The Claypool Town Council and Police Department is in the process of tying up some loose ends and the Leesburg Town Council should have a contract to help Leesburg with traffic control for the Leesburg Council to sign at its August meeting, said Leesburg Councilman Doug Jones.
Traffic control issues and speeding have been topics of discussion during Council meetings for several months.
Jones had brought a proposed contract with CPD for the department to help Leesburg help patrol and help control speeders to the Council’s June meeting. During the meeting, the Council tabled a decision on the contract.
Jones said there’s two things that help control traffic: a police presence and traffic tickets. He said someone patrolling the area will definitely help in reducing speeders.
When a driver pulls off Ind. 15, Jones said he can tell how fast the driver is going from his chair in his office.
In other business, Council President Tom Moore brought up the topic of the town’s sewer ordinance.
Moore said the ordinance’s current language spells out the inspection and connection fees for anyone connecting to the existing sewer line, regardless of where the hookup is. That part is OK, Moore said.
The issue Moore had was the ordinance doesn’t have any language to “hand to a prospective developer” on who pays for what.
Moore said town attorney Vern Landis did some work with financial consulting firm Baker Tilly and found out a state ordinance comes into play.
Moore asked the other Council members to think about what they wanted to do in regards to wording of who pays for what. He suggested to not leave the issue unaddressed.
Moore said he would like to have something saying in the case of a developer wanting to bring in a subdivision, to address that through the state statute.
He said the state statute said the town has two options: It can pay the cost entirely or the cost can be split between the developer and the town, with the developer having to be reimbursed at a certain financial formula.
Jones said at this point, the town would have to point any developer to the state statute and the town would have to make a decision between the two options.
He said the Council could put something in its ordinance to direct it to the state statute. It then basically becomes a negotiation between the town and the developer.
Councilwoman Christina Archer said what the town doesn’t want to get involved in is the town pays for the entire fee and the developer doesn’t do anything in regards to sewer hookup. That’s why the reimbursement route is the best way for the town.
No decision was made during Monday’s meeting. Moore suggested the Council think about the wording of the ordinance. Moore said if they come to the conclusion that they don’t need to do anything because the state statute addresses it, that’s fine.
In other business, the Council learned:
• Archer is still working on the K21 grant application. The project chosen by Leesburg is walkways and bikeways going up and down Van Buren Street. At June’s meeting, she said she submitted the application. However, she did say K21 requested a more detailed plan. She redrew the plan and brought in to K21.
• Three parking ordinance violations were issued for parking on the street between 3 and 5 a.m. There is no parking on streets during that time so the street department can do things such as sweep or plow snow.
• The next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 9 at Town Hall.
