Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
CLAYPOOL – The Claypool Town Council on Monday evening set a final date for adoption of the 2018 budget.
Estimates show the town having a 2018 budget totaling $198,878, with the majority of that money, $151,395, being spent in the General Fund.
Other funds receiving money include:
• Rainy Day Fund, $2,630
• Local Roads and Street, $14,000
• Motor Vehicle Highway, $27,353
• Cumulative Capital, $3,500.
The council will vote to adopt the 2018 budget during a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Claypool Lions Club.
In other news, the council decided not to proceed with a request that recycling bins be distributed to residents. The move would have increased every residents’ trash bill by $5 a month and the bins would have only been picked up twice a month.
Council member Liz Heiman noted that the town already has recycling bins centrally located in town that are free for residents to use.
“I don’t think we need to be raising anyone’s trash bill,” she said.
The council also approved $10,200 for crack sealing along Section Street. Gene Warner, street superintendent, said that there were 17,000 feet of cracks to seal along the entire length of the road within town limits.
Ben Sanders, the town’s new police marshal, was formally introduced to the town. He began working for Claypool in August.
Sanders, a lifelong Kosciusko County resident, had previously worked with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department as a reserve officer from 2004-13 and then as a Claypool reserve officer since 2013.
He said Claypool officers answered 43 service calls over the last month and that eight individuals were arrested.
Sanders said that he has been working with the fire chief to come up with an open burn ordinance, which was presented to the council on Monday. The ordinance is designed to regulate open burning within town limits, something both departments have received complaints about.
He also reminded the council that between Nov. 1 and April 4 there would be no parking allowed on city streets between 4 and 6 a.m. for snow plowing, per town ordinance.
The next regular meeting of the Claypool Town Council is set for 7 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Claypool Lions Club.
