Barker resigns as council member

Friday, November 12, 2010

BAINBRIDGE -- Bainbridge Town Council member Naomi Barker recently submitted a letter stating her resignation from her post effective Oct. 31.

"It has been a sincere pleasure to serve the citizens in this capacity and I wish the Council and the Town of Bainbridge continued success in improving the quality of our town," she wrote in her resignation letter.

According to town code IC 3-13-9-4 regarding the office of a town council member, "the vacancy shall be filled by the remaining members of the council at a regular or special meeting."

The meeting is to be scheduled no later than 30 days after the vacancy occurs. A notice must be in writing; state the purpose, date, time and place of the meeting; and be sent by first class mail to each council member 10 days before the meeting.

No date has been confirmed for the special meeting, but the board is considering scheduling a time for Nov. 22 or 23.

Clerk treasurer Jason Hartman said he was not sure of the reason of her resignation.

Barker had been in office since December 2007. She could not be reached for comment as of press time Thursday evening.

The terms of other town committee officials are set to expire on Dec. 31, and Hartman made a recommendation to the board to begin considering who they would want to fill these positions.

The board appointed Dustin Osborn as Park Board member for the upcoming term. The position was previously held by Chris Brewer, who was confirmed to have moved out of town.

Other positions that have expiration dates approaching at the end of the year are Utility Board member, currently held by Denny Lents; an official member of the Plan Commission, currently held by Jim Nelson; a citizen member of the Plan Commission, currently held by Mike Smith; a Plan Commission representative for the Board of Zoning Appeals, currently held by Robert Hensley; and an at-large member of the Board of Zoning Appeals, currently held by Bobby Boller.

The board voted to table making a decision on approving filling these upcoming vacancies.

At its regular monthly business meeting Wednesday night, the board unanimously voted to pass officially Ordinance 2010-5, which allows Bainbridge Municipal Utilities to charge a $40 reconnection fee for each utility service that is reconnected outside regular business hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The hours are contingent on the availability of an employee to perform the duties, with no change in the $20 fee to reconnect during business hours.

The fee increase is intended "so the town will no longer be responsible for absorbing the additional costs associated with reconnections outside regular business hours," according to the ordinance.

The board also unanimously approved Ordinance 2010-4, which sets a 10 percent penalty assessment to utility customer accounts that used a bad check for payments, even if they were received prior to the delinquent deadline and was not assessed a penalty.

Board members also passed a resolution authorizing town officials and Bainbridge Municipal Utilities to obtain a credit card for the sole purpose of purchasing gasoline for vehicles used for town-related business.

Hartman recommended the $1,000 limit, which town marshal James Fenwick said would be more than enough to cover town-related transportation expenses for a year.

"What we're running with now tops $450," Fenwick said. "This will make it easy to keep track of things."

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