NORTH MANCHESTER - Seniors and other citizens in North Manchester will continue to receive services from the Wabash County Public Transit despite rising fuel costs.
Wednesday evening, Beverly Ferry approached the North Manchester Town Council to request an emergency allocation of $2,500 for the rest of the year. Ferry said she requested $5,000 from both the Wabash County Council and Wabash City Council."Due to the soaring cost of gasoline, we are implementing Wabash County Transit service cuts as of June 2," states a letter Ferry presented to the council. "We will cut our service from an average of 280 hours per week to 176 hours per week. Wabash County Transit will go from Monday through Friday service to Tuesday through Friday."
The service will run from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, but fewer vehicle hours will be used.
Many senior residents of North Manchester use the service to travel to doctor's appointments, run errands, and go shopping. The service also is used by families with children going to daycare or school, people with mental disabilities going to their jobs, and children attending daytime summer programs.
The service also raised transit rates for those ages 59 and under. Effective June 2, transit rates went from $1 to $2 per one-way trips in Wabash and North Manchester. Transit rates for those outside North Manchester and Wabash increased from $3 to $4. Seniors ages 60 and up will continue to ride by donation.
The council approved a motion to give the transit service the requested $2,500 allocation. The money will likely come from the rainy day fund.
In other business, the council:
n Set a public meeting discussion for the long-term control plan for June 16 at 6 p.m. An unfunded mandate from the state says that towns that have overflow of the sewer system into rivers must reduce the amount of waste released into the waterways. The meeting will be used to get public input and discuss future plans for complying with the mandate.
n Held a public hearing for the facade grant. Tina Hall, of Mendenhall & Associates, held the public meeting and presented information to council members about the grant application. The town will know if it got the grant by the end of August.
n Heard that the town is close to an agreement with Wabash County about the repair of the Grossnickle Ditch. The area floods and causes problems on a regular basis, and Superintendent of Public Works John Mugford said the tile in the ditch is deteriorating. He also said this is the closest talks have ever gotten to being ready to address and fix the problem.
n Heard that one of the town's water towers has been inspected, and the other one will be inspected this fall. Repairs and painting will be necessary for each, but will be discussed at a later time.
North Manchester Town Council members are Thomas Dale, Diane Haupert, James Smith, Laura Rager and Chris Garber, president.
