Hancock Co. Council Terry Bynum
10/14/26
Adopted county budget as presented last meeting.
Adopted Solid Waste Mgmt. District budget as presented at last meeting.
Adopted Library budget as presented at last meeting.
Took up non-complliant CF1 from Ariat. After research, discovered that the company did submit the paperwork correctly and on time, but it went to the wrong email address. Council then approved CF1.
Bernie Harris had a quasi-emergency appropriation request. The county is planning to replace its servers and storage. MOney was allocated in the 2026 G.O. Bond, but prices continue to rise, and Bernie is now significantly short in the money set aside for the project. He asked the board to approve additional money, and to give the go ahead for the project, so he can lock in prices.
Council approved 3 amendments to the salary ordinance, to move money around in the IT budget, and to give a raise to an employee who has taken on more responsibility.
3 townships presented Capital Improvement Plan budgets to the council. At this point it is a courtesy. Next year it become mandatory. The townships are Sugar Creek, Green and Vernon.
A public hearing was held on the Walmart abatement for Walmart 3 & Walmart 6.
3 people spoke in opposition to granting the abatements.
Walmart 6(which is currently empty) was approved without much discussion.
Walmart 3(which is an expansion of a current warehouse met a lot of opposition–sticking point was that abatements can't be granted on already installed equipment, and Walmart has been installing and testing equipment since May of 2025 when they first filed for the abatement. Some members are concerned about granting an abatement on installed equipment, and discussed tabling the request for more research. Walmart was quite unhappy with that possibility. Council finally decided to grant abatement, with understanding that attorneys will figure out legal definitions of installed equipment, and determine when the clock started(with the assistance of the State Legislative Fund office)
There was an Amazon abatement discussion scheduled, but a spokesperson for Amazon asked that the abatement be withdrawn.
The Ambrose abatement discussion was removed from the agenda.
The Exeter abatement was approved. A spokesperson announced a least with an online retailer-Quint. CF1 showed 300 to 400 jobs at $30/hr. Lease goes active Feb. 2028.
Sheriff Burkhart again brought up the Sheriff's pension plan. After extensive discussion, it was put off till the December meeting.
