Minutes Of The May 10, 2010 Town Council Meeting
The regular meeting of the Town Council of Clear Lake, Indiana was held at the
town hall on Monday, May 10th at 7:00 pm. Present were Council Members, Bob
Lewis, Sue Williams, Barry Worl and Alan Korte. Also present were Town
Superintendent Bob Hull, Zoning Administrator Bruce Snyder and Town Attorney
Neal Blythe. There were twelve citizens who signed the quest register.
President, Bob Lewis called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. with the Pledge of
Allegiance.
The minutes from the April 12th meeting were reviewed and Bob Lewis asked for a
motion to approve the minutes as presented. The motion was made by Alan Korte to
accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Barry Worl, all in favor and the
motion passed.
Financial reports were presented by the Clerk-Treasurer for the month of April
stating the beginning and ending balances for cash and investments, receipts and
disbursements for the General Fund, Garbage Fund and Sewer Fund. This report is
attached to the minutes.
Vouchers for the month of April were as follows for the following funds:
General Fund $28,466.90
Garbage Fund 7,379.54
Sewer Fund 15,252.74
Total Amount of Vouchers $51,099.18
Warrants to be approved totaled $12,438.07
Bob Lewis asked for a motion to approve the April Financial Report and vouchers
paid in April, plus the warrants to be paid in May. Sue Williams made the motion
to approve the reports as presented, seconded by Barry Worl, all in favor and
the motion passed.
REPORTS:
MARSHAL’S AND FIRE DEPARTMENT: For the Fire Department Barry Worl reported a
total of 59 calls for the month of March; two were Medical Assists to the Town
of Clear Lake and one Medical Assist to Clear Lake Township. Barry, Bob
Hull and Kay Kummer will be meeting with Eric Hufnagel, Fire Chief for the
Fremont Fire Department, Chris Snyder, Fremont Town Superintendant and Kathy
Parsons, Fremont Clerk-Treasurer on May 11th regarding the 2011 budget for Fire
Protection. Chief Hufnagle is interested in giving a presentation to Clear Lake
property owners of the pumping attachment for the Fremont Fire Departments fire
boat. Locations for additional dry-hydrants will also be considered. Barry will
also be checking with the Montgomery Fire Department for response time to Clear
Lake and possible use of the dry-hydrants.
The new police vehicle has all equipment installed and is ready for patrol as of
May 6, 2010. Marshal Gonya will be working some day shift hours to get the
vehicle out for the residents to see.
During the month of April there were 2 VIN checks, 1 alarm, 5 background checks,
2 suspicious vehicle/people reports and 3 golf cards registered.
Marshal Gonya praised the residents of Clear Lake for their quick response to
the sexual predator who was reported in the Town and the work done by the
Steuben County Deputy and the Towns deputy, Officer Compton. The sexual predator
was apprehended and is now in jail awaiting trial.
ZONING ADMINISTRATOR: For the month April, there were no Improvement Location
Permits issued. There was one landscaping project reviewed and no improvement
location permit was required. A violation of the erosion control/silt fence
requirement at 838 & 839 was investigated and determined to exist. A notice of
the violation was sent and was immediately corrected.
TOWN SUPERINTENDANT – SEWER: For the month of April there were 6 locates
requested, 4 alarm calls, 5 pumps were replaced or repaired. Average flow was
31,399 gallon per day. An employee for M & C has completed loading sewer
documents and pictures on an old computer in the sewer barn for their use when
working on the grinders.
Letters were sent to home owners regarding the landscaping around grinders that
violate the ordinance prohibiting planting or structures within five feet of the
grinders.
M & C Trenching’s crew have cleaned all of the air releases along SR 120 and
around the lake.
STREET DEPARTMENT – Bob Hull reported that he has been working with Rolland &
Assoc. on the summer paving projects. The major project will be in the area of
140 Lake Drive where the road is broken badly at the curve. The remainder of the
budgeted funds will be used to patch several areas around the lake where the
potholes are severe.
GARBAGE: One of the small claims for garbage fees has been paid. Laura will be
going to Small Claims Court on May 25th if the second one is not paid.
The annual garbage invoices should be in the mail this week.
The 2010 directory is at the printers and will be ready for the Lions Club to
deliver by Memorial Day week-end.
Sewer collections are running smoothly and we have had several additional
property owners sign-up for the Auto Draw program. Forms are available on the
Town’s website and also in the Clear Lake Newsletter. If they call the Town Hall
Laura will either mail or e-mail a form at their request.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
On the fence case regarding the Zoning Administrators decision on Mr. Hoagland’s
fence. Town Attorney, Neal Blythe has had numerous meetings with Mr. Hoagland’s
attorney, Andrew Kruse regarding a settlement agreement with no agreement being
reached at this time.
There will be no monetary amount in this agreement.
Mr. Hoagland will be deposed on June 7th in Max Myers office in Fort Wayne. Neal
asked that at least one council member be present. There will be a 5-day trial
in September on the Inverse condemnation case.
There will also be a hearing on June 9th @ 1:30 p.m. in LaGrange Superior Court
#1 regarding the deck case. Neal will take the opportunity to remind the judge
of the other cases that Hoagland has pending.
Neal is pursuing additional information from the Steuben County Recorders office
to insert into the lawsuits regarding the sewer cases. Those lawsuits will then
be going forward. The court will determine the fine involved with the lawsuits.
ORDINANCE 2010-03: 3rd READING AN ORDIANCE AMENDING A PORTION OF THE CLEAR LAKE
ZONING MAP
Bob Lewis explained that the council has three options: to accept the ordinance
as presented, reject the ordinance or reject the ordinance with changes and send
back to the Plan Commission. Bob read Ordinance 2010-03 in its entirety and then
asked for a motion to accept the ordinance on the third reading. A motion was
made by Alan Korte to accept Ordinance 2010-03 as presented, seconded by Sue
Williams, all in favor and the motion passed.
NEW BUSINESS:
ORDINANCE 2010-05: 1ST READING AN ORDIANCE AMENDING A PORTION OF THE CLEAR LAKE
ZONING MAP
Bob Lewis read Ordinance 2010-05 in its entirety and asked the council to
approve the ordinance on the first reading. Sue made a motion to approve
Ordinance 2010-05 as presented, Alan Korte seconded, all in favor and the motion
passed.
ORDINANCE 2010-04: 1ST READING AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CLEAR LAKE ORDINANCE
2009-06 REGULATING THE USE OF GOLF CARTS.
Bob Lewis read Ordinance 2010-04 in its entirety and asked for a motion to pass
the ordinance on the first reading. Alan Korte made a motion to pass Ordinance
2010-04 on the first reading, Sue Williams seconded, all in favor and the motion
passed.
Rick Behnfeldt questioned the golf cart ordinance regarding the age of the
driver and having passengers under the age of 10 seated on the back seat. During
the meeting Neal Blythe, town attorney researched the age and found that the
State Statue dictates that the driver be at least 16 years of age and have a
valid drivers license. There is no State requirement on the age of passengers on
the back seat.
Gators and other off-road vehicles will be treated as golf carts inside the city
limits.
HERITAGE COMMITTEE REPORT: Bonnie Brown reported that the book is in its final
stage of completion and will be available on June 25th & 26th and July 3rd.
Check the website for pick-up information. The committee has ordered 1,000
copies and almost 500 are sold.
Now that Bonnie’s committee has finished with the book, Bob Lewis has suggested
another project for them. The county would like for all of the streets in the
town to have proper street names and not the county road numbers. We also need
to rename streets that have Lake Drive and Lake Drive as intersections and
duplication such as Outer Drive and Outer Drive. Because the committee has been
doing historic research for the book, Bob thought that they could be of help
re-naming the some of the streets in the town. Bonnie accepted the task
graciously.
WATER QUALITY COMMITTEE: Annie Skinner reported that the feasibility study has
been completed. Areas of concern have been identified in the Cyrus Brouse Ditch
Sub-watershed, where erosion and nutrients enter the ditch. The grant
consultants have recommended various Best Management Practices (BMP’s) to keep
pollutants out of the ditch. The committee is working closely with the farmers
and local agencies to implement the BMP’s. The farmers are cautions but have
been very helpful. They are very interested in keeping their soil in their
fields and out of our lake. The natural resource people and biologist working
with the committee are very impressed with the amount of undeveloped land and
wet areas surrounding the lake. The wet areas provide filtering and a continuous
base flow of fresh water to the lake. The undeveloped areas provide habitat for
our rich plant and wildlife population.
The consultants are working on surveying other inflow areas of the lake at the
Harry Teeters Ditch, Peter Smith Ditch and Alvin Patterson Ditch. They have
found some species of plants that they have previously only found in protected
areas. The consultants will be identifying the wetlands around the lake and
making an assessment of the rankings.
There being no further business, Bob Lewis asked for a motion to adjourn the
meeting at 8:20 p.m. A motion was made by Sue Williams to adjourn the meeting,
seconded by Barr Worl, all in favor and the motion passed.
Robert E. Lewis, Council President
Kay A. Kummer, Clerk-Treasurer
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Comments from those in attendance:
There continues to be discussion of what to do with yard waste to keep it out of
our lake waters. There needs to be a site for collection and some means of
monitoring the site. We do not want citizens and neighbors to dump anything
other than yard waste without plastic bags or other containers. There are many
problems to address before this project can go forward.
John Gonya will be having a meeting in July on the Neighborhood Watch Program.
The Lions Club will have a flyer going out for time and place.
Bonnie Brown asked about the Public Beach. Bob Lewis reported that
communications are still open with the commissioner. It was recommended that
Clear Lake citizens attend the Steuben County Commissioners meeting to show
their interest in what the county does with the beach. The commissioners next
meeting will be May 17th @ 8:30 a.m. in Room 2H in the Community Center.