No Sewer, Trash Hikes In WinonaWINONA LAKE – Residents of Winona Lake will not see an increase in their wastewater or trash rates in 2019.
At the Winona Lake Town Council meeting Tuesday evening, Town Coordinator Craig Allebach said, “We had done an analysis of our rate and, based on the current circumstances that we’re under, we feel that a rate increase is not warranted at this time, at least for the year 2019. We always evaluate it every year, and after we ran the numbers, what we have in the current fund, as well as the projections of the cost that will be assessed to us from Warsaw for 2019, we still have enough capacity to handle that. So at this point, we’re recommending that there be no increase for 2019.”
He said bills will go out in the first part of January or sooner, with the rate for residents the same in 2019 as in 2018.
“That’s great,” said Council President Bruce Shaffner. “Same thing with the trash?”
Allebach responded with a yes, adding, “There’s a $5 surcharge for the trash and that remains the same, too.”
“OK. Wonderful. Great news,” Shaffner said.
Next, the council approved a 2019 agreement with town engineer Aaron Carl for his services and two 2019 town attorney agreements. The first town attorney agreement was with current town attorney Jim Walmer, and the second was with Adam Turner.
Allebach explained, “In 2019, the town is going to transition to a new attorney, Adam Turner, effective Jan. 1, 2019. So as we go through this transition into the new year, there’s still items Jim has to follow up on and so the two attorneys will kind of be coordinating things as we move into the new year. And Adam Turner will be with us at the next meeting, and so we will also have a contract with Adam Turner for 2019.”
After the meeting, Walmer said he’s served as Winona’s town attorney since 1976. He said the biggest changes he’s noticed over the years was the growth of the town. “When I started it only had about 1,000 people roughly. The treasurer was in his office in his home, and I was only two years here, and I had one year of practice in Oklahoma.”
During the meeting, Town Marshal Joe Hawn presented the council with a lease agreement for two new police vehicles, which was unanimously approved.
“We’ve looked into vehicles for next year and we have looked at a lease program that is offered through the state. It’s an outstanding lease opportunity,” Hawn said. He mentioned that leasing the two vehicles will be under budget for what the police department had planned to buy two vehicles for next year. The cost is $22,900, and the money will come out of the 2019 budget. Hawn said his department won’t take delivery of the vehicles until next year, too.
Councilwoman Tecy Banta asked for clarification if the lease was in lieu of purchasing two vehicles and what was the advantage of leasing.
“It will be a lease program instead of purchasing,” Hawn responded. “The advantage is, over time you’re actually going to save … we crunched the numbers and over seven years, you’re actually saving $700 to $800 by doing the lease program. It’s a program through the state a lot of agencies are doing because it’s such a good deal.”
Banta made the motion to approve the lease agreement, councilwoman Heather James offered the second and it was unanimously approved.
Tuesday was Shaffner’s last council meeting as he didn’t seek re-election this year and his seat will be filled by Jim Lancaster.
Toward the end of the meeting, during council comments, Shaffner said, “A lot of times I don’t speak at this moment, but I will tonight. This is my last meeting up here. I’ve enjoyed my eight years of being a part of this council, and I know that we have a great group of people that are on board. Not only the council, but Winona Lake is blessed to have all of the employees, not only working within this building (town hall) - our police department, our fire department, our parks department and our maintenance department. I think when you look at everything, we are extremely blessed to have what we have. And I do hope that you all continue that, because it’s been an enjoyable eight years. Thank you.”
He was then greeted with a round of applause by the public present, town employees and the council.
