SYRACUSE - Syracuse police personnel will now be allowed to take home their police cars and use them when off-duty after the passage of a take-home policy ordinance by the town council Tuesday night.
The police cars can be taken within 30 miles of the town limits of Syracuse, as long as they remain in the state of Indiana.
An ordinance to allow pollinator gardens to exist under certain circumstances was tabled at the council meeting.
According to Clerk-Treasurer Virginia Cazier, a business at the tech industrial park has such a garden, which environmentally helps the bee and butterfly populations, but Cazier said Councilman Larry Siegel was against amending the town ordinance to allow such a garden to exist. He said allowing the wildflowers to grow includes weeds and what if someone in town wanted to allow their grass and weeds to grow and call it a pollinator garden.
The amendment to the ordinance dealing with rank weeds and vegetation would have excluded properties such as:
1. Land cultivated for gross profit in a commercial, agricultural or horticultural zone; a natural or developed forest, which does not create a health or safety hazard.
2. Land cultivated by a business entity within a designated industrial or technology park designed for purposes of planting and utilizing natural and native grasses on its real estate, and/or a pollinator garden designed to enhance the natural environment. Should such a business entity maintain any such land, the business entity shall provide the town of Syracuse with evidence of the effects that the maintenance of such land in that condition will have on the community and environment.
Due to Siegel’s concerns, the matter was tabled.
Doug Schrock received approval from the council to go ahead and pave an alley at his expense between Hiawatha and North Shore drives, despite some protests from neighbors. The town will maintain ownership of the alley. A sign will be placed stating “no throughfare.”
In other business:
• The council approved a request from Turkey Creek Fire Chief Mickey Scott to spend the department’s 25% for the cost of the training tower behind station 2 at a cost of $106,755.
• The council approved the fire budget for 2025 at $2,741,055 and approved the equipment budget of $885,000.
• Scott thanked the anonymous donor of $28,750 for masks for the fire department.
• Councilman Bill Musser brought up changing the meeting time to daytime again and, according to Cazier, because of Siegel’s objections, there will be no change.
• The Family Camp out sponsored by the Syracuse Parks & Recreation Department will be Sept. 6-7 at Lakeside Park. The cost is $5 per person and families must supply their own tents. Pre-registration is required by calling 574-457-3440.
The fall festival is planned for Oct. 5.