The Town Council of Winona Lake, Indiana met in a
regular session on Tuesday, June 8, 2010, in the Town Hall at 6:00 p.m.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Joy Lohse, Sue Gooding and Terry Howie
ABSENT:
Randy Swanson, Jim Lancaster and Paul Schmitt
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig
Allebach, Retha Hicks, Pete O’Connell, Larry Long and Jim Walmer
Opening
Lohse opened the meeting with prayer and the Pledge of
Allegiance.
Approval of minutes – Lohse motioned to accept minutes, motion was seconded by Gooding. Minutes were approved as written.
June 11, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. - Village at Winona Arts Walk with an “Earth Art” theme
June 12, 2:30 p.m. – Plant Adventure Ultra Runs on the Mountain Bike Trails
June 20 to July 17 – Master Works Festival
June 26, 8:00 a.m. – Optimist Triathlon
July 3 – Winona Lake Great 4th of July Celebration
July 3, 8:00 a.m. – Firecracker 5K
July 3, 7:30 p.m. – MasterWorks Outdoor Pops Concert at Hillside Amphitheater
July 3, dusk (10:00 p.m.) – Fireworks
July 9, 5:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. – Village at Winona Arts Walk with a “Performing Arts” theme
July 17 – Winona Garden Walk sponsored by Master Gardeners
Floor Topics: Brent Wilcoxson gave a positive report on the Art
Fair and extended thanks to the Police officers who worked the Fair. One officer in particular was very helpful on
Sunday and Wilcoxson wanted to express his gratitude to him.
A
resident expressed concern over a fire hydrant draining into the storm drain at
12th Street and W. Canal for the last 10 days. Titus responded that the hydrant is a
pressure release valve because the water tower is down.
Jerry
Nelson brought to the attention of the Council an article in a Fort Wayne paper
about Huntertown’s conflict with the city of Fort Wayne over sewer rates. Nelson wanted the Council to be aware because
he did not want to see Winona Lake get into the same position and end up in
court.
Resolution 2010-5-1 -
Authorization to Invest Funds. The State
Board of Accounts recommends that the Council pass such a resolution every
year. Gooding made a motion to approve
this resolution and Lohse seconded the motion.
The resolution was approve unanimously.
Quarterly Groundwater
Monitoring Proposals – Allebach reported that in the 1990s we had some tanks removed at the
Street Dept. In 2008 IDEM asked us to do
some testing and we researched who did the original work and contacted that
company. Additional testing was done and
reports were sent to IDEM. IDEM has now
requested that we do 3 additional monitoring of the wells. Allebach presented a proposal to monitor the
wells for 3 additional quarters.
Allebach contacted another company and requested a proposal. ATC submitted a proposal for $6,812 and IDM’s
is for $9,100. Wilcoxson asked if there
were State monies available to pay for the monitoring and Allebach responded
no. Gooding asked if there was any
guarantee that the State would be satisfied with this additional monitoring and
Allebach responded no. Gooding wanted to
know what budget this would be paid from and Hicks responded MVH and
Wastewater. Gooding made a motion to
accept the revised quote from ATC for $6,812 and Lohse seconded. The motion passed.
Report from Town Engineer
– Long
inquired of the Council the status of the Columbia Street parking and the
parking lot south of the Wyland Ditch.
Allebach responded that the Council is going to have a working session
with the Park Board. Gooding asked that
Long be at the meeting with the Park Board.
Gooding asked if we could re-stripe the Park parking lot and gain some
spaces. Long responded that we might
gain a few, but not very many. Howie
asked about striping for other areas in town and Allebach stated he has called
three companies and cannot get anyone to respond. Long has spoken with Mike Maggart of Niblock
and they are far behind on their work because of the rain. It will be 3 or 4 weeks before they can get
to our paving.
Report from Town Attorney:
- Walmer
needs the Council to decide how they wish to precede with the Stonehenge
easement issues. He does not feel that
the golf course will budge and the concerns for the Town have to do with the
northeast corner and the pond. Mr.
Stoops would like a “spirit of cooperation” rather than a mandatory
obligation. We could use “eminent
domain” or institute action in court to have the court make a declaration
regarding the lines already running across the course being an implied
easement. Gooding felt the chances were
slim that we would need the easement.
She is more concerned about obtaining easements from some of the
residents as one of the residents in Stonehenge thought the Town should pay him
for an easement. Walmer responded that
the Town could pay for an easement and then charge the adjoining property
owners for the cost of the road.
