Following is the text from the Fall, 2011, City of Indian Hills Newsletter:

OCTOBERFEST COME ONE. COME ALL Our big annual event in the City of Indian Hills will take place as you can see on the cover of this newsletter on Sunday, October 2 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. This festivity was started in 1984, and becomes more popular each year. That is why it is so important for you to make reservations to attend so that we have ample food to serve our residents. This year is especially a challenge for use since for more years than we can count Doll's Market has been our supplier of choice. As you know Doll's Market closed recently, but Sashee Gaslin, who worked for Doll's will cater our event. We look forward to seeing you at this festive gathering. ANOTHER POPULAR EVENT - SHREDDING Once again this year (which actually is the 6th year), Wilson & Muir Bank is offering residents of Indian Hills an opportunity to shred items that we would not like to discard in our normal trash. This will take place on Saturday, October 8 from 9-12 a.m. at the Wilson & Muir Bank, 130 St. Matthews Avenue. This is a great service to our community, giving us the opportunity to clean out those old records, checks, income tax forms, etc. We are certainly grateful to Wilson & Muir for this wonderful gesture. CHANGING OF THE GUARD It is with profound thanks and a feeling of loss that at our August Council meeting we accepted the resignation of Nancy Stablein as Councilperson in our City. In her resignation letter, she observed that she and her husband George are out of town so frequently that she felt this would be the best for the City. Nancy has been involved in Indian Hills for a great many years, and she is the only member of our Council Board who has lived in the City not only as an adult, but as a child growing up here. She probably has more knowledge of the history of Indian Hills than any other member of the Board or most people who live in our City. Nancy's job on the Council has been with Public Works, which includes basic maintenance and she and James Graven have certainly worked to make Indian Hills a beautiful place in which to live. We wish Nancy and George all the best. And at the same time we welcome Chip Hancock to fill Nancy's position on our Board. Chip is a Senior Vice President of Republic Bank & Trust. He lives on Westwind Road with his wife and two children. Chip is a very busy person in our community, currently involved with the Boy Scouts, the Urban League and several other organizations. He is a graduate of Ballard High School, University of Kentucky, Kentucky School of Banking and Leadership Louisville. Your Council Board unanimously approved this appointment and look forward to working with Chip Hancock. A copy of our Municipal Order 11-01 accepting Nancy Stablein's resignation and appointing Chip Hancock is attached to this newsletter. POLICE Below you will find Chief Spratt's Cops Corner where he has also listed some changes in his department. Our police continue to do the exceptional job for the area which they serve, and the crime rate remains enviably low. COPS CORNER By Chief Kelly Spratt Copper Thefts - Update For several months this year, our area has been struck by subjects stealing copper gutters and downspouts from homes. Our Department has worked closely with other departments in investigating and apprehending those responsible. Two subjects have already been charged by our Department and as of this newsletter, indictments are being prepared against several other individuals. All of those charged have been working together and are responsible for several thefts in Jefferson and Oldham Counties. Once these individuals are indicted, we will provide more information though our Crime Alert program. Speeding The Department continues to receive speeding complaints along some of our busiest streets (Indian Hills Trail, Rudy Lane, Travois Road, etc). We will continue to enforce the posted 25 MPH speed limits in these areas and ask that you adhere to these limits to keep our City safe. Personnel In late June, Officer Donna Lowhorn left our Department. Donna joined the Indian Hills Police Department in 2004, after retiring from Louisville Metro PD. We wish Donna well in all of her future endeavors. After Donna's departure, Officer Jeff Newton accepted the open fulltime position with the Department. Jeff retired from Louisville Metro PD and joined our Department as a part-time officer in 2006. In August we hired Officer Tommy Blair as a part-time officer. Tommy began his law enforcement career with the old City of Louisville PD and retired in 2010 from Louisville Metro PD after 22 years of service. JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD HEARD IT ALL In many of our newsletters, we ask people who walk their dogs to clean up after their pets, and this has worked very well throughout our City. Most residents have been considerate of their neighbors' properties. However, we are now having an issue with someone who carries the plastic bag, cleans up after their dog and then leaves the bag in their neighbor's yard for disposal. This is not an acceptable practice. In our past newsletters we have discussed Eco-Tech and what a great job they do in picking up our trash. They are so efficient and will pick up