Cloverdale boil order in place
Cloverdale was taking care of business on Monday, hearing updates on previous projects as well as preparing for the new year.
Utility manager Rich Saucerman started off by advising the town they are currently under a water boil advisory as the main water pipe burst earlier that day. The town is expected to be under this advisory until at least Thursday when the town will hear back on if the water is contaminated or not.
"We tried everything we could to fix it without shutting it off," said Saucerman.
Saucerman also gave an update on the standpipe renovations, which are nearly complete. The town began filling the standpipe with water and learn later this week if it is contaminant free and able to be used.
The council also thanked Saucerman for his efforts with the standpipe. He lived in a trailer next to it during the whole renovation process.
Several streets in Cloverdale will also be receiving new asphalt in the coming weeks. Saucerman proposed quotes for the job, which will cover Kennedy Boulevard and East and West Mill Street.
"I recommend we spend every dollar we have repairing those three streets," said Saucerman.
The council chose to go with Wabash Valley Asphalt, which will perform the job for $14,235.
Building inspector Mark Cassida gave another update on the Smyser demolition project of 52 E. Boone St. and 513 E. Main St.
"We have little activity on Mr. Smyser's house," said Cassida. "He's not even halfway."
According to the agreement set between the town and Smyser, he was supposed to have all buildings up to code by Oct. 31. Smyser made very little effort by painting the outside of the Main Street home as well as hooking up the electricity. The town has agreed to take Smyser back to court in the coming months to get things sorted out.
"We will go back to court and continue to drag this out," said council president Cathy Tipton. "The agreement has not been met."
Several notices have been sent to Smyser's lawyer with no response.
"If you don't follow through with enforcing then more and more people will start ignoring," said town attorney Alan Yackey.
Smyser currently owns 14 other properties in Cloverdale, some of which are in a similar condition. The town decided to tackle the worst two first before moving on to any of the others.
One of the final orders of business during Monday's meeting was an update on employee insurance. After holding a meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 20 with all county employees who expressed an interest in venturing out and seeing if there were any other insurance plan options available, Tipton came back with an answer.
"We are currently with IACT Medical Trust," explained Tipton. "We are in this trust for three years."
Due to a previous agreement the town will not be able to leave the IACT Medical Trust. The town's payment will now be lower then the 99 percent it usually pays. This change will force employees to pay an increased premium, which will be taken out of their paychecks bi-weekly.
"The board decided that would be a way to ease into that," said Tipton. "They will be paying more as time goes on."
This change comes after increased costs and a bad economy. Effective Sunday, Jan. 1 all employees' insurance plan premiums will rise. The town will soon pay only $867.07 per employee, which will result in $4.37 being deducted bi-weekly.
The town will pay an additional $843.61 for an employee with a spouse, resulting in $64.28 being deducted bi-weekly. Finally, the town will pay an additional $1,457.15 for an employee with a family, resulting in $107.84 being deducted bi-weekly.
The new date for the Utility Board Meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m.