TOWN OF
(260)
587-9500
TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
April 27, 2007
CALL
TO ORDER: President Sean Walker called
the Town Council meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.
ROLL
CALL: Sean Walker _ X_ Gene Hamm
_ x_ Brian Hayes __X__ Clerk-Treasurer __X__ Town Manager
__X__
Others
in Attendance: Anna Platt, Betty Hamm,
Bill Ebert, Ed Miller, Mark Phillips, Sarah Odom, John McGee, Lindsay Myers,
and Kathy Kope
MINUTES: Motion by Sean Walker and seconded by Gene
Hamm to approve the March 30, 2007 minutes.
Motion carried. A motion was made
by Sean Walker, second by Brian Hayes, unanimously approved to accept the
minutes of the April 9 Bid Opening Special meeting.
FIRE
DEPARTMENT: A Carry out Chicken BBQ is planned for Sunday,
May 27th at McKees Corner from 11:00 a.m. until… The pole for mounting the siren is available
and the siren should be in service shortly.
MARSHAL: An offer was made to the Ashley Police
Department to help with coverage in the current situation. Six arrests were made during the month of
April.
UTILITY
DEPARTMENT An illegal sewer
connection was found during a water meter installation at 116 W. Depot Street.
A sump pump was found to be connected into the sanitary sewer system. The homeowner was informed to remove the
connection. Eight of the nine trees have
been cut along Main Street along with trimming.
The town dump truck was picked up from W. A. Jones and delivered to
Auburn Ford for completion of repairs. A
follow-up inspection was done on the illegal sewer connection at 318 N. Main
and it was found that the connection is still in place.
CLERK‘S
REPORT: The clerk-treasurer presented a
list of delinquent accounts that were requested to be transferred to bad debt.
A motion was made by Brian Hayes, seconded by Sean Walker to list these as bad
debt. Motion carried by all board
members. Gene Hamm felt that water
should be shut off on any delinquent account after the second billing. The clerk will send a letter to those with outstanding
balances. Review of two other utility
billing companies is continuing. The ILMCT
Conference will be held in Fort Wayne from June 11-14. An education class is
scheduled for Monday, June 11 and the State Board of Accounts classes will be
held on June 12-13th. There
is an Ashley-Hudson Festival meeting on May 1st at 6:00pm at the
Ashley Town Hall. The clerk-treasurer
will be on vacation from May 9 to May 14th. The next Town Council meeting is scheduled
for Friday, May 25, at 5:00 p.m. at the Town Hall.
TOWN
MANAGER: Seven purchase orders were issued in April
for a total of $2471.61. The YTD total
is 37 for $24,374.32. A meeting was held
with Ann Marie Lindenmeyer and David Gee, Region IIIA, on April 18th
concerning the possible funding of a new fire hall. Information was taken and they will work some
numbers but they felt there was a high level of probability. Gene Hamm mentioned that he had gotten
approval from Pranger Enterprises for the use of their driveway as another
entrance to a fire hall on the former Kline property and that the fire hall
should be located there. The Town
Manager brought up the Plan Commission meeting where residents had expressed
concern on the property’s intended public uses.
Gene Hamm replied that he didn’t feel that the concerns of the residents
in the area were significant. The Town
needs to have a wage survey done at a cost of approximately $1,500. Another option is the Town can also apply
through USDA for a community facilities grant/loan. Sean Walker motioned, seconded by Brian Hayes
to proceed with a wage survey. The
motioned was passed by all council members.
A draft letter was prepared and forwarded to the Town Attorney
concerning the pole barn at 728 Smathers Street and it is pending his
review. Research on the Springer request
for the abandonment of Wabash Street and Fourth Street did not yield any
additional information. The council was
given an overlay where the Park Board would like to plant the EAB trees. This will be finalized at the Park Board
meeting on April 28th, at 9:00 a.m. at the Town Hall. Tree trimming and removal of trees
continues. The quantities were adjusted
to 8 trees that need to come down along Main Street and 5 that need to be
trimmed. No reply has been received from
LongView Communications concerning their equipment that is on town
property. Sean motioned, seconded by
Brian Hayes to send another letter, certified mail return receipt requested
concerning this issue. Motion passed by
all council members. No news received
concerning a possible lumber distribution yard on the property west of Town and
there appears to no longer an interest in a garage. The Homeland Security Course MGT was
completed on April 24-26 and certification forthwith.
OLD
BUSINESS: Sean
Walker, seconded by Gene Hamm, made a motion not to vacate Wabash Street and
Fourth Street Motion passed
unanimously. As Sean Walker directed the Town Manager to send a letter to
Springer’s concerning this decision, Gene Hamm said to make sure that there
could be no adding on to the garage in the letter.
NEW
BUSINESS: Due to
Memorial Day weekend, the next council meeting will be June 1st at
5:00 p.m. in the Town Hall.
CLAIMS: Claims were approved and signed.
ADJOURNMENT: Motion made by Sean Walker, seconded by Brian
Hayes to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at
5:40 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Atta
“Tatsy” Hayes
Clerk-Treasurer
Approved:
President,
Hudson Town Council