Winamac town employees who test positive for COVID-19 or have a child who does will get another two days of paid sick leave. The town council approved the measure during a special meeting Thursday, but not without an occasionally heated debate.
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Winamac town employees will go back to their regular work schedules next week. During a special meeting Monday, the town council voted to have all employees return to work but make sure they follow social distancing protocols. Town Hall will remain closed to the public, though.
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The Winamac Town Council does not appear to be loosening restrictions on golf carts in the near future. Three years after resident Nora Schambers asked council members to let small children ride in golf carts, she once again went before the town council last month.
Continue readingThe Town of Winamac is waiving late fees on utility bills for April and May. The change was approved by the town council Monday. Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Berger said that utilities won’t be shut off during the COVID-19 emergency, but some places have been looking into waiving penalties, as well.
Continue readingThe renewal of a tax abatement for the Isis Movie Theater was up for approval from the Winamac Town Council members during their meeting Monday evening.
Town Manager Brad Zellers said that this renewal request was the only one he’s received so far this year. Continue reading
Winamac Town Council members reviewed an ordinance detailing the EDIT Plan for 2018 and 2019 when they met this week.
Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Berger explained that the EDIT Plan outlines proposed projects that will utilize county economic development income tax funds for the next two years.
Town Attorney Justin Schramm added that State Code requires towns to spend 75% of what they receive. He said the figures provided for 2019 were estimated since they do not currently know how much Winamac will receive that year. Schramm said for the 2019 amount, he reduced next year’s amount by 20 percent to present conservative figures just in case they receive less. Continue reading
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
