Pictured, from left, are Winona Lake Town Manager Pam Howard and Town Council President Ashley McGinnis. Photo by Jackie Gorski, Times-Union.

By Jackie Gorski
Times-Union

WINONA LAKE – Winona Lake Town Council approved getting the town’s stormwater and wastewater utilities mapped during a council meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 18.

Town Manager Pam Howard said when the street department workers are looking at the town’s stormwater and wastewater, the town doesn’t have anything technical so workers can take out iPads and identify where manholes go. By geographic information system (GIS) mapping the town’s stormwater and wastewater utilities, Howard said it will help workers in the field.

Howard presented a proposal from Wessler Engineering to the council. Aaron Hutton, vice president and Fort Wayne office manager at Wessler Engineering, said the quote includes the assessment of manholes and lift station condition and mapping and exact locations for everything. The town will be responsible for purchasing and maintaining a software subscription at about $700 a year, but Wessler would help in training with the software.

Hutton said the proposal will get the town a map of everything they have, based off of information the town has 12 lift stations and an assumed 200 manholes because the exact number of manholes are unknown at this point. The town will also be able to see things like if the pipes have been cleaned by using the mapping system. Howard said it is something she and Clerk-Treasurer Heather James can also use for the town’s assessment management.

The work is not to exceed $64,100, according to the proposal. Howard said the town will use money from the stormwater and wastewater funds to pay for the work. The council approved the proposal from Wessler Engineering.

The council also talked about Senate Bill 1, which will provide $1.3 billion in property tax relief for homeowners over the next several years, according to a news release from Indiana Senate Republicans. For 2026 property taxes, any business with less than $1 million in personal property will be exempt from the tax. For 2027 and beyond, any business with less than $2 million in personal property will be exempt from the tax.

Council President Ashley McGinnis said there’s been a lot of talk in local governments about the passing of SB 1 and the effects it may have on local governments.

“So, to try to properly deal with this issue head-on, we want to make sure we don’t overreact, we don’t underreact. We want to get some modeling done by the professionals so we can see what the financial impact will most likely be from the SB 1 language, and that way we can know how to plan better for that,” she said.

Town Attorney Adam Turner said he’s been to enough conferences and meetings to know it’s a top priority for a lot of entities, including school corporations, cities and towns. He said anybody who is going to weather it well is going to partner with professionals and plan ahead by doing some projections. The council approved a quote for $10,000 from Civitas to do financial projection work.

In other business, the council:

• Heard the collection of letters to Santa will start Friday, Nov. 21, and go through Dec. 6. McGinnis suggested the mailbox be put at the ice rink on Saturday, Nov. 22.

• Approved a quote from Leap IT for IT management. To start, it will be $3,277 a month and then the monthly management cost will increase $3,339 a month and will cover all town departments. Howard said part of the work will be Leap IT helping the town covert their emails to ind.gov emails.

• Approved for the clerk-treasurer’s office to close Dec. 26 with the understanding it will be an unpaid day for staff, or they will have to take a vacation day.

• Heard about Winona Happenings. From noon to 9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, is the opening day for the ice rink. From noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, there will also be the Winter Market at Winona. From 3:30-6:30 p.m. Saturday, there will be the tree lighting ceremony in the Village at Winona. From 1-3 p.m. Dec. 6, Kringlefest is at the Miller Sunset Pavilion. From noon to 9 p.m. Dec. 6 is the free skate at MSP sponsored by the K21 Heath Foundation.