New Carlisle Town Council

124 E. Michigan Street, New Carlisle, Indiana

General Meeting, February 28, 2012

 

The meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

President Colpitts called the meeting to order with Vice President Higgins, Council Member Gelow, Council Member Vojtko, Council Member Carter and Clerk-Treasurer Sue Moffitt present.  Also in attendance were Roger Nawrot, Chuck Leone, Pat Cummings, Mary Ann Swope, Tim Kaminski, Mary Countryman, Jill Doll, Jason Quirk, Cal Dittmar, Carol Middlebrook, Bob Middlebrook, Mike Shilts, Ken Davis, Jack Daly, Kim Van Slager and  Augie Mauer

Minutes

Council Member Gelow moved to accept the minutes of the February 14, 2012 General Meeting as written.  Seconded by Council Member Vojtko, the motion passed unanimously.

 Employee Reports

Chuck Leone

·         Continues work on issues relating to vacant properties.

Roger Nawrot

·         Has completed preliminary plans for the 2012 Sidewalk Project as well as the walkway from Thunderbird to County Line Road and has given them to Pat.  They will meet in the next week to formalize plans and prepare for the bid.

Pat Cummings

·         Has received input on the snow removal plan from the Fire Chief and changed the wording to read “all fire department buildings”.

·         Chuck and Pat have reviewed the “emergency” portion that Pat has added.  He suggests that as a supplement we go ahead and add details of declaring an emergency in the plan.  Also that we include, in an ordinance, the order of who would have the authority to declare an emergency.

Council Member Vojtko moved to adopt the snow removal police as written.  Following a second by Vice President Higgins, the motion passed unanimously. 

Pat was asked to work on emergency plan ordinance preparation for the next meeting.

·         Reports that the TE Project is still on hold.  He and Roger have discussed that it may be necessary to postpone the work on the downtown area until 2013 if we are unable to begin as originally planned.    Work on the west end would still begin in the fall of 2012.

President Colpitts stated that he would prefer see the project done properly and not interfere with various functions in the downtown rather than rushing to get the project done in 2012.

 

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General Meeting – February 28, 2012

 

·         Has obtained pricing from two printers for website decals for town cars he was asked to have made by President Colpitts. 

Pat asked for approval of the lowest quote he received to prepare 20 of these at a cost of $240.00 from C. Gelow Signs.

Vice President Higgins moved to approve the purchase of website decals for town vehicles at a cost not to exceed  $240.  Council Member Vojtko seconded the motion which passed 4-0.    

Council Member Carter:                Aye                             Vice President Higgins:                   Aye

Council Member Vojtko                 Aye                             President Colpitts:                Aye

Council Member Gelow:   Abstain

 

·         At the March 27th meeting Pat will be asking to let bids for the sidewalk project.  Roger projects bid openings for April 24th.

President Colpitts stated that  Pat has a busy year and Roger has helped him obtain a program that will help him with scheduling.

Old Business

·         Disposition of 125 Zigler Street

President Colpitts proposes the Council hold a work session to sit down with Chuck or Andrea to work  out details of how to handle disposition of this property.  The Council set the work session for March 13th at 3:00 PM.

 

Council Reports

 

Vice President Higgins

 

·         Reports that Bob Middlebrook initiated a meeting last week to discuss the current sign ordinance.  In attendance were members of the NCBCA, Historic New Carlisle and a representative of Area Plan.  Both she and Bob would like to have a committee that would work together to update this ordinance.   She would like to see a business owner from the west end of town included on the committee.

 

·         Inquired about Marshal’s Department bike patrols.  Officer Cal Dittmar reports that one bike has been worked on and the other is currently in the shop in preparation for bike patrols.

Council Member Vojtko

·         Recently discussed the situation regarding the house at 417 W. Michigan Street with Bob Middlebrook who has put together a timeline of expectations for repairs to the property.  He reports that the owner is in the process of selling the house with two offers currently on the table.

