WINONA LAKE - Jerry Nelson attended the Winona Town Council meeting Tuesday asking for answers to questions he presented two weeks ago.

Nelson suggested the town was using selective enforcement regarding pier slip spaces rented by the town on "real estate owned by the town of Winona Lake."

Nelson questioned why a pier is allowed to house five catamaran sailboats on the seawall behind the Lions Club. He said the town's fine, the maximum of $2,500, should be applied for the violation.

Council president Jerry Clevenger said the town doesn't own the property where the Lions Club sits. "The pier is on the lake, not on the town-controlled canal," Clevenger said.

"So I can put up a pier behind the Lions Club?" Nelson asked.

Town coordinator Craig Allebach said the sailboats were on a catamaran structure, which isn't exactly a pier.

Town attorney Jim Walmer said the canal is what the town regulates.

"There are a number of people who would like piers on the lake. I'll gladly give up the $400 a year to have a pier on the canal," Nelson said. He owns property at 902 W. Canal and rents pier space from the town on the channel across the street. Nelson said the ordinance and the pier rental agreement both refer to Ordinance 2001-12-2 and real estate owned by the town.

Building commissioner Dick Leaf said the word "owned" has been changed to "regulated by the town."

Walmer said the town has the authority to regulate that right of way (the Lions Club property).

Nelson asked whether or not the town regulates the property. He suggested that ordinances applying to the canal should apply to the end of the unimproved street, too.

Jan Nelson asked that the council present copies of or read all materials under discussion. "There was more information about the salary ordinance in the newspaper than what we heard here. That doesn't mean I don't think you deserve it, I do, but I never heard in the meeting it included a 6 percent increase for council members," she said.

"Also, when you were discussing the boat trailer ordinance, I never heard the word alley, but that is what was printed in the ordinance.

"The horse and buggy that travels the island also causes congestion and impairs traffic."

State Rep. Dave Wolkins, who lives in Winona Lake, thanked the town for removing the two "traffic calmers."

He said he didn't even know the raised crosswalks were going in and was told there was an addendum to the contract approved June 14.

Councilman John Boal said the crosswalks were part of the discussions at one time and he hated to see them removed.

"Why did they go away? They slowed traffic down. I saw the installation as a safety issue," Boal said.

Councilman Rolly Ortega said he met with the Jefferson Parent-Teacher Organization and they were in favor of the crosswalks.

"But we heard more from people who didn't like them," he said.

Wolkins was taken to task about the state's property tax reassessment legislation, Senate Bill 1, which froze each town's tax levy at 2002 levels.

"We were penalized," Clevenger said. "From our end it was unfair."

Wolkins said that's the problem with state laws, that they apply to everyone. "Financially, everyone is hurting. "There are towns that are very responsible. There are towns that will spend every cent they can get."

Wolkins said with the new governor in office that will change, that new jobs will be available. He advised the council that with approval of public question No. 1 in the recent ballot, which removes property taxes from the state constitution, local communities can impose an option tax. "But you have to have the guts to go before the voters."

Clerk-treasurer Retha Hicks said with the removal of the inventory tax, the burden is on the residents.

Wolkins said businesses were subsidizing homeowners. The $35,000 homestead credit and inventory taxes were illegal and could have been challenged in court. He said renters, people who had a second home and farmers were hurt in the last reassessment.

"We were $135,000 below the levy. The tax rate is going to go up to replace the income tax," Hicks said. "It's the squeaky wheels that got attention."

Jan Nelson said, "Speaking of squeaky wheels," she thought the Village at Winona and Grace College were doing wonderful things but she has started feeling like a serf in a feudal system with all the rules and regulations being passed.

"They're being made because of two or three people," she said. She presented a picture of a van with a boat trailer and sailboat which was parked in front of Hudson's Art Gallery on East Canal Street Sunday night and was still there Monday.

She said that was an example of people needing 72 hours to move their boats, a time frame the council recently reduced to one hour on public streets.

"It's not a cute little place. It's a place where we live and have fun," she said.

Jan Nelson was advised that East Canal Street is a private street from Auditorium to Twelfth Street.

The board also:

• Accepted John Boal's resignation from the council. He is moving out of Ward 1 to another part of town. His last day as councilman is Nov. 30.

• Approved Brent Wilcoxson's request to mark the "Winona Interurban" a self-guided bike trail. Wilcoxson said maps are available at the Trailhouse Village Outdoor Store in the Village at Winona. The markers would be 5-inch by 5-inch aluminum signs indicating the path's route. The sign designs will be approved by the town council before installation.

• Tabled an ordinance establishing no-parking areas on College Avenue on both sides of the street from Seventh to Ninth, except Sundays from 8 a.m. to noon, and no parking on the east side of College Avenue from Ninth to 13th, except Sundays from 8 a.m. to noon. The ordinance carries a fine of $15 plus costs for each violation.

Boal spoke against the ordinance, saying there are many events at Westminster Hall, at the churches and at Mount Memorial to make so much parking away from the Grace College campus.

Fire chief Roger Gelbaugh said when cars park close to the intersection it is nearly impossible to get emergency vehicles through. He said painting the curb yellow for the required number of feet doesn't help.

Town council members are Jerry Clevenger, David Delp, Jeff Carroll, John Boal and Rolly Ortega. [[In-content Ad]]