The Town Council of Winona Lake, Indiana met in a
regular session on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 in the Town Hall at 7:00 am
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Joy Lohse, Sue Gooding, Jim Lancaster, Terry Howie and Randy
Swanson
ABSENT: Retha
Hicks and Mitch Titus
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig
Allebach, Pete O’Connell and Paul Schmitt
Opening
Lancaster opened the meeting with prayer and the
Pledge of Allegiance.
Approval of minutes –Lohse motioned to accept minutes, motion was seconded by Lancaster. Minutes were approved as written.
October 31, 5:30pm to 7:30pm – Trick or Treat
November 20, 6:30pm – Winona Lake Community Dinner at Senior Center
November 21 – KringleFest at Rodeheaver Auditorium - Lohse shared there will be a breakfast with Santa at 8:00am prepared by the Winona Lake Fire Dept at the Senior Center. From 8:45am to 11:00am children under 10 will be admitted free. Everyone else is $5.00. Santa will then have a march to Rodeheaver, and he will be there from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Photos will be taken with Santa without charge. From 10:00am to 2:00pm there will be a Reindeer Express Ride. There will be live reindeer and miniature ponies. From 10:00am to 1:00pm there will be entertainment with live singing and dancers performing. Crafts will be offered in Santa’s workshop and storytelling. There will be a Children’s Gift Mart including items from the Village. A cookie and coffee station will be available. We have received $2,200 in donations thus far from our community. The committee might need the Town to cover advertising cost from the Publicity Committee, under the Parks Dept. The event will also be advertised on the web site. Lancaster brought up that Turkey Lurkey is to be that same Saturday and they will use the greenway for their run. Gooding shared that she received a letter in the mail regarding the Festival of Trees returning next year.
Floor Topics: Michael Skipper organizes the Lake City Marathon and
wondered if the Council had any issues or input for him. The race next year is schedule on 9-11 and
Mr. Skipper wondered if the Town had any plans to commemorate that day. He is thinking about organizing a Freedom
Festival. He believes they could have up
to 300 runners. One-third of their
runners qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Their website is www.lakecitymarathon.info
Jerry
Nelson asked about the dredging on the canal.
Allebach responded that we anticipate around November 1, as soon as the
lake level drops, the work will begin.
We will begin on the south end.
We are contacting pier/boat owners to have the last of those
removed. The seawall is pretty unstable
on the west side of the south end, so we will primarily be working on the east
side. As the work moves north we can
work off of the west side. As soon as
the lake goes down 12 or 15 inches they should start. There is a possibility they could put their
rig right in the canal in order to have the reach. Mr. Nelson asked about an ending date. Allebach stated it would be 45 to 60 days.
Resolution 2009-10-2 Authorizing Investment of Funds – Lancaster asked if this is a change of date, we have had the resolution in the past. Howie responded to the affirmative. Lancaster moved to approve the resolution and Swanson seconded. The motion passed.
Tree City – Lohse referred to the packets the Council received in September citing what trees do for our environment. To be a tree city we need to: create a tree board or department, a tree ordinance, a community forestry budget with at least a $2 per capita, an Arbor Day observation and proclamation. If there is a concern regarding the expense we can apply city worker’s salary or a percent of tree care maintenance. The tree care expenses could include purchasing trees, watering, fertilizing, and branch removal. Allebach spoke with the Town of Syracuse and they currently budget $20,000 to $25,000 a year. They have been a tree city since about 2000. Our cost would be about $8,000. Allebach just learned that we could include leaf and brush pick-up in our expenses. Syracuse has a volunteer forester that Allebach is expecting a return call. He has also made other inquiries to find a forester. The Tree Board in Syracuse is made up of department heads. The forester is the only component not firmed up. We have a draft of an ordinance based on the Syracuse one. Gooding asked for the draft to be sent to Jim Walmer. Syracuse has purchased trees, but also had trees donated. Including donated trees from NIPSCo. Howie recommended that Allebach see if the Soil and Water Conservation would donate trees. Lohse asked for a motion from the Council to proceed with working toward becoming a tree city. Gooding motion for the Town to proceed becoming a tree city and Lancaster seconded. The motion was approved unanimously.
