Are Richmond residents willing to spend pennies more anytime they eat out to benefit the city’s parks?
Richmond Common Council will soon find out.
Council scheduled a special meeting for 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, to hear public opinions about the proposed 1% city food and beverage tax. The meeting will be in council chambers on the third floor of the Richmond Municipal Building at 50 N. Fifth St., Richmond.
The meeting originally was advertised to occur one hour before council’s regularly scheduled Dec. 15 meeting; however, during council’s Dec. 1 regular meeting, Larry Parker, council’s president, argued that would not provide enough time to hear all public comments. The special meeting, which will have only the food and beverage tax on the agenda, then could not occur before Dec. 11 because of a 10-day notification requirement.
Council member Bill Engle introduced the ordinance that would implement the 1% tax on food and beverage transactions within city limits in restaurants, for catering events and for prepared foods in grocery stores, such as at the deli. The money would go to parks, trails and activation of the Whitewater Gorge.
During the Nov. 17 council meeting, Denise Retz, the city’s parks superintendent, presented priority parks projects totaling $7 million. The tax is estimated to generate between $1 million and $1.5 million annually that could pay debt service on a bond.
Council passed 8-1 a resolution that supported the food and beverage tax, a required step before the ordinance could be presented. Lucinda Wright voted against the resolution.
Ordinance approvals
The city’s Environmental Sustainability Commission requested permission to apply for and accept a $100,000 grant from the Indianapolis Foundation through its Climate and Justice Catalyst Fund program.
Alison Zajdel, a commission member who will write the grant application, said money would pay for a contractor across two or three years. The contractor would focus on community engagement to identify Climate Action Plan projects for implementation. Council approved the Climate Action Plan in 2022, but it did not provide funding for a coordinator.
Council member Jerry Purcell moved that the ordinance be amended to permit the grant application and acceptance of awarded money, but not appropriate that money. He preferred council appropriate the money as projects were identified for implementation. The motion did not receive a second.
Council passed the ordinance 8-1.
Members Lucinda Wright and Justin Burkhardt abstained when council passed an ordinance that amended the city’s meeting notification ordinance. They were not able to access the ordinance on the city’s online document database to adequately prepare for the vote.
After wording changes a portion of the policy indicates that meeting notices will be posted near the meeting room door in compliance with the Indiana Open Door Law and that meeting materials will be uploaded to the document database in a timely manner.
The ordinance passed 7-0 with the abstentions.
Referred to finance
Two ordinances were referred to council’s finance committee for review before second reading and a vote.
The first would enable a $40,000 transfer within the Roseview Transit budget. The money is not needed to pay part-time employee wages and would instead fund a micro-transit study to help develop a strategic plan.
The second would permit acceptance of $7,125 from the Patrick Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership to assist with purchase of 15 bulletproof vests for Richmond Police Department.
RPD would pay its $7,125 share from the cumulative capital development fund, according to Tracy McGinnis, the city controller.
Board appointments
Council unanimously appointed Sam Patel, Pamela Broering and Dana Weigle to the Wayne County Convention and Tourism board.
Howard Price was also unanimously appointed to the Richmond Street Tree Commission.
A version of this article appeared in the December 10 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.