Allebach felt that one of the residents was concerned about a tree in an
easement. The town could put in an agreement that we would replace a tree if it
was damaged. Walmer stated that the line
was installed with permission of the land owner and each subsequent owner is
bound by that agreement. Any new owner
would have to go back through grantors to complain. If this line was put in for the benefit of
the housing addition, the owner of that plot knew about it and allowed it to
happen. This establishes an implied easement. Gooding asked how to deal with this resident
that wants to be paid for the easement.
Walmer responded that the law does provide for us to buy a new easement
and then to take the expense of the project and divide it among the property
owners. A resident may not think this is
a very good trade off. Steve Snyder sent
Walmer a revised easement where Snyder changed some wording. One of the problems with the revisions is
that it would require the Town to immediately restore the land to its previous
condition. If a tree has roots cut out
because of the sewer line and it causes the tree to die, the Town does not want
to be responsible. If a new owner comes
in and puts in decorative bushes over the line, the Town is not going to want
to replace $2,000 worth of plants.
Replacing an area with grass you would expect to do, but you don’t want
to have to replace it with sod. Howie
stated if something happens to the line that we do not have an easement to, are
we going to be able to go in and take care of it even without the easement? Long stated that Snyder was given a
description of the needed easement along the side line of his property, we are
not looking for an easement across the front of his proper. Gooding asked Walmer if he could tie up the
last three residence easements. She
feels the golf course easement over to hole 16 is less of an issue. The easements are ready, but Marshall has an
issue with the language. Gooding asked
Craig to get signatures on the easements by the next meeting. Walmer felt that Marshall should meet with
his attorney so he can understand what could happen. Howie stated that if the line breaks in the
middle of his yard, then the Town would have to come in and repair it no matter
what. Long responded that we would not
have to do that because the line is not ours.
If we take the line over that would be a different matter. Walmer does not want the Stonehenge agreement
to reflect that the Town is taking over any of the storm drainage lines that
the Town knows nothing about as we did not lay them out. The Town needs the access to storm drains because
of the streets. Long stated that they
created a map that shows the lines that are critical to the street project,
there are other drainage lines on the golf course that are not our
concern.
Reports from Supervisors:
O’Connell – the street sweeper has been
out about every day. He has received
calls about the tree and sidewalk programs.
Gooding asked about areas that are adjacent to Town property in regards to
the sidewalk program. Allebach responded
that we would be responsible for some areas and would have to pay 100% of those
cost. Gooding was thinking about the
area on Chestnut close to the Street Department. Allebach will add that area to the list.
Titus – asked Allebach about paving
at the Fire Station. Allebach responded
that he was requesting a quote on the Fire Station and Heritage Park. Titus shared with the council that there is
one catch basin that has sunk and another area that is sinking and needs
repair. Allebach stated that we do not
know if there is a line problem or not.
O’Connell responded that he would have the line filmed this week. Titus reported their first house fire of the
year.
Howie - asked about the work at
Jefferson School today, it looked like the workers were cutting conduit for a
street light. O’Connell will check it to
it.
Lohse – shared that the newsletter
looked really good and Allebach is in the process of putting it on our
website. She asked about the round-about
and Allebach responded that the meeting was postponed until July. Lohse also shared that at the last CVB
meeting it was stated that the lakes are the reason tourists come to our area
and brought up about the boat rentals.
She asked about further promotions we might do. Allebach responded that Jack Hicks has been in
the Park on the weekends renting equipment.
Gooding asked Hicks to be sure to thank Jack.
Jan Nelson wanted to share with the
Council how nice the beach area is – it has improved much over a couple of
years ago. O’Connell reported that Rich
Lanye used his rotor-tiller to till the play area and the beach.
Allebach – reported that he is receiving
calls and emails on the sidewalk and trees.
He has told those people wanting trees that the cost will be approximately
$50. We are also looking at areas where
we can plant trees on Town property to come up with several to do at one
time. Allebach has added a calendar to
our web site and listed Winona Lake events.
If you click on an event a Google map is displayed for the event or for
an address, i.e. 1310 Park Ave. for the Winona Lake Park. Gooding asked if we need to consider putting
together an information packet to send to service organizations to promote our
community for events. Allebach met with
the triathlon people on Monday and there is talk about changing the run and
bike route to the route the Town has set.
Last year at this time, the Optimist had 380 registered for the
triathlon and currently there are 460 registered. They are going to cut off registration at
700. Gooding asked if Allebach could put
a link on for races. Allebach thought he
could link to the registration forms also.
