Jasper Common Council meeting information
Acquiring property by the City of Jasper was discussed at Wednesday night’s City Council meeting. This time, however, there will likely be no controversy at the center of the transaction.
Lisa Gehlhausen with Region 15 presented to the Council a grant application with FEMA for the purchase of property in the flood plain in downtown Jasper. The property and houses lie between the borders of 1st and 2nd Streets on the north and south, and Main and Jackson Streets on the west and east, immediately south of Krempp Lumber Company and next to the Jasper Train Depot.
The reason for the proposal is because in 2008 and 2011 heavy rains caused flooding of the Patoka River up to the houses in that area and the Indiana Department of Homeland Security along with FEMA have determined that the properties are too vulnerable to flooding to remain viable as residential housing.
Gehlhausen presented to the Council a map highlighting each parcel along with a listing of the owners, who to this point are all agreeable to the sale of their properties with exception of two lots and one house, currently going through foreclosure, and therefore by law cannot be included in the purchase with the grant.
The total cost of the project is $544,586.00 with the grant picking up 75% of that amount, leaving the City with $136,146.00 in responsibility.
Once the transaction is completed, the City would own the property, but could never sell it or dispose of it in any way. However, the City does have very attractive options for the use of the property including expansion of the farmer’s market and other natural land uses that support environmentally responsible projects.
The Council passed a resolution unanimously to authorize Gehlhausen to begin the grant process and commit local funds to the project. Gehlhausen and two representatives from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security said it could take a year or more to complete the project.
In other actions by the Council, they passed motions to:
· Transfer money from the equipment line item to the land line item in the EDIT fund for the balance of funding for the demolition of the house at 120 Main Street. ·Approve funding for the refinancing of the Utility Waterworks bond.
· Amend the blanket bond ordinance for city officials and employees in the amount of $300,000 due to the adding and removing of job positions in the Utility Business Office.
Finally, Council member Tom Schmidt asked why there was no work being performed by INDOT on U.S. 231 through Jasper. Schmidt states that the roadway is deteriorating quickly and that the inadequate patching that INDOT is doing is not a long-term solution.
Mayor Seitz reminded the Council that the U.S. 231 project, which was supposed to build a new terrain bypass around Jasper, was removed by INDOT last year, but INDOT had already begun to let U.S. 231 deteriorate in anticipation of the new roadway being built.
Jasper Street Commissioner Raymie Eckerle, who was in attendance, stated that not only is that the wrong way approach the U.S. 231 through Jasper, but that he and the Mayor are trying to work with INDOT to get major repairs to 231 back on the list of priorities.
Mayor Seitz says INDOT representatives told him that if the repair project were put back on the list, it would be 2016 or 2018 before the project could be started. Seitz stated that that is unacceptable and proposed writing a letter from the Council to send to INDOT to get a repair project moved up in priority to help speed up the process.
