By Lasca Randels
InkFreeNews

LEESBURG — Adoption of Leesburg’s new comprehensive plan was unanimously approved Monday, June 13, during the regular Leesburg Town Council meeting.

The Leesburg Comprehensive Plan is part of the Revised Countywide Comprehensive Plan initiated by county leaders, the K21 Health Foundation and the Kosciusko County Community Foundation. 

On May 24, Kosciusko County Commissioners adopted the Revised Countywide Comprehensive Plan, which includes specific details for each of the participating communities.

The overall plan is the first update by the county in several decades. The previous plan did not provide customized advice for each town.

Individual town comprehensive plans will be heard by respective towns for adoption during the month of June at each of their board meetings.

The town of Leesburg, in partnership with the county’s Area Plan Commission, worked with Taylor Siefker Williams Design Group of Indianapolis, to create a working document referred to as the “Forward Kosciusko: Town of Leesburg Comprehensive Plan.”

The plan is described as “the guide for the future growth and development for Leesburg” in order to “define and describe issues, advise us of our options and make recommendations to address these issues in the near future.”

According to a statement on its website, “Forward Kosciusko County is a countywide, collaborative effort to develop a bold and innovative plan for the continued and shared success of the communities of Kosciusko County.”

Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission Assistant Director Matt Sandy, who attended the meeting Monday, said the revised countywide plan has been in the works since 2019.

“You’re talking about grants. That’s one of the big components behind it, is that it will open up a lot of state grants, federal grants because they do require a comprehensive plan to be in place. The hometown grants, OCRA, a lot of that requires that there has been some forethought,” Sandy said.

He clarified that this is not an ordinance. 

“It’s not a regulatory document. This is a guidance document that just helps guide us to where those ordinances need to be put into place,” Sandy said. 

Council President Christina Archer asked about updating information that had been collected in 2019 when the comprehensive plan process began.

“Some of the information that is on the Forward Kosciusko website is actually no longer true for Leesburg,” Archer said.

She gave examples such as repairs to the storm sewer system, which have been completed since that time.

Another example, Archer said, is that one of the things discussed in 2019 as a weakness in Leesburg was not having any type of grocery facility, other than the Dollar Store.

“Very soon, what was the former Jones Food Market is going to be open,” Archer said. “I know they talked about, if they could get that up and going, they wanted to open a coffee shop possibly, so that is kind of on the back burner as well.”

Sandy said the plan should be re-evaluated and updated every five years, if not sooner.

In another matter, talk about a potential sewer rate increase continued.

Baker Tilley, a consulting firm, performed a recent sewer rate study for the town, with the recommendation that Leesburg raise its monthly sewer rates by $6.50 per month.

Council Vice President Tom Moore recommended that they monitor monthly expenditures for a few months.

“Example, this month, we’ve spent $13,415.30 maintaining our sewer. That’s paying processing fees to Warsaw, that’s buying parts, paying Derek (Tenney, of Tenney & Sons) to do all his work,” Moore said. “And what got me thinking about this is because we acquired some rather substantial expenses in our sewer department that was reflected in this rate review and foremost of those was about $75,000 in updating the electrical system at the main pumping station. That’s a one time expense. We won’t ever have to do that again.” 

The flip side of that, Moore said, is that the town is using pumps that were installed in 2009. The town has purchased several new pumps and the expenditure for new pumps is not going to decrease.

“I’m not opposed to a rate increase,” Moore said, “I want to be sure we need one.”

Council discussed monitoring expenses through the remainder of the year.

Leesburg Clerk-Treasurer Mike Searfoss suggested that the matter be revisited in September or October, around the time the town budget is being addressed since Baker-Tilly had advised it could take a couple of months to finalize a plan. This would allow the necessary time so that a  rate increase could be implemented at the first of the year if council decides to go in that direction, Searfoss said.

Council agreed to revisit the issue in September or October. 

Town Attorney Nick Jacobs of Rockhill Pinnick LLP, provided an update on the status of lawsuits for unpaid fines related to ordinance violations.

Demand letters were sent out in November 2021 to three individuals who were cited several times for repeated violations regarding the ordinance prohibiting parking on town streets between 3-5 a.m.

When there was no response to the demand letters, lawsuits were filed.

One person paid their fine in full several months ago, Jacobs said. Collection hearings were held Friday, June 10, for the other two. Of those two, one person, who had made partial payment toward their fine, attended the hearing and paid the remainder in full. 

The other person did not show up for the hearing. Documents have been drafted for a follow-up collection hearing, which will occur in three to four weeks.

In other news:

• The matter of amending an ordinance regarding the term “refuse” will remain on the agenda and will be discussed again at future meetings.
• Town officials would like to remind residents of the following: no parking on any street between 3-5 a.m. (every day); no burning anything, any time; please, be mindful of what you flush.
• The next regular meeting will be 6:30 p.m. on July 11.