The Town Council of Winona Lake, Indiana met in a
regular session on Tuesday, January 12, 2009 in the Town Hall at 7:00 p.m. .
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:
Joy Lohse Sue
Gooding Jeff Carroll
Jim
Lancaster Terry Howie Retha Hicks
ABSENT:
Jim Walmer
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig Allebach,
Larry Long, Pete O’Connell, Paul Schmitt,
Mitch Titus
Opening - Joy Lohse opened the meeting with prayer and the
Pledge of Allegiance.
Election of Officers - The first order of business was the election of officers
for 2009. Randy Swanson made a motion to
nominate Terry Howie for President. Sue
Gooding nominated Jim Lancaster for Vice-President. The motion passed. Terry presided over the rest of the meeting.
Approval of minutes – Joy made a motioned to accept minutes of December 9 and Jim Lancaster
seconded the motion and the minutes were approved as written. Sue made a motion to approve the December 23
minutes. Joy seconded the motion and the
minutes were approved as written.
January 19, 11:30 a.m. –
Martin Luther king Celebration at Rodeheaver
January 22, 6:00 p.m. –
Chamber of Commerce Dinner at 2517
January 30 – Life Line
Screening at the Senior Center
March 12 through 14 – NCCAA
Women’s Basketball National Championship at Grace
Floor Topics: Jamie Stewart who lives in Stonehenge wanted
to clarify a letter she had sent to Stonehenge homeowners urging attendance at
council meetings in support of the street and drainage project for their
subdivision. She did not feel that the
project was proceeding as it should and wondered if the project would be
awarded this March. Craig responded that
is was too early to talk about finances.
We would have a better idea after the presentation by Larry Long. Larry was looking into different options that
might have some phasing and possibly the town would not need to bond the
project. Craig stated that it was really
too early to say how we would proceed and what the financing would look like. Jamie Stewart asked if her impression of the
Council was false: that there was hesitation to complete the street
project. Joy responded that the project
was approved by the previous Council and the new Council, due to the state of
our economy, is taking a step back on the project. The new Council does not have all the
information regarding the conditions effecting construction of the Stonehenge
streets and drainage projects. Randy
Swanson responded that he has read all the minutes since December (2007) on the
project and he does not have a good feel for the project. He is hoping the March meeting will bring
everyone up to the same level of awareness.
He wants to understand all the financing and how it works. Further discussion followed about the length
of time it is taking to proceed with the project and the need of an easement
for a pond. Jack Meyer asked what the
schedule is. Craig responded that Larry
is presenting a comprehensive study of different options of exactly what the
project entails, in March.
Presentation on Local
Economy – Joy
McCarthy-Sessing presented information regarding unemployment rate with
Kosciusko being 2% higher than the state rate of 6.5%. 8.5% represents approximately 808 people in
our County who are unemployed.
Historically, Kosciusko County has been much lower than the State and
National unemployment average. She
contributed this to our county residents who work in the trailer industry in
Elkhart County. Joy urged us to purchase
locally.
Board Appointments for
2009 – Returning
to the Redevelopment Commission: Judy Mugg, Dennis Daniels and Al Disbro. Plan Commission: Mark Workman, Craig Allebach and Jim
Lancaster. Board of Zoning
Appeals: Carol Schuler, Gene Seiman and
Mark Workman. Housing Authority: Joy McCarthy-Sessing, Park Board:
Lyn Boal and Jamie Stewart. Joy
Lohse moved that the board appointments be approved and Sue seconded. The motion passed.
Report from Town Engineer – The Council was asked to
approve Larry Long’s agreement for services.
The rates are the same as 2008.
Sue moved that the agreement be approved and Jim seconded. The motion passed.
Reports from Supervisors:
Pete – We
received two loads of salt today and we have two loads of sand coming. The Street Dept. will be mixing salt with the
sand to use during the really cold weather.
Terry asked for a flow of the plowing - so they know where the plowing
starts. Pete reported that the County is
no longer doing any striping and so the Town is not doing any plowing for them
in exchange.
Paul - We
have requested the annual figures for calls for service from central dispatch,
but we have not received them.
Mitch -
presented a contract with Pro-Air for maintenance on our breathing air
compressor. Sue moved to approve the
contract and Randy seconded. The motion
passed.
Craig –No real updates. Still working on the Greenway and have not
heard back on 250E. I am working on
proposals for the Greenway. We are going
to work on steel blades for the snow plows.
This move will enable us to remove more of the snow and eventually use less
salt. One plow will be left with the
rubber tip.
Joy - The
Council has had a couple of strategic planning meetings and Jim has done a good
with putting together our thoughts. Joy
would like to share those with whoever is attending the Council meetings.
Sue request
a sign stating cross “traffic does not stop” at Park and Auditorium.
Discussion about some
hazardous trees on the Greenway.
Faye Jagger expressed her
appreciation for the reconstruction of 250E.
She wanted the Council to know they were anxious for the Stonehenge
streets to be taken care of.
Meeting was adjourned - Sue moved that the meeting be adjourned and Jim
seconded – motioned passed
_________________________ ___________________________
TERRY
HOWIE RETHA
S. HICKS
PRESIDENT CLERK-TREASURER