Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH MANCHESTER - Boy Scouts sitting in on the North Manchester Town Council meeting Wednesday evening witnessed one of the shortest meetings of the year.
With a second December meeting coming up in two weeks, council members and department heads kept the information concise.
The council approved the third readings of two traffic ordinances.
The first, General Ordinance No. 3, 2004, supplements the existing public health and safety and traffic ordinances. The ordinance adds penalties for junk cars, sets guidelines for skateboard violations and raises the fee for copies of accident reports to the maximum amount allowed by law.
The second, General Ordinance No. 4, 2004, creates an "Ordinance Enforcement Expense Fund" within the budget of the town. This fund will hold and disburse all money collected for violations of the abandoned and junk vehicle ordinances. Five dollars from each parking violation fine will also go in the fund, which will be used to pay expenses incurred while enforcing town ordinances, such as towing junk cars.
The town council also discussed the roof repair project at The Firehouse. There is water standing in the building, said council member Laura Rager. She asked the other council members if there is any way the roof project can start as soon as possible.
Members Christopher Garber and Stan Escott agreed that something needs to be done with the building, but asked if there was a way to improve the structure to avoid problems int he future.
"If we are looking at spending money, maybe it would not hurt to get an engineer up there one more time to take a look at it," said council president Dan Rinearson. Rinearson said he would talk to some people and see what he can find out before the Dec. 15 meeting.
"(The Firehouse) is such an asset to our community, I don't think we treat it like we should," said Escott.
Money is budgeted to make repairs to the building in 2005.
In other business, the town council:
• Heard that the final round of leaf pickup ended Monday. The town picked up 213 loads of leaves this year, compared with 176 in 2003.
• Heard the first reading of the 2005 salary ordinances. The second and third readings will take place at the Dec. 15 meeting.
• Approved claims of $261,797.74.
