Cloverdale town council appoints CVB members

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Town Council reappointed one member to the Putnam County Convention Visitors Bureau (CVB) and appointed two new members during the regular meeting Tuesday night.

Rick Patel was reappointed to the board with a two-year term. He is the owner of the Super 8 in Cloverdale, and is an independent.

Newly appointed members with one-year terms are Manoje Kantilal, independent, owner of Greencastle Inn and the Econo Lodge; and Donna Gorrell, Republican, who serves as president of the Friends of the Park of Northern Putnam County.

Don Gedert, former member of the CVB board, was the only other applicant. The board voted against his reappointment by a 3-2 vote.

Council member Don Sublett stressed he was not in favor of reappointing Gedert to the CVB board after reading through the board's meeting minutes and hearing from former member Jim Hardwick at a special session in April.

"I believe with all the problems that is happening with that (board), a lot of that stems from Mr. Gedert," Sublett said.

The council met in special session April 30 and withdrew all of its appointments to the CVB board, which included Patel, Gedert and Dick Wells. This decision came after both the City of Greencastle and the Putnam County Commissioners also rescinded their appointments.

Following the special session the town's attorney, Allen Yackey, noted some of the issues with the CVB board including there being no record of the submission of the CVB's budget to the county, which is required by state law; there is no record of expenditures going through the county; there is only record of one member's oath of office, so the board meetings may not have been legally conducted; and there is no documentation regarding the length of terms for each appointed member.

Yackey noted Tuesday that the new appointments fill the CVB board's obligation to have at least two members involved in the hotel/motel business.

Dick Wells did not reapply for the board.

Building Inspector Mark Cassida said the construction of a Steak 'n Shake in Cloverdale has been put on hold near the Interstate 70 exit.

Cassida said there were issues with the former Wendy's building, but the owner is still looking for property in Cloverdale.

In other business, the board voted to create a new job description and salary ordinance for a deputy clerk/utility clerk.

Clerk-treasurer Cheryl Galloway said rather than filling the utility clerk position, Deputy Clerk Trina Baker said she could combine the two positions. The new ordinance, to be presented at the next council meeting, will increase the pay range to $35,000 for the combined position.

Galloway said at the top rate of pay for the deputy clerk/utility clerk position, the town would be saving $10.77 an hour.

The town voted to hire interim Town Manager Wayne Galloway as a full-time employee. The clerk-treasurer noted by officially hiring him for the position, the town can put him on a salaried position to avoid any overtime expenses.

Barron Barnett, who lives one mile south of Cunot, addressed the council about a recently pitched idea to extend sewer services to the area near Cataract Lake.

At the April 16 meeting Town Manager Wayne Galloway said the Indiana Department of Environmental Management Agency (IDEM) was investigating a complaint about E. coli seeping into the ground and heading toward Cataract Lake in the Cunot area due to the use of septic tanks.

Cloverdale's water treatment plant is closest to Cunot, and the town manager suggested extending the services to the roughly 1,000 homes in the area at the expense of those residents over time.

Barnett said most of the people in the area he spoke with would not be able to afford an increase in sewer rates. His concern is most of the residents in the area are renters and said they would move from the area rather than pay the increased rate.

He said this would leave him and the very few other home owners in the area to be left paying for the project alone.

Barnett added he does not believe the E. coli is an issue in the area.