Titus asked if the offices knew someone had closed 9th street
a couple of weeks ago for a wedding and Allebach responded no. Gooding asked Allebach to convey to Paul
Schmitt that the Police should not close a street just because someone asks
that they should have an event permit.
Gooding asked Allebach if he had had any responses regarding the business
directory. Allebach stated that three have
responded and he has identified 2 others.
Howie asked for an update on 250 east.
There is an issue on the funding and Allebach is waiting for Mike Fitch
to return to the office. Howie also
asked about stimulus monies and Allebach reported that MACOG has been waiting
on something from Larry Long. We may
want to ask for money on Pierceton Road.
Long responded that the monies are just for over-lay or
chip-n-seal. Long is concerned about the
area of the road where it was widened because of cracking. Howie asked how long it would take Larry to
have a design for specs and bidding and Long responded 30 days or less.
Gooding – asked Allebach if he had
started creating a project list.
Allebach keeps his own project list, but the office maintains the Action
List from Supervisor Minutes and Council Minutes. Gooding thought the Winona Harmony was really
nice and wanted to compensate Al Disbro is some way for all he does for us. Gooding made a motion to give Disbro $75.00
per photo in the Winona Harmony and Lohse seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Gooding asked Allebach how the off duty
police policy is working. Allebach
responded that the policy is working great.
Gooding asked Allebach if he found information regarding other communities
travel policies and Allebach responded that he had received a couple. Allebach thought we would wait till all
Council people were present and maybe include this topic in the Personnel
Handbook work session. Gooding stated
that the Council needed to be making a motion to approve the voucher listing
and would like that action added to the agenda.
Walmer stated “that when the meeting was started you were to approve the
voucher listing. It would certainly be
appropriate to have a motion to approve the voucher listing”. Hicks asked if the signing of the list was
not enough; does there need to be a motion?
Walmer responded that it would be good to show that Council members
approved it; the signing is just a formality.
Gooding moved that the Council add the requirement of a motion added to
the agenda for approval of voucher listing for payment and Lohse seconded. The motion was approved 3 to 0.
A
resident asked about the parking on the grassy area along Fort Wayne St. indicated
by the sign and Howie responded that was the Town’s intention.
Hicks – reported that the Park’s
summer programs started on Monday and attendance seems to be down a little
bit. The international conference was very
informative with great classes and speakers every day. Gooding asked about liens that the office is
filing and Hicks responded that this is normal activity. Walmer responded that this practice is the
most cost efficient method of collecting unpaid wastewater bills and it is
added to their property tax bill. Hicks
asked for clarification from the Council on the information requested on travel
expenses. Gooding responded that they
wanted totals, how much was business and how much was conference expenses. Howie asked if Hicks had received any
information from the State regarding percentages of increases. Hicks responded that no information has been
sent out, but she received the formulas to project revenue for 2011.
Howie – asked about 301 5th
St, has there been any further development with that property. Allebach stated that he did not receive any
information about how to contact the owner to arrange a site visit. Walmer stated that Allebach needed to contact
Stan Arnolt. Lohse wanted to thank the
Morning Optimist for the additional support that was sent for the Park
programs. Lohse was complimentary of
Holly Hummitch’s presentation to the Optimist.
Walmer stated that he thought people were amazed at the information
presented.
Gooding – moved that the Council
approve the voucher listing except for 2923, 2930, 2931, 2975, 2979 and
2980. Gooding wanted to delay payment
until the Council can look at the vouchers.
Hicks suggested that the Council take the time to look at them now. Gooding responded that she would rather
wait. Lohse asked what those claims were
pertaining to and Gooding responded that they were for some of the travel and
with some of the things going on right now; looking at our travel policy and
the (Personnel) Handbook being in kind of a flux. She wants to put that in context with the bigger
picture and with rest of the Council here.
Lohse asked if the vouchers were related to Hicks’ recent trip and
Gooding responded some of them were. The
other she thought were Allebach’s.
Gooding “wants to take a look at logs and see how we are proportioning
this”. Gooding just wants to delay them
and then when we are able to get that other information together. Howie wanted to have the full Council
present. Lohse stated the employees are
functioning within their normal realm of travel and what they have been doing
historically for their education. Lohse
wanted to clarify that when council raises questions or has comments (in this
instance about travel/education expenses), that sometimes how things are
presented can sound like there is a question of impropriety when there is no
question here. Lohse seconded; motion passed
unanimously.
Gooding
made a motion for the meeting to adjourn and Lohse seconded.
Meeting was adjourned
_________________________ ___________________________
TERRY
HOWIE RETHA S. HICKS
PRESIDENT CLERK-TREASURER