The Town Council of Winona Lake, Indiana met in a regular session on Tuesday, January 27, 2009, in the Town Hall at 7:00 a.m.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Joy Lohse Sue Gooding Randy Swanson
Jim Lancaster Terry Howie Retha Hicks
ABSENT:
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig Allebach Paul Schmitt Pete O’Connell
Mitch Titus
Opening:
Howie opened the meeting with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Approval of minutes – Jim Lancaster made a motioned to accept minutes of January 12, 2009, motion was seconded by Joy Lohse. After a short discussion, the minutes were approved as written.
Winona Happenings - January 30 – Life Line Screening at the Senior Center
February 8 – 2nd Sunday Series at 7:30 p.m.
February 14 – Symphony at the Lakes, Rodeheaver at 7:30 pm.
March 12 – 14 NCCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship at Grace College
Floor Topics - Jerry Nelson raised concerns of the vacation of the Lawns of the Courts. He felt that vacating portions of the alley was a problem in that the Town has not committed any funds to build the center alley. If the Town vacates the two sections of the alley on each end then you isolate anyone else and prevent them from vacating the property they purchase. Also, the Town just paved an alley off Administration Blvd. which goes back to a parking area for one property. If the Town vacates on each end of the Lawns of the Courts, this alley will become a private drive without the center alley.
Connie Kaiser, 405 Administration Blvd., asked what Jerry Nelson’s objection was. The Plan Commission had approved this request for vacation and the neighbors are all in favor and have signed the petition for vacation. Floor topics were closed to proceed to the ordinance for this issue.
Ordinance 2009-1-1 – Vacating an Alley in the northwest corner of the Lawns of the Courts. Randy Swanson requested Allebach to share pertinent comments from the Plan Commission meeting. Allebach stated that the Plan Commission approved the final plat in December. A lot of the discussion was about the vacation and approved vacating in the northwest corner and the southeast corner. It is Allebach’s anticipation that we will see vacation in the northeast corner just to the corner itself. The improvements include a center alley and storm drainage. A bond is being held for those improvements. People who are not vacating could access their properties through the street or alley. The millings from the King’s Highway will be reused for a base of the new alley. There were no remonstrators at the Plan Commission meeting. The developer is working with G & G to improve the road. We are looking at a March or April time frame. Allebach stated that Nelson would still be able to access his property with the vacation. Allebach stated that the storm drainage is being put in by the developer. Sue Gooding would like to see the whole plan in place rather than do this project in pieces. Swanson asked why it was done piecemeal. Allebach stated that Jerry’s lot had not been advertised. Lohse asked why we could not just state in the minutes what step we will take next and proceed with this portion of the project. Retha informed the Council that if Connie has to combine the entire alley for vacation, then Connie will have to do another legal ad and another Public Hearing will have to be held; which would cause unnecessary expense. Brent Wilcoxson relayed to the Council that the project was not done piecemeal. These two parcels do not affect any other properties. Other areas have access issues that cannot be solved until the center alley is in place. These other areas have no bearing on the two parcels in the vacation request. Lancaster made a motion to pass Ordinance 2009-1-1 on the first reading. Lohse seconded the motion. The vote was 4 ayes with Gooding voting no. Because the vote was not unanimous, it did not pass on the first reading but will be on the agenda for the February 10, 2009 meeting.
Ordinance 2009-1-2 Vacating an alley on the southeast corner at the Lawns of the Courts. Lancaster presented a motion to pass Ordinance 2009-1-2 on the first reading and Lohse seconded the motion. The vote was 4 ayes and Gooding voted no. The voted needed to be unanimous and will be represented at the February 10, 2009 meeting.
INDOT Contract for Project Coordination Phase IV-A of
Greenway Swanson made a motion to
accept the INDOT contract and Gooding seconded.
The motion passed unanimously and the contract was signed.
Board Appointments for 2009 Jerry Nelson has agreed to serve on the Housing Authority and the
Council approved the appointment.
Fire Territory – Lancaster
reported on the meeting between Warsaw and Winona Lake Fire Departments. There was discussion regarding the financial
element in terms of the impact on Winona Lake taxpayers. There is a fire service protection element in
terms of what the difference in service is and what long term support of the
Fire Territory would cost. We have asked
Retha to put together a financial report of how this will affect our current
and future tax levies if we join the Fire Territory. We also wanted to know how it would affect us
if we choose not to join. Retha shared
that if all three entities join the Fire Territory and their budget remained
status quo, the tax rate for Winona Lake residents would increase by 14
cents. That is a separate tax levy and
would not raise the tax rate for Winona Lake (of 42 cents). If the Fire Territory would increase their
budget to what they think they need, the levy would increase from 14 cents to
25 cents. Retha did research of what
Winona Lake could do to meet some of the needs for the Fire Department without
joining the Fire Territory. A financial
study that goes out to 2015 shows the capital budget is in the red by ($428,000.00). We were able to establish a Rainy Day Fund (RDF)
several years ago and can transfer unexpended General and MVH budget into this
fund. The RDF currently has a balance of
$267,000.00 which the council could use to cover the capital budget’s deficit. This would leave five years left on the
capital budget deficit. If we could
contribute $32,000.00 each year to that capital budget, we would be able to
finance it. Another option, if the Town
would pay 1 volunteer fireman 24/7 at minimum wage, no fringe benefits because
it would be several part-time firemen, the total cost would be $43,000.00. That would equal a 2 cent tax rate. We cannot increase our tax levy, so that
amount would have to come out of our current budget. Lancaster stated our current fire levy equals
.0078 of our current 42 cents tax rate.
