The Town Council of Winona Lake, Indiana met in a
regular session on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 in the Town Hall at 6:00 p.m.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Joy Lohse, Sue Gooding, Jim Lancaster, Terry Howie, Randy
Swanson and Retha Hicks
ABSENT:
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig
Allebach, Jim Walmer, Larry Long, Mitch Titus and Pete
O’Connell
Opening
John Elliott opened the meeting with prayer and the
Pledge of Allegiance.
Election of Officers for 2010 – Swanson nominated Howie to continue as President
and Gooding seconded the motion. Lohse
nominated Lancaster and the motion died due to lack of a second. The Council voted to elect Howie as Town
Council President and the motion passed with four votes for and Lohse voting
against. Swanson nominated Lancaster for
Vice-President and Gooding seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
Approval of minutes – Gooding motioned to accept minutes, motion was seconded by Lancaster.
Minutes were approved.
January 18 – Martin Luther King Celebration at Rodeheaver
February 4 at 6:00 p.m. – Heart Truth with Sherry Daniels
at Rodeheaver
Floor Topics: John Elliott asked about drive through mail drop off
boxes. Lancaster asked Mr. Elliott is he
had directed his question to the Post Office and he responded the Post Office
is in favor of it if we can find a location to place the box. Jerry Nelson suggested that a box be placed
by the ATM outside the Boathouse. Howie
wondered if Grace would allow a box to be placed at the Visitor Center parking
lot. Allebach stated that the biggest
concern regardless of where the box was place would be public safety. Howie promised the Town would look in to it.
Ordinance 2009-12-3 Tree
Ordinance –
Walmer has made final changes to the Ordinance and was asked to report to the
Council the final changes. This is the
second reading of the ordinance. Lancaster moved to approve the ordinance and
Gooding seconded. The motion passed
unanimously.
Ordinance 2010-1-1 Sewage
Rate Structure – Lancaster moved to approve the ordinance on first reading and Swanson
seconded. The motion was unanimously
approved. Lancaster made a motion to
approve the ordinance, Swanson seconded and the motion passed.
Report from Town Engineer:
- Long
presented a proposal for the Council to approve his contract as Town Engineer
at the 2009 rate. Gooding made a motion
to approve the 2010 fee schedule and Lohse seconded and the motion was
approved. Long reported that he is
continuing to work on the Wooster Road liftstation, Town Hall parking lot and
the Prestwick street project. The Street
Department gave Long the results regarding all of the
connections to the Town sewer line in Stonehenge and they have been added to a
sewer map for the area.
Report from Town Attorney:
- Walmer
did not supply a new contract as last year’s contract provided that it would
continue unless the Council decided to terminate him. Walmer sent a letter today to Eldon Stoops
regarding all of the connections to the Town sewer line in Stonehenge.
Reports from Supervisors:
O’Connell – The salt building
has been a great asset to the Street Department. The revamped Mack truck has been picked up
and we received $1,200 for the old truck.
We are still trying to sell the truck bed. Swanson asked if there was an order in which
the roads are plowed. O’Connell
responded that the main arteries are plowed first and after that it is somewhat
random. Each employee has an area that
they are responsible for. Lancaster
asked if there was anything in place as far as shoveling sidewalks. He wanted the Town to let residents know they
can shovel their walks or where they park if they would like. O’Connell reminded the Council that the snow
needs to be put in the yard and not in the street. Gooding mention that she would like to see an
ordinance strongly recommending that resident shovel their walks.
Jerry Nelson brought up the
ordinance regarding the plowing and not parking on certain sides of the
street. His concern was areas where
there is not enough street parking available.
He felt that some of the signs need to be removed or clarified,
especially on one way streets. Howie
felt the real concern is when we have a very large amount of snow and in that
instance the Police would assist in getting cars moved. We would also put announcements on the radio.
Gooding wanted to know what
it would take to clear an area for ice skating on the canal. O’Connell questioned the Town’s liability
issue with being involved in that. Howie
suggested that we place a couple of street lights on the west side of the canal
for the purpose of lighting this area if someone wanted to clear off the
ice. Lancaster stated that there are
already streetlights on the east side.
Walmer shared that we might want to place a sign stating “skate at their own risk”.
Gooding wondered if we could also eventually rent skates out. Schmitt reported that a group in Warsaw is
building a rink at the fairgrounds and are hoping to have it open by January
13.
Schmitt –
Applied for three grants last year and was successful in getting two of
them. One was a JAG grant for $10,000
for equipment and the department will purchase two in-car cameras. This grant has a match for 10%. The other grant is from K CODE and we will
get one additional camera. Four out of
six cars will then be equipped with cameras.
The third grant was for the new radios, which we were not awarded. The money to pay for the radios is in the
regular budget.
Allebach asked about the
repeaters for the fire department. Titus
responded that he had met with J & K Communications and they will have to
go with the narrow band January 1, 2011.
Allebach wondered if we could partner with Grace Schools on some of
this. Titus recommended that we go
narrow band and digital. Schmitt stated
the police department’s were currently capable of
digital.
Schmitt is working on the part-time
off duty work policy and will run it past Walmer. Howie wants the Council to look at it before
it is given to Walmer.
Lohse - Asked
about a $600,000 grant for wastewater.
Allebach responded that he did not know all the particulars on that
grant but typically we do not meet the financial need for those grants.
Lohse was excited to see the State
of Indiana recognize communities for their environmental ingenuity on an E
Blast from the Chamber of Commerce.
Allebach -
Asked the Council to reappoint Leo Boyer to the Economic Development Commission
for a four year term. Lohse made a
motion to approve this appointment and Gooding seconded. The motion passed.
Allebach also reported that a
letter was sent out today to update the residents in Stonehenge of the street
project. He also is continuing to work
on the easements and a grant for the feasibility study in cooperation with
Winona Lake Preservation Group.
Jennifer Peryam is to meet
with Allebach and Lohse January 13, to talk about the new web site. Allebach continues to change and add items to
the website.
Howie - Reported
that he received a letter requesting the Town to recognize the Boy Scouts that
received the Eagle award. Allebach
reported that in Winona Lake, Tyler Engle installed park benches and grills in
the Park and Jonathan Tinkey painted all the wood and benches along the
Greenway.
Allebach suggested that we
recognize the two at a meeting with a certificate.
Hicks –
Shared with the Council that wastewater books have gone out in the mail along
with a 2010 trash schedule. Hicks would
like the Council to think about developing a committee for our centennial which
will be in 2013. Also, we need to
promote the census and she will be visiting Grace Schools and businesses to do
this.
Lancaster – Asked
about the groups that have races in Town and use paint to mark their
course. O’Connell responded that chalk
is to be used, not paint. Lancaster
would like the Council to have a work session and close the loop on 2009
accomplishment and set goals for 2010.
He would like to setup a standing monthly update to keep the projects in
front of everyone. Howie brought up the
information that Allebach is posting on our website. Lancaster asked Allebach to communicate with
everyone and setup a work session.
Jerry Nelson asked about two
loans that were to be paid off and was there a penalty involved? Hicks responded that both loans were paid and
we were not penalized. The town saved
about $105,000 between the two loans by paying them off early.
Howie -
reported that he was not able to attend the joint county wide redevelopment
meeting to establish a County-wide Economic Development Commission, but Hicks
attended. Hicks felt that Allebach
should represent the town in future meetings.
Lohse made a motion to
adjourn and Lancaster seconded.
Meeting was adjourned
_________________________ ___________________________
TERRY
HOWIE RETHA
S. HICKS
PRESIDENT CLERK-TREASURER