Huntingburg Board of Public Works and Safety meeting – Jan. 5

ByWITZ AM/FM Reading Time: 2 minutes

The first Board of Public Works & Safety meeting for 2012 in Huntingburg was held Jan. 5 with new members in attendance.

The first order of business following the Pledge of Allegiance and prayer was for Huntingburg Clerk Treasurer Tom Dipple to administer the oath of office for new board members and Department Heads as well.

The two new board members are Roger Cox and George Lewallen. The Department Heads are:

  • · Fire Chief Scott Patberg
  • · Wastewater Superintendent Mike Kemp
  • · Police Chief Ron Drew
  • · Street Department Superintendent Rich Thyen
  • · Code Enforcement Officer Keith Snyder

The board heard from Brian Woolums, and engineer with Smithville Digital on a request for an underground easement from the Huntingburg Library, 277 feet to United Minerals for digital services. After discussing the specifics, the board passed a motion to allow Smithville to move ahead. Smithville is a provider of Digital data services in Southern Indiana and is currently expanding their offerings in more communities.

The board also heard monthly updates from Department Heads, Mike Kemp, Ron Drew, Rich Thyen, and Keith Snyder. They also got a final report from outgoing Fire Chief Glen Kissling, who said that next month’s report would be filed with the board by new Fire Chief Scott Patberg.

City Attorney Phil Schneider brought before the board a review of the Order to demolish the house at 612 Bretz Street. The house had been discussed in prior meetings. The City will move to get a quote for the cost of the demolition from an outside contractor and vote on it in next month’s meeting. The Board passed two motions to recommend to the Common Council to establish a fund that would accumulate monies from fines to finance demolitions of this type in the future.

Schneider also discussed with the board a Purchasing policy by which Department heads would have autonomy to make purchases under $5,000 on needs for their departments without having to get approvals and so long as they have the money in their budgets. Schneider promoted the concept as a way to eliminate a level of bureaucracy, which slows down the purchasing process.

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