Winona Avenue property purchasedWINONA LAKE – The town council of Winona Lake Tuesday approved purchasing the property at 2499 E. Winona Ave. for $329,000.
Of that amount, $325,000 will be paid to Collier’s Commercial Services Inc., which has used and leased the property for many years. The remaining $4,000 will be paid to DMC LLC, which owns the property, to assist in relocation fees.
The property will be used in part for the creation of the roundabout at the intersection of Winona Avenue, Argonne Road, Kings Highway and Park Avenue. The roundabout is expected to be completed by early 2022.
A lease to allow the Fireplace Shoppe to remain in the building until Aug. 1 is included as part of the resolution to purchase the real estate, according to Council President Bruce Shaffner. Collier’s will maintain all the utilities.
“The town will then receive the billboard revenue and Collier’s would be paying the 2018 taxes, which would be payable in 2019. And due to the fact that they’re down to one office employee there, the sewer rate would change for them,” Shaffner said.
Resident Jerry Nelson asked if the purchase would include tearing down the building. Shaffner said it would not.
Town Coordinator Craig Allebach later told the council the town received $493,205.34 in Community Crossings matching grant funds from the Indiana Department of Transportation for improving local roads. He said of the 19 grant applications the town submitted, 13 were funded.
“I don’t have any rhyme or reason about those that were not funded, except maybe they ran a little short on money. And I don’t have any rhyme or reason as to why the ones they did fund, they didn’t follow the priority that I had provided,” Allebach said.
He said the funding was based on estimates, and the projects still need to be bid out.
A town can receive up to $1 million in a year, and there are two rounds of grant funding per year. The matching grants are 75/25, with the state paying 75 percent of the projects and towns paying 25 percent.
In other business, the council:
• Approved ordinance 2018-11-1, fixing the salaries of town employees, and resolution 2018-11-1, fixing the salaries of certain employees.
The ordinance gives the town’s salaried employees, including the town marshal and park board, a 3 percent raise for the next year. It does not include Clerk-Treasurer Kent Adams or the town council, who will not receive a raise. The amounts were included in the 2019 budget, according to Shaffner.
The resolution gives other employees a 3 percent increase. These include hourly employees, deputy marshals, town coordinator, office staff, park employees and building commissioner.
• Approved resolution 2018-11-2 regarding a new hire for the Winona Lake Police Department.
Town Marshal Joe Hawn said Lorna Ladd has been a reserve officer for his department for several years. She retired from CenturyLink after 44 years and decided she wanted something to do so asked the WLPD to do some office work there. She did it for free for a year.
“We thought she needed some compensation,” Hawn said.
Clerk-Treasurer Kent Adams agreed, so she was added as a salaried employee. She will work about 15 hours a week over about three days.
• Approved resolution 2018-11-3 regarding Christmas bonuses. The resolution authorizes the annual Christmas bonus of $275 to the town’s 14 employees and a turkey or ham to the Winona Lake Volunteer Fire Department. It is included in the 2018 budget.
• Heard a community prayer will be at 7 a.m. Nov. 30 at the Lakeside Chapel; KringleFest will be 1 to 3:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at the Winona Lake Senior Center; Village Tree Lighting Ceremony in the Village at Winona will be 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Dec. 1; and the Grace College Worship Arts Christmas concert will be in the Winona Heritage Room at 7 p.m. Dec. 2.
