A sidewalk will be an expensive undertaking for the town of North Webster according to information provided by Rick L. Pharis of Triad Associations Engineering. He gave the North Webster Town Council the news at the monthly meeting Tuesday evening in the North Webster Community Center.

An estimate of about $70,000 to extend the sidewalk along SR 13 from the community center to the post office was the project under discussion.

A few citizens had requested the town look into it. “Unless we receive grant money, that won’t happen,” noted Council President Jon Sroufe. Part of the expense comes from the route being in the Indiana Department of Transportation right of way. Pharis will check into grant opportunities for the council.

Other places the town was considering improvements were the entrances to the North Webster American Legion, also on SR 13. Pharis advised, “The Legion may lose an entrance or two from the three it now has if the state gets involved.”

The council approved a resolution transferring $50,000 the town received from the county economic development income tax into the general fund at the request of Clerk-Treasurer Betsy Luce. “This has been budgeted for next year but needs to be transferred now,” she explained.

An end of the year meeting was set for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at town hall. There was no news to report from the utilities department.

Police officer Candice Smythe brought the council the department report. There were 158 calls of service during November with 27 being traffic related, 18 citizen assists and 14 agency assists. Officers drove 3,650 miles using 307.8 gallons of fuel and worked 636.25 hours.

Attending were Pharis, Sroufe, Luce, Smythe, council members Lisa Stombeck and Tim Hine, Utilities Manager Mike Noe and Jack Birch, town attorney. The next regular council meeting will be 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, at the North Webster Community Center, 301 N. Main St.