Downtown disarray disgusts Councilman Dave Murray
It’s not often you catch Greencastle City Councilman Dave Murray angry. But he certainly was at the May meeting of the City Council.
“I’m going to be a little overly dramatic here,” Murray warned as his turn for Council reports began. “Greencastle is no longer an All-America City and it’s no longer a Stellar Community.”
That had to hurt him to say. Murray was part of committee that helped earn the All-America City designation in 1991, and his wife, Sue Murray, spearheaded the Stellar Community designation as mayor during the 2011 announcement of that state honor.
Sharing a pair of photographs with fellow councilmen, Murray said he was embarrassed last week when he spotted “dog poop” on the sidewalk in front of Scoops Ice Cream on South Indiana Street with nearby trash cans overflowing with refuse.
“It’s so embarrassing, you can tell I’m pissed,” he continued. “Tens of millions of dollars have been invested there. The (DePauw University) trustees -- some of them who’ve invested millions of dollars in Greencastle -- had to walk right by there today on their way to a wine-tasting event at the new wine merchant.”
Murray said he had been unable to get ahold of the proper person at the Street Department but planned on asking for “a sweep of the downtown.” He said the downtown then should be monitored for trash and other problems every other day by someone in the Street Department.
“It’s gotten old,” Murray added. “I can’t tell you how many downtown merchants have cornered me to say ‘something’s got to be done’ to clean up the downtown.”
Murray said he would use what remaining funds he has in his individual Council budget -- all seven councilors were given $8,000 or $9,000 this year to use for projects within their wards or of special interest to them -- to hire someone to clean up the downtown.
“That’s all I’m going to say for tonight,” Murray added, “you can tell I’m pissed.”
Mayor Bill Dory tried to ease his mind, saying, “Dave, I want to assure you we’re working on it.”
That only fired him back up.
“You’re not working on it, Bill, or it would be done.”
“Come see me tomorrow,” Dory suggested.
“I don’t need to talk to you, Bill,” Murray replied. “You just need to do something about it. The downtown is filthy.”
Meanwhile, in the only old business addressed by the Council Thursday night, Ordinance 2022-2 was adopted unanimously on second reading.
The ordinance amends the city salary ordinance to provide for salary increases for pool lifeguards and sets the base pay of $1,500 for the park softball director.
Lifeguards will now be paid at $15 an hour for the head guard, $12 per hour for returning lifeguards and $11 an hour for first-time guards.
The pay increases seems to have helped in getting enough guards for the coming season with 22 or 23 guards in the fold for this summer, “a good number to have, according to my aquatics director,” new City Park Director Greg Ruark noted, adding that the guards have already had two training sessions at City Hall.
Ruark was asked by Councilor Veronica Pejril if the pool repainting had gotten done as planned. It has, Ruark said, noting that it took less than the anticipated two days to do so.
“The pool’s coming along,” Ruark said. “We’re taking a number of questions about it on a daily basis.”
Among those are undoubtedly questions about when the pool will open. The repainting of a section of the pool looked to keep it from opening on time, but now Ruark isn’t so sure.
“It’s going to be really close as possible for Memorial Day,” he said. “If not Memorial Day, it’s likely to be the day after.”
The splashpark opening also nears as water tests for both it and the aquatic center are being prepared for examination at a Seymour facility, Ruark said.