TOWN OF SILVER LAKE

604 N. JEFFERSON ST.

Silver Lake Meeting Hall

April 12, 2011

7:00 p.m.

 

 

 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

 

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS: 

 

                        Linda Baker, Gale Owens, Chad Miner, Angie Glass, Craig Hollopeter,

                        and Jasun Blocher were in attendance.  Morris Jones was absent.

 

MINUTES:      Minutes from the March 8th and April 7th meeting were presented.

                        Gale Owens made the motion to accept.  Chad Miner seconded.

                        Motion carried.

 

CITIZENS:

1)     Brenda Wadkins questioned her water bill.  Ms. Glass told her

she would be glad to help her if she would stop in the office with

her complaint at which time they could go over it together.  Ms.

Wadkins said she had read the meter herself and the figures weren’t the same as stated on her bill.  Ms. Glass said that she

didn’t have the figures memorized, but again, she would be glad to go over it with her in her office at which time Ms. Wadkins accused her of “tampering” with the numbers.  Ms. Glass replied that that was not the case, but she would look at them tomorrow.

Ms. Wadkins questioned the purchase of the town trucks, again.  The subject has been discussed several times over the two years they have been in service.  Ms. Wadkins argued that the purchase was not approved in a public meeting.  Ms. Glass reminded her again that they were indeed approved in a public meeting.  Ms. Wadkins said that it wasn’t in the meetings’ minutes. After more discussion Ms. Glass told Ms. Wadkins that after two years of it, she would not argue with her over the trucks anymore. Again, she

could come to the office and discuss the issue.

 

2)      Teresa Howell questioned the board about the water and sewage revenue.  She said that the town could not continue to operate at the status quo without going deeper and deeper in the red.  Angie Glass stated that she agreed with her.  Clerk-Treasurer Angie Glass has confronted the board with the problem several times with no reaction.  Most towns have a financial study every two years; Silver Lake hasn’t had one done since approximately 2000. Currently the revenue is vastly smaller than the expenses.  The board agreed and told Angie to call Umbaugh, a financial advising company that regularly advises local governments and utilities, to do a study on Silver Lake utilities.  An update will be given at next month’s meeting, although the study probably won’t be completed by then. 

 

3)     Karla Doub told the board that she was still pursuing vacating a street running by her property.  She wants to have a public hearing at the May meeting.  Town attorney Vern Landis advised the board to go to the property and take a look.  Jasun Blocher questioned why the council couldn’t create an ordinance that no one can drive on unimproved streets and alleys with exception of utilities.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

1)     Town clean-up will be on Saturday, April 30th. The crew will come around 7a.m., so the board requests that residents have everything on the curb the night before.  Anyone who is getting rid of appliances must contact Stafford’s Waste Inc. to have those removed.  There might be a fee for those items.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

1)     Council president Linda Baker signed the request for permits for street closure for Silver Lake Days scheduled for June 17th and 18th with street dance on July 30th.

 

DEPARTMENT HEADS:

 

Craig Hollopeter has put in the request to the state to close streets for Silver Lake Days and the July street dance.

 

                        Craig also announced that Mark A. Hoppus will graduate from the

                        police academy this Friday. Hoppus has been attending the police

                        academy while working for the police department on weekends.

                        Now that Hoppus is finishing his training at the academy, he is looking

                        for a position in law enforcement.  Angie Glass said an additional

                        appropriation would be needed to pay for an additional part-time

                        employee.  She didn’t know if it would be approved.  Councilman

                        Gale Owens said he would like to get him hired on, but with the

                        budget cuts he didn’t know if they could do it.  Hoppus thanked the

                        town for their support during his time at the academy. “I appreciate

                        everything the town has given me so far.  I’ll stay on as a reserve, but

                        I’ll have to start looking for employment elsewhere.

 

                       

Jasun Blocher reported that the street department has started

                        flushing the hydrants on Tuesday.  There was the usual iron.  They

                        are about halfway done.  He also reported that the grant for Silver

                        Lake’s stormwater update is moving forward.  After a pre-construct-

                        ion meeting he will have a better idea of times and dates.  It will

                        probably interfere with Silver Lake Days at least a little bit.

More information will be available once the pre-construction meetings are held. 

The final leaf vacuum day will be either Thursday or Friday, depending on the weather. If residents would like to have leaves vacuumed instead of having to bag them, the leaves have to be curbside by Thursday.

Jasun requested that the board create a procedure to follow when the utilities department needs to shut off water due to leaks.  In the past the customer doesn’t want his/her water shut off when a leak is discovered, but they don’t want to pay for the extra water being discharged into the ground. 

 

            LETTERS:

 

                                    Rozella McCullough requested that her water bill be adjusted after a

large leak was discovered under her house.  JasunBlocher requested that the board create a procedure to follow when the utilities department needs to shut off water due to leaks.  Past experience is that the customer doesn’t want the water shut off when a leak is discovered, but they can’t pay for all the extra water that leaks into the ground.  He suggested that the utilities company shut off the water until it can be fixed.  The town’s water system is set up to operate with a certain amount of water. They would be willing to work with the people as far as turning it on when needed and shutting it back off.  Chad Miner said that he agrees with Jasun.  They definitely need to look at the situation.  He agrees that they should go ahead and shut it off.  If they don’t, most customers couldn’t afford the bill.  Gale Owens made the motion to adjust Mrs. McCullough’s bill back to normal.  Chad Miner seconded.  Motion carried.

 

 

CLAIM DOCKET:

 

A claim docket was presented for the amount of $83,017.40.  Gale Owens made the motion to accept the claim docket.  Chad Miner seconded.  Motion carried.

 

MISCELLEANEOUS:

 

The Silver Lake Lion’s club will be holding an Easter Egg Hunt at the old Silver lake Elementary School building on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. The hunt is for children in sixth grade and younger.

 

ADJOURN:    

Gale Owens made the motion to adjourn.  Linda Baker seconded.  Motion carried.  Next regular meeting will be held May 10, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at the Silver Lake Town Hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

__________________________________________                                   __________________________________________

Linda Baker, Town Council President                              Angela Glass, Clerk-Treasurer