Fillmore deals with aftermath of winter storm

FILLMORE -- With the town freshly recovered from winter storm power outages, the Fillmore Town Council met Thursday night.

John Buchanan of the utilities department said things were going well with snow and ice removal, as well as with all utility systems, some of which had been down during power outages.

Resident Steve Bunten, who serves on the emergency management board, said he made a call to emergency management director Kim Hyten during the power outage to tell him of potential problems in Fillmore's sewer system if the outages were long-term. He said Hyten then contacted Duke Energy, who responded quickly.

"They got here within three hours of the phone call being made," Bunten said.

Council member Alan Jones aid he was contacted Thursday by an elderly resident of the town who has been unable to leave his house during the ice problems. The man asked that any late penalties on his utility bill be waived as long as the ice remains a problem.

Jones and fellow councilor Wes Terhune discussed the issue with clerk-treasurer Wanda Seidler. They decided they could push back the due date one week for anyone in a similar situation.

They also said anyone who needed help getting the payment in during this week's problems could contact Jones or Terhune to pick it up.

The council still needs to make cuts to the 2011 budget. They will soon be discussing possible dates for special public meetings to decide where to cut.

Council president Jeff Osborn was not at the meeting, as he is in ICU at Hendricks Regional Health.

In Osborn's absence, the length of which is undetermined, Jones reminded Seidler she is considered an ex officio council member. In the event of a tie vote between the two remaining members, Seidler would be called upon to cast the deciding vote.