The Town Council of Winona Lake, Indiana met in a
regular session on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 in the Town Hall at 7:00 a.m.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Joy Lohse, Sue Gooding, Terry Howie, Randy Swanson
ABSENT: Jim
Lancaster, Larry Long, Mitch Titus and Jim Walmer
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig
Allebach, Retha Hicks, Pete O’Connell, Paul Schmitt and Ed Brown
Opening
Howie opened the meeting with prayer and the Pledge of
Allegiance.
Approval of minutes – Swanson motioned to accept minutes, motion was seconded by Gooding. Minutes were approved as written.
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. to 8:00 p.m. – Village
at Winona Arts Walk
July
11, Fair Parade
July
17 – Winona Garden Walk
July
31, 7:00 a.m. – Duck and Run 5K
Run/Walk
July
31 – Duck Race
Floor Topics: A resident wanted to thank the Street Department for
their quick response during the storm Friday evening. She stated they were out immediately cleaning
up. Then on Monday the mess was
completely gone. Another resident agreed
and expressed her appreciation.
Report from Supervisors:
Schmitt – had applied for a grant
to equip the interview room with recording equipment that has been mandated by
the Supreme Court. The grant was turned
down by IN Criminal Justice Inst. because it is too large of a request. Schmitt was told he could apply again in
August. The department will be really
busy for the next three weeks with all the races and activities, but they are
prepared.
Brown – distributed copies of an
ordinance he would like the Council to consider regarding inspections done by
the Fire Department. The ordinance would
give him “more teeth” as an inspector.
He has been doing inspections for about six years and writing the same
thing up but no one ever does anything about it. Brown obtained the ordinance from
Valparaiso. The ordinance contains
information regarding inspections, authority of the Fire Department and fire
lanes. All this information is in the
State Fire Code, but it is not spelled out in the Winona Lake code. The Town has adopted the State Fire
Codes. The ordinance contains fines for
non-compliance of the code along with a requirement that both the Building
Commissioner and the Fire Inspector sign the Certificate of Occupancy.
Swanson asked what a typical violation would be. Brown responded that in sprinkler buildings
you are not allowed STORAGE ABOVE 18” ABOVE THE ceiling and fire
extinguishers being out-dated for inspection.
He wants to make the buildings safer.
The ordinance would empower the Fire Chief and the Fire Inspector to
write an ordinance violation. He would
be able to call a Police Officer to come and help him write the citation
because the ordinance would help entwine the Building Commissioner, Fire
Department and Police Department. Lohse
asked when the Fire Inspector goes through a building the first time and writes
out a violation, does he tell the builder he will be back in 30 days? Brown responded yes and after 30 days with
the new ordinance he can cite them. Swanson
asked about the section of the proposed ordinance for fireworks, if our
fireworks happening July 3 would be in compliance. Brown responded yes, with the way things
stand now because they have a permit from the State. There is no fee for this. Gooding asked what happens if someone is
given an ordinance violation and ignores it.
Brown responded that in the event it is ignored the violation is turned
over to the Town attorney and the matter would go through the courts. All the court fees would be the
responsibility of the offender. Lohse
asked if this ordinance would replace our current ordinance. There are sections that would be
replaced. There is also a section on
burning which goes along with the State law.
Howie asked the Council to look at the ordinance to see if they would
have any changes. Gooding asked Brown
what kind of training he has to become the Fire Inspector and Brown responded
he went through one week of classes. He
also does continuing education for his position.
Gooding – asked Schmitt if
residents have been approached about not using the Park parking lot for
personal parking. Schmitt has noticed
one car that is parked there all night, but has not run the plates. There is no parking along Park Ave., so the
resident would have to park behind their homes.
Howie – asked Schmitt if he had
noticed the wrecked car on Wooster Road and Schmitt talked with the owner and gave
them time to remove it. The car will be
tagged and towed if not removed. Howie
also asked Schmitt have the Officer patrolling in the evening make a list of
streetlights that are out. There is an
issue with what lights are Town lights and what lights belong to Grace College.
Swanson – confirmed the special
meeting with the Park Board on July 6th at 7:00 p.m.
Hicks – attended a Clerk-Treasurer
conference last week and sent the Council new laws that are affecting cities
and towns. One speaker, State Treasurer
Richard Murdock spoke about a new investment program CDARS, which would provide
security for the Town investments through FDIC.
