Fillmore board compliments residents' emergency response
Fillmore Town Board President Jeff Osborn complimented the people in the town who responded so quickly to an emergency with the town's water system last Sunday night.
At 2 a.m. last Sunday morning, vandals opened two fire hydrants in the town. Over the next three hours, the town's 100,000 gallon water tank was drained and another 114,000 gallons was spilled onto the ground.
Additionally, it took another 100,000 gallons to refill the water tank (for a total loss of 314,000 gallons)," said Osborn.
The vandalism is being investigated by Town Marshal Tom Helmer and those responsible will be prosecuted.
When asked who would be footing the bill for the loss of water, Osborn told residents the town appeared to be financially responsible and the cost would not be passed on to residents.
"We are checking with the insurance. The water loss is not covered, but there may be coverage for the damage to the road," Clerk Wanda Sedlak told the council.
Local residents like Jackie Miller from Bert and Betty's Restaurant expressed their appreciation for the quick action of all the people involved in resolving the issue.
"I just want to thank you guys. When I got up and ran out of water I panicked. Everything was fixed very quickly. I really appreciate your hard work," said Miller.
The council also passed an ordinance allowing ATVs on the town roads on the second reading. The ordinance sets limits on the driver's age, riders and insurance liabilities and allows for repercussions for those who violate the ordinance.
Council members also heard an update from Ron Astin, a certified public accountant hired by the town to help straighten out the books.
Astin has recreated the books while keeping all of the old records.
"Things were such a mess that it was better for Ron to make new books than to fix the old ones," explained Osborn.
Among the issues are mispostings, customer deposits not properly handled and disbursements made to balances instead of to deductions.
"A lot of things are just human error. When you have people working with these kinds of things you get errors," said Astin.
Osborn publicly thanked Astin for all his work.
"He volunteered a lot more time than he was paid for to help us straighten things out," said Osborn.
Another presentation was given by People Pathways volunteer Joy Marley and Greg Midgley with the National Road Heritage Trail. Marley told the board about an opportunity Fillmore has to be part of the National Road Heritage Trail as well as to expand the Fillmore/Greencastle People Pathways trail to Coatesville.
In Coatesville, it would meet with a brand new trail already developed between Coatesville and Amo. Midgley presented a proposal to the board to review about the project.
"We wanted to give people plenty of time to hear about this project and get their input. We'll have public comments at the January meeting before we agree to it.
More information will be published about the proposed project in an upcoming edition of the Banner Graphic.
In other business:
The issue of salting roads and the recent hike in price for salt was discussed. Sand will be used to supplement salt use. Intersections, bridges and hills will be hit with salt in bad weather, but other areas may not be salted. Sand will be used when possible.
There will be 120 address changes in the town. This is being done to bring the town in compliance with Putnam County Emergency Management. A list of the changes with new numbers is posted at Town Hall.
Residents also heard an update on a county-wide plan for animal control being developed by several groups. Board member Alan Jones attended a meeting this week and explained he had a copy of an ordinance being developed by the town of Bainbridge to consider. This ordinance calls for the spaying and neutering of all animals captured with the cost being passed on to the owner and a feral cat removal program. More information will be coming from this group.
The Fillmore Town Council regularly meets on the first Thursday of the month at the Fillmore Town Hall.