most anything left out with the garbage cans. Recently a resident was having their house painted and stacked the unpainted shutters next to the garbage can. And guess what! Eco-Tech collected the shutters and the resident had to buy new ones. So please do not stack anything next to your garbage cans that you wish to retain. F.Y.I. Entrance Updates We are probably thirty days away from the entrance at Chenoweth Lane and the entrance at Old Brownsboro Road and Highland Cleaners being completed. The reason for the delay is that two organizations are working on these entrances. Metro Public Works has delayed putting the finishing touches on these areas until LG&E completes their gas line replacement program. This will alleviate the necessity of digging into freshly paved asphalt. When LG&E completes its project, the entrances will be paved. Sprinklers As you probably know the City spends a great deal of money on maintenance and landscaping and we have decided to put sprinklers in a couple of areas that are not currently sprinkled. We recently completed a sprinkling system for Sagamore Park where we hold our Octoberfest, and we are in the process of putting in a sprinkling system at the Moccasin entrance to the City. Fountain As we mentioned in previous newsletters, the fountain at Rudy Lane is on its last legs. It was not turned on this year due to severe leaking not only in the pipes but in the fountain itself. We did a lot of work on the fountain two years ago that we thought would lengthen its life, but it is truly a hazard and a decision on its future will soon be made. We will keep you posted. Audit & Taxes We completed our fiscal year ending June 30 in excellent financial shape and are in the process or our annual audit. When it is completed, it will be on our website, which is listed on the front page of this newsletter. Also, tax bills for 2011 will be mailed in mid-October. Our thanks to Councilman Spalding for this great work. Tuner-Poplar Hill Property As many of you recall, a homeowner is attempting to develop ten plus acres on the east side of Blankenbaker Lane at Poplar Hill Road and build 12 homes on land where there are currently only two homes. The Metro Zoning Commission approved the development and a nearby property owner, joined by the City, appealed the Planning Commission's ruling to the Jefferson Circuit Court. Unfortunately, the Jefferson Circuit Court found that the Planning Commission acted within its authority and denied our appeal, which means that the development can go forward. While the City Council thinks the development would not be a positive addition to Indian Hills, we believe that any further appeals would be futile and an unwise expenditure of our taxpayers' money. A MESSAGE FROM REPRESENTATIVES KEN FLEMING AND KELLY DOWNARD As you may know, the City of Indian Hills is in two Metro Council districts. District 7 is basically west of Blankenbaker Lane and District 16 is east of Blankenbaker Lane. Ken Fleming represents us in District 7 and Kelly Downard, who lives in our City, represents us in District 16. Following are comments from these two District Representatives who do an excellent job representing our City. In the past we have included Metro information in our newsletters, and we are going to try to have something from each of them in the future. To: The City of Indian Hills From: Kelly Downard, District 16 Metro Councilman Holiday Manor Upgrade You may have recently noticed construction in the Holiday Manor area. Upgrades are taking place that include bus stops with new benches and trash cans, sidewalks and widening the pullover lane heading west at the Herr Lane and Lime Kiln intersection. The cost of this project is approximately $150,000 and is being funded equally between TARC, the City of Northfield and the District 16 Metro Council office neighborhood development funds. You may contact Kelly Downard at kelly.downard@louisvilleky.gov, 574-1116 To: The City of Indian Hills From: Ken Fleming, District 7 Metro Councilman Metro Council Committee Developing Twenty-six New Council Districts Every ten years, local governments (as well as state governments) must redraw respective district boundary lines for better representation of population based on the US Census data. For the past few months, the Louisville Metro Council, through the Redistricting Ad Hoc committee, has been reviewing the 2010 Census data. The committee is charged with proposing a map setting out 26 new Metro Council districts. This proposed map will be submitted to the Metro Council for a final decision in establishing the 26 new Metro Constitutions, the Voting Rights Act, and by the Metro Council. Some of these standards include that the population of each district must be as nearly equal as reasonably possible; the districts must be compact and contiguous; one person one vote and, whenever possible, the district shall respect existing neighborhood, community, and city boundaries. The committee expects to propose the map to the Metro Council in September, with final passage expected in October. The committee has held public hearings and each Ad Hoc Committee meeting begins with public input. You may contact Ken Fleming at ken.fleming@louisvilleky.gov, 574-1107 WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AT THE OCTOBERFEST