Menu
Council hires new utility manager for Cloverdale
CLOVERDALE -- It was business as usual for the Cloverdale Town Council as it met for its monthly meeting Tuesday evening. The council not only approved the hiring a new utility manager, pending salary negotiations, it also once again discussed future land developments.
As Utility Manager Richard Saucerman prepares to return to his duties as water superintendent, the council approved the hiring of Charles Knuf as the new utility manager, pending salary negotiations.
Knuf comes to Cloverdale with more than 30 years experience in maintenance.
"(I'm most excited about) bringing the city around," Knuf said. "I'm ready to accomplish all the projects that they've been outsourcing. That's the intent."
More than likely, Knuf will begin his duties as utility manager after the new year.
Saucerman thanked the council for the opportunity to be the utility manager as well as extending a welcome to Knuf.
The council returned the favor, praising Saucerman for the work he's done over the years, maintaining both the water superintendent and the utility manager positions.
"When he was doing the utility work and everything. Really, he was doing two full-time jobs. What he did I think he did very well," council member Coweta Patton said. "It's something you can be very, very proud of."
Council President Don Sublett also had nothing but great things to say about Saucerman and his efforts.
"You've done an outstanding job," Sublett said. "You've took us through some very hard economic times too. When the town was hurting for money, you've taken care of two jobs and done an outstanding job."
Saucerman then came before the council for what is likely the last time to give an update, in which he informed the council that due to weather several of the projects are on hold, including the Lafayette Street storm drainage project as well as the sidewalks. All projects will proceed when weather permits.
Also, Saucerman came before the council to replace a master flow meter, which likely broke due to a generate problem. The council approved to purchase a replacement meter for $500-$600.
With the dissolving of the Redevelopment Commission, Sublett informed the council that he recently met with former Redevelopment Commission President Don Gedert and Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Director Bill Dory.
"They wanted to explain the financing to the horse arena," Sublett said. "Due to the large amount of financing, two banks (North Salem and First National) handled this transaction."
Prior to the construction of the horse arena, the Redevelopment Commission had established a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district on the site of the arena, which made the property tax assessed value frozen at that time.
The revenue from the TIF was sent back to the Redevelopment Commission to pay off bonds that were sold to extend water and sewer utilities and improve the road to the arena. Without doing so, the building of the arena would not have occurred.
"The county tax board was convened to assess the value and the assessed value was lowered for the horse arena," Sublett explained. "So the reduced TIF tax does not support the financing ... The Redevelopment Commission never reported this information to the town council."
Sublett informed the council that 125 percent of the bond payments are needed. Currently, the town has 18 months of payments on hand.
It was also noted that Sublett sought the help of Jeffery Peters, a financial consultant the town had previously interviewed, who recommended that a lower interest rate be pursued.
"We have made payments on that for five years. It has another 15 years to go," Gedert explained. "The reduction in their assessed value started in August of this year. It's only been in the last couple of months that we've been made aware of and are working on the reduction of the interest cost to reduce the amount of payment that would be on the bonds. This hasn't been an ongoing thing for a number of years."
So, in turn Sublett sought and gained the approval needed for Gedert to move forward with finding a lower interest rate at both banks at no cost to the town.
Once again, the council discussed the land development of the old Morrison property, which had been previously tabled as many council members failed to agree on the proper way to proceed.
The group, who purchased the land, Fresh Start, previously came to the town in hopes of receiving help with financing a phase one environmental study. However, the idea of giving up town money has been met with a lot of opposition from the council as well as many local residents view it as too much of a risk.
"I don't think we should put forth any money for a phase one," council Vice President Gary Bennington said. "That's not the town's problem. I haven't heard anyone make any kind of commitment. So, that's speculation. It's up in the air."
In the event that the owners were to default on the property, the town would then have a lien on the property. If development were to occur however, the town could see an increase in the food and beverage tax it receives to help with the town's high utility costs.
"We have been wanting things for this town for so long. Everybody can come up with this thing that could go wrong, that thing that could go wrong, but sometimes you have to take a step out," council member Coweta Patton said. "It doesn't mean that anytime anybody asks for help with a phase one, we have to say yes. It's up to use to make these decisions. We've been sitting stagnant for how many years in this town? I say let's try to do something."
Town Marshal Mike Clark also came before the council to seek approval to purchase new computers for the patrol cars.
Currently, the Cloverdale Police Department office does not have a working computer. In fact, Clark informed the council that they have been using his personal computers for the time being.
"We didn't have working computers when I got here," Clark said. "Our computers in the office, right now, two of the computers are actually my personal computers."
Clark added that the computers located in the patrol cars are just typical everyday laptops and not the rugged "flattops" that the department needs.
"They're just the regular normal everyday laptops," Clark explained. "They're not meant to be in the cold and the heat. My computer this morning took about 10 minutes to boot up because it's so cold."
After doing some research, Clark informed the council that the computers will cost nearly $3,000 per car for a total cost of the four computers needed is $12,248.45 and will be paid out of the Riverboat Fund.
The council approved the purchase, with council member Dennis Padgett adding that the last time the town purchased computers for the police department was back in 2003.
In other business:
* Building Inspector Mark Cassida received approval to purchase a 2014 Code Book for a total of $195.08 plus shipping and handling.
* The council once again discussed the highway restriction amendment in hopes of preventing semi trucks running across the town's bridges. However, the amendment was put on hold to further discuss the weight limit that cannot be exceeded.
* The council approved Resolution 2013-12, which is required by the state for the town to use CEDIT money for the purpose of the Grant Street improvement project, sidewalk project and the drainage on Lafayette Street.