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BURKET – Burket Town Council scheduled a special meeting Thursday to vote on the vacant council position during.
Lena Ball resigned at June’s meeting from the town council, effective June 30.
The special meeting will be at 6 p.m. July 21.
Council President Bill Rayburn addressed an Indiana code that allows the council to appoint a replacement to the vacant position.
When someone, like Ball, who was not elected or selected as a candidate of a major political party resigns, then the responsibility to pick the replacement falls on the remaining members of the town council under Indiana code. The appointment should be made within 30 days of the vacancy at a regular or special meeting of the council.
Forms were given to Crystal Ellison, Deanna Moore and Vicki Scott for the council vacancy.
Rayburn said if anyone else was interested in the vacant position, they should contact him, Councilwoman Debra Deniston or Clerk-Treasurer Katina Webb by Wednesday, July 15 to be considered.
Rayburn said they will put something at the post office that they’re taking applications until Wednesday.
Rayburn told Ellison, Moore and Scott they didn’t have to attend the July 21 meeting and if any of them were chosen, they would be contacted afterward.
Later in the meeting, Ellison said she’d like to tell the council more about her past than what she’s written down.
She has been in Burket for probably 50 years and grew up there. She’s been in finance. She’s also been in collections. She works with the finance department with Bowen Center.
“I’ve had some pretty good jobs that have given me some pretty good opportunities,” she said.
She wants to get involved with the town to help do something good for it. Even if there’s complaints, she said she’s dealt with those in different work scenarios. She wants to offer whatever she has and she’s willing to help.
Scott said she’s probably been coming to town meetings for about 30 years or so. She said she was going through papers in her house and found a Times-Union newspaper from 2024 with an article about a Burket Town Council meeting. She said what the issues noted in the article are still the same issues today. She said she doesn’t understand it. Deniston asked for examples. One of the examples Scott gave were speed limit signs.
After some discussion between council members, Street Superintendent Brad Bibler and Scott, Rayburn said those issues are on the agenda to get done.
“We do what we can, when we can,” Rayburn said.
Another example Scott offered was junk cars. She said she’s heard excuses of why junk cars weren’t being taken care of.
Scott said she’s also seen the two women on the council get overruled by Rayburn. She said the two other council members’ voices were just as important as the council president’s.
Rayburn said he has had a tenant in a rental property without a plate. Due to that, Rayburn said he was in violation, he could not enforce that ordinance due to conflict of interest. In the meantime, he said he doesn’t want to put the town at risk by moving junk cars. He said he’s also talked to the county and they are very careful about doing that.
Ellison said one of the reasons she was there was because a letter had been sent to the county complaining her shed had to be cleaned out and everything needed to be disposed of. She was told the letter was anonymous, but because it said trash, the county had to verify it. She said she was told she was fine after pictures were sent to the county.
If people are making complaints, she said she would like to know what their complaints are, why they’re complaining and see if they’re legitimate, she said.
In other business, the board:
• Approved a quote for $650 from Greg’s Generator Service, Mentone, to service one of the generators by the Burket Fireman’s Training Center for three years. The Burket Fire Department approved another quote for the same price to service the other generator.
• Heard complaints about issues with utility poles around town.
Bibler said Frontier contacted him and will be in next week. Frontier will then contact Bibler about plans of what they will do with their utility poles.
Bibler still hasn’t heard anything from NIPSCO.
