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Department heads report ladder‑truck delivery timeline, community events and uncertainty over state LIT model
Summary
Staff reported the city’s ladder truck remains out for an air‑actuator retrofit with delivery expected; public safety and parks highlighted recent events and parade prep; the chair flagged uncertainty in state guidance about proposed LIT/local income tax revenue modeling that leaves local revenue impacts unclear.
Department heads updated the Columbia City board on equipment, community events and state fiscal uncertainty at the Nov. 12 meeting.
Fire/EMS (Speaker 3) said the ladder truck is still out of state for an air actuator retrofit and may be delivered later that day or tomorrow; Speaker 3 noted the city could pick up the vehicle if delivery arrangements are not made. "I called today to check when our ladder truck was supposed to be completed... they were talking about having it delivered, and I said if you don't already have guys set up to deliver it back to us, we might just go down and pick it up," Speaker 3 said.
Speaker 3 also described incoming engine delivery timing, equipment quotes for radios from two vendors and parts (e‑valves) en route. Police/public safety reported that the Halloween event and a Touch‑a‑Truck weekend went well, TSC made a donation supporting hometown heroes, and a Veterans Marathon proceeded with good weather; staff also noted the first snow caused several slide‑offs and one minor accident with no injuries.
Parks and public works updates covered new point‑of‑sale units for concessions, repairs after earlier water damage paid by insurance, winterizing restrooms, pool pump motor replacement and installation of a water line to support a dog park; an opening timeline for the dog park was not specified.
Chair (Speaker 1) raised concerns about state legislative changes related to local income tax (LIT) and property‑tax rule changes, saying the state has not produced a revenue model to show how an adopted LIT rate would translate into local revenue. "The challenge with that is the state of Indiana cannot tell us what that revenue is going to be," the chair said, adding that legislators were working on a model but Columbia City currently lacks certainty about revenue impacts.
No formal actions were taken during the department‑reports segment; the meeting concluded after the reports.
