LEESBURG – The Leesburg Town Council Monday agreed to vacate an alley near the property of the new Freedom Oil station, as well as approve sidewalk repairs and discuss a sidewalk repair program.
The council voted unanimously to approve the vacation of an alley between the current Freedom Oil gas station and the old Farmer’s State Bank.
Freedom Oil owner Greg Cobb said he was excited to move on with his plans for a new Freedom Oil gas station. Cobb is in the works to close on the Farmer’s State Bank property, so that he can start the building process as soon as possible.
“We plan to close on the bank by the end of the month,” Cobb said. “We want to get all of our permits in order by the end of February so that in March we can be sitting twiddling our thumbs waiting for the ground to thaw.
“Once the ground thaws we are shooting for 90 days on the project,” Cobb said.
Not only will the new gas station be larger and serve the community to a greater capacity, it will offer food as well.
“We hope to put a Noble Roman’s in there,” Cobb said. “I think it would help out the area as well.”
Councilman Larry Ritchie approved the request and was more than happy to help in the process.
“I talked to the property owners to the east of the location. I think it’s a great opportunity for the town of Leesburg. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for investing in our town,” Ritchie said.
In addition to the approval of the alley vacation, the council approved sidewalk repairs throughout the town. The two locations that are to be repaired are the sidewalk near the First United Methodist Parking lot and the sidewalk in the 200 block of East Prairie Street.
Town Street Commissioner Brandon Queen received a quote from Butt and Timmons for the amount of $2,400.
The council quickly approved the request and moved on with business.
At last month’s meeting, Council President Tom Moore asked fellow councilman Doug Jones to look into the sidewalk repair policies of surrounding cities and towns and report back to the council. Jones informed the council that he spoke with Pierceton, North Webster, Milford and Warsaw and found out that they all have different policies pertaining to sidewalk repair.
“Some have construction companies do it for them,” Jones said. “Some have the street department do it for them.”
The one thing that was constant was that each municipality paid for the materials to fix the sidewalks.
“Any policy that we bring up will have to be our own,” Jones said. “My recommendation from my research is the construction basis is not what I want to be a part of. We will pay up to a limit on the 66 feet per lot. When the money is gone from the budget, then the program is done for the year.”
“This is an assistance program with the cost of concrete, anything above and beyond that is the homeowner’s responsibility,” Jones said. “We will provide the materials, they provide the labor.”
Moore said that he would like to have the policy in place after the first of the year.
In other business, Queen informed the council during reports from department heads that he had to get his Ford truck fixed. Queen told the council that there was a problem with a fuel injector and a clogged fuel filter.
Additionally, Queen said that he will continue to do leaf pick up as long as the weather permits him to.
Sewer and sanitary manager Derek Tenney was not available to present to the council. Jan Carter gave Tenney’s report for him.
Carter informed the council that two grinder pumps were repaired last month and that the inventory of parts is back to normal. Additionally, Carter said that the lift station would be cleaned later this week.
The council reminded the community that there is no parking on town streets between the hours of 3 and 5 a.m. and there is no fire burning at any time.
The next meeting of the Leesburg Town Council is Dec. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the town hall.
