The Town Council of Winona Lake, Indiana met in a
regular session on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 in the Town Hall at 6:00 p.m.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Joy Lohse Sue Gooding
Jim
Lancaster Terry Howie
ABSENT: Randy
Swanson Retha Hicks
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig
Allebach Jim
Walmer Larry Long
Mitch Titus Pete O’Connell
Opening
Howie opened the meeting with prayer and Boy Scout
Troop 715 lead in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Approval of minutes – Lancaster motioned to accept minutes, motion was seconded by Lohse. Minutes were approved as written.
Floor Topics: Bill Firstenberger, 2501 Westwood Road, was present
to address the drainage issue in Country Garden Estates. Bill asked the Town to give him a review of the
Town’s position. Allebach stated that
Marvin Miller came in to request help with the drainage problem. He brought in
plat maps of the subdivision as well as covenants. This is a private property issue and it is up
to the home owners in this area. There
is no easement for the Town to address the issue. We tried to address the problem while on
private property and cut down trees which cost us some money. Due to the fact that Marvin Miller’s
documentation clearly shows that there is no easement; this is a private
property issue. Firstenberger asked if
the Town was responsible for cleaning the drains that run underneath the
streets. Allebach responded that we do
not know if legally we are responsible, but we would keep the line open to the
best of our ability because the culvert goes under the road. Pete has jetted the line twice and gets
stopped at the Firstenberger out lot.
Lohse read a portion of the subdivision covenant which states that “the
portion of ground adjoining lots 5, 6 and 7 are reserved for the purpose of a
water retention pool for the benefit of all land owners for drainage
purposes. All necessary and reasonable
expenses for the clean-out and repair of
drains into and out of said retention pool, as well as the pool itself, shall
be shared proportionately by all lot owners in the subdivision. Dean Um, 105 Peach Tree Lane, wanted to know
how long the covenant has been recorded.
Howie responded that the covenant was recorded when the subdivision was
platted and takes precedence. Gooding
asked if we had the equipment to deal with the blockage. O’Connell stated that we do not; we only have
a small sewer jet. The last time he ran
the line he was only able to go through to about Wall’s property. It is possible that someone like Weed Inc.
with their big powerful jet with a cutter on it could cut right through a
blocked line. Um asked if we had the
equipment to “see” what the problem is.
O’Connell responded that his camera was for large sewer lines. A camera would not go through blockage and
the line would have to be dry. Allebach
recommended that the homeowners get together and hire someone to look into the
problem. Lohse asked if the Town could
have Larry Long look at the issue and make a recommendation. Long stated we need to have the equipment to
follow the line through and find the blockage.
O’Connell reported that the ditch behind Marvin Miller’s home needs to be
dredged and have trees and brush cleaned out.
There may be clay tile in a portion of the drain line. Right of ways will be needed for properties
where the line goes through someone’s yard.
This could end up being a very expensive project. Dick Kemper from the county was out in
Country Garden Estates and reported there is no county ditch in the
subdivision. Therefore, there is no
ditch assessment and no funds from the county to pay for the project. Um asked if there were any others
alternatives? Larry stated that the
drainage must be underground. Joy
moved that O’Connell and Long go and look at the drainage and give the
residents a professional recommendation.
Gooding seconded. Long asked if
we had the legal right to cross private property to make this determination. Lancaster asked if there was a limit as to
how much the Town would spend in making this determination. What extent of time and money does the
Council want to put into this? Lohse
wants the Town to look at the problem and make a professional
recommendation. Long stated that you
must run a jet through to the blockage and then dig it up. Once you dig up the drain line, you must
repair it. You might find another one
and go through the same process. Larry
Long reminded the residents that when Country Garden Estates became part of
Winona Lake, they did not want to meet the Town specs on the streets therefore
agreed to keep the streets private and maintain them themselves. The Town has since paved the streets because
the Council felt it was the right thing to do, but there are no curbs and
gutters because the streets are private.
Gooding felt that it was important for the Council to help Country Garden
Estates residents, but did not know what the next step should be. Lancaster feels that everyone is sympathetic
to the plight, but is concerned about how much expense the Town incurs in a
private matter. Lohse amended her motion
that Long go to Country Garden Estates with O’Connell to make another visual
observation as to what we are up against.
