The West Central School Board members held the first reading of policy manual revisions during their recent meeting.
Superintendent Don Street said the board members considered four changes.
Winamac Town Council Members Approve Truck Purchase for Electric Department
Winamac Town Council members approved the purchase of a Digger Derrick Truck for the Electric Department when they met Monday night. Town Manager Brad Zellers explained that Digger Derrick Trucks are utilized by electric departments to dig holes for light posts.
Zeller explained that initially, they wanted to go with the least expensive truck bid which was submitted by the company Altec. However, he said they had issues getting anybody from that company to come out to go over the details of the sale. Continue reading
Winamac Park Board May Consider Additional Pickleball Courts
Pickleball has the potential to be a major tourist draw for the Town of Winamac. That’s according to park board member and pickleball enthusiast Jon Chapman.
Community Foundation of Pulaski County 2018 Lilly Endowment Scholarship Recipient Announced
Winamac Community High School Senior Peyton Newman has been named the Community Foundation of Pulaski County 2018 Lilly Endowment Community Scholar.
Peyton is the daughter of Arthur and Melissa Newman. She has been involved in a plethora of school activities including student council, FFA, Sunshine Society, SADD, Key Club and drama. She is also active in golf and cheerleading.
Outside of school, Peyton has been a member of 4-H for 9 years. She is also a 5-year Junior Leader member and has volunteered as a camp counselor, a fair board representative and council representative. Continue reading
La Porte County Sheriff’s Office Responds to Two Vehicle, Single Fatality Crash Along U.S. Hwy 20
Shortly after 11:30 a.m. CT on Tuesday, deputies from the La Porte County Sheriff’s office were dispatched to a two-vehicle crash that occurred on US Highway 20 at the intersection of Range Road in rural Kankakee Township.
A media advisory explained that Kankakee Township Firemen were the first to arrive on the scene and they determined that the driver of a Honda passenger car involved in the accident was unresponsive. Continue reading
Oregon-Davis School Board Decides to Move Ahead with Property Tax Referendum
Residents of Oregon and Davis townships will soon be asked to consider a tax increase to fund school operations. The Oregon-Davis School Board decided Monday to place a property tax referendum on the May 8 ballot.
Winamac Town Council Members Unanimously Pass Water Rate Ordinance after Removing Section about Backflow Testing
A public hearing was held over water rate adjustments prior to last night’s Winamac Town Council meeting.
The adjustments to the water raters are being proposed as a way to cover the town’s water project. Eric Walsh from Umbaugh and Associates was present and provided some details about the $1.6 million water project.
He explained that the town has been planning for this project for many years, which assisted them in receiving a grant from the Office of Community and Rural Affairs in the amount of $550,000. He added that the remainder of the project will be covered by borrowing from the electric utility at 1% interest rate. He said this will cause water rates to rise slightly.
Walsh said, “It is resulting in about a 9 percent, little less than 9 percent increase on your water bills. So to an average residential customer [using] about 5,000 gallons a month, that’s a $3 a month of an increase.”
Walsh said if the town hadn’t pre-planned or received the OCRA grant, rates could have increased by about 20 percent, costing the average customer to pay $6 to $7 more. He said no one likes to increase rates, but he commended the council members for the proactive steps they took to keep the increases from being doubled. Continue reading
Starke County Working to Increase Voting Machine Storage Security
The Starke County Election Board is taking steps to keep voters’ ballots secure. New regulations now require that voting machines be locked up when they aren’t in use, to prevent tampering.
Open House Planned for Pulaski County CASA Program
Pulaski County residents have the chance to learn how they can help guide abused and neglected kids through the court system. Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn told the county council and commissioners Monday that an open house is planned, to celebrate the county’s newly-independent Court Appointed Special Advocates program. Continue reading
Winamac Park Board Discusses Ideas for Future Park Upgrades
Now that the Town of Winamac has pulled its financial support of the swimming pool rebuilding project, the town’s park board is thinking about other projects that could benefit from potential grant funding.
