Huntingburg Council meeting Jan. 26 – No unsafe building fund necessary, intro of Tax Abatement Ordinance, and fluoride discussed

The Huntingburg City Council met Thursday night and heard from Mike Cummins with Indiana Region 15 planning commission on the Water Line replacement project. A grant was applied for last year with the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA as it is called), which was denied. The grant amount requested was for $600,000 with the stipulation that the City would contribute $83,000 of its own funds toward the project. The rejected grant is not an uncommon thing – OCRA only has so much money to allocate towards projects and this project was mired in the middle of 40 other requests. Only the top 10 were funded.

Cummins recommended that the City apply again for the same grant, but due to a reduction in money available the maximum grant amount is now $500,000. The City would still contribute $83,000. Cummins says that the deadline to file a proposal to OCRA is February 10th with a grant submission deadline of June 8th.

The city is applying for the grant due to the fact that 4100 feet of the water line is deteriorating and overdue for replacement. The line is the water transmission main and supplies the city directly from Patoka Water. The city is committed to a to purchase a set amount of water whether it is taken or not and with the poor condition of the line there is loss of water which costs the city in potential revenues. Cummins will prepare the proposal to be sent to OCRA to get the grant process moving once again in hopes of having better chance of getting it this time around.

City Attorney Phil Schneider presented the proposed Tax Abatement Ordinance. A property tax abatement has been passed by the City of Jasper and the Dubois County Council. Schneider says that Huntingburg needs to pass the ordinance so that all of the county including Huntingburg can offer the same incentives to businesses that might want to locate in the area.

Huntingburg’s Tax Abatement is slightly different in the fact that is has to take into account the TIF (tax increment financing) districts. A TIF district is assigned when improvements to an area are needed and are financed on the unrealized property taxes of the district. These districts would not be eligible for the abatement programs.

The Tax Abatement Ordinance was introduced but the council decided to wait on further passage until council members had a chance to read it and understand it more fully.

In other business, the council moved to approve replacement of two employees in the Utility Department. Utility Superintendent Tony Traylor said that he has had two persons leave and needed the council to approve the two full-time positions. One in the Gas Utility Department and the other in the Water Utility Department. Both positions are called Service Technicians. The Water Utility Service Technician requires certification training. Traylor says that it will not be needed until May, but requested that the council approve it now so that it can be advertised to find a person with the proper qualifications. The council passed motions on both positions.

Finally, Traylor gave an update on the dredging of Huntingburg Lake, which needs to be done in order to improve capacity and water quality. The surveying of the lake is being done with Commonwealth Engineering and the Department of Natural Resources to make sure the proper areas will be dredged. Maps have already been prepared and now the issue of where to dispose of the dredged material will be explored. According to Traylor, that will impact the cost of the project. He has not estimate of the amount as of yet.

The current drive to establish an Unsafe Building Fund Ordinance came to a halt when Schneider informed the council that an ordinance already existed for unsafe buildings. Scheider stated he was somewhat embarrassed by the fact as he had written the ordinance for the city in 1997. Councilman Alex Blackgrove had discovered the ordinance and enlightened Schneider.

Schnieder informed the council that the fund had been established but no money had been appropriated. It was proposed that it be funded by money from an account established with the sale of the Stork Building to Tri-Cap. The account, named the Core Property Fund, has $83,000 in it and the money is not appropriated for any other use. The council, after several revisions, decided to fund the Unsafe Building Fund with $20,000 from the Core Property Fund.

The council then heard from Brendan McCormick on the dangers of fluoride in the public water supply. Story to come.

This story was compiled with assistance from Jim O’neal WITZ News Director