She had presented our dilemma to him and he saw to it that legislation
was passed and is effective July 1.
Swanson asked what the advantage is to it and Hicks responded the
security although the interest will not be as high as a CD. Hicks also reported that she was able to
revise the annual report with the assistance of the State auditor Stan Willmert. He understood the problem with the software
and was able to correct our report.
Howie asked if Mr. Willmert was able to explain the problem and Hicks
responded that it is because we invest by total monies rather that by
fund. There are negative balance and
positive balances in our investments, the software did not allow for this. Next year the DLGF will have new software for
the annual report.
Howie – asked O’Connell if Allebach
spoke to him about curb painting being completed and O’Connell responded
yes. O’Connell reported that he had
allowed the renters of the Senior Center this last Sunday to park on the grass
since it was dry enough. There was no parking
available in the Park. Howie asked about
street sweeping and O’Connell reported that they will have everything ready for
the triathlon. Howie wondered if the
contractor at Jefferson could be asked to clean up the street at the
school. O’Connell will contact them.
Swanson – received a text from a
resident along with a picture where trees are growing out of the eave
troughs. O’Connell reported that he had
started cleaning them out yesterday, but the Parks Department has help that
will finish the work. Swanson brought up
the Times-Union article that questioned how much money the Town has. He was not able to answer that question and
thought he should know. He requested a
simple 1 or 2 page report that shows what we have in the different funds. Swanson has some opinions and recommendations
as to how the report could be improved for the Council to use. He would like to sit down with Hicks to explain
what he is thinking. Hicks stated she needs
to know what the Council is wanting. She
was sending out a report that she thought was beneficial and it was a mid-year
report. Swanson thought the information
might be needed more often. He would
like a report that reflects a 5 year history.
Hicks and Swanson will meet to work out this report. Swanson asked about the travel policy and
Howie responded that the Council would wait since they just received the
information, but they have an idea of what they want to do.
Hicks asked the Council what
course of action they were going to take regarding the travel vouchers from the
previous meeting, did the Council want to look at them? Gooding stated that looking at the claims was
no different than looking at the voucher listing. She thinks that until the Council has the
discussion regarding the travel policy, she does not feel the Council is any
closer to approving them today than they were two weeks ago. Lohse asked if the expenses were out of the
employee’s pockets and Hicks responded yes.
Lohse stated that the Council does not currently have a policy in place and
so employees have been functioning with a previously approved travel and
education budget. If the Council takes
two months to approve a travel policy will they not reimburse the employee for
these expenses? Gooding wanted to wait
until the Council had discussed the issue.
Lohse asked if there was a question as to whether they would be
reimbursed for their education and travel expenses at this point. Gooding wanted to discuss the matter further. Lohse felt that it was wrong to hold up
people’s personal money when they have continued on their current budget,
because we are changing things. She felt
this was wrong. Employees have spent
their money based on the current standards.
Swanson asked if the current total of reimbursed and these
un-reimbursed expenses are within the 2010 budget for any given
individual. Hicks responded yes. Swanson asked if we were outside of a
budgetary amount at all and Hicks responded no.
Swanson made a motion to reimburse the expenses on the table assuming
they are in accord with how the policy has run up to this date, and in accord
with Lohse’s observation. Lohse seconded
the motion and motion was approved.
Schmitt advised the Council that he has training scheduled. Gooding responded that she felt Schmitt was
fine, she just felt there were some questions we need to address regarding
travel policy. She does not remember
having a discussion specifically about that. In attending these conferences, employees are
spending tax payer’s money and we need to address that. The Council is finding out about these things
after the fact and this is disturbing to Gooding. Swanson stated that this was a good summary
of the real issue or question that will be addressed in the travel policy. Schmitt stated that with the City of Warsaw,
if an officer wants to attend training, he would fill out a request and it was
taken to the Board of Works. The BOW would approve training. Lohse asked Hicks if she knew by the end of
the year what she was considering for the following year. Hicks responded yes. Lohse stated that end of year might be a good
time to request that. Swanson expressed
that there is a need for communication from Hicks and Allebach to the Council.
Approval of Claims Docket – Gooding made a motion to approve the voucher listing
and Lohse seconded. The motion was
approved.
Lohse made a motion to
adjourn and Gooding seconded. The motion
passed.
Meeting was adjourned
_________________________ ___________________________
TERRY
HOWIE RETHA
S. HICKS
PRESIDENT CLERK-TREASURER