MENTONE - One dilapidated building will be coming down in Mentone, and the town council wants another eyesore to follow.
During the Mentone Town Council meeting Monday night, Councilwoman Jill Gross said the old, blue Richard Surface building, that used to be a dentist's office, is looking worse and worse. It's the first building people see when they come into Mentone.
Tim Croy, council president, agreed something needs to be done about it, but he wasn't sure what the town could do. He said the town didn't have the money. With the new year, Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross said, the town has the money.
Gross said the Surface building is worse than Ed Tridle's house.
Croy suggested another letter be sent to the Surface property owner. If the town doesn't hear anything, the town will proceed with tearing it down.
"He was suppose to mow, clean it up. He didn't even do that," Croy said.
Mentone received two offers for taking down the Herschel Linn property on Ind. 25 across from the Mentone Community Emergency Services Building. The town acquired the property in recent months.
Croy said the first bid was from Bill Morris Excavating for $4,270 and includes tearing the building down and cleaning the site up. The second bid was from Jack Kern for $2,475 to demolish it and another $1,583.70 to lay down limestone on the site. Both bids included hauling away the demolished building.
The council approved the offer from Kern. Councilman Jack Simpson said the work should be completed by May 15, which is two weeks before this year's Egg Festival.
"I will tell you what," Simpson said. "I'm shocked by both of (the bids)."
Simpson also suggested both be contacted about the Surface building.
The Mentone Police Dept. provided its annual report for 2009.
There were 615 incidents, and 196 cases. Of the arrests, 70 were adult, 14 were juvenile and 29 were felonies.
Tickets issued included 145 traffic-related and three ordinance violations. Warnings issued included 169 traffic-related and 65 ordinance violations.
Fourteen warrants were served, and the town had 34 lock outs. There were 25 crashes.
Reserve officers put in 812.25 hours, and the department had 105 training hours.
Town Marshal Jim Eads thanked town citizens, the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Dept., Warsaw Police Dept. and the FBI for their assistance with the bank robbery Feb. 18. It was a total team effort that helped apprehend the suspect so quickly, Eads said.
Croy said the town board thanks Eads and his department for their work, too.
"Just goes to show you if you mess with Mentone, you'll get a little egg on your face," Croy said.
Croy reported the town is working on getting a $1 million grant to address the stormwater flooding issues in the town. The town would not need to raise any money as matching funds for the grant.
To help the town receive the grant, Croy said they need as many letters of support as they can get.
Eric Carlin, utilities superintendent, said the more letters they can get, the better.
The $1 million grant is from the Office of Community and Rural Affairs.
In other business, the council:
n Approved to advertise for sealed bids for the Mentone Police Dept. truck and the street department 1998 dump truck. The bids are due by noon April 5, and will be opened that night.
Eads said the new police car will have decals on it. Those should be on in the next two weeks.
n Heard from Simpson that the Kosciusko Area Bus Service will be providing bus rides from Mentone to Warsaw. KABS is trying to determine what the need and want is, and bus rides may be provided daily.
n Heard from Jim Moyer that he is running for Kosciusko County Council District 2.
n Heard from Jack Fisher that he appreciated the town having an area for a community garden.
"I hope you'll do something again this year," Fisher said.
He suggested the town advertise it more to get more participation.
n Encouraged residents to fill out the Census forms and mail them back in when they arrive. Residents should receive them in the next week.
n Scheduled an executive session to discuss personnel issues at 5:30 p.m. March 11.
