City of Knox Sells Old Firetruck on eBay

Posted on Author WKVI
Jeff Houston

Online auction shopping website eBay came to the rescue of the City of Knox recently. Unable to sell used equipment and vehicles, the city has turned to eBay and it has turned out to be a gold mine. The most recent thing sold was an
old fire truck, as Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston explains.

“We sold the old firetruck on eBay for $4850, and that seems to be a pretty good process for us. We used to set vehicles around and put “For Sale,” and we did set this up here so people could see it, but it had the email address and stuff to be able to bid on it for a certain length of time on eBay rather than to come in and make bids with us. I like it a lot better, and I’m real happy with the rate that we are getting compared with what we were getting before,” said Houston.

As they say, “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” The old fire truck was taken away by a buyer in Michigan.

An interesting story about eBay. The founder, Pierre Omidyar, sold a broken laser pointer in 1995. It was the first item sold over eBay, and Omidyar was so astonished that he called the buyer back and asked, “Do you realize this laser pointer is broken?” To which the man replied, “I’m in the market for broken laser pointers, not new ones.”

Omidyar then realized eBay might really be successful.

Knox City Council Discusses Pennsylvania Central Bridge

Posted on Author WKVI
Pennsylvania Central Bridge

The old Pennsylvania Central Bridge that spans the Yellow River at the east end of Wythogan Park was the topic of discussion during the recent Knox City Council meeting.

The Council has discussed taking the bridge out and possibly having the removal paid for by the scrap iron in the structure. Mayor Rick Chambers put a stop to that when he said the scrap wouldn’t pay for the demolition.

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City of Knox and CADA Receive Grant

Posted on Author WKVI

A $424,620 grant was recently presented to the City of Knox by Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman. Knox Mayor Rick Chambers accompanied a number of members from the Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, or CADA, to the Indianapolis presentation last Friday for the award ceremony.

The City of Knox applied for a Community Focus Fund Grant, in partnership with CADA. In previous meetings of the Knox City Council, Ruth Matsey explained the need for an addition to the Phoenix House building. Water ruined a portion of the building that was used for storage. The money from the grant will be used for the construction of the addition.

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Knox City Council Discusses Water Rate Study

Posted on Author WKVI
Back Row: Greg Matt, Mayor Rick Chambers, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Donald Kring, City Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

The Knox City Council discussed the need to do a Water Rates Study. Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston explained the situation to the Council.

“We’re asking Umbaugh to do a study on the last three calendar years to determine the trends and the amounts of revenue that we have for the operation, maintenance, cash expenses, debt service requirements in the water department. They will also come up with a capital improvement plan so that we know that we have enough money in the future to cover whatever we need.”

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Knox City Council Commends Officer, Fireman in Rescue

Posted on Author WKVI

Mayor Rick Chambers passed out praise at the Knox City Council meeting this week. Chambers thanked Knox City Police Officer, Chad Dulin, and Knox-Center Township fireman, Wayne Noah, for quick action in saving the life of a child in an accident that occurred Saturday at 200 East and State Road 8. The car went into the ditch and began filling with water. The pair arrived on scene and helped get the child out of the car. The fire department then arrived on the scene and extricated the driver out of the car.

The Mayor also praised the Knox High School Girls basketball team who brought home the first Sectional crown since 1995.

From the WKVI Archives

Posted on Author WKVI

Looking back in time, it was on this date in 1979 that Knox Fire Chief Pete Corey came before the Knox City Council to quote figures on a new $180,000 fire truck.
The 35 foot long, 10 foot high truck would be equipped with a telescopic unit, bucket and ladder. Corey said because of multiple story buildings being built locally the need for this type of fire protection is needed. City Attorney Henry Hart was asked to report back with a financing plan for such a truck.

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Goals to Revitalize Downtown Knox Given to City Council

Posted on Author WKVI
Back Row: Greg Matt, Mayor Rick Chambers, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Donald Kring, City Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

A list of goals to improve the look of downtown Knox was presented to the city council by Council President Jeff Berg at their recent work session. According to Berg, the list consists of several basic goals that can be easily attained and most of them can be performed by the city at little cost.

The list of community goals included items as simple as replacing old fire hydrants, bracketing Heaton Street light poles for future flag and banner use, and resurfacing the Wythogan Park basketball court, which Berg says is in dire need of repair. The estimated cost of this project has been projected to approximately $31,000, and no decision has been made as to where that money will come from.

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Knox City Council Discusses Risner Suit

Posted on Author WKVI

The pending lawsuit from Edward Risner against the city of Knox was discussed further at the recent meeting of the Knox City Council. Risner claims in his suit that the city committed a breach of verbal contract, and requests $40,000 in reimbursement.

The suit was originally filed in federal court, but was dismissed and has been re-filed. Unfortunately, because the city’s liability carrier does not cover this kind of suit, the city will have to hire its own counsel out-of-pocket. Two firms expressed interest in handling the case: a firm out of LaPorte that quoted the city $150 per hour and estimated a total of nearly 130 hours for the case. The firm of City Attorney David Matsey quoted $120 an hour, and Matsey said that he hopes to get the case thrown out before it ever gets to trial.

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Knox City Council Approves Purchase of Property in Parkview

Posted on Author WKVI
Back Row: Greg Matt, Mayor Rick Chambers, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Donald Kring, City Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

The Knox City Council approved the purchase of a property in the Parkview Heights area.

