This shows the property belonging to Tippecanoe Township that the Warrior Summer League is considering accepting. The township would retain 1.3 acres including the tennis courts and access to them. Photo provided by Tippecanoe Township.

By Martha Stoelting
InkFreeNews

NORTH WEBSTER — Tippecanoe Township board had a productive meeting even though Township Trustee Chris Francis was attending by phone due to illness. It was held in the Tippecanoe Township Building, North Webster, on Wednesday evening, Aug. 18. Topics were wide ranging. Highlights were short-term and long-term disability insurance for township employees and the transfer of township owned property. Jim Smith presided.

Stacey Cox, Wetzel Insurance, presented information on disability insurance options to the board. A need for this type of coverage was presented by Francis with discussion following. This type of insurance had been available in the past but is no longer. Cox stressed, “Each case is assessed individually and each one has a time frame of 12 months back and 12 months forward before claims are allowed.”

The board unanimously approved the purchase of a joint short- and long-term disability package for full-time employees. The annual cost is $775.44 for short-term and $1,260 for long-term. Cox will return at the September meeting with health insurance options.

Township attorney Andrew Grossnickle presented Resolution 21-3 for the Donation of and Conveyance of Real Property. It allows the township trustee to sign for the township if and when a specific piece of property is transferred. Wawasee Summer League is looking at taking over the commonly known little league fields on township land. The township will retain 1.3 acres of land including the tennis courts and a 30 foot wide ingress-egress route.

If the Wawasee Summer League no longer uses the property for youth athletics, it will revert to the township. When the township acquired the land from the Wawasee Community School Corp., it has a similar arrangement, which would remain in place. The board passed the resolution unanimously.

New logo

A new logo for the township was presented by Francis. It was created with the help of Chris Trowbridge, Maverick Promotions, North Webster. In other trustee business, Francis noted that the North Webster Tippecanoe Fire Territory budget for 2022 has state approval. The contract for EMS and fire services with Washington Township, Noble County will be brought up next month. Cemetery work is wrapping up at North Webster, Shock and Oak Grove cemeteries.

David Rensberger presented the EMS and fire department report. Work on the ISO data gathering is going well. ISO extracts information from a massive database to develop language and evaluations that help insurers and other insurance businesses write policies. What that means to township taxpayers is the better their EMS and fire service, the lower their homeowner rates will be.

Beginning in September, the tornado siren will be tested at noon, the first Saturday of each month. A new timer has been put on the siren, which will be more likely to go off at the correct time to signal noon daily.

The countywide new radio system should be in place in October. For July there were 61 EMS runs and 29 fire runs.

The next regular meeting of the township board is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 15. The township building is located at 102 S. Morton Street. Enter through the trustee office on the Blaine Street side.