The Town Council of Winona Lake, Indiana met in a regular session on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 in the Town Hall at 7:00 a.m.
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Jim Lancaster, Terry Howie, Randy Swanson and Retha Hicks
ABSENT: Joy Lohse, Sue Gooding and Mitch Titus
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig Allebach, Paul Schmitt and Pete O’Connell
Opening
Howie opened the meeting with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Approval of minutes – Lancaster motioned to accept minutes, motion was seconded by Swanson. Minutes were approved as written.
December 5, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm – Holiday Festival. Brent Wilcoxson shared the event includes building gingerbread houses.
December 6, 2:00 pm - Jingle Bell Run 5K in the Park
December 5 and 6, 7:30 pm - Symphony on the Lakes at the Warsaw Performing Arts
Floor Topics: Jerry Nelson thinks “Town employees feel
entitled to the Christmas bonus. This
never shows up in the budget and no one can ever make a comment on that. He thinks this is comparable to Wall Street in
that the Council and the employees are not aware of the fact that the public is
hurting. The Wall Street guys say take
care of me, I am entitled and this is the way I am looking at this. I think if the Council wants to give the
employee’s taxpayer’s money, and that is exactly what this is taxpayer’s money,
as a bonus that there ought to be some
standards for it.” Any bonus I received
when working was based on performance.
If they receive a bonus in this type of economy, maybe the Council
should put their last check in a fund and pay the employee’s bonus from
that. This economy does not justify
bonuses. If we are not paying the
employees sufficiently, you need to look at that. We looked at what the county and everyone
else is going through and somehow in Winona Lake we just don’t go through
that. I don’t understand why we don’t
have problems and everyone else around us does.
Did the employees do something out of the ordinary to deserve this?
Lancaster responded
that Mr. Nelson needs to look at circumstance individually. I look at this weekend and KringleFest alone,
the extra time, effort and energy that was put in by Town employees. This is something that is part of our goals,
to bring in more events to Winona Lake.
I look at the dollar amount of the Christmas bonus and for the
KringleFest activity alone you are money ahead.
As a motivation to reward people for going above and beyond, it is well
worth it. This last weekend crystallizes
that we have employees that are dedicated to the goals of the Town and go well
beyond their job descriptions and salary and compensation.
Howie related that,
as a former police officer, many hours are given over and above the 40 per week;
that they are not compensated for in any way.
The bonuses are incorporated in the budget. The Council is not receiving a bonus. Nelson stated that the bonus never shows up
as a line item in the budget. If employees
are being rewarded for extra hours given at least they have a job and benefits
where some people do not. Lancaster
responded to Nelson to not assume that the Council has not looked at this in
great detail. Hicks stated that Winona
Lake is the 6th lowest tax rate in the county. Winona Lake currently has a cash balance of
$156,000 with one check run left in 2009.
We normally have $80,000 to $90,000 left in our budget at the end of the
year, which we transfer to the Rainy Day Fund; eventually the money is used for
capital expenditures and we usually pay cash for those. In the MVH fund, we have a balance of $324,000,
but have not paid for our streets that are currently being paved. We are very cost efficient and watch our
expenses.
Hicks wanted
to clearly express a comment on an issue regarding the wastewater. If the town reduces the wastewater expenses as
discussed last night, the comment was made that our taxes would go up. This is not true because we always have a
remaining cash balance in the Town Funds at year end. The additional expense to
General or MVH Fund will be absorbed; property taxes will remain at the same
level.
Resolution 2009-11-3 Christmas Bonus: Howie presented the resolution and Swanson commented that he appreciated Nelson’s argument – that it has merit to consider. He also agrees that Town employee’s go above and beyond and is in favor of and made a motion to approve the resolution. Lancaster seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
2101 Wastewater Treatment Rate: This item will be tabled until the next meeting because of discussion of retiring some debt. Hicks reported there are two bonds; the Tax Increment Finance Bond of $210,000, with interest due January 10, 2010, of $5,250. Currently the TIF fund has $197,900 and we should receive about $20,000 in December via property tax distribution. This fund would then be able to pay this loan in full. Hicks will look into the possibility of ramifications for paying it off as far as the revenue received into the fund after the payoff. The concern from the work session was if we did not have an allocation for that money, what happens. Hicks thought we could set a capital plan for those monies to give to the county and DLGF. The Town is now earning 0.5% on the money invested, but we are paying 5% interest on the bond. This would be another savings for the Town to pay these debts off. Redevelopment Committee has the responsibility to make this decision.
The other loan is the Build Indiana Fund and this is from the Island work done several years ago. The balance is $292,700 and the interest due January 1st is $5,500. 58% of this bond was for wastewater which equals $170,000. We would use the Edit Fund for the balance of the bond. Hicks would like the Council’s direction to do this. Swanson moved for Hicks to pay the Build Indiana Fund bond and Lancaster seconded. The motion was passed.
Report from
Supervisors:
Pete reported that the streets are being paved and the salt building is nearly complete. Hicks asked if they could pave Ft. Wayne St. It was decided that with dredging it was not realistic.
Paul reported that Dick Leaf came to him about the house being built on the island. There is a delivery problem with regard to the parking on Court St. The Police will be notifying the residents to limit parking on Court St. on Monday, November 30.
Jerry Nelson asked how the dredging was going and Craig reported, quite well.
Lancaster wanted to comment again on the KringleFest. It was a great event and Holly did an exceptional job. The Fire Department came out ahead financially from the breakfast.
Hicks wanted to echo Lancaster’s comments - KringleFest was a wonderful event.
Howie will be meeting with Kosciusko County Redevelopment to discuss the feasibility of a county wide redevelopment plan. Town Presidents were invited. Phase IV B of the Greenway Trail has been denied by INDOT. We will need to reapply and INDOT has encouraged us to do that.
Lancaster move to adjourn and Swanson seconded the motion.
Meeting was adjourned
_________________________ ___________________________
TERRY HOWIE RETHA S. HICKS
PRESIDENT CLERK-TREASURER