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MENTONE - Republicans Ed Rock and Mark Hughes voted Monday to report a vacancy on the Mentone Town Council.
Rock said there is evidence that councilman Michael Diemer, a Democrat, no longer lives within the town's limits. According to Rock, Deimer has not attended the last two council meetings.
By law, council members must live within the limits of the town they serve.
The council will report the vacancy to the Kosciusko County Clerk within five days. Steve Haines, chairman for the Democratic Party in Kosciusko County, said he will arrange a Democratic Party Caucus to fill the spot on the council.
In other business:
• Robert Murphy, administrator of funds for Mentone's Bell Memorial Library project, submitted a request for payment to Infusion Inc. for work on the library's computer network and a change order, as the library will supply its own window blinds, reducing costs by approximately $3,000. Both requests were accepted by the council.
Lisa Aquilo, director of the day care program at the new Bell Memorial Library, gave a report of the program's progress. "All we're waiting for is inspections before we get licensed. I think things are going very well," Aquilo said. She said she would like to open the dacare for the first or second week of August.
• The council discussed moving a dumpster located near the new library to allow for a fence to be constructed for the library's day care program.
• The council accepted a motion for the town to mow some unmaintained properties. Rock said, "From the standpoint of West Nile and everything else that is available these days, I think we have to go ahead with the option to mow the properties."
• Rock announced his wish to establish a fire accumulation fund account for Mentone. "We're working with a 30-year-old pumper, and anything new we get won't fit in the building. They just make them bigger now, so we've got kind of a catch-22 we've got to deal with," he said.
