MENTONE - A lawsuit, the wastewater treatment plant and school traffic all were topics discussed at the Mentone Town Council meeting Monday night.
According to town attorney Larry Beeson, Ed Tridle's attorney has filed an amended complaint with the courts so the town has additional time to respond to the lawsuit. Beeson said he started working on the town's response Monday.At the Oct. 5 meeting, Beeson reported Tridle retained an attorney and is filing suit against the town.
After several years of attempting to get Tridle to clean up the property, the council signed an order in September that the building at 408 W. Monroe St., belonging to Eddie Tridle, Lorna Kline and Kathy Kinney, is unsafe and was to be demolished by Sept. 30. The property still is not demolished.
Councilman Jack Simpson asked Monday what the town was going to do about rocks Tridle has put on the property for fencing. Tim Croy, council president, said Tridle says he's going to move them, but then doesn't.
Town Marshal Jim Eads said he had a lengthy conversation with Tridle. Eads told Tridle to move the rocks, but Tridle said he wasn't going to move them as he is protecting his property. Eads told Tridle the rocks are in the right of way, but Tridle disputed that.
The rocks are in Kline's and Kinney's yards, not Tridle's, but Tridle put them there, Croy said. He suggested they go after the property owners to move the rocks. After Beeson provides a notice to Kline and Kinney, Croy said they should have 30 days to comply.
Beeson said he will tell them the rocks need to be moved prior to the next board meeting, which is Dec. 7. If they're not moved by then, the council will discuss further action.
Beginning Monday, Mentone Elementary School made changes to its dismissal process. Eads said Principal Katie Miller asked him about them three weeks ago, and he told Miller that she needed to talk to the street department and town council about the changes. No contact was made.
With the dismissal changes, the school is closing off Jackson Street between Yale and Princeton streets.
The changes went well and were organized unless you were one of the parents in line, Eads said. "But from our end, it looked good. It was a mess before," Eads said.
Croy said it would have been nice if Mentone Elementary had come to the town board to tell what they were doing before they did it. However, he said the board did not have a problem with it for now. If there are problems later, Croy said the town council can discuss it then.
Additional engineering work for the wastewater treatment plant could cost the town an unexpected $29,661.
Michael R. Strang, Bonar Group, Valparaiso, provided an update to the council on the plant's progress Monday.
Strang said last spring the compliance plans were changed. Those need to be in the hands of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management by Dec. 31. Bonar Group is about finished with the original scope of the plans. Modifications had to be made to the work, and Bonar Group will be asking for additional money to pay for them.
The town is applying for a $600,000 grant for the plant, but has not heard whether or not they will receive it. If the town doesn't get the grant, Strang said they will have to ask IDEM to push off the completion dates. If they find out the town doesn't get the grant, Strang said he will come back to the Dec. 7 meeting and see what the town wants to do next.
Strang said the additional $29,661 is to finish the design. He reminded the council that the town has to have something to IDEM by year's end. If the town waits to approve the additional money, Bonar Group may not have enough time to design the plant modifications.
Simpson said the council was unaware of the additional costs. He said he didn't want to pay it until they found out whether or not they are getting the grant.
"That's the thing," said Croy. "Where do we come up with the money?"
If the town doesn't get the grant, the town is still on the hook for IDEM compliance, Strang said.
If the town doesn't get the grant, they'll have to go back and redesign it all, Utilities Superintendent Eric Carlin said. He said it seems the town is throwing a lot of money out the window and they don't know if the plant changes will work or not.
"But what are you going to do when you have IDEM breathing down your neck?" Carlin asked.
The council decided not approve any more expenditures until they found out about the grant.
The council will have a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 7 regarding sewer rate increases. Croy said he'd like to raise the sewer rates in phases, half now and half later. However, the town may have to raise it all at one time, he said.
In other business:
n Simpson said he wants Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross to advertise for bids to tear down the old filling station across from the community building on Ind. 25. The bids will be due by the January meeting.
n Councilwoman Jill Gross suggested that beginning in January, Beeson could come to every other monthly meeting. It was one way the town could save some money.
Croy said the council will discuss the issue at its Dec. 7 meeting.
n The council approved an interlocal agreement between the Mentone Police Department and the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department for upgrades to the Cisco mobile data system in each of the police vehicles. The cost to the MPD is $100 per year per car.
n Croy reminded residents that leaves should be raked to the tree lawn and not on the street for pickup. If they are raked onto the street, they could end up blocking the stormwater drains.
