Pictured from left are Winona Lake Town Marshal Joe Hawn, Town Manager Craig Allebach and Town Council members Jim Lancaster, Austin Reynolds and Rick Swaim. Photo by Jackie Gorski, Times-Union.

By Jacki Gorski
Times-Union

WINONA LAKE — The town of Winona Lake will be out of a management company to oversee the Miller Sunset Pavilion as of July 31.

K & J Operations, which manages the pavilion, sent the town a letter letting the town know the company is ceasing its management of the pavilion effective July 31. K & J Operations is owned by Winona Lake Council President Jim Lancaster and Ken Nisly.

Town Manager Craig Allebach said the company felt they wanted to terminate the contract they were currently in. In order for the town to move forward and do what they need to do for the pavilion’s operations, the town needed a letter letting the town know of the contract termination 60 days in advance.

He said there will be a work session at 5 p.m. June 4 where the council will discuss plans for future operations of the pavilion, among other things. No decisions will be made during the work session.

Earlier in the meeting, Allebach talked about the town’s roads.

Allebach said the town was recently awarded $835,551.90 in Community Crossing Matching Grant funds.
There will be 33 sections of streets that will be milled and paved. The town is planning on advertising for bids for the project.

Also, Allebach updated the council on the town’s street inventory. He said the town gets monies from the state based on the inventory. He has gone through some of the state inventory when he applied for Community Crossings Matching Grants and noticed there are some streets that go back “a long time,” as well as some recently added streets, that are not included in the street inventory. One example he gave was Presidential Drive.

Allebach said he needs to get documentation together that the roads not included in the inventory are in fact the town’s roads and send that down to the state so the town can get funding to pave those roads.

The council approved allowing Lancaster to sign a letter for the documentation when Allebach gets the road inventory done.

In other business, the council:

• Heard about Winona Happenings. The Splash Pad will open for the season on Friday, Senior Center brunch will be May 3, Village Art Fair will be June 1-2, the Blackburn Run 4 Others at the Trailhouse will be at 9 a.m. June 15, the Breakfast Optimist Triathlon at the park will be at 8 a.m. June 22, the Symphony of the Lake Concert at the Miller Sunset Pavilion will be at 8 p.m. June 29 and fireworks over Winona Lake will be at 10 p.m. June 29.

• Heard from Amy Rosswurm, lower school principal at Lakeland Christian Academy, about the benefits of having school resource officers. She said SROs help students at lunch, help staff update crisis manuals and help create a fun environment, among other things.

• Approved renaming the ice rink fund to the Miller Sunset Fund to make it clearer the fund will include money for the farmers market and other things at the pavilion. The fund will be subcategorized.

• Approved accepting a $1,000 donation for tree planting.

• Were notified the town plans on advertising for bids for trash and recycling.

• Heard Winona Lake’s Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area went well with the Fat & Skinny Tire Festival.

• Heard the Park Department has 46 programs offered over the summer.