The Council purchased property at 404 Giles Court. On the property is a 1950’s-type trailer, and the owner, James Landrum, offered to sell it to the city for $2,000.00. Mayor Rick Chambers said on top of the purchase price the council would need to figure the cost of cleaning up the property.

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Knox City Council Discusses 2012 Mayoral Appointments

Posted on Author WKVI
Knox Mayor Rick Chambers

The Knox City Council discussed the 2012 Mayoral Appointments at their recent meeting. There is currently no water superintendent for the city because the previous superintendent was released from duty earlier this week. A seat on the Starke County Alcoholic Beverage Board is also open, and Mayor Rick Chambers told the council that he will possibly be seeking an Ordinance Officer in the summer. That position was previously handled by the police, but according to Chambers, that hasn’t worked out as well as he’d hoped.

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Wythogan Park Train Bridge to Undergo Risk Management Inspection

Posted on Author WKVI

City Attorney David Matsey mentioned during the recent meeting of the Knox City Council that he had received a claim from an attorney in Connecticut in regards to a drowning victim in the Yellow River. The claim will be handled and covered by the city’s insurance carrier, but Knox Mayor Rick Chambers told the council that he plans to set a date for a risk management inspector to inspect the train bridge over the Yellow River.

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Knox City Council Discusses Risner Lawsuit

Posted on Author WKVI

The Knox City Council met this week with newly elected councilman Donald Kring taking the seat of 16-year council veteran Ed Blue.

One of the matters brought before the council at the meeting was a pending lawsuit from Edward Risner, who claims that the city breached a verbal contract when they refused to burn down his house as part of a training exercise. Mayor Rick Chambers told WKVI that Risner believes he had a verbal contract with the fire department to burn his house down, and use the opportunity as a training session.

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City of Knox Sells Scrap Metal

Posted on Author WKVI
Knox City Council (L to R) Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg, Ron Parker, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Mayor Rick Chambers, Attorney David Matsey, Ed Blue and Greg Matt

The city of Knox brought in over $500 by selling scrap metal that had been laying around. Mayor Rick Chambers explained that sheets of corrugated metal had been purchased when the city was installing new sidewalks downtown because the engineers were under the impression that there were tunnels beneath the sidewalks, but after the sidewalks were dug up, they quickly realized that was not the case.

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Knox City Council Declines Street Sign Replacement Grant

Posted on Author WKVI

The Knox City Council this week agreed to decline a grant offered by the federal government for replacing street signs, and instead will proceed with replacing the signs on their own.

Mayor Rick Chambers told WKVI that the council agreed to decline the grant because the $50,000 grant required a $5,000 match from the city. That cost, combined with the fact that the grant only covered the engineering aspect of the project, convinced the council to proceed with the project at their own expense. New regulations from the federal government requires all signs to be replaced with newer, more reflective signs by 2018.

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Christmas Market Considered by Knox Council

Posted on Author WKVI
Knox City Council #2
Back Row: Mayor Rick Chambers, Ed Blue, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Greg Matt and Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

With the feeling of Christmas still lingering in the air, the Knox City Council this week discussed the possibility of hosting a Christmas market– a street market featuring nativity scenes, nutcrackers, books, hand-crafted items, and other traditional Christmas goodies like cookies, soups, almonds, and other treats.

Knox Mayor Rick Chambers explains that with a Christmas market, the city could combine its Christmas events into one weekend bonanza.

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Knox City Council Approves Appointments

Posted on Author WKVI
Knox City Council #2
Back Row: Mayor Rick Chambers, Ed Blue, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Greg Matt and Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

At the most recent meeting of the Knox City Council, appointments were made for several boards. Linda Berndt agreed to remain on the Starke County Development Board, newly elected City Councilman, Don Kring, will go on the Starke County Environmental Board, Ed Blue will remain on the Board of Works, and the Mayor re-appointed Ollie Lockridge and Jim Collins for the Knox Redevelopment Committee Board.

Owner of Golf Cart Company in Knox Sells Business

Posted on Author WKVI

Ed Arnold, of the Golf Cart Company in Knox, announced at the Knox City Council meeting this week that he has sold the building on Heaton Street and must vacate soon.

Arnold gave a history of the building and business to the council members.

“Sixty-one years ago, my father decided to build a plant here in Knox, thirty years ago I purchased the building from him and the building has now been sold,” said Arnold. “We have relocated to a new facility in Grand Beach, Michigan, but it is our intent to keep a facility here in Knox as well because I have employees here that are important to me.”

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Knox Residents are Urged to Recycle

Posted on Author WKVI

Knox residents are being urged to recycle as much as possible. At a meeting with the Knox City Council and a representative from Waste Management two months ago, it was stated that the company would like to get the recycling percentage up to 30%. More tonnage is going into the garbage which could be recycled and that is keeping up garbage costs.

“We got a monthly tonnage report for September and there was 121.10 tons of trash and 13.2 tons of recycling,” said City Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston. “In October, there was 118.40 tons of trash and 14.2 tons of recycling.”

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Knox City Council Approves Amended Salary Ordinance

Posted on Author WKVI
Knox City Council (L to R) Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg, Ron Parker, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Mayor Rick Chambers, Attorney David Matsey, Ed Blue and Greg Matt

It appears that the Knox City Council members will be getting a two percent salary increase after all.

On the first reading of the ordinance giving an across-the-board increase for employees and city officials, the motion died with a 2-2-1 vote. Linda Berndt and Ron Parker favored eliminating council members from the raise.  Continue reading →