250East Change Order and Supplement Agreement – Gary Randall from Bonar explained this was a change the Council had discussed in a previous meeting. It is to split up the work in two different phases. The underground work will be done now for $111,301.52. They will monitor the road over the winter and make sure the settling has subsided and the second phase will be to come back in the spring and do the top work and dress up the area. They have also submitted a supplemental agreement for the additional construction and inspection that goes along with the work. Allebach asked how everything looked in that area. Randall responded that the outside edges were causing the problem; the road has not moved any with the changes that were made. The pipe had continued to deform which has caused settling and cracking. Now that it is filled, all of that should subside. Allebach is hoping that if the settling has subsided, he would like Dennis, from the County Highway Dept. to change his mind about removing the curbs. Lancaster asked if that wasn’t the cause of our problems. Randall explained that the road is pulling out from the pipe sides. The road pulls away and causes the deformity of the pipe. The curbs are not moving down, they are pulling out. This has subsided for now. The root cause is the peat bog underneath. The road is floating and the pipe is not. Because the County is doing the maintenance Dennis wants the curb and gutter removed. Curb removal is $90 per square meter. Randall will email the exact cost to remove the curbs to Allebach. Gooding suggested that we appeal to Dennis on a financial level - the cost of having the curb and guttering removed.
Swanson asked what actual work was done for this change order. Randall responded that basically the pipe and any inlets were filled with expandable mortar. Swanson asked if the engineers made a misjudgment or is it an acceptable approach to unstable soil conditions. Randall responded that is was an acceptable design for the area. If we did not have the pipe we would not have this issue, but the pipe should not have been an issue. Gooding made a motion to approve the change order and Lohse seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Salt Storage Building – O’Connell shared that Larry Long met with both the companies that submitted quotes as follows: Tekton $42,000 and Winona Restoration LLC $31,736. Long’s recommendation is to go with Winona Restoration LLC. Gooding asked when the work would begin and are we too late to participate in the early buy for the salt? O’Connell responded we would start right away on the building. Lohse asked if this was in this year’s budget and O’Connell respond yes, because we saved more than $40,000 with the leaf machine. Howie asked where the building would be placed and O’Connell responded: right next to the Quonset hut. Drainage issues and accessibility for semis were all looked at. Both builders would be able to start the project quickly. Gooding questioned the 30% price difference. O’Connell responded that Winona Restoration LLC is a builder and Tekton subcontracts the work. Howie questioned the difference on the electric; Tekton quoted 100 amp service and Winona Restoration LLC states electric to be provided by the Town. Gooding asked O’Connell to have Tekton adjust their bid, as the Street Department will be doing the electric work. Swanson asked about rebar in the floor. O’Connell explained that we do not want rebar because the building is for salt storage and the rebar will rust. The quotes do not match the specs given by Larry Long. Howie also noticed the difference in the gauge of the metal; Tekton was 26 gauge and Winona Restoration LLC was 29 gauge. Lohse expressed that she did not think it was the Town’s responsibility to ask the contractor to follow the spec sheet prepared by the Town engineer. Gooding did not know how you could make a decision with so many differences on the bids. She did not want to sign the quote when it does not comply with our specs. Gooding asked Allebach to take the bids back to Larry Long for his opinion. Swanson moved to approve the bid from Winona Restoration LLC subject to Long’s approval of the gauge of the metal, electric and rebar issues. Lohse seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Gooding expressed pleasure over the striping in Southtown for the Greenway.
Allebach shared that he and Lohse have been meeting with the web designer and had a template up to show the Council. There would be a seasonal theme with scrolling pictures of issues in the community on the home page. Howie asked about advertising on our web site to provide income to the Town.
Lohse motioned that the meeting adjourn and Gooding seconded. The motion passed
Meeting was adjourned
______________________ ___________________________
TERRY
HOWIE RETHA
S. HICKS
PRESIDENT CLERK-TREASURER