Claypool Will Need Additional $100k in 2012
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jordan Fouts-
Claypool Council passed a 2012 budget of $169,145 at the Oct. 17 meeting, a figure even smaller than what the town operated on this year. It’s all the state would allow after auditing Claypool’s financial records and declaring them disorganized.
Council President Don Miller estimated Monday that the budget will leave the town $100,00 short, so they will have to apply to the state for additional appropriations after the first of the year.
The council also approved Monday a $9,769 bill for the first cleaning of one of the town wells since it was dug in 1967. Peerless-Midwest Inc. was asked to clean the number two well Oct. 11-14 after the town’s last report to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management showed a level of arsenic dangerously close to the maximum allowable limit before treatment is required.
Water Utility Superintendent Gene Warner noted that Northern Indiana is known to have higher levels of arsenic than the rest of the state. He said the cleaning was meant to reduce arsenic levels by clearing out iron, which attracts the poisonous metal.
He said tests after the cleaning showed a “considerably lower” level of arsenic than the town’s last quarterly report to IDEM.
Prompted by questions from several residents, town officials also tried to clear up the issue of whether or not Claypool actually has voting districts.
The council established three districts in 2002, but Miller and town attorney Mike Reed said Kosciusko County Clerk Jason McSherry called them less than a week before the election saying he had no record of the ordinance establishing districts.
Paul Berkey, who lost his bid for clerk-treasurer earlier this month, said it seemed “suspicious” and asked whether it was “appropriate.”
Town officials concluded that the clerical error didn’t seem to have affected the election since, while candidates file by district, they are voted on townwide. Miller said the last election was done the same way, and the error wasn’t caught because no elections have been contested.
He remarked that it was unfortunate, since residents “were voting on the assumption that they were voting for people to represent their district.”
Miller added that the county clerk questioned having districts in a town the size of Claypool – 431 residents as of the 2010 census – and he agrees.
“I for one think it’s kind of ridiculous,” he said. “There may be some merit to it, but for a town of this size, it’s impractical.”
Clerk-Treasurer Arlene Leiter made a point after the meeting to state that she was not clerk in 2002.
Miller later reported, in answer to another resident’s question, that demolition and restoration of the Ind. 15 rail road overpass at West CR 700S is set to begin Feb. 15. He said contractor Phend and Brown will hold public input meetings sometime after its Dec. 7 preconstruction meeting with the state.
He expressed confidence that an emergency access road will be opened during construction.
“They won’t shut 700 down without making an access road first, otherwise they’ll be hearing from us,” he remarked.[[In-content Ad]]
Claypool Council passed a 2012 budget of $169,145 at the Oct. 17 meeting, a figure even smaller than what the town operated on this year. It’s all the state would allow after auditing Claypool’s financial records and declaring them disorganized.
Council President Don Miller estimated Monday that the budget will leave the town $100,00 short, so they will have to apply to the state for additional appropriations after the first of the year.
The council also approved Monday a $9,769 bill for the first cleaning of one of the town wells since it was dug in 1967. Peerless-Midwest Inc. was asked to clean the number two well Oct. 11-14 after the town’s last report to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management showed a level of arsenic dangerously close to the maximum allowable limit before treatment is required.
Water Utility Superintendent Gene Warner noted that Northern Indiana is known to have higher levels of arsenic than the rest of the state. He said the cleaning was meant to reduce arsenic levels by clearing out iron, which attracts the poisonous metal.
He said tests after the cleaning showed a “considerably lower” level of arsenic than the town’s last quarterly report to IDEM.
Prompted by questions from several residents, town officials also tried to clear up the issue of whether or not Claypool actually has voting districts.
The council established three districts in 2002, but Miller and town attorney Mike Reed said Kosciusko County Clerk Jason McSherry called them less than a week before the election saying he had no record of the ordinance establishing districts.
Paul Berkey, who lost his bid for clerk-treasurer earlier this month, said it seemed “suspicious” and asked whether it was “appropriate.”
Town officials concluded that the clerical error didn’t seem to have affected the election since, while candidates file by district, they are voted on townwide. Miller said the last election was done the same way, and the error wasn’t caught because no elections have been contested.
He remarked that it was unfortunate, since residents “were voting on the assumption that they were voting for people to represent their district.”
Miller added that the county clerk questioned having districts in a town the size of Claypool – 431 residents as of the 2010 census – and he agrees.
“I for one think it’s kind of ridiculous,” he said. “There may be some merit to it, but for a town of this size, it’s impractical.”
Clerk-Treasurer Arlene Leiter made a point after the meeting to state that she was not clerk in 2002.
Miller later reported, in answer to another resident’s question, that demolition and restoration of the Ind. 15 rail road overpass at West CR 700S is set to begin Feb. 15. He said contractor Phend and Brown will hold public input meetings sometime after its Dec. 7 preconstruction meeting with the state.
He expressed confidence that an emergency access road will be opened during construction.
“They won’t shut 700 down without making an access road first, otherwise they’ll be hearing from us,” he remarked.[[In-content Ad]]
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