Town Of Mentone Seeking Input On K21 Foundation Grant
Town Of Mentone Seeking Input On K21 Foundation Grant
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Jackie Gorski-jgorski@timesuniononline.com
Town Of Mentone Seeking Input On K21 Foundation GrantMENTONE – Getting community input about Mentone’s K21 Foundation grant was a topic of discussion during the town council meeting Wednesday.
The pledge of $200,000 was made to each incorporated town, other than Warsaw and Winona Lake, by K21. The grant is specifically for health and wellness for the town. K21 will leave it up to the individual town councils to come up with a plan on their own for the grant or invite the community to present ideas.
Council President Jill Gross said the town doesn’t have to do one thing and pay one lump sum. The town has to decide whether they want to help Mentone Elementary, the fire department, etc. Gross said there was no time limit in coming up with ideas.
Councilwoman Shelley Krueger asked if they could look into writing a grant to seek additional money. Gross said they could.
Mentone Utilities Superintendent Josh Shepherd said his vote was to help upgrade the park.
Gross asked if they should put all the money toward the park. Shepherd said if it was up to him, he’d go for the grant money, saying they could possibly get close to $500,000 in grant money by showing they have the $200,000 from K21 to put toward projects at the park.
“We’re kind of behind the times on our park,” he said, as the park hasn’t had anything done to it “since I’ve been here for 12 years.”
It was suggested suggestion boxes could be put up around town so residents could give their suggestions. Gross said if it’s going to be townwide, then the council needs to get input from the community.
Town Marshal Jim Eads informed the council officer Sam Bohnke will no longer be pursing certification as a drug recognition expert through the Indiana Drug Evaluation and Classification Program.
“Things have changed in the county through the prosecutor’s office. They now have an instrument to detect that, so we’re going to forgo that training and Sam’s already been trained on that instrument and he got trained on that today,” Eads said. “Those are going to be placed throughout the county for departments to use and stuff.”
Bohnke said the equipment was purchased by Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. Kosciusko County purchased one and intends to purchase more and distribute them throughout the county. Bohnke said the Claypool Police Department has the equipment checked out from the ICJI and if he needs it, he can call whoever he needs to at CPD and they can bring it to him.
The council approved a motion to allow Bohnke to go for an internship with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office detective unit. Eads said Bohnke would be working with the sheriff’s office three days a week and with the Mentone Police Department the rest of the week, starting sometime in January and lasting about a month. Some of the skills he will learn will be information on search warrants, investigations and interviewing techniques.
“It’s basically just a training opportunity for him for a month,” Eads said. Mentone was approached by the KCSO. “It just shows the hard work Sam does and it’s not just being recognized by me.”
Gross asked that the council be updated on when the training is going to start.
In other business, the council:
• Learned the Mentone Chamber of Commerce and Mentone Fire Department are having Santa and a food drive drive-through at the town hall from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
“It will be where Santa will hand a goody bag to kids in the car. It will probably be handed to the driver and not to each (kid),” said Councilman Tim Croy.
If people have food to donate to the food drive, they can open their trunk and volunteers will take it out.
The Mentone Chamber of Commerce also is doing a Christmas decorating contest for anyone in town or anyone within a 2-mile radius of town limits, Croy said. It is being sponsored by Hartzler Funeral Home.
First place wins $200, second place gets $100 and third place is $50. Anyone who lives in the 2-mile radius that wants to participate can send a private message to the Mentone Chamber’s Facebook page. Anyone who has decorations in town limits is going to get judged, Croy said. Judging is Dec. 23.
• Eads asked about the town adopting a COVID policy in case a town employee has to quarantine so they can still be paid for that period and not use sick days. It was decided more research was needed.
