Cloverdale works on maintenance

CLOVERDALE -- Maintenance issues were the topic of discussion Tuesday evening during the Cloverdale Town Council's monthly meeting.

Utility Manager Richard Saucerman continued talks with the council about paving the alley at the Purple Cow located at 103 S. Main St. Saucerman presented two quotes for the project, one from Wabash Valley Asphalt and the other from Taylor Paving.

The council ultimately chose to go with the $2,300 from Taylor Paving to straighten the alley as well as pour the blacktop. Taylor is already paving the parking lot in that area.

Council member Dennis Padgett also advised Saucerman to seek estimates on resodding residents' yards affected by the straightening out of the alley.

Saucerman also sought approval to hire Brent Littlepage of Service Pump and Machine to do maintenance checks on the lift stations.

"We really need to pull our pumps at the lift stations to check our oil and to just do a maintenance check on them," Saucerman said. "If we can find that there's a wear ring bad on them we can replace that instead of leaving them down there until they're just completely bad and, of course, IDEM wants you to do routine checks on your pumps."

There are seven lift stations total. Saucerman informed the board that the one lift station was recently checked and the new lift stations would not have to be pulled, thus a total of five would be checked.

"In the time I've been here we've had probably four or five (pumps) go out," Padgett said. "That's $40,000-$50,000."

Saucerman informed the council that he would like to hire Littlepage for a day at $660, and was granted approval.

The town will also be redoing a number of sidewalks. Saucerman informed the council that he has created a list of those to be replaced, which he has sent out for bids.

However, there was not an adequate amount of time between then and the meeting to receive bids back. It is likely that the council will open the bids for the sidewalks on Friday afternoon.

Council President Don Sublett also suggested that Cloverdale follow in the steps of other area towns and offer residents that may not be on that list the chance to pay for half of the replacement of their existing sidewalks with the town covering the remainder.

"We would pay half if they would pay half," Sublett said. "It keeps the cost for the town down."

Cloverdale residents will have until the middle of November to inform the town if they would like to help replace their sidewalks.

As previously brought up by Saucerman, the council agreed to amend the salary ordinance for part-time employees.

Among the changes are creating a bracket for part-time employees whose wages will remain within $9-12 depending on experience.

The employees also must not exceed 29 hours per week with hours being 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Taking 45 percent from the water service, 45 percent from wastewater service and 10 percent from MVH fund will pay the changes.

The actual salary ordinance as a whole will be approved during the November meeting.

In other business:

* Town Marshal Michael Clark was approved by the council to be on the Cloverdale Planning Commission. Randy Skaggs was also appointed to the same commission by Sublett.

* Lois Bennington was approved by the council to be on the Park Board.

* The council approved Ordinance 2013-6 for adoption of the budget.

* Building Inspector Mark Cassida was approved to purchase magnetic markings for his car at a cost of $167.

* Cassida also informed the council of two property owners who that have failed to take action on the certified letters sent to them. The owner of 151 W. Robert Weist Ave. was sent a notice for failure to mow. Town Attorney Alan Yackey will be sending another letter. The property at 2115 W. CR 950 S. was sent a letter for trash. The town will proceed with a lawsuit if it's not cleaned up within two weeks.

* Sublett opened four bids to fix the hump on Grant Street. The bids ranged from $29,000 to $62,272.35. All bids are currently being reviewed by Curry and Associates, who engineered the job, to make sure they meet the requirements.