West Central School Board Approves Bus Purchase
Starke County Park Board to Get Updates on Bass Lake Beach, Koontz Lake Lions Club Park
The Starke County Park Board is expected to continue discussing several ongoing issues when it meets tonight. One of those is the proposed county ownership of Koontz Lake Lions Club Memorial Park. Lions Club members say they plan to continue maintaining the park as long as they can, but transferring ownership to Starke County would save them the cost of insurance.
Humane Society Agreement & Side Walk Obstruction Ordinance on the Agenda for Tonight’s Knox City Council Meeting
The Knox City Council members are anticipated to act on the agreement between the Starke County Humane Society and the City of Knox when they meet in City Hall at 7 p.m. tonight.
The agreement states that the Starke County Humane Society is the official housing center for the city’s stray animals. Mayor Dennis Estok explained that there has been a verbal understanding between the city and the Humane Society for quite some time, but this agreement puts all expectations and responsibilities into writing.
Council members will also discuss amendments to the city’s existing sidewalk obstruction ordinance. The ordinance will be amended to address vehicles more specifically. Continue reading
Culver Town Council to Meet Tonight
The Culver Town Council will discuss several ordinances when they meet tonight for their regular business meeting.
Two ordinances will be considered on second and third reading. One ordinance includes changes to the Code of Ordinances. The ordinance allows the current Code of Ordinances manual to be updated to current regulations. The second is a service weapon ordinance that allows a retiring police officer, who has served at last 20 years in law enforcement, the ability to retain his or her service weapon, badge and identification cards.
Starke County Election Board to Pursue Voting Machine Upgrades
The Starke County Election Board has decided to proceed with upgrades to the county’s 46 voting machines. Steve Shamo with vendor MicroVote said the goal is to bring the machines up to the latest federal standards, in time for the 2020 presidential election. Continue reading
West Central School Board Moving Forward with Security Project
The West Central School Board members took action Thursday night to move forward with the secure entrance and utilization of space construction project.
Superintendent Don Street said the board held a public hearing on a proposed lease agreement. No public comment was given concerning the lease agreement and if it is fair and reasonable for construction or improvements. An additional appropriation for the bond was approved following a hearing.
Oregon Township Officials Buy New Fire Truck
Oregon Township officials have purchased a new truck for the Koontz Lake Fire Department.
Township Trustee Mark Allen said they will sign paperwork for the new 2018 Spartan pumper truck during their regular board meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 6:30 p.m. CT at the Koontz Lake Fire Department on State Road 23.
Starke County Commissioners Discuss Relinquishment of County Road
The Starke County Commissioners discussed a proposal to relinquish County Road 450 West, north of Toto Road to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler said DNR representative Bryan Boggs made the request. Ritzler said the road is adjacent to the DNR property and believes the DNR could better maintain the road.
North Judson Code Enforcement Officer Provides Update to Town Council, Suggests Removing Outdated Ordinances
North Judson Code Enforcement Officer Joe Leszek provided an update about the code enforcement program that was implemented in mid-July.
Leszek said that they’ve seen good results and they continue to make improvements. He alerted council members that Town Marshal Kelly Fisher is currently working on a procedure to “put a little more teeth” into the abandoned vehicle policy.
He also mentioned that for the first few months, they were being more lenient by giving warnings and allowing people a few weeks to deal with citations. However, he said now that they’re more than six months into the code enforcement program, they’ll cut that down to 48 hour warnings and then ticketing if the issue is not handled.
North Judson’s town photographer Peggy Bohac presented a concern that she received from a fixed-income resident who was worried that stricter code enforcement could result in fines that would potentially be unmanageable.
Marshal Fisher responded, saying as long as citizens are making a noticeable effort to correct the violation, then they will not be continuously fined. Continue reading
Pulaski County Council to Consider Potential Metal Fab Tax Abatement, Vocational Training Funding
The possibility of a tax abatement for Metal Fab Engineering will be considered by the Pulaski County Council tonight. Council members will decide whether to confirm the business’s designation as an economic recovery area. That would allow the company to request a tax abatement. Members of the public will have a chance to weigh in tonight, before a decision is made.
