CLAYPOOL – Six men and women were named to the revived Claypool Park Board Monday.
Council President Niki Miller appointed Clerk-Treasurer Miccah Shepherd to the park board along with residents Dave Morgan, Leah Chew and Paul Berkey. Miller is on the board as a non-voting member, as is resident Suzie Bloom.
Each person named to the board had expressed an interest in joining, though there was a little discussion Monday over who, besides Miller, wouldn’t mind having a non-voting position.
Miller served on the previous park board before it was disbanded, and Shepherd had suggested the reformation of the park board in February.
The town must have a board in order to apply for grants for planned projects such as a park on ground west of the municipal building.
Also Monday, Miller asked Town Superintendent Gene Warner to get other quotes on a new industrial mosquito sprayer, saying the $8,145 he quoted last month for a Clarke model sounded too expensive.
The town also will apply for a Center for Disease Control and Prevention grant, and see if tax increment finance funds can be used toward the purchase.
Warner noted the town’s sprayer is dead and is too outdated to find replacement parts for, and expressed doubt that Claypool could get a new sprayer before mosquito season. Miller insisted he try to find something cheaper.
“If everybody starts calling about the mosquitoes, tell them how much a mosquito sprayer costs,” she said.
The council also tabled action on a contract renewal with KC Online, a Winona Lake-based Internet service provider. KC Online has been renting space on top of the town water tower for broadband services for six years, but council members objected to its terms for renewal: an exclusive, five-year contract.
Members expressed an interest in rewriting the contract with a shorter length and no exclusivity, as well as raising the $100 a month charge.
Earlier in the meeting, the board voted to begin holding meetings in the Claypool Lions Club building, 201 E. Calhoun St., because of complaints last month over the size of the meeting room in the municipal building. The first meeting in the new location is June 18.
