Evansville City Council Brief

On Monday, Sept. 28, the Evansville City Council held their meeting at the Civic Center. The meeting began with a roll call – all nine members were present: Ben Trockman, Rita Taylor, Kendra Hatfield, Angela Koehler-Lindsey, Mary Allen, Zac Heronemus, Paul Green, Jim Brinkmeyer, and Courtney Johnson. Following the roll call was the pledge of allegiance, approval of the meeting memorandum, and acknowledgement of reports and communications.

Regular Agenda: Second Reading of Ordinances and Resolutions

ORDINANCE G-2026-16: A unanimously approved ordinance vacating the 12’ alley between 214 Main St and 222 Main St.

ORDINANCE G-2026-17: The approval of a tax agreement for the Crawford Door affordable housing project at 1701 N Heidelbach Ave. The project consists of approximately 134 multi-family rental housing units for low- and middle-income eligible residents. The average income of residents across all units must be maintained at or below 60% area median income. The tax agreement will last for 40 years, until 2066. It was unanimously approved.

ORDINANCE F-2026-13: The authorization of transfers of appropriations. The transfers of funds include:

• $50,000 for METS due to buses getting older and requiring more repairs,
• $50,000 for the Mesker Park Zoo to cover the costs of paper products, cleaning materials, medical supplies, personal protection equipment, small equipment, and other services that are needed for the remainder of the year,
• $850 for the McDonald Golf Course to cover cost increase for fall aerification at the course,
• $2,000 for the Finance Department for the Men’s Empowerment Summit hosted by YMCA, SIMA, and the United Way of Southwestern Indiana and in partnership with the City of Evansville,
• $250,000 to the Department of Metropolitan Development to cover remaining affordable housing trust fund grants and subsidies for 2026 projects,
• $130,000 for the Mesker Park Zoo to cover projects,
• $7,385 for the Fendrich and McDonald golf courses to cover repairs,
• $60,000 for METS to cover security,
• $7,500 for fire merit department to cover equipment needed for new hires,
• Lastly, $14,961.56 for the police department to purchase Swat safety vests

This ordinance was unanimously approved.

ORDINANCE R-2026-16: The unanimously approved rezoning of 2003 E Franklin St. from C1 to R1.

ORDINANCE R-2026-17: The rezoning of 824 E Blackford Ave. from R2 to R3 with UDC with plans to turn the duplex into a triplex. It was approved with a 5-3 vote.

ORDINANCE R-2026-18: The unanimously approved rezoning of 2453, 2455, 2457 W Franklin St from C1 to R2.

Resolution Docket

RESOLUTION C-2026-34: Through the Evansville Climate Collaborative and with assistance from Groundswell, Inc., the city is undertaking a “resilience hub study” to identify opportunities to improve community resilience and to identify and prioritize potential public facilities that may serve as resilience hubs providing resources and support to residents before, during, and following power outages, extreme weather events, emergencies, and other community disruptions. The study will include participation from city residents where they will have opportunities to participate in decisions concerning the location, design, services, and implementation of potential resilience hubs. The city of Evansville and Groundswell intend to select up to 20 adult residents to participate in community engagement sessions. The sessions will be held on Oct. 22 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Oct. 24 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Groundswell has provided a flyer to the Evansville Climate Collaborative with a QR code that they will share with the public to apply. Outside of the public, they intend to send applicant information to neighborhood associations, various nonprofits, and more. Lauren Lynch, the director of the Evansville Climate Collaborative, explains that there are already places that “do open shelters during and after disasters, but they don’t provide shelters for just an evening [because] a severe storm’s coming into town.” She describes the resilience hubs as something that “falls in the middle between the two types of shelters.” Each resident who gets selected to participate in the study will be compensated $150.

The resolution was approved with Koehler-Lindsey being the only no vote due to her disagreeing with participants being compensated.

Public Comment

Seventeen people signed up for public comment with most being about data centers, flock cameras, or both. One commenter said, “I have only felt more unsafe because of these surveillance systems… Furthermore, I strongly stand against any development of data centers in our community as well, for many reasons such as energy bills and environmental detriment.” Comments such as this are subsequent of two certain ordinances set to be discussed at the next meeting: one is to establish the deferral of permits related to data centers for a period of at least 180 days so there is adequate time to research and study the impacts.  The other is for the $265,000 that is currently in the city’s 2027 budget for Flock Safety and Clearview AI.

The next Evansville City Council meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 5 at 5:30 p.m. at the Civic Center.