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Roachdale welcomes new K-9 unit, says goodbye to city employee, creates park advisory board
The town of Roachdale approved a park advisory board months in the making, swore in "Toby" as police chief Mike Mahoy's new K-9 partner and said goodbye to wastewater treatment operator Clint Anglin.
After months of discussion and planning, the board approved the creation of a four-person park advisory board.
The approval is the result of months of investigation into different ramifications of creating different types of committees responsible for the development of the park.
The board decided to create an advisory board committee, as opposed to an actual park board, in order to better regulate management of funds as well as to create checks and balances between the committee and the town council.
The advisory board will be responsible for setting and attending regular meetings to discuss projects and strategies related to maintaining and drawing visitors to the park.
Currently only two of the four positions on the board have been filled.
Persons interested in participating on the park advisory board may contact town the Roachdale town office by phone at 522-1532 or visit its offices at 205 N. Indiana St. in Roachdale.
Toby, a large, black German Shepherd police K-9, was sworn in Tuesday night after the completion of a rigorous training program to prepare him for life as a deputy.
Town marshall Mike Mahoy has been working with Toby for several months to achieve this goal and to pass the tests required for a law enforcement K-9.
As Toby was sworn in, an attendee asked, "Who's better trained, Mike or Toby?"
The trainer that Toby and Mahoy had been training with responded "Toby," jokingly.
The K-9 has been sitting at the feet of Mahoy at the monthly town meetings for several months now, a feat that speaks to Mahoy's commitment and bonding with his new K-9.
Clint Anglin attended his final town council meeting as wastewater treatment operator for the town of Roachdale. Anglin served in this role for three years and while he will be staying in Roachdale, he will be moving into a similar position working with Spear Corporation.
"I've enjoyed my time and experience working with Roachdale," Anglin said.
The town board remained divided on an anti-tobacco ordinance for Roachdale Park.
The ordinance would have prevented the use of cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chew tobacco, e-cigarettes and all forms of tobacco use within the boundaries of the park with and exception made for tobacco cessation use such as nicotine patches or gum.
Council member Zach Bowers presented the ordinance and tried to get board approval but other members did not agree with the strict stipulations.
"What if someone's walking their dog and smoking as they walk through the park? Or people from out of town?" council member Barbara Scott asked.
The ordinance was pronounced "dead" for now, pending agreement on the rules and enforcement strategies of such an ordinance.
"It'll be back," Bowers said as the board addressed other matters.
Property cleanups, park construction and residential building permits continued to be discussed by the board.
The board addressed a 90-day property clean up extension that was requested at the meeting by the owners of 405 E. Washington St. to allow them more time to continue working on the exterior of the property as per the requirements of the town board.
Council members Bowers and Scott were in favor of granting the additional 90 days, while council president Jack Jones disagreed, citing that plenty of time had already been given to the owners.
The board ultimately approved the extension.
Bainbridge town council president Chuck McElwee was present at the meeting to ask about how the town or Roachdale was implementing the recently approved animal control board and associated ordinances.
The new services would provide officers as well as space to hold animals to help deal with everything from stray and lost animals, to unruly pets and other pet-related issues and services.
Board President Jack Jones expressed dissatisfaction and concerned with whether or not some of the construction work in Roachdale is being done up to specifications.
The board asked exactly what Jones thought was dissatisfactory, Jones explained that the company is not using gravel to help settle the ground where they are working, that they are simply putting dirt back into place, something that will eventually begin to shift, compact and settle, causing problems for the town in the future.
"If we're gonna do it let's do it right," Jones said.
Jones, concerned that people will simply start leaving Roachdale instead of settling there, disagreed with a board motion to increase utility rates.
It was presented to the meeting that water and sewage rates haven't been raised in the town in eight years, and a case was presented that it was indeed time to do so again.
Although no actual rate increase was presented nor approved, the board did approve to have a rate study performed to learn more about water usage and potential rate increases in the future.
In other business:
* The board approved to issue a nuisance citation to the owners of the property located at 208 N. West Street.
* The board approved the shelter house project at the park to move into execution phase. The project had already been approved but needed to acquire the funds to complete the project, a goal achieved through an auction that was coordinated by Tammy Folck and Friends of the Park.
* Council member Bowers expressed his desire to begin looking at the sidewalk at the intersection of Walnut Street and Columbia Street. Bowers also mentioned that he would like the board to discuss the hiring process for replacing wastewater treatment operator Clint Anglin.
The board decided to advertise for the position until next month's board meeting and to hold a special executive session prior to the public meeting in August. The board also advised that a person with a waste water "Class 1" license is preferred.
The next Town Council meeting will be held at 6p.m. on Monday, Aug. 4 at the Roachdale Town Hall.