The Town Council of Winona Lake, Indiana met in a regular session on Tuesday, February 24, 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: Mitch Titus, Paul Schmitt, Pete O’Connell
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig Allebach Jim Walmer
Opening
Town Council President Howie opened the meeting with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Approval of minutes – Lancaster made a motioned to accept the minutes of February 10, 2009. The motion was seconded by Lohse. Minutes were approved as written.
March 12 to 14 – NCCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship at Grace College
March 7, 14, 21 and 28 - Village at Winona Chocolate March
April 25 10:00 to Noon– Town clean up
Floor Topics: Brent
Wilcoxson spoke with Dick Kemper regarding clean up of large debris on Cherry
Creek. Dick Kemper wondered if the Town
could clean it up. DNR would not have to
grant permission because it is a county ditch.
Lancaster wondered if the cycling club could clean up the trails and
creek bed in conjunction with our Town clean up. Craig will coordinate.
Resolution 2009-2-2 Winona Lake Reserve Appointment for Dathan L. Reed. Reed was sworn in at the February 10, 2009
Council meeting, but the resolution was not available. Lohse made a motion to approve the resolution
and Swanson seconded the motion. The
resolution passed unanimously.
250 East Change Order #11 – Gary from Bonar Group stated that the change order is work that has
already been performed to stabilize the area that is still settling up by the
railroad tracks. Stabilization was done
to prevent movement of the road. There
is now a “slumping” motion at the ditch causing the tearing in the middle of
the road and the curbs tearing off. This
work was done on the east side of the road and the majority of the settling is
on the west side where this work wasn’t done.
Bonar is still looking for answers to solve this problem. Lancaster asked if this money was spent to
stabilize the road and the diagnostics to figure out what was wrong. Gary replied that it had to do with the
process during construction and achieving a certain settlement rate acceptable
to INDOT. This is work done during July
and August in 2008 and the Town’s responsibility is 20%. Bonar has a plan and is working toward a
permit from INDOT. Swanson asked if
there was money left for this project.
Retha stated that there was. Gooding
asked if the problems would ever end.
Gary responded that they were trying to end the long standing issue with
the road. Lancaster asked when the
Town’s responsibility ends with this road (this section is County road). Craig Allebach responded our responsibility
ends when the project is closed. We
could go back to the County and ask for additional funds, but Craig wants to
wait until the project is complete.
Retha stated that the money from the County was invested and we did earn
interest on it. Retha thought there was
about $120,000. Lohse moved to approve
Change Order #11 and Gooding seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.\
Reports from Council:
Lohse received
an email from Bob McCormick as a follow up from the February 10 presentation. He offered several dates to meet with
interested persons regarding natural resource protection. We could arrange for Bob to come April 14th
to meet with the Plan Commission and Larry Long at 4:30 p.m. Lancaster suggested we reach out to the
Builders Association. County officials
may be interested in being present. Craig
will contact Dick McCormick and maybe move the meeting to 4:00 p.m. Lohse also wanted to make sure April 24 from 10:00
to Noon for the clean-up was a good date for everyone. The lake level will be raised starting May
1. Lohse felt that the residents were
being cautious in their use of fertilizer and that the weed situation was
better.
Swanson wanted
clarification regarding resolutions written by Retha, but not reviewed by Jim Walmer. He wanted to be sure the issue was clear as
to when legal counsel is needed. Retha
stated that resolutions are in-house guidance.
Ordinances become part of the Town Code.
Retha wrote the purchasing ordinance and then sent it to Walmer. Walmer then sent it out to the Council. The purchasing ordinance is an in-house
policy and there is no public legal liability.
Lancaster feels that if the council knows the authorship of an ordinance
and is comfortable in reviewing and signing the ordinance that the issue comes
back to the Council and their comfort level.
Jim Walmer stated that it is never what you know that is a problem; it
is what you don’t know. As far as the
purchasing ordinance, it needed to be in compliance with the State. Any ordinance needs to make sense to you. Retha will develop a draft and send it to Jim
Walmer on every ordinance and any resolution she is not comfortable with.
Lancaster asked about dredging the canal. Craig responded that it would be late this summer. The window for the dredging was July or August and to be completed by the end of the year. Craig suggested that we put information regarding the dredging right on the pier agreements and also to check with DNR to see if there is something we can do in the spring, especially on the south end.
Lancaster also wanted to set a date for the Stonehenge residents for the forum to occur; to give options on the construction of the streets. March 24 at 6:00 p.m., was suggested as a date to work towards to have the information together.
Allebach is working with Steve Grill on the Billy Sunday Museum and trying to put together a grant for the Convention and Visitors Bureau. We want to integrate some of the things the park wants to do like purchase equipment. We should easily meet the financial requirement of $75,000 minimum with grant match of $25,000. Gooding would like to see the process Craig goes through for the grant. Craig has been receiving information regarding the Stimulus Package. The biggest problem with all the money being let out is that the projects have to be “shovel ready.” Nothing the town has in the works in close. Probably the closest would be the Stonehenge Project. Craig state that he was had entered the town’s information in the database that Ball State is administering. Craig will be attending some seminars about the stimulus package in the next week and maybe he will get more information.
Hicks presented a monthly Wastewater Delinquent notice financial study. Increase in labor costs and supplies would be around $3,900. The software would be $600 with an approximate $720 in training costs. Gooding thought the staff could absorb the responsibility without an increase in time. Retha stated that they could not; they are working to the maximum now. Howie thought it could be accomplished at the time of the payment; maybe an extra five minutes per account. Retha mentioned that would be very confusing to the customer not to determine the exact amount of delinquency. The utility clerk would need to look at their payment history on the computer to determine if there was a previous delinquent balance before sending any notice to the customer. A compromise was suggested that customers be notified on a quarterly basis. The issue was tabled.
Meeting was adjourned
_________________________ ___________________________
TERRY HOWIE RETHA S. HICKS
PRESIDENT CLERK-TREASURER