Bainbridge Town Council will be elected at-large in 2019

Monday, January 14, 2019

BAINBRIDGE — The current members of the Bainbridge Town Council and any other candidates for council will be pitted against each other in a single pool in 2019.

The council received this news from Clerk-Treasurer Monica Bray during its recent monthly meeting at town hall.

The Indiana General Assembly passed a law several years ago requiring that all communities with populations less than 3,500 must go to at-large councils rather than wards unless the town passed an ordinance to continue with wards.

The law came as news not only to the council, but also to Bray when she heard about it recently.

Bray said she looked over past correspondence with the state and had received no indication of the coming change.

This means that although the come from different wards, current council members Scott Curran, Jerry Lents and Joel Thompson, along with any other candidates, would all be in a single pool for three at-large positions.

“It will be at-large membership,” Bray said. “There will not be Wards 1, 2 and 3.”

The law change affects three towns in Putnam County: Bainbridge, Cloverdale and Fillmore. Cloverdale has passed an ordinance to continue with wards, while it remains unknown if Fillmore has acted or not.

Bray added that the council could approve an ordinance to go back to wards, but it would not take effect until the 2023 election cycle.

Utility Superintendent Eric Gibson reported that his department is still dealing with the effects of a Dec. 16 chlorine gas leak that caused a partial evacuation in the town.

“We’re still dealing with that, trying to get back to situation normal. It’s about 70 percent done,” Gibson said. “Just to reiterate, there was never any breach of service or any breach of treatment. There was never any harm of anything.”

Gibson said, though, that it has been a learning experience and the town is moving forward through it.

“We’ve updated some things in the plant,” Gibson said. “Once we get back to situation normal, I’ll provide a report of what happened, what was upgraded, what we got rid of.”

Lents praised the work the town employees did in a dangerous situation.

“From what I saw, you and Chad did a pretty good job,” Lents said. “Even though it was a freak accident, you did a good job.”

“This was a huge learning curve,” Gibson replied. “I learned a lot.”

“It may never happen again,” Lents said.

“I hope it never happens on my watch,” Gibson concluded.

In other business:

• The town is also reviewing the purchase of new police vehicles.

Town Marshal Ronnie Campbell is looking to have a fleet of three four-wheel drive vehicles, saying the need for cars and their high-speed capabilities is marginal in Bainbridge.

“The amount of pursuits we’ve been in for the last 10 years has been minimal,” Campbell said.

On the other hand, the utility of four-wheel drives and the fuel efficiency of diesels, particularly while idling, attracted Campbell

“When we looked around, we looked at what saves money,” Campbell said. “I looked into the Duramax Diesels, which will help with the amount of idle time. I know diesel fuel is a little more expensive so we’ll have to figure out the ratio as well.”

The vehicles in question are a pair of new Chevrolet Colorado pickup trucks.

To round out the fleet, Campbell looked at a used Ford Explorer that had previously been owned by the Mooresville Police Department. The third vehicle will not get nearly as much use as the first two.

Despite Campbell’s research, the board had questions.

“I’m not too fond of buying a used vehicle,” Lents said.

Thompson, on the other hand, said he has multiple vehicles with more than 300,000 miles, so he doesn’t necessarily mind.

The board asked that Campbell look into more options and come back with them at the next meeting.

• The Bainbridge Park Board is still looking for a third member to fill out its board. Interested parties may contact town hall at 522-6238.

• The town approved the purchase of a leaf vacuum to pull behind a truck.

The equipment and bracket to mount it upon will be purchased from Busenbark Equipment in Crawfordsville.

• The board reorganized for 2019, with Lents remaining as president and Thompson continuing as vice president.

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  • Great news! No wards.

    -- Posted by very.interesting on Tue, Jan 15, 2019, at 9:07 AM
  • Awesome we can have three people in the same neighborhood and that have the same agenda to lay out to the majority of the town. Pretty sure that's not a good thing. Why are we only hearing of this now if it was enacted years ago? I would Think they should keep it as it is and has been like Cloverdale.

    Look up Bainbridge as the keyword here and read the Audit findings for the past 7 years before you make your choice.

    https://secure.in.gov/apps/sboa/audit-reports/#/

    -- Posted by dan.gross on Tue, Jan 15, 2019, at 11:30 AM
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