North Webster Welcomes New Police Officer
By Keith Knepp
InkFreeNews
NORTH WEBSTER — James Curtis was sworn in as North Webster’s newest law enforcement officer during the regular monthly meeting of the North Webster Town Council on Tuesday evening, July 19. Town attorney Jack Birch had the honor to swear Curtis in as the town’s newest employee.
During the department reports, Jayne Alger of Inframark noted that recent storms created a loss of power at Epworth Forest for more than 24 hours, but that everything was maintained so “we didn’t have any big problems.” She added, “We had trees on houses, trees on streets, trees on wires and still have brush sitting around that needs to be picked up, but our guys managed to work at it and got a lot of the mess cleaned up in a timely manner.”
Alger informed the council she has ordered the lift station panels for Epworth Forest E2, E3 and E4 that were talked about in last month’s meeting, and that the expected arrival date is the end of January. She suggested the council approve her ordering the panel for lift station 6, considering the lead time for delivery. The cost is approximately $65,000, which is more expensive than the other three. The money used to pay for the repair comes from the American Relief Plan Act funds, so it does not directly affect local taxpayers. The council unanimously approved the expenditure.
Alger also reminded the council she would be resigning and turning over her duties to Mike Noe in September. She will be transitioning her responsibilities to Noe during the next month.
In a written report issued by Town Marshal Greg Church, it was noted that officers submitted 738 paid hours in June. They responded to 219 calls for service.
In other business, Larry Kinsey submitted a paid invoice for landscaping work he had done on town-owned property near his home on Mulberry Street. He had brought the issue to the council’s attention earlier this year and it was agreed that once it was completed the town would consider using rainy day funds to help pay for the expenditure. The council agreed to split the total costs of $1,000.58 with Kinsey.
Alan Tio, CEO of Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation, offered a brief presentation on KEDCO’s Q updates, including its continued work to bring businesses and industry to Kosciusko County.
The council has scheduled budget hearings for Sept. 20 and Oct. 18.
The next regular monthly meeting of the council will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16, at the North Webster Community Center.