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MENTONE - Bicycles, skates, skateboards and scooters will be banned from the business district if a preliminary ordinance is passed next month.
Mentone Town Council members discussed the matter for about an hour, determining boundaries and defining the ordinance for enforcement.
If passed, the ordinance will keep bicycles off the sidewalks on Main Street, between Yale and Franklin streets, and north and south along that area to the first residences on each street. The same ordinance will ban skaters and skateboarders from sidewalks and streets within the same boundaries.
The limits for bicyclists and skaters were pulled in from the original proposal, which would have kept them off Main Street between Morgan and Tucker streets.
However, utilities superintendent Brian Reed, who lives within those parameters, voiced his opinion against the larger area.
"I haven't heard about complaints from anyone but you guys [council members]," Reed said. "If they're concerned about bicycles, skateboards and roller blades, then they should be here. To not allow kids to skate in front of their own house is asinine."
He added: "The only people you will affect will be the people who obey the rules. The ones doing it are still going to do it and these guys [the town's police officers] are going to have to catch them."
The council has been rolling around the idea of establishing this ordinance for several months after each was individually complained to by business owners.
"The complaints have all been from business owners in town," said councilman Ed Rock. "The ones that have called me are strictly on Main Street."
The ordinance is being established to prevent injuries to the bicyclists and skaters as well as patrons in the business district and to prevent further property damage believed caused by skateboarders.
In other matters, the council decided that town employees will mow the park and cemetery this year, rather than have the work contracted out as in past years.
Council president Forrest Kantner said he believes the mowers and other equipment can be kept in better condition if they are handled by town employees rather than allowing contracted labor to use them. He also said the cost will be less for the town by using labor already on the town's payroll.
In additional business, the council:
• Introduced the town's newest deputy marshal, Tom Craft. The 24-year-old is not yet Indiana Law Enforcement Academy trained, but has experience as a reserve officer with the Milford Police Department and on bicycle patrol with the Warsaw Police Department.
• Approved having 13 trees removed from the cemetery for $1,500.
• Agreed to turn over unpaid water and trash bills to collection, to write off some unpaid sewage bills and to place liens on properties of others.
• Gave permission for Town Marshal Jim Eads and Craft to attend a one-day field interviewing techniques class in April in Mishawaka. Also, approved the police department to purchase a back-up weapon for $430.
The next meeting is at 7 p.m. April 5 in the town hall.
