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Covering Milford, Syracuse & North Webster, Indiana

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Still Running Strong

One Nation Under God

Page 5

themail-journal.com

Quinns named to Eli Lilly Lifetime Founders Society 7H[W DQG 3KRWRV %\ '(% 3$77(5621 (GLWRU ,Q &KLHI A special celebration was held Friday, Aug. 25, at Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation’s education center to honor the latest addition to the foundation’s Eli Lilly Lifetime Founders Society. Brad and Cindy Quinn, along with Jeff and Clare Quinn were the latest additions to the wall. Past recipients of the ELFS honor gathered in front of the founder’s wall to honor the Quinns and to hear a little history of the origin of the society, purpose of the wall and the Quinns. Heather Harwood, executive director, noted this was a special celebration as it was the 10th year for the wall. Bob Fanning, land management chairman, introduced the Quinns and explained how the Quinn Cottage was donated and placed at the Between-The-Lakes property. “A couple years ago when we kind of got word that Brad and Cindy, Jeff and Clare were interested in ﬁnding a place for their log cabin, I came to the board of directors as land management chairman and said I have a proposal for you. The Quinns have a 125-year-old cabin on Kale Island and they would like to move it some place. Would you be interested in having a cabin?” The group present fell silent, which he said was the same response from the board. Fanning said it has turned out to be a “wonderful gift.” The family provided the moving of the cabin, the foundation, rebuilding, new roof, new chinking and new ﬂoor. “It is wonderful,” said Fanning. The cabin was built in 1896. He noted the foundation has met with the Syracuse-Wawasee Historical Museum and the goal is to set up the cabin as it would have been in 1896, as a remembrance of the turn of the century. “It was quite a wonderful time, I’m sure, but the real basic beginnings of Lake Wawasee. It is a wonderful gift to our conservancy, something that we and our community will use for years to come.” Brad Quinn noted how the decision came about. “It was either put the log cabin in a dumpster or maybe in our backyard for another project for another day. Cindy came up with the idea of approaching all of you, we’ll take care of everything and would love Continued on page 2

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New sheriff’s transport vehicle approved retroactively %\ /($+ 6$1'(5 6WDII :ULWHU Kosciusko County Commissioners retroactively approved the purchase of a 2023 Dodge Durango Tuesday, Aug. 29, at its bi-monthly meeting. The Durango will be used as a jail transport vehicle for the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Ofﬁce. Kosciusko County Sheriff Jim

Smith explained the office had already purchased the vehicle, a 2023 Dodge Durango, which cost $41,801. “With the recent death of an Indiana sheriff’s transport officer in Marion County earlier this year, it had become apparent to our department that our security measures for the transporting of prisoners was insufficient or deficient,” said Smith.

He referred to the death of John Durm in July who was allegedly assaulted by inmate Orlando Mitchell after Durm had brought Mitchell back from a hospital visit. “The current vehicle that we’re using is a Chevy Traverse, with 40,000 miles on it,” said Smith, adding the vehicle isn’t specially designed for police safety, meaning the KCSO would have to

spend extra money outfitting it versus the Durango. Smith noted vehicles take a while to come in anymore and the office was able to get the Durango at a lower cost than the same vehicles the KCSO had purchased earlier this year for regular officers. That’s why the KCSO purchased the vehicle before commissioners could OK it. “The purchase was made out of

the commissary account, which is not going to require any (special) appropriations,” said Smith. He said the Traverse would be “repurpose(d) to one of our administrative positions.” Redeveloping Land Commissioners also heard from Lori Shipman with the Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. about working with leadContinued on page 2

North Webster to consider new trash collection provider %\ .(,7+ .1(33 6WDII :ULWHU The North Webster Town Council held its annual budget workshop Monday afternoon, Aug. 28. The meeting is held each year to lay out budget priorities for the following year and no resolutions are ﬁnalized. All three council members, President Dan Thystrup, Lisa Strombeck and Dave Waliczek, along with Clerk-Treasurer Leigh Anne Jessop, were in attendance at the 30 minute gathering. During the meeting, Jessop informed the council that she had received a phone call and subsequent letter last week from Borden Waste-Away Services, the trash collection provider for the town, informing her that the company would be instituting a monthly rate increase from “They’re saying that not only will we be paying the fuel and compliance surcharge, additionally they are upping our contractual obligation, as well, per resident,” said Jessop. “I did ask for a copy of our contract, because it is up in June of 2024.” Currently the rate is $11.47 per resident, per month. Borden wants to raise the rate to $12.16. Jessop said the town is already paying a fuel and compliance surcharge, which is not part of its contract with Borden, that is an additional 1/3 of the agreed upon monthly outlay to the company. Strombeck noted it wasn’t a “huge amount” but understood the bigger ﬁnancial picture for

the town and its residents. “We’re already in the red because of the fuel and compliance surcharge we get every month, which is thousands (of dollars),” answered Jessop. “When I first started and I realized how much we were paying in fuel and surcharges, it’s eating up our account.” “It sounds like we need to check around and get some rates from others,” said Strombeck. Jessop said the town would have to go through a bidding process to consider a new provider for the town, which the council agreed should happen. The council agreed to allow the representative from Borden to address the council during a regular meeting in order to discuss in greater detail the proposed rate increase. In other business, the council proposed setting aside $15,000 to pay for INDOT’s required modifications to the USI Consultants’ feasibility study on the planned North Webster Trail, which would connect the town to Wawasee Middle School, located several miles north on SR 15. The modifications estimate was $8,500, but the council agreed to budget the larger amount to have a buffer in case additional expenses were necessary. Additionally, Jessop presented a letter sent to her by Scott Kuhn, vice president of the North Webster-Tippecanoe Township Chamber of Commerce, request-

ing $8,500 be set aside for chamber projects related to the beautification of the town. The council agreed to a proposed earmark of $5,000 in the budget, but emphasized that this was not money being given to the chamber for whatever purpose it saw fit. Instead, requests for the money would still have to be made by the chamber to the town council for approval to receive the funding. “If it’s something that we don’t agree with what they’re wanting the money for, we don’t have to give it to them,” said Strombeck. “They need to come to us with a proposal and an invoice, so we can see what it’s going to cost. Then we can decide, ‘yeah, we’ll give you money towards that.” “It’s not going to be up to them to dictate what that money is spent on,” said Jessop. “It stays in our budget here, until we see what they want to spend it on,” said Thystrup. “They want to work with us. They’re good people. The council also agreed to propose a 3% pay increase for members of the North Webster Police Department, as well as for other town employees. According to Waliczek, this has been the norm for the past several years, and will be in addition to a blanket base pay raise that officers recently received. It was noted that both the Indiana State Police and Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office have

raised the pay scale for their ofﬁcers. Thystrup pointed out that it is not possible for small towns like North Webster to keep up with the state and county when it comes to salaries. Jessop also reminded the council that money has already

been budgeted for the police department to purchase a new vehicle. The next regular meeting of the North Webster Town Council will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, inside the North Webster Community Center.

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