Ferdinand Town Council meeting notes for November 13
The Town Council heard that the pedestrian/bicycle trail project is on hold due to difficulty getting approval because of an ADA compliance issue.
Town Council President Ken Sicard stated INDOT is demanding that the town fix the grade of a ramp the path travels along to cross Main Street near 16th Street. “The grade there is supposed to be only 2 percent grade up and we’re anywhere from 5.9 up to 7.2 percent, so they’re demanding that we fix it.”
Sicard contends the issue isn’t Ferdinand’s problem because INDOT had to originally approve the intersection since Main Street is under INDOT jurisdiction. The town plans on requesting INDOT repair the problem due to it being on the state road.
The frustration level was evident with the council as council woman Debbie Johnson said that so far it has taken four years to try to get a 1.6 mile trail approved by INDOT with no end in sight.
Also in the meeting last night Town Manager Marc Steczyk reported to the Council that Health Insurance rates with their existing provider are set to go up by 16%, except that they have found a different insurance provider that will actually lower rates that they pay.
Steczyk says that they have obtained a quote from German American Insurance from All Savers that helps reduce the price of the premiums for the health care for town employees. But, also in the meeting, Sicard mentioned that they will be up against the Affordable Care Act mandates in the coming months and the town has to find out if they are required by law to comply with those mandates based on the threshold of having 50 employees.
Sicard stated he needed to clarify if part-time employees were considered part of the mandated employees.
The town has to become ADA compliant by the end of the year by creating an ADA Development Committee and ADA compliance plan. The committee will be headed by Property and Street Department manager Tom Lueken.