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General Meeting – February 28, 2012

 

President Colpitts

·         Attended the recent Area Plan Commission meeting and reports nothing concerning New Carlisle.

·         The Main Street Steering Committee has selected the name “Discover New Carlisle”  and has also elected a six month board. 

            Director – Lou Ann Dixon

            Assistant Director – Dana Groves

            Treasurer – Pam Weaver

There will be a public meeting coming up for anyone interested in Main Street and he encourages everyone to attend. 

·         President Colpitts asked each council member to think of a goal pertaining to their commission for the next meeting.

Vice President Higgins stated her goal is to sit down monthly with the supervisors of her respective commissions, police, fire and EMS.

Public Comments

Mary Countryman

·         Spoke about President Colpitts’ goal for better communication between the Council and the citizens and her disappointment as she feels this goal is not being met.  She referenced the notice that was required by IDEM to be published in the South Bend Tribune because the Town failed to perform one of the two required Coliform tests in the month of December.  She feels that this issue should have been addressed at a Town Council meeting and should also have been published in the New Carlisle News.  She stated that she feels the lack of acknowledgement of this issue by President Colpitts is the type of action that causes the public to lose confidence that the Council is conducting business for the good of the community.

Jack Daly

·         Belongs to  St. Joseph County Concerned Citizens, a group of citizens currently trying to work on the shredder issue.  It has been suggested we try to establish a citizen’s advisory committee to work with the shredder company and any others that might be interested in

coming to our community, such as the proposed natural gas plant.  He asked if there are any definite plans for the proposed natural gas plant at this time.

 

 

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General Meeting – February 28, 2012

 

President Colpitts stated that he expressed to Mr. Rovito that the Council and the citizens of New Carlisle are very concerned about our aquifer and that we would like to stay as informed as possible in their exploration of the possibility of building their plant here.

Mr. Daly suggested that regular contact be establish with the citizens before the fact as opposed to after the fact.

Pat Cummings stated that a Citizens Action Committee was in place when Allegheny was initially planning the plant on Walnut Road.  He feels Andy Rovito would be in favor of this as well but at this time they don’t even know if they are going to build.  Although not in the Town limits, we will supply water and they are currently having us do water quality testing.

Mr. Daly feels that it would be a good idea to start discussion on how to do this now rather than later so that the citizens have input on anything that is being considered.    

·         Mr. Daly works at Logan Center and they are working with police and other various organizations.  They held Crisis Intervention Training approximately a year ago for first responders, emergency room personnel and anyone who might respond to a mental health crisis.  They will be holding training again this year on May 1 and 2 and will be including surrounding police agencies.   He would like to offer this training to New Carlisle as well.  Capt. Hammer of South Bend Police Department would be the contact person.    Memorial Health Systems has stepped in to fill the Madison Center void and will offer a full eight hour day of de-escalation training.

Vice President Higgins will speak with Chief Roseboom about the training being offered.

Tim Kaminski

·         Stated that because he runs the water plant he feels he should comment on the water reporting issue.  He met all IDEM requirements regarding this issue and had the WTP phone number included in the legal ad in the paper.  The three people who contacted Mrs. Countryman did not contact him and in reference to this issue he has received just one email.  Sue Jones did print the information in the New Carlisle News but used an incorrect telephone number. 

President Colpitts stated that everyone involved took this issue very seriously and a plan of action is now in place to insure that this does not happen again.

Bills to be Paid

Vice President Higgins moved to pay all bills as presented.  Seconded by Council Member Vojtko, the motion passed unanimously.

 

 

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General Meeting – February 28, 2012

 

Adjournment

Upon a motion from Vice President Higgins and second by Council Member Vojtko the meeting adjourned at 6:06 PM.

 

________________________________

Ronald Colpitts, Council President

 

 

 

 

______________________________

Susan I. Moffitt, Clerk-Treasurer