LaGrange County Council
LaGrange County Council met in
regular session on May 14, 2012. Park
Board President Dr. John Egli and Park
Supt. Mike Metz presented information to request positive consideration
of an additional appropriation for
$12,000 from the park budget to pay
for the part time summer help. After
the presentation the presenters were
told that this request would be considered when the Additional Appropriations were acted upon.
Information Technology Director
Bob Murphy presented the information in regard to the technology upgrades that have been requested. These
include 911 upgrades, I. T. upgrades,
fiber optics, repeater equipment, GIS
upgrades, GPS equipment, and scanning equipment. The 911 and I. T.
upgrades are to replace equipment that
has reached end of life and for which,
either parts are no longer available or
very hard to find. The fiber optics will
be able to tie all of the county buildings together and save up to $2,000 per
month in T-1 line costs. The repeater
equipment will be to replace the towers
now in use for 911 and emergency services which is now rented for $1,000
per month. It is estimated that the total project cost will be $1,200,000 and
this could be paid for with a technology bond to be paid over the next five
years. After discussion of the project
there was a motion to move ahead and
instruct the county attorney to start
the paperwork for the technology
bond. Mr. Murphy also requested that
an I. T. committee be set up to work
with his department on this project.
His request was for a person from each
building (commissioner and Councilman) to work with I. T. on the project.
Ryan Reigsecker was appointed from
the council to fill the request.
There was an ordinance change
presented that dealt with upgrading
our policy as it relates to a change in
the State of Indiana Nepotism updated
statute. Our present ordinance was not
compliant and needed to be updated.
There was a motion to change it.
There was a request to fill a new
seat on the Redevelopment Commission. This came about due to the
commissioners and the redevelopment
commission increasing their membership from five to seven people. There
had been two persons apply for the
position and the council appointed
Dorothy Hostetler to the seat. This is
a board which is appointed annually
and will be reappointed on January
1, 2013. If there is anyone who has an
interest in serving on a county board,
please submit an application.
Commissioner George Bachman reported that arrangements
are underway for the painting of the
Court House dome. He also reported
that Judges Brown and VanDerbeck
have requested that there be a study
of Court House security. They have
requested a committee be appointed to
meet with them to discuss this issue.
The committee will be made up of a
commissioner, councilman, sheriff,
prosecutor, and the judges. Jac Price
will serve for the council and George
Bachman will serve for the commis-
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sioners. He also reported that there
will be grant dollars available from
Region III-A for Brownfield work. There
will be money available for both Phase
I and Phase II clean up and that money
is available for both chemical spill and
petroleum spill projects.
The council next approved that
request for transfers and the additional appropriations as amended. The
amendments were to table the MEC
appropriation for $3,267,000 and
to appropriate $12,000 for the Park
Dept. from the Park Budget not the
non-reverting park funds. Remove the
duplicate item of $60,000 for the Jail
air conditioning condenser from three
of the four accounts it had been advertised in. The council next approved the
minutes from the April meeting and
approved the legal claims.
The council adjourned and the
council and commissioners opened in
joint session.
The council and commissioners
met in joint session to discuss items
which had been requested from the
Major Moves Principle Fund. There was
a request for $250,000 for an engineering study of road improvements to 200
North from 450 West to 675 West and
$30,000 to purchase land along S.R. 5
north of 400 South to allow the State
Highway to widen this area. The roll
call vote on these two items passed
unanimously.
There being no further business to
come to the joint meeting there was a
motion to adjourn.
As always, we will try to be good stewards of
your tax dollars.
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