This amount effectively funds our volunteer Fire Department. If we had 2 paid volunteers it would increase
to .067. This would still be less than
half of the minimum if we join the Fire Territory. We would also contemplate setting aside money
for future fire equipment.
We do not know what
would happen to the mutual aid agreement within the county. It was thought there would be no effect on
insurance rates. Jerry Nelson brought up
concern about entering into the Fire Territory with Warsaw in light of how they
treat us in regards to the wastewater billing rate. Lancaster shared that the Fire Department
does not feel that there will be any change in service to the Winona Lake town
residents They feel they have a good
team and work well together. The Fire
Department received praise for the quality of the department. Brent Wilcoxson asked if the Fire Territory
was established and we did not join, would Winona Lake Volunteer Fire
Department have to respond to out of town calls. If Warsaw charges us for responding, then can
we charge them? Lancaster shared that
Mitch Titus has stated he would look to the Council for direction. Our guys support other communities a great
deal and don’t receive much credit for it.
Lancaster does not see the services of supporting one another
changing. Discussion followed about
emergency standard-operating-procedures.
Lancaster asked the
Council if they want to act on the Fire Territory agreement, look at it
further, or give the Fire Department have an opportunity to share? Allebach stated that we think we are okay to
attend the hearing and then we could see how the details work out. In order to be a part of the FT, we had to
advertise and could back out at any time.
Howie reported that we could get in the Fire Territory in a year, but
the territory would have to dissolve and then reorganize. Lancaster asked if we could table the issue
now but contact Mayor Wiggins to let him know why we are putting the issue
off. Lohse feels like Winona Lake is
continually the one that pays out and desires to see everyone to benefit equally
and charged fairly. Retha shared that
option #1 on the financial study is doable, option #2 and 3 she feels we could
not do. She suggested that we continue
to look into a Fire Territory but not partner with Warsaw. We need to partner with a smaller community. Allebach asked if it was possible to get
outside of the tax levy, to make an appeal to the DLGF due to the Fire
Territory. Retha responded that the tax
appeal process has been narrowed down and currently there is legislation to
reduce the possibility of tax appeal even more.
A Fire Territory is an avenue. Lancaster
made a motion to table the issue and Lohse seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The Fire Territory public hearing is at 7:00
p.m. Monday, February 2, 2009, at the Warsaw City Hall.
Purchasing – Howie
has spoke with Jim Walmer regarding our ordinance and Walmer feels that the
ordinance needs updating to insure that there is not question on
procedure. Lancaster stated that he felt
after the meeting in December where the Council requested that any capital
equipment purchases come before the Council was enough. Can we not accomplish this requirement
without the expense of rewriting the ordinance?
Allebach responded that he felt the expectations were very clear and the
supervisors would proceed in that direction.
Allebach feels that the minimum of $2,500 might need to be raised to
$5,000. Swanson was satisfied that the
information being clearly stated in the minutes was enough for him. We need to distinguish between capital
purchases and supplies. Gooding stated
that she would prefer that it be in writing and felt that paying Walmer to update
the ordinance was the wise thing to do. Gooding
and Howie asked about the purchase of the 4 pagers on the current docket. No one was aware of the responsible
department. Retha asked what the Council
wanted changed in the ordinance and Gooding responded to have it clearly
defined what capital purchases are and the threshold of what needs to be
brought before the Council. Gooding
would also like the purchasing agent to be clearly defined. Gooding feels that $5,000 would be a good
threshold. Lohse asked if the
information could be put in a different format, like a personnel handbook. Retha informed the Council that an ordinance
would go into the Town Code book and that Resolutions are administrative
policies. Retha stated that in order to
save the Town money she writes the ordinances and Gooding responded that she
felt it was “flat out wrong”, that it was not good business. Lohse responded that if Retha drafts the
ordinances and Walmer looks them over.
The Council then accepts or rejects the ordinance. Then Retha stated that not all ordinances are
reviewed by Walmer, because you can obtain ordinances from other communities
and change them to fit our needs. Gooding
stated that she has had conversation with Walmer and there are gaps in our
ordinances. Swanson moved that Retha
write the ordinance on Purchasing and have Walmer look at the ordinance to see
if it meets the legal requirements. Lohse
seconded the motion. Swanson requested
the ordinance define capital expenditures and the threshold amount $5,000 for
small purchases. The motion was
approved.
Purchase of Steel Plowing Blades - Pete shared with the Council that our big
plows were not purchased with the slides to use steel blades on our roads. W. A. Jones has used state equipment that they
could mount on our trucks for $2,500.
This is Pete’s recommendation. We
would save on our salt because you use less salt when you remove more snow off
the road. Lancaster made a motion to
approve the purchase of the equipment from W. A. Jones. Gooding seconded and the motion passed.
Reports from Supervisors:
Pete – Street Department is doing cold patch today. Pete received a list of street lights that were out from the Police and will change bulbs in the ones he can and will call NIPSCo on the rest.
Paul – The calls for Police service in 2008 was given to the Council. We do not know what the increase was for Winona Lake, but for the whole county calls were up 12%. Howie requested a monthly report.
Dick – Howie stated he has not been receiving Dick’s report. The office will make sure those reports get to the Council. Dick will be very busy this next year with Jefferson construction. The Council was informed of Dick’s help with Town building maintenance.
Meeting was adjourned
after signing vouchers and docket.
_________________________ ___________________________
TERRY HOWIE RETHA S. HICKS
PRESIDENT CLERK-TREASURER