The Pilot News - New siren, playground pickets discussed

The dilapidated chimney which has long held the old siren has shifted, causing the siren to be removed for safety reasons, said Council President Sally Ricciardi at last week’s meeting of Culver’s Town Council. The chimney was originally part of the boiler system for the Culver Citizen Press building in which the town hall now resides.
The move comes after months of discussion centering around noise complaints from residents of the north side of Culver where a siren was installed last year. The council agreed to revert that siren, as well as a longtime siren on Culver’s south side, to emergency weather signals only and eliminate their use as fire sirens and in daily noon whistles. The new siren at the town hall would become the only one in town used for fire, noon whistle, and severe weather alerts. Town Manager Michael Doss said the hope was for the siren to be operational very soon.
In other discussion, the Council hopes to set a date to sit down with its Parks and Recreation board in the near future to discuss matters raised during the citizen input portion of that meeting. Teresa Yuhas of Culver told the Council she and husband Tom and son Tim attended the regular Park Board meeting of the previous Wednesday and were told fence pickets purchased as part of a fund-raiser to erect last year’s Vandalia Village playground on the east end of the Town Park will not be placed at the site after all. The pickets had been sold at $25 each to those wishing to personalize them with a name or short message and have them installed as part of a fence surrounding the playground.
Yuhas said Park Superintendent Kelly Young presented the Park Board at its latest meeting a letter from the Friends of the Vandalia Village committee — which headed up the playground fund-raising — saying the committee was dissolving and any further development of the project would take place through the Park Board.
Yuhas asked the Council about the bookkeeping for the project. “We and some 465 others had contributed to the pickets to acknowledge us, and the money seems to have disappeared,” she said. “We gave a check made out to the Culver Park Gift Fund but it was endorsed by the Culver Park… we would like an accounting of the entire playground project.”
She also said the Park Board told audience members at the previous month’s meeting the pickets would be erected after this winter.
In answer to this and several of Yuhas’ questions, Town Clerk Casey Howard said she would provide the accounting info on the project, which she noted goes back to 2006.
“We’ve had many requests in regards to the playground project and pickets,” said Howard. “Currently they don’t have $11,500 to purchase the pickets…they overspent on the playground (but) I don’t know what their budget was.”
Yuhas said she’s received conflicting messages as to Young’s level of involvement in the project. Howard confirmed Young was on the committee, which she said hired the playground de-signer, planned work days, solicited volunteers for the construction of the playground, and made sure necessary materials were at the site on build day.
Yuhas also asked who made the decision to drop Leathers and Associates, the company initially contracted to design and implement the community-built playground, in favor of a new company. “The town lost all that money to that company (totaling) $30,000,” said Yuhas.
In other park-related discussion, Overmyer read a letter from an out-of-town family who said they’re regular visitors to the park over the past 20 years have been treated rudely by the Superintendent, claiming “apparently it’s an out-of-town issue.”
The letter also raised the fence picket issue and added park picnic tables and benches are not well-maintained, a claim with which Yuhas agreed.
Council member Ed Pinder said he and his wife are in the park almost daily. “This must not be the park I go to… you must look at just the things that are in bad shape. Most things are in good shape there.”
Howard said she would seek to arrange a meeting between the two boards as soon as possible.
In other business:
• The Council also made two amendments to the storm water utility and user fee it approved on third and final reading that evening, including establishment of a flat fee of $8 for condo-hotel buildings regardless of their size and number of units, and an exemption of the fee for any government entity – including public schools. Individual and commercial property owners will be charged the flat fee monthly in order to raise funds to correct issues with Culver’s storm water system.
• The council also approved its 2010 budget at the meeting.
Culver residents will likely see a reminder to keep sidewalks clean and snow-free during the winter months on their water bills, at the suggestion of Council member Lynn Overmyer in response to concerns raised by Culver resident Leroy Bean. Bean said it’s particularly important to remind those residents who leave the area for the winter to make provisions for clearing snow from their sidewalks while they’re out of town.
• Culver Community Schools and the town of Culver are getting behind an effort from the Second Century Committee of Cul-ver’s Chamber of Commerce to establish Safe Routes to School as part of a federal grant effort and a broader, long-range effort to establish biking and recreation paths in Culver and around Lake Maxinkuckee.
Culver schools Super-intendent Brad Schuldt told the Council the school is working to support the effort, which he feels will help the town as a whole, by way of required surveys of students’ means of getting to school. He noted students bused to school daily make up the highest percentage of students in the corporation, but a number do walk or bike as well. There’s been discussion, added Schuldt, of recreation paths being created on school property to link up to existing walkways in town.
Town manager Doss, applauding Second Century for the endeavor, said the possibility of $250,000 in reimbursement from the program towards town sidewalks is “perfect” and “marries well with our sidewalk program this past year, which has been making sidewalks safer (and) strengthening our relationship with the community.”
Jack Cunningham, representing Second Century, said the SRTS grant application must be in to the Michiana Area Council of Govern-ments — who assisted in seeking direction for funding — by April, 2010 and to the Indiana Department of Transportation by May 1, 2010; any work done on the project would not begin until early 2011.
The town will take a close look at drainage-related problems on Peru Court, said Council members in response to a visit from residents of that street who say recent paving efforts there have caused dangerous erosion in the street and washing of sediment and debris onto their property.
Town attorney Jim Clevenger will likely write a letter to the paving company responsible for paving Hoosier Lane, where two residents attending the meeting said damage was done to their property during the paving process and representatives of the town previously told them the problem would be rectified.
The council also voted to accept a request from Pulaski County to reduce fees originally set for Culver and Union Township’s Emergency Medical Service to make the town of Monterey – located in that county – a part of its coverage area. The annual fee for EMS service there will now be $5,500 in 2010, with $500 increments annually for the two years following.
The council voted to replace Culver’s often-used 1996 dump truck with a 2008 vehicle with no miles at a cost of $31,736, significantly less than the $42,000 estimated cost according to Howard. The council also approved accepting sealed bids for the existing truck.
Approved also was hiring DLZ Engineering to create a comprehensive plan for Culver’s streets, curbs, and gutters, a move discussed in recent meetings. Doss said he hopes the plan’s creation can be started this fall, and noted DLZ handled changes in downtown Mishawaka over the past several years to great effect.
Doss also thanked Marshall County GIS for assistance in choosing software the council agreed to purchase in order to map out Culver’s sewer, water, and storm water infrastructures using GIS, or Geographic Information System computer platforms. Included in the council’s vote were monies for two-day training for town employees in the new software.
Howard also told the Council she will advertise pending litigation in a local EMS personnel matter, as required by law.