Beagle Club Road rounding out street project in Cloverdale

CLOVERDALE — Meant effectively as a dual effort to encourage future development, Cloverdale leaders are anticipating projects for major improvements to both Bennington Way and Beagle Club Road.

While funding through Community Crossings has been secured for the former, the extent of the latter was considered at the Cloverdale Town Council’s regular meeting Tuesday evening. This is as engineering has been completed and an application for funding is due by the end of the month.

Town Manager Jason Hartman first noted that engineering for both roads has been completed. The idea is now to have Community Crossings funding for the Beagle Club Road project settled this year.

With that application due, the funding would be a 75/25-percent local match. Hartman said stormwater and tax-increment financing (TIF) could be used to cover the town’s cost.

“I would like to see if we could look at this a little further,” Hartman said, noting that he had just received the numbers earlier in the day. As such, he said that Clerk-Treasurer Kelly Maners, who was absent, should review them prior to the application being submitted.

The Beagle Club Road project would entail a rebuild of the roadway from U.S. 231 to the town limit, which lies just beyond Hicks & Sons Floor Coverings. Some infrastructure to work with is already in place.

With it being a surprise to him when he found out, Hartman pointed out that the town owns the road out to County Road 425 East. To insistence from developer Don Gedert, Hartman agreed that the engineering, though in swift order, could be re-evaluated to extend to the crest of the hill there.

“It really shouldn’t be a town street, but it is on our street inventory,” Hartman said to this. “It’ll increase the cost a little bit, but it might make sense.”

If the approximately 300 additional feet to the crest would be included, the cost of the improvement would come to $540,000. If not, the total would be $507,610.

As to Bennington Way, Hartman affirmed that it will be completely covered between the town’s American Rescue Plan Act money and Community Crossings. He added that a developer has expressed interest in building along the road.

Bids for Bennington Way are due on Feb. 10, at which time they will be opened and reviewed. The council would then accept the optimal bid at its next regular meeting. The timeframe and scope would be broached at this time.

“It’s happening,” Hartman said ultimately. “It takes a while to get it happening, but it’s exciting stuff. Cloverdale needed this.”

In other business:

• The council tabled the election of its officers. Making the motion, Councilman Brandon Tancak advocated that the whole council had to be present. Brice Howell was absent, while an at-large position left by the late Gary Bennington is vacant.

• The council approved ordering a K-9 cage per a request from Cloverdale Police Sgt. Adam Hull, who stood in for Town Marshal Steve Hibler. This was without installation of both door-pop and fan systems, while a quote of $1,600 obtained presently is just installing the cage.

Providing that the cage itself was $2,600, the whole package, including ordering the door-pop and fan systems, would be $5,830. The expenses would come out of the department’s own K-9 fund.

• Settling a consideration brought recently, the council approved for the police department to move forward with securing a school resource officer (SRO) for Cloverdale and South Putnam schools. In turn, the council also approved purchasing a temporary used police vehicle for $5,500.

Hull noted that South Putnam Schools secured a grant that would cover 25 percent of the SRO’s costs, with Cloverdale Schools picking up its 25 percent and the town covering the remaining 50 percent. Meanwhile, Hull said the vehicle would come “fully loaded” and paid for with the department’s donation fund.

• Hartman stated that more deliberations were had concerning relocating the utility lines on U.S. 231 north of Interstate 70. This is in line with a project by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to widen the roadway at County Road 800 South.

With it unknown east or west where the lines would be or the total amount, Hartman provided confidence that INDOT would pick up 90 percent of the cost. He said a decision on the location had to be made by Friday, while the town’s cost could be covered by economic development income tax (EDIT) money.

• The council approved compensating town utility employees who addressed water main breaks on the Friday before Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day. Hartman explained that they were paid straight time, but could not be compensated for double time according to new guidelines which went into effect Jan. 1.

• Current council president Larry Fidler appointed Scott Wahl to the town’s planning commission and zoning appeals board, while the council itself appointed him to the redevelopment commission.

• Following a meeting of the