Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
MENTONE - Mentone now has a building code, pending state approval.
The town council approved the building code ordinance Monday night as well as the improvement/location permit or building permit fee schedule. After the Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission of Indiana approves the 11-page building code ordinance, it will go into effect. The town council then will approve the Unsafe Building Code.
"It's a start," said Roger Long, council member.
The permit fees are $100 for a double wide, modular, conventional, duplex or destruction of building; $50 for home addition or accessory buildings; $200 for commercial building; and $25 for fence or swimming pool.
Before the start of the regular meeting, a group of Bethel College BSN students made a presentation on their findings of Mentone.
Joan Barrette said they will graduate in a month, but one of their last classes was community assessment. Because Mentone is centrally located to all the members of the group, they chose to do an assessment on Mentone.
They discussed the various aspects they looked at in Mentone, including economics, recreation and the physical environment among others.
Student Jessica Miller said of the 898 people in Mentone, 93.3 percent are caucasian, 5.9 percent are Latino and the rest are other.
She discussed the windshield survey they took of Mentone and what they found just by looking around the town.
The strengths of the town, according to Anna Roe, include the senior center, new library, new community building, EMS, the activity center, the Russell Eber Field, airport, worship, Ind. 19 and 25, railroad, strong industry for a small town, the construction of a senior housing center, effective communications, it's a young thriving community, greater percentage of workers than neighboring communities, education, medical, history, sewage system, good air quality, the animal kennel and transportation.
The first weakness is one shared by the entire state - heart disease and cancer. Roe said more emphasis on recreation and nutrition may help with that, as well as medical education and resources and social services.
Another weakness of the town is the physical safety in relation to the abandoned buildings in town. There is a lack of sidewalks and no neighborhood watch. Mentzer Park suffers from vandalism, poor lighting and outdated equipment.
But overall, the group of students were impressed with Mentone. When an outside person talks to someone from Mentone, said Roe, she said it is very obvious Mentone residents are very community oriented and community minded.
Community ideas is what came from the next three presenters.
Krystal Brock-Lybarger presented the town council with the idea of having a Timberform and Pipeline playground equipment at Mentzer Park. She gave them information she gathered and said it would cost $53,300. A Mentone mothers group wants to start raising the money for the playground equipment at the Mentone Egg Festival. She said people are really excited about doing something for the park.
"Sounds good," said Long. "I think we should (do) something then."
Councilman Tim Croy directed Brock-Lybarger to form a steering committee and have a public meeting on the issue to get the ball rolling. They also put her on the park board.
Town attorney Larry Beeson recommended she apply to the Kosciusko Community Foundation for a grant.
Pack 3782, Burket, designed bird houses. The 33 boys in the Pack built them last Thursday and now wants to put them up at Mentzer Park. They also requested to take a section of the creek and landscape it.
"I would say permission granted," said Croy.
Chris Baker, a Tippecanoe Valley High School junior, is a member of the school's Students and Teachers Advocating Respect and Tolerance. Baker said he wants to start a bi-monthly day for citizens of the community to get together and work on projects. The initial project would be just to clean up trash around the town. He asked the town to provide the means to transport the trash collected and street commissioner Darrell Miller said he could do that. Town Marshall Jim Eads also will help find orange vests for the workers to wear while cleaning up the town.
In other business, the town council:
• Approved $2,120 for video surveillance for the new Mentone Community Emergency Services building's foyer. The money will come from the town's equipment fund.
• Reported May's meeting will be held at the MCES building. The open house for the facilities is April 15 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
• Heard from Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross the Mentone Cemetery Board requests that all decorations be removed from gravesites by April 17.
• Approved $638 for a new Dell computer for Ross.
• Heard hydrants will be flushed April 11. The flushing will begin in the morning and continue throughout the day. Residents may want to refrain from doing laundry that day due to the probability of rust and sediment being broke loose from the walls of the main piping. Discolored water is likely to occur during the hydrant flushing.
Mentone town council members are Croy, Long and Jack Simpson. They meet at 6:30 p.m. on the first Monday of every month.