Sue seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Firstenberger offered to provide written permission
to be on his property.
Cari
Walls, Peach Tree Lane, was told when she purchased their property that no one
should build on the lot Firstenberger now owns.
There is concern about the water starting to collect in yards. Howie stated he was well aware of all the
issues. O’Connell will have sandbags,
sand and shovels available on the south side of the Street Dept building.
Doug
Koher, 203 Roy Street, stated that southeast of where the County Garden Estate problem
is, there is a pond which ultimately drains into Lake John. Which way does the water flow off of Country
Garden – toward the pond or down under?
Long stated that it flows both ways, it is on the watershed. Core believes they are old orange clay tiles
as they were exposed when he moved to Southtown. Core suggested draining to the southeast, but
Long states there have been issues with Lake John already. On Roy Street next to Dirk Felger’s property
is a 20 to 25” drainage tile that goes from Lake John to his pond. Core believes that this drain is partially
blocked at the south end. He suggested
blowing this out and putting a screen over the drain. Long stated a hydrologic study on the system
Core is talking about has been done in relation to the home built on the north
side of the pond. There was an open
swale that was filled up. Long has made
some recommendations and they are going to fix it so that you will have an
emergency overflow for your pond to the north through and open ditch.
Paul Schmitt has been looking at numerous
individuals qualified to be reserve officers for the Winona Lake Police
Department. Dave Rapp is coming from the
Sherriff’s Dept as a reserve officer. He
has the experience we are looking for and will be sworn in at the next Town
Council meeting.
Wooster Road Lift station
Replacement – The lift station is undermanned, it is not large enough. O’Connell has spoken with Grace College and
we have enough space to put a larger lift station. O’Connell had communicated with Long that he wanted
a recommendation from him on this lift station.
Long recommends we find out where all the infiltration is coming from
before we spend the money on a new lift station. He stated Merrywood had a real infiltration
problem previously and we need to find out exactly where the infiltration is
coming from. Lancaster moved that we
table the issue until we get other quotes in.
Lohse seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Long is to get with O’Connell regarding a
proposal. O’Connell reported we had
another problem over the weekend with four lift stations without power and only
one pull behind generator. We could not
keep up with all four lift stations.
Pete would like to obtain two stationary generators. We could save on the money we pay Weed Inc., if
we had a couple of stationary generators.
Report from Supervisors:
Paul – Reported that the
evidence room has been fully switched to the software he purchased through a
grant. This was to organize the evidence
room and everything is bar coded and much easier to find. We also received a donation from Silveus
Insurance and Cerulean to purchase tazers.
The tazers cost about $800.00 each and every one of the officers
received training on them.
Mitch – Craig questioned Mitch about
the leak and Mitch reported he had not found anything out about it. Also, Craig wanted to know if Mitch had seen
in the last Supervisor’s Minutes that he is trying to obtain an inventory of
generators and information on future needs for the local Emergency Management
Director. If there was a disaster,
Emergency Management would know where they could obtain a generator. It is possible that Homeland Security money
might pay for generators. Craig needs
that information from every department.
Town Council
Joy reported that the Winona
Harmony will go in the mail by March 20th. Joy was approached by Dana Huffer and Vickie
Lloyd from Redeemer Lutheran Church and Tri-Kappa. They would like to” paint the Town pink” in
recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Day.
This would involve decorating with ribbons in downtown Winona Lake. The ribbons will be for sale at different
locations and whoever sponsors a ribbon can put the name of a survivor or
victim on the ribbon as a remembrance.
On April 18th they will be having an event with speakers at
the OCC. Lancaster asked that the newsletter
be posted on our website.
Craig wanted to set up a meeting
with the Stonehenge residents when all of the Council could attend. Long is waiting on information from the brick
pavers to put in his analysis. Craig
will try to schedule a meeting on Monday, April 13th at 7:00 p.m.
Meeting was adjourned
_________________________ ___________________________
TERRY
HOWIE RETHA
S. HICKS
PRESIDENT
CLERK-TREASURER