The Independent-News, Volume 119, Number 39, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 10 February 1994 — Page 12

- THE INDEPENDENT NEWS — FEBRUARY 10, 1994

12

WALKERTON TOWN COUNCIL MINUTES (continued from Page 1) has a dropoff place for brush, and a compost pile of leaves and grass clippings. They have some farmers who pick up the compost. Bremen also asks its residents to put their branches and Christmas trees out at the curb, and then they go around with their chipper at a designated time. A lot of residents like to get the Christmas tree chips to burn in their fireplaces. Holmes advised that disposing of. because we are going to have to account for it when the state wants to know what we have done to reduce solid waste. It was decided to add a chipper to our request for the solid waste grant. At the January 3rd meeting, several employees voiced their concern at the way stand by and the pay for being called out is handled, and the Council delayed a decision so that they would have time to consider alternatives to stand by. Gene Reese asked Dave Bolze if he thought we would be better off it we got everyone a beeper instead of radios. Bolze agreed that a beeper or pager would allow the men a lot more freedom. Len Jaske asked if they would be happy NOW RENTING Mini-Storage Located In The North Liberty Industrial Park Sizes Starting At 5 x 10 - 10 x 10 10 x2O — 10 x3O 656-4914 9:00 am. To 5 00 p.m.

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if we did away with stand by, and just use the pagers. Bolze answered that everyone would be on stand by with the pagers. Reese said that it was his understanding that the Council was going to increase salaries because being on stand by limited everyone's activities, and if we are going to give everyone pagers, then we don't really need to be paying the extra SBOO.OO. Bolze agreed that this was right, that basically the four men who were restricted in their activities didn't feel that it was fair that all seven were getting the SBOO 00 increase. After further discussion, Gene Reese made the motion that we purchase a pager for each of the seven employees, and that we recind the SBOO.OO increase for everyone except John McGovern. McGovern's SBOO.OO increase was given to him for doing all the maintanance work on town vehicles. including fire and ambulance, thereby saving us a lot of money. Seconded by Len Jaske. Carried. The Council further decided that stand by will remain as it is, until we receive the new pagers. The SBOO.OO will be pro-rated, and the men will receive the increase until they change over to pagers. Gene Reese asked if there would be any reason why our meter readers would not be able to wear uniforms while reading meters. Dave Bolze answered by saying that in the winter you wouldn’t be able to see their work shirts under their jackets. Reese suggested that the men wear hats which would show that they are with the Town. Len Jaske added that a lot of people get concerned when they see someone near their house, and for this reason the men are given clothing allowance to purchase uniforms. Jeff Zehner said that the winter jackets that the Town originally bought, are almost worn out. Attorney Holmes advised that the Council can add

clothing requirements to the Town Policy. It was decided, that for the time being, the men should wear a hat which states Walkerton Utilities in large letters. Chery l Rizek made the motion to require all department heads to submit a monthly report of how comp time is earned. Seconded by Gene Reese. Carried. This report will show how much comp time each employee earned for the month and give a general idea why. Attorney Holmes said that he's run into a couple of areas in our Town code that are giving him some problems. One of the chapters calls for legal boundaries of the Town. He said that we are going to have to hire an engineer or a surveyor to determine the exact boundaries. Holmes is going to get a quote, for this work, and bring it to the next meeting. NEW BUSINESS: A couple of weeks ago Dave Bolze and the clerk met with Roman Brehm to discuss the new power factor meters that are going to be installed at the industries which have demand meters. Bolze told the Council that Brehm recommended that the Council changed the word “average” to “maximum" where it refers to lagging power factor in our electric ordinance. Dave Bolze suggested that another letter be sent to all the industries advising them that they will billed for a lagging power factor that falls below 95 percent. It was decided that Bolze will hand deliver these letters to the industries and inform them of things they can do to improve their electric usage. The letters won’t be delivered until after the ordinance is amended and the power factor meters are installed. Bolze said that we need to purchase 10 more power factor meters at an approximate cost of $12,000.00. Gordon Hartsell made the motion to purchase the meters and have them installed as soon as possible. Seconded by Len Jaske. Carried. Superior Waste has asked if we are going to send out bid specifications for our trash pick up. Len Jaske made the motion to have the clerk ask Superior if they want to extend their contract another year. If they agree to extend the contract, the clerk is to go ahead and extend it for another year. Seconded by W’alt Heil. Carried. We received a 1994 computer software agreement from MHI Governmental Systems at a cost of $3,660.00 for basic service level. In 1993 we worked with MHI without an agreement, and we paid them $2,683.80 for support. Len Jaske made the motion to not sign the contract with MHI. Seconded by Gene Reese. Carried. Every two years the Council has to act as a board of finance to consider proposals from financial institutions that want to become public depositories. Election of officers for the board of finance was as follows: Gene Reese nominated Len Jaske for president, seconded by Cheryl Rizek. Carried. Len Jaske nominated Walt Heil for secretary. Seconded by Gene Reese. Carried. Because the Town sometimes buys funeral arrangements from Marsha’s Flowers & Gifts, it was necessary for Gene Reese to submit a Uniform Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement. The Council reviewed and accepted the disclosure statement. The Council reviewed reports FOR RENT NORTH LIBERTY COMMUNITY CENTER AIR CONDITIONED Renting For All Occasions 300 S Mam Street Phone 656 4134

from Wightman, Petrie, Umbaugh & Associates and Terry Baugher concerning the wetlands study. Jeff Zehner reported that the wetland study did not include a description of the system, and didn’t have an itemized cost description. Attorney Holmes said that we are at a point where we are meeting with Farmers Home to finance the project, and we already have the project engineered the other way. After further discussion, attorney Holmes pointed out that at best, a wetland system would cost the same as a conventional system and would have a lot of unknown factors. Walt Heil made a motion to go with a conventional sewer system. based on Jeff Zehner and attorney Holmes’ recommendations. Gene Reese said that he thought we were originally considering a three phase sewer system, going north, south and along Walkerton Trail. He asked how much we will have to spend to go out to the industrial park when we don’t know if there will be any new industry out there. Rizek said that the Council had first talked about going down Walkerton Trail to pick up all those new customers. Len Jaske said that he would not vote to go north first, because going south we would pick up more customers and would not make the rates go so high. Attorney Holmes said that it's a combination of planning for the future and recovering our expenses. The rate of return on industrial/commercial users will be higher than the rate of return on residential users. He added that not having avoidable sewer precludes us from getting industry, it's a gamble, and it’s an investment in the future. Gordon Hartsell asked of the Farmers Home loan will be big enough to finance going north and south. Attorney Holmes answered yes, that we will be getting part grant and part money. It is still all one project, although one phase may be three months ahead of the other. Jaske said that he would like to start with the phase that will save the rate payer the most money, the one that will bring the most revenue the fastest. Rizek said that she feels

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the same way, and thinks that that is the goal of the whole Council. Walt Heil's motion to go with a conventional system was seconded by Gene Reese. Carried. Gene Reese asked that a letter be sent to Jim New & Associates informing them of the Council’s decision. Gordon Hartsell made the motion to advertise for a Town Superintendent. Seconded by Len Jaske. Town employees can also apply. A copy of the job description can be picked up in the clerk's office. Walt Heil made the motion to accept the contract for employment of attorney for David Holmes for 1994. Seconded by Gene Reese. Carried. In a letter. David Behr asked to meet with the Council and some members of the Industrial Fund, in executive session. Attorney Holmes advised that such a meeting must be public, according to the Open Door Law. Len Jaske made the motion to accept claims 35 through 78 for $175,730.56 and payroll docket dated January 5, 1994 for $20,970.57 and payroll docket dated January 19, 1994 for $18,875.24. Seconded by Gene Reese. Carried. Gene Reese made the motion to adjourn. Seconded by Gordon Hartsell. Carried. NORTH LIBERTY TOWN COUNCIL (continued from Page 1) Thomas Fair, also representing Chamber of Commerce, requested to get this off of dead center and let the state regulatory agencies decide whether to permit in Indiana. Richard Warner stated whether Council votes to invite Stericyde or not, the Industrial Park can sell them property as Stericycle meets zoning requirements and then they could file down state for permits. Being no other motions on the Stericycle matter, complete tape of meeting filed in safe with Town Records. (Meeting minutes to be continued when the rest are transcribed.)