Nuisances, cars, codes work for council

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

CLOVERDALE -- A handful of old town ordinances were on the minds of the five council members in Cloverdale Tuesday evening.

The board met in special session to discuss updating the ordinances and voted 5-0 in favor of having town attorney Allan Yackey look into them. Yackey agreed to look into the matter, saying he would either redraft all three ordinances or combine them into one.

At the board's May meeting, Cloverdale Police Chief Charlie Hallam approached the board saying three old town ordinances needed to be updated.

The ordinances in question included a nuisance ordinance, an abandoned vehicle ordinance and a safe building code ordinance.

On Tuesday, Hallam said he believed the fines levied from the ordinances were not harsh enough and that the ordinances themselves were not updated with current Indiana Code.

"If we're going to take the time to put it on paper, we need to take the seriousness of it," he said.

Yackey suggested the town consider rewriting the ordinances or combining them into one for economic purposes.

"If we're going to go after this, we're going to have to be fair and consistent," Hallam added.

Board vice president Dennis Padgett then motioned for Yackey to look over the three ordinances and possibly redraft them or craft them into one, with board president Don Sublett giving the second.

Meanwhile, the board voted 3-0-2 in favor of creating a study committee to discuss current problems with the town's board of zoning appeals. Padgett and board member Glen Vickroy abstained from voting.

A handful of residents approached the board at its regular meeting in May, saying the board of zoning appeals had not met for several months. The residents were concerned that nothing was being done to eliminate the problem.

Sublett said he had spoken to Putnam County Planning and Zoning Director Kim Hyten, who informed him that matters in Cloverdale could be resolved by approaching the county board and the county board would still recognize Cloverdale's ordinances.

However, board member Judy Whitaker said she believed if there was a problem with Cloverdale's board of zoning appeals, the town council should reappoint members.

"We've had problems with the BZA before," Padgett added.

Padgett then suggested paying members of the board in order to assure attendance, but added the town council's hands were tied when it came to attendance.

"We can't make the people show up," he said.

Whitaker then motioned to create a study committee to discuss problems in the BZA, adding that the committee should include the town council president and plan commission president Jerry Acrea, including various others.

Board member John Davis gave the second, with the board voting 3-0-2. Both Padgett and Glen Vickroy abstained from voting.

In other business, the board:

  • Voted 3-2 in favor of a revised drug policy for town employees. The previous policy called for board members to also be subject to the policy, but elected officials do not have to subject themselves to drug testing.

    Board member Glen Vickroy gave the motion to approve the new policy with Sublett giving the second. Davis and Whitaker voted against the measure. Whitaker added she had no problem with council members being subjected to random drug testing.

  • Learned from Sublett that the town had reached a tentative agreement to purchase property from Russell Monnett. Sublett said the item would be placed on the town's June meeting agenda for further discussion.

    The board meets regularly on the second Tuesday of each month. However, its next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. June 5.

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