The smoking ordinance that has been on the Winona Lake Town Council’s table for months finally passed.

The ordinance came before the council last month, but was unable to pass since the vote was not unanimous. Passing with a majority vote, this month the ordinance only had one vote against from council member Terry Howie.

According to the ordinance, which can be seen here, use of tobacco – both smoked and smokeless – and electronic cigarettes is prohibited in town-owned or managed parks, as well as the Lake City Greenway and Heritage Trail.

In other news, the council accepted bids on two construction projects. First, it accepted a bid from Michiana Contracting for the Limitless Park project.

Initially, Michiana Contracting submitted a bid of $1,032,000. “We have approximately $800,000,” said Town Manager Craig Allebach. “We anticipate we will be able to raise the additional amount. The best solution is to take the restrooms out of it, and see how we can raise the additional funds.”

Allebach said a changeover is in the works to bring the bid down to $792,198. The council was willing to accept that amount.

The other bid accepted was for the Seventh Street improvement project that the town has been working on with Grace College. The council approved a quote from Construction Resources, provided costs do not exceed $50,000.

Town Engineer Larry Long said, “There were up a couple of line items that they figured wrong.” Long felt that once these items were adjusted the cost would be around $47,000.

Additionally, council member Greg Winn announced he would be stepping down from the council at the end of the month. “Due to my growing family, we’ll be moving to Warsaw for awhile,” said Winn. “It’s been a lot of fun, and I appreciate the honor.”

Finally, at the end of the meeting, the council welcomed comments from the attendees. Several citizens brought up some concerns with the canal near the village. One would like to see “no wake zone” signage posted on the footbridge. Another wanted to install a ladder on the sea wall. In the event that a person fell into the channel, he or she would be able to get out of the canal easily.

The council stated that they would take these comments under advisement, check with the Department of Natural Resources, and see what could be done.