By Cheryl Patrick Leader Staff Writer
NORTH JUDSON — Officer Bob Manning is no longer the town marshal of North Judson. During the last council meeting, the issue of removing Manning was tabled. However, after additional discussions, the board upheld their original decision to remove Manning.
That decision appeared to be the first motion made Jan. 7, in which the council voted 2-1 to make Officer Doug Vessely the new chief.
No new vote was taken.
Doug Vessely was sworn in as the new town marshal in front of a standing room only crowd. Vessely announced to the board and those in attendance that Officer Bob Manning would be retained as assistant chief or assistant town marshal; “however you want to phrase it. Manning was captain of the police prior to his becoming town marshal,” Vessely said.

“I have served as a police officer for the past eight years, the last two years and three months as chief of police,” Manning said. “It has been an honor to serve in that capacity and I will do everything that I can to assist the new chief so that the level of protection and service to the public is not compromised. that’s what’s most important to me,” Manning said.
Other committees that had new or returning members sworn in were the planning commission, Board of Zoning Appeals and KIRPC.
Roy Hounshell was sworn in for the planning commission; he will also serve as president. Doug Wilde and Ken Dolezal will be returning to their positions on the planning commission. Dave Altman’s position will need to be filled as he previously informed the board that he no longer wished to serve.
Marv Peters will continue to serve as a liaison between the planning commission and the BZA.
Jim Kersting will serve as president of the BZA, while Dave Bales and Marv Peters agreed to retain their positions on the board. Dave Kain resigned his position because his job takes him out of town too often and he was unable to attend as many meetings as he would like. Jerry Dolezal still has to be contacted regarding maintaining his position with the BZA.
James Hale resigned his position as building inspector at the Jan. 7 meeting. This position needs to be filled also. Connie Miller will issue permits until the position is filled.
Mike Haugh was sworn in as the KIRPC representative. And Liz Pease and Nick Bourff, representatives of Nichols and Wallsmith, were introduced as the new legal counsel for the town of North Judson.
Steve Carter from Umbaugh and Associates presented the results of a utility rate study performed by his company to the board. Carter took a study of utility cost (water and sewage) for 2005 through 2007. The study looked at water costs, sewage costs, operation cost and the debt service and capital improvements over a four to five year period. In order to satisfy all areas, they would need to increase each household $2.40 a month. Currently, residents are paying $17 a month per 5000 gallons of usage. The town of North Judson also owes a $320,000 USDR loan. The term of the loan is for 40 years at 5.58 percent. Carter suggested that the board may want to look into redoing the terms of this loan because they could get an interest rate of 4.5 percent. Dan Anderson thought the suggestion was appealing. Catherine Lemke said she had not had time to thoroughly review the proposal, but a lower interest rate was appealing to her as well. Lemke and Wendy Hoppe both agreed they needed additional time to review the materials presented by Carter. The board tabled
any decisions on the matter until a later date. Mr. Carter will be called back at that time.
Also discussed was the possibility of a skate park and Mark Bailey purchasing the old N.J. Lumber yard to put in something that would provide entertainment for the local youth.
A kill floor was mentioned as a future town project. This is where people can take their livestock for slaughter and processing. If approved, the kill floor would be located at Luken and Sycamore, behind Hoppe Hardware.
Brian Reading brought the possibility of looking into a   five-member council before the board.
Liz Pease said there is a process with a referendum that would have to be dealt with to put a five member board in place. This process could take about a year.
Leader Correspondent Shirley Walters contributed to this story.