At the meeting of the Winona Lake Town Council on Tuesday, Oct. 21, the council adopted its budget for 2015. The advertised 2015 budget can be seen here.

As stated in previous meetings, next year’s tax-supported budget is projected to decrease 2.2 percent in 2015. The fee-supported budget is to decrease 6.2 percent, resulting in an overall decrease of 4.3 percent.

The council also introduced Ordinance No. 2014-11-1, which would stagger terms for council members. The council stated that with the way elections are currently set up, the entire council could be totally replaced at any given election. The council members felt this could be detrimental to town business.

Town Attorney James Walmer referenced an incident in Orland where council members signed contracts for a sewage project. Many townspeople didn’t care for the sewage project, voted out all the council members and the new council members cancelled the contracts.

When the whole incident was said and done, it cost the town nearly a half million dollars, with no work done on the sewage project. Regarding the ordinance in Winona Lake, Walmer said, “That’s the idea, trying to avoid a problem where everybody comes in at once.”

The ordinance proposes that next year two council members would be elected for three-year terms. The following year three council members would be elected for four-year terms.

“What’s this going to cost the town financially?” asked councilman Terry Howie. The ordinance would require the town to host an additional election, which would impose additional costs on the town. Ultimately, the council voted to introduce the ordinance, but will not vote on it until further research on additional costs is completed.

Cindy Nolton, right, with Winona Lake Town Council Bruce Shaffner.

In other news, Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Cindy Nolton recently received Indiana Municipal Clerk Certification. She attended training and completed requirements prescribed by the Indiana League of Municipal Clerks and Treasurers. Nolton was honored at the meeting.

Additionally, all claims were approved, including an invoice for the 7th Street sidewalk project. Town Engineer Larry Long said this was not the original invoice from Construction Resources.

“I didn’t approved [the first invoice] because I needed to walk the site and make sure the invoice relates to the work that was done. We had some issues with that,” said Long. “They just got me a revised invoice, which is lower. I’m asking that you approve this one.”

“It’s shaking out that we’re going to be less than the $50,000 that [the council] approved,” continued Long. The submitted invoice was for $16,153. Long also reported some additional work around Wooster Road was completed as part of the project, but the whole project is going to end up costing closer to $45,000.