Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WINONA LAKE - Winona Lake's July Fourth celebration is on its way.
"Everything's up and rolling," councilman Rolly Ortega said at the town council meeting today.
Ortega said posters have been distributed and the fireworks are set for dusk Saturday night. Biff and The Cruisers will play in a concert at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Hillside Amphitheater.
In other business:
• Mike Harness from Wessler and Associates reported to councilmen on the progress with man-hole inspections. Harness said they are inspecting approximately 70 to 90 manholes per day.
"We're putting in some good, long days," Harness said. "Hopefully we'll have the report in to you by August's meeting. That's my plan."
• Kosciusko Development Inc. made a 2001 budget request for $1,000.
Councilman David Delp said the council gave KDI $500 last year. Delp said he didn't understand why they were asking the funding to be doubled and he believes they should keep the amount at $500.
"We don't have to make that decision right now," Delp said.
The request was tabled.
• Wayne Township fire and park agreements were reviewed and accepted.
Clerk-treasurer Retha Hicks said with the agreement, Wayne Township will pay Winona Lake $16,625 per year to maintain the fire department.
Council president Jerry Clevenger said the park agreement is for $9,500 and expires Dec. 31, 2000.
Both agreements were approved and signed by the council. The agreements now go to Wayne Township for signing.
• Town coordinator Craig Allebach reported that the street department has an old garbage truck they would like to trade in. Allebach said they want to trade a 1989 garbage truck for a 1995 international 400 series truck chassis.
"(The garbage truck) is in no use to us in its current condition," Allebach said. "It's been sitting probably for a couple years already."
Council members approved the trade-in.
• Town marshal Malcolm Gilbert requested the purchase of a new police car.
"Our 1993 squad car has a rod going out of it," Gilbert said. "The repair is going to be quite expensive."
Gilbert said they planned on getting a new car next year and since the cost of fixing the 1993 squad car is so expensive, it would be better to get a new car this year rather than fixing the damaged one and getting a new car next year.
Repairs for the 1993 squad car would cost around $4,200. The car already has 140,000 miles on it and also needs a new air conditioner, which would cost anywhere from $1,200 to $1,500.
"It would just be a matter of buying it this year instead of next year," Allebach said. "It would be my recommendation to proceed as quickly as possible."
The police department also requested the purchase of a radio for the car, costing approximately $2,500. The new car will cost approximately $22,000. Gilbert said they would try to trade in the old squad car, but probably wouldn't get much for it.
Both requests were approved.
• The Winona Lake 2001 budget was discussed by the council.
"We need to see a 5 percent increase in each department's budget," Hicks said.
She said by the second meeting in July, "we should have everything hammered down."
Delp also inquired about sending a newsletter to Winona Lake residents showing how Sofamor Danek's move would affect the town's budget and residents' taxes. Clevenger agreed with Delp that the residents should be notified of what changes to expect. Both said approximately 20 percent of the town's revenue is going to disappear when Danek leaves.
Delp said they should "try to keep (the newsletter) as simple as possible so (residents) can understand where the money is coming from and where the money is going."
A pie graph was discussed as means of distributing the information in the newsletter.
Allebach also said it would be a good idea to put the information on the town's Web site.
No final decisions were made at this time.
• A public hearing for property at 108 12th St. was held at the meeting. Clevenger said only one bid was received for the property.
Dick Leaf, Winona Lake building commissioner, appraised the property at $8,500, and Bill Hoy bid $2,000 for the property.
"You have the option of accepting that or just tabling that," Hicks said.
She also said the council can bargain with Hoy or they can advertise again and send letters out to neighboring residents to obtain more bids.
The property is approximately 40 feet by 80 feet.
Hoy said he owns the property next to it and wants to build a home on the two properties together.
"Individually, both lots are useless," Hoy said.
Hoy recommended John Shively to do a second appraisal of the property.
"John Shively's very good," Hoy said.
He said he would contact Shively and pay for the second appraisal.
Delp said he didn't mind selling the property, he just wanted to be fair about it, "fair for the town and fair for you (Hoy)."
The bid was tabled and Hoy will return to next month's council meeting with results from the second appraisal.
• Allebach reported that the fire department will have a county-wide softball tournament at 8 a.m. Saturday at Miller Field.
• Ortega thanked Allebach, the police department and the fire department for their recent work cleaning up the town after the rain storms.
• Clevenger said the Indiana building codes needed to be updated for items such as electrical plumbing, swimming pools and Indiana fire codes.
"It appears to be a valid request to update our building codes that our building inspector (Leaf) is operating under," Clevenger said.
Councilmen approved updating the codes.
Members of the Winona Lake Town Council include: Jeff Carroll, Craig Allebach, David Delp, Jerry Clevenger, Craig Snow, and Rolly Ortega.
