Plainfield Community Development Corporation

​

The Town of Plainfield created the Plainfield Community Development Corporation (herein referred to as the “CDC”) in September 2018. 

​

The CDC was created by, funded by, and operated on the behalf of/under the direction of the Plainfield Town Council using Town resources to manage real property: buy, develop, lease, and sell, without having to properly follow the state laws that hold the Town accountable to the citizens of Plainfield.

 

CDC Was Created by the Town of Plainfield

August 13, 2018 - Town Council Meeting

• discussed draft versions of CDC articles of incorporation and by-laws

• declared intention for the group (i.e., the CDC)

Quote from meeting minutes.  Bill Kirchoff, Town Council Member said:

“to make this group... the intent is for this group to be versatile, able to react very quickly and a 10-dday notice for meetings, which is actually still a day longer than what the state law requires for meetings, we're only required a 48 hour notice. So, those were the only things that were kind of tweaked in there. I think we've gone through to make sure everything was consistent, except for that one issue, we'll get that fixed. At this point, I guess I would look to the Council on whether or not we want to move forward with this. I think we have some things coming up very soon where this could be a useful tool for the community, but there's still some work to be done to actually move forward with filing and creating this and making those appointments. So, I guess I'm seeking permission to move forward with the next steps of filing the documents.”

• approved documents for filing with Secretary of State

 

August 27, 2018 – Town Council Meeting

• appointed the CDC Board:  Bill Kirchoff, Dan Bridget, and Brad DuBois
  (note:  Bill Kirchoff and Dan Bridget were Town Council members appointing themselves to the CDC Board)

 

September 18, 2018 - Articles of Incorporation Filed with State of Indiana:

• listed 206 W. Main St., Plainfield, Indiana, 46168, as Principal Office Address of the CDC (note:  this is the same address as the municipal offices for the Town of Plainfield)

• declared that the Corporation is a social welfare corporation that shall be organized and operated exclusively to support the Town of Plainfield, Indiana (the “Town”)

• declared that the Corporation shall have NO members

• declared that Board of Directors shall be three (3) members: 
  one (1) appointed by the President of the Town Council;
  two (2) appointed by the Town Council

 

CDC is Funded by the Town of Plainfield with Monies and Real Property

The Town Council has given the CDC over $12.6 MILLION dollars in monies and $1.27 million dollars in real estate that the Town purchased and then gave to the CDC for $0.

 

October 22, 2018 – Town Council Resolution 2018-68

• Instructed the Plainfield Redevelopment Commission (RDC) to provide funds for the CDC from Tax Increment Financing (TIF) proceeds

 

November 5, 2018 – Plainfield RDC Resolution 2018-12

• Granted $5,000,000 to the CDC from the US40 TIF Allocation Area

 

December 3, 2018 - RDC Resolution 2018-14

• Conveyed Real Estate to CDC from RDC

 

July 1, 2019 – RDC Resolution 2019-12

• Granted $1,600,000 to the CDC from the US40 TIF Allocation Area

 

April 9, 2020 – RDC Resolution 2020-02

• Conveyed Real Estate to CDC from RDC

 

May 2020 – Town Council Resolution 2020-25

• Conveyed Real Estate (Mill Street Lot) to CDC from RDC

 

December 7, 2020 – RDC Resolution 2020-13

• Entered into a 20 year lease of the town parking garage with CDC

 

June 28, 2021 – Town Council Meeting

• Approved $50,000 grant to CDC

 

October 24, 2022 – Town Council Meeting

• Approved $300,000 grant to CDC for Avon Ave. properties from 2021 GO Bond

 

Unknown date 2023 – Town Council Resolution 2023-51

• Granted $2,032,600 to CDC from unidentified funds

 

April 22, 2024 – Town Council Resolution 2024-18

• Amended Town Council Resolution 2023-51 with additional details

• Retained $2,032,600 grant designation

 

October 28, 2024 – Town Council Resolution 2024-43

• Granted $2,032,600 to CDC from unidentified funds (these are in addition to Town Council Resolution 2023-51 funds)

 

January 7, 2025 – Town Council Resolution 2025-04

• Granted $800,000 to CDC from unidentified funds

 

December 8, 2025 – Town Council Resolution 2025-63

• Granted $800,000 to CDC from unidentified funds

 

CDC is Operated on the Behalf of/Under the Direction of the Plainfield Town Council

The Town Council operates the CDC.

 

September 24, 2018 – Town Council Meeting

• Discussed CDC, first board meeting, etc.

 

December 10, 2018 – Town Council Meeting

• Discussed that CDC was to purchase 121 Mill St. and 131 Mill St.

• Clarified for Town Council Member/CDC President that if town can act quickly enough the town may purchase the properties; whomever can do it the quickest the Resolution (note: the RDC ended up buying the property and transferring it to the CDC in Town Council Resolution 2020-25)

 

July 27, 2020 – Town Council Meeting

• Discussed operator of parking garage

• Discussed citizen/business owners concerns regarding cost of parking garage

 

January 25, 2021 – Town Council Meeting

• Discussed transfer of Claren/Clearwater property to CDC

• Discussed CDC purchase of Stanley fertilizer (Stanley Terrace) property

• Discussed CDC funding needs

 

April 12, 2021 – Town Council Meeting

• Discussed CDC presentation to RDC

• Discussed CDC is in debt

• Discussed CDC needed to establish a line of credit

• Discussed CDC would need $2.5 – 3 million soon

 

June 14, 2021 – Town Council Meeting

• Discussed CDC and ownership of Galyans property; what the future of property was

 

June 28, 2021 – Town Council Meeting

• Discussed giving CDC a grant for the Stanley property

• Approved $50,000 grant to CDC

 

July 12, 2021 – Town Council Meeting

• CDC discussed security, lighting, leaks, etc. that parking garage was experiencing

 

August 23, 2021 – Town Council Meeting

• CDC recognized Town of Plainfield staff/personnel that worked on Stanley project doing CDC activities

• Praised town agencies that worked with CDC to bring value to the community

 

November 14, 2022 – Town Council Resolution 2022-62

• Accepted Real Estate (Barlow) from the CDC without fee

 

January 23, 2023 – Town Council Meeting

• CDC recognized Town staff/personnel shared a business transaction for the CDC

 

The Town Council Members who serve as the CDC Board Members have been given an IMPOSSIBLE task of separating Town business from CDC. 

 

Shared Resources Between CDC and Town of Plainfield

The following are resources known to be shared by the CDC and the Town of Plainfield:

• Shared principal office location: 206 W Main St
  (no separate office space known to exist for the CDC; Plainfield Chamber of Commerce’s office space is segregated and clearly identified

• 2 of the 3 CDC Board Members are Town Council Members (3rd board member is unpaid and a member of the Plainfield Chamber of Commerce)

• Shared legal representation:  Taft Law Firm attorneys represent the CDC and the Town of Plainfield.  Unable to discern when Melvin Daniel is representing the CDC or the Town.  Plainfield Police and Fire Territories have different legal firms representing their interests from the Town  Police and Fire are considered a government agency that has to abide by Public Access Laws.

• CDC is included in the Town of Plainfield’s Organizational Chart.

• Town of Plainfield staff/personnel are known to perform work for the CDC.  See Town Council Meeting excerpts above.

 

Analysis of CDC Form 990s

Form 990s have been filed for Years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.  A summary of an analysis of data provided to the IRS shows:

​

• CDC has 3 voting members

• CDC has 0 employees

• CDC has 0 volunteers

• CDC is related to the Town of Plainfield, a tax-exempt organization

• Dan Bridget has been paid a total $110,000 from 2018 to 2024

• Bill Kirchoff has been paid a total of $119,800 from 2018 to 2024

• Brad DuBois has been paid a total of $229 from 2018 to 2024

• Board members report working 1 hr a week per member a year

• $0 Other salaries and wages

• $0 Information technology expenses

• $290,112 Occupancy expenses (ranging from $9,606 to $77,500 per year)

• CDC has 0 independent contractors

• $12,824,555 in Government grants (Town Council minutes and resolutions report at least $1,436,855 in additional funds provided to CDC)

• $1,227,500 in Noncash contributions (Town Council minutes and resolutions report conveyance of real estate properties to that have a higher valuation greater than reported)

• $0 Compensation of current officers, directors, trustees

• $0 Other salaries and wages

• $0 Payroll taxes

• $165,268 Management fees (note:  Brad DuBois owns 3 businesses that do accounting and/or consulting)

• $198,893 Legal fees

• $40,855 Accounting fees

• $0 Land, buildings, equipment (note:  this is reported as NONCASH Contributions above, not land nor buildings which was what was conveyed)

​

Properties Owned by the CDC

To date the CDC has spent $8,136,650 on 36 properties that were valued at $4,921,400; this is almost 2x what the properties were valued.

​

List of the properties owned by the CDC: