The Greensburg Board of Works met on Tuesday.
Street Commissioner Mark Klosterkemper presented an INDOT agreement to the board. They had applied for funding, as did the county, for the first phases of the Park Road Project. The city is the lead agency of the project and in charge of signing all documents. This was approved.
Fire Chief Nathan Stoermer came to the board to discuss the pink ladder truck. This year they have done a pink wrap on the ladder truck for Breast Cancer Awareness. This will be displayed at the Fall Festival Parade and is at no cost to the city. Their saying is “Extinguish Breast Cancer”. This was approved. The board approved conditional offers of employment to applicants 1 and 2. There was a discussion on the reimbursement agreement at the fire station. They would like to raise the reimbursement from $5,000 to $8,000 as well as change the wording from “oath of office” to “date of employment”. This was approved. The Fire Prevention Chili Supper will be October 7 from 4-7 pm. This is the first chili supper they have had since COVID.
Police Chief Mike McNealy presented applicant number 1 to the board for a conditional offer of employment. They have had great recommendations from other members of the department during the time spent between the interview and now. This was approved. They signed an agreement to order but not purchase fleet vehicles for the police department. The police department will have a booth at the Fall Festival for meet and greets with the community.
City Engineer Ron May presented the proposal for the GamePad concrete at North Park. One proposal was received from Dave O’Mara Contracting for $48,817. This was approved pending the pricing for other items and a more thorough review. The close out for the City Hall Bond proceeds was approved. This will be used for updated signage, gypsum board, and landscaping. The board approved the purchase of a truck from Hubler Ford for $31,040.
The board discussed the Stormwater Fee appeals. There were 35 total appeals received. There was an issue with a large proton of these appeals as they did not meet the ordinance requirements of an appeal application. There are 2 things that can be argued for an appeal: the classification of the property/parcel and the ERU calculation which is calculated by square footage on property. Appeal 2022-38 was the only appeal received that followed the ordinance rules and was approved to reduce the ERU calculation based on evidence of miscalculation. Appeals 2022-3 through 2022-37, a total of 34 appeals, were denied. Property owner for appeal 2022-27 spoke on their appeal. They believe they are unfairly accessed twice when both of their parcels are under the same address and that they are overcharged for a shed on one lot that they believe to not make it an improvement. Any categorization of improvement comes from the county tax records, and this problem must be taken up with the county accessor. The property is charged based on parcel number, not address. Property owner of appeal 2022-9 believes they should not be charged due to their property sitting 10-12 feet lower than the road and because all of their runoff goes into the creek, not city utilities. Based on the ordinance there is no exception for this and everything else with the property is fairly accessed. Property owner for appeal 2022-3 has a retention pond on their property and since they have a tile that collects all runoff, believes that this is double taxation as the retention pond uses no city utilities. The retention pond does drain into the city stormwater system. Property owner of appeals 2022-35, 36, and 37 argued that since they use no city utilities and were only recently annexed into the city limits due to Honda, that they should not have to pay a fee. Property owner of appeals 2022-14 through 2022-22 has a retention pond that does not go to city utilities and all drainage goes there and believes they should not have to pay the fee to the city.
The claims were approved.
Morgan Schofield
WTRE News
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