MENTONE – Town attorney Larry Beeson will be at the regular monthly town council meetings less often starting in January. “With monies being short, what we are proposing is that you come the first month of each quarter, like January, April,” councilwoman Jill Gross told Beeson Monday night. “It works for me,” he replied. “And if we need you,” she quickly added. Beeson started coming every other month this year as a cost-savings measure. Gross and councilwoman Shelly Krueger approved a motion for Beeson to come to the meetings on the new timeline. Council President Tim Croy was absent. Next, Utilities Superintendent Josh Shepherd announced leaf pick-up finished Monday. From this point forward, residents with leaves need to put them in a container instead of in a pile next to the curb. He also said Mentone Elementary School contacted him Monday. The school wants to move its tower where their repeater is so they would like to put their repeater on the town’s water tower. Shepherd said he didn’t have a problem with it as long as it was kept neat and didn’t bother anything of the town’s. He told them he had a board meeting so he would check first with the council. Gross asked him if the council should leave it up to him. Shepherd said the town might want to charge some kind of cost to the school for the use of electricity. He was told that a repeater used the same amount of electricity as a 100-watt light bulb. Town Marshal Jim Eads later suggested the town may want to have a contract with the school to be safe, and include a minimal cost. Another matter brought up by Shepherd was that he wants to trade in the 2002 dump truck for a new one. He got two bids for the same brand of truck, with the cost of a new truck estimated around $40,000 to $42,000, including the trade-in. A third bid for a different brand of truck “didn’t pan out,” he said. Shepherd said he wanted to encumber $20,000 from the 2013 new equipment fund, and the other half next year will come from water/wastewater accounts. “I know next year money won’t be there for new equipment,” he said. Gross made a motion for the $20,000 to be encumbered this year so Shepherd could get a 2015 dump truck next year. The motion was approved. He concluded by stating both bids came with the exact same amount for the trade-in. Also during the meeting, Shepherd thanked Ace Hardware of Mentone for its help putting up Christmas decorations. The council approved for Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross to transfer funds as needed before year’s end, and approved renewal of Sam’s Club membership for those town employees who want it. Gross had her name taken off and Krueger’s name put on the town’s membership list.
