North Webster Council Takes No Action On Chamber Reimbursement
Posted
Jackie Gorski-jgorski@timesuniononline.com
NORTH WEBSTER – North Webster Town Council took no action Tuesday on a request from the North Webster-Tippecanoe Township Chamber of Commerce for self-watering planters.
In April, representatives from the Chamber requested $8,331 from the council as reimbursement for the Chamber’s purchase of 20 self-watering planters that will be placed along Main Street throughout downtown.
Town Council President Dan Thystrup said he has been hit with information on both sides of the topic and wanted to take more time to think about it so they can say they did their research.
Councilwoman Lisa Strombeck said the council should make a decision during the meeting. She said she was willing to pay for half of the planters.
Councilman Dave Waliczek said he was against the reimbursement. The Chamber has their own budget and they should go off their own budget and for something like the planters, they should buy it.
Chamber Board member Scott Kuhn said the Chamber planned to purchase the planters with or without the council’s support.
In the future, Waliczek said, if they wanted the council’s help with the purchase of something, the Chamber should bring it to the council beforehand instead of afterward. Waliczek said the information could be provided to Thystrup or Clerk-Treasurer Leigh Anne Jessop.
Thystrup said he agreed with Waliczek about there being a lack of communication.
Kuhn said there seems to be a lack of communication from the council to the community about what is going on and how they can bring things to them. Town attorney Jack Birch said that is why the council has public meetings so people can come to them. Birch also said media does cover the meetings, as well.
Thystrup said he was not ready to make a decision Tuesday. No action was taken during the meeting.
Later in the meeting, Kuhn asked what the town could do about vacant properties in town.
Birch said there is an unsafe building ordinance the town has, which means the building is hazardous. Other than that, there’s not much the town can do.
Town Marshal Greg Church said vacant properties are something every town struggles with. Birch said, depending on the town’s budget, a town can provide incentives to clean up vacant buildings, but a lot of dealing with vacant properties, which may or may not be unsightly, is driven by the property owners.
In other business, the board:
• Approved road closures for the Mermaid Festival June 21-24 on West Washington Street from Blaine Street to Main Street.
• Approved road closures for Dixie Day July 29 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on all of West Washington Street and East Washington Street from Main Street to the alley.
• Heard from Inframark Utilities Manager Mike Noe that Lift Station A is struggling with its starter, so he wants to get a variable frequent drive for the station. He said he will get quotes for a drive and the town can go from there.
• Heard from Noe a pole at lift station 7 broke and Noe has no idea how it broke, but did say it does have to be replaced.
• Heard from Church there are several properties that have tall grass and, if the grass isn’t mowed, the property owner will receive ordinance violation notices.
• Discussed a request from Bill Rensberger, 7232 E. CR 650N, wanted to see if he could hook up to the town’s sewer.
Rensberg contacted the town to tell him whether they wanted to (or not to) provide sanitary sewer service at hisproperty that is in the county. He told them that he prefer to not be connected to the municipal Town sanitary sewer system.
Birch said, at this point, he believes the property needs to be rezoned first before any further action can be taken.
• Heard from Kathy Kostro from Kosciusko County Free Clinic Inc. She said the medical clinic is available to anyone in Kosciusko County who needs help. North Webster hours at 7822 E. Epworth Forest Road, North Webster, are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
