a Volvo BD 35B asphalt roller from Calvin Equipment Company for $68,006.39 and a Grasshopper mower for the Hamilton Parks and Recreation Department for $18,161.25 (lowest state bid through Sourcewell). Councilmembers also approved paying a municipal workers' compensation auto billing totaling $18,484 and authorized buying a new heating and cooling unit for the Hamilton Police Department at a low bid of $5,800 from Dixie and Cooling. Councilmembers voted to purchase a new Volvo roller rather than a used machine in order to receive a warranty.

Members approved a resolution identified in the meeting as Resolution 2025-4-7 establishing a public-records request policy for Hamilton City. The policy requires requestors to complete a form stating what records are requested and, according to the text presented to the council, to explain the purpose of the request. Fees included in the draft policy as presented were $1 per page for black-and-white copies or electronic transmission, $2 per page for color copies, $30 per hour (or $7.50 per quarter hour) for requests requiring extensive research, and a 50¢ fee for faxing or mailing. The policy text also states that the requestor will be responsible for how they use the requested information. Council discussion noted the draft was compiled from examples used by other municipalities and that staff will continue work on the policy.

The council approved the official name for the new facility located on the former Muncie Ware property as "Buddy Hatchie River Sportsplex." The council also approved installing a SimpliSafe security monitoring system at the Hamilton Suttles House at a one-time cost of $291.11 and a monthly monitoring charge of $31.99; officials said the system was selected as the least expensive among those priced and would be used to protect artifacts and equipment at the historic site.

On personnel, councilmembers voted to hire Caleb Cooper as an L-1 police recruit for the Hamilton Police Department; the hire is contingent on Cooper attending the police academy and obtaining APO certification. The police chief reported Cooper has passed the physical testing, psychological evaluation, polygraph and background checks described in the meeting.

Several items included brief staff remarks about implementation. For the workers' compensation billing, staff said the city will try estimating projected salary costs in future budgets rather than paying after the fact. For the police HVAC work, staff said initial bids had been obtained for two units but only one replacement was needed at this time; other infrastructure issues were noted for future attention.

All motions recorded in the meeting were approved by voice vote; no roll-call vote tallies were provided in the public transcript.

Items not acted upon at this meeting included further refinement of the public-records policy; councilmembers indicated staff and legal counsel would continue work on details before final implementation.