Westport Town Council met on Monday.
The council signed the funeral deeds, payroll vouchers, adjustments, and monthly bills.
Monday was National Law Enforcement Day. The board thanked law enforcement for their efforts in keeping their community safe. There was a plaque presented to retiring officer Damon Land for his 11 years of service with the police department.
There was a public hearing on 301 E Sycamore Street. The owner of this property had not been aware of the state it had been reduced to and has been working to clean it up. Their actions completed order is February 28 and they plan to have the property cleaned up in the next couple of weeks, well before the date. The board suggested that the owner of the rental property implement some sort of check in so that the property does not reach this state again. There was no public comment.
Ordinance 2022-11, to consent to liquor retail permits within the town of Westport, was approved on its final reading.
There was a discussion on the community building and the community building board. There are currently 3 non profits that meet in the front room of the community building and 2 of the 3 pay no rent, while the Westport Kiwanis Club pays. The board wondered why this was and if it was fair to make one pay, while the others do not, especially when the Kiwanis Club takes care of the grounds as well. They aren’t sure why they pay other than that is how it has always been, but they agree that all who rent out the space should pay equally. The board stated that while it is good they agree, it makes no sense as to why they were not taking rent for everyone in the first place seeing as they have no extra funds. The community building needs fixed however this responsibility of a couple hundred thousand dollars will now fall into the towns responsibility. This led the board to discuss options of how to run the building in the future and whether or not they develop an advisory board while the town council has the final say. The town would then need to find a way to promote to generate enough operating income and how much would be needed to spend to get the building up to a viable standard. If they were to put his money into the community building as a town entity they would want everything reconstructed from top to bottom, both metaphorically and literally in order to keep moving forward in a positive way. This will be further discussed at a later time.
The board approved to accept the lowest bid on a truck for the Street department. The board approved the commitment letter for INDOT on the Community Crossing Grants.
Morgan Schofield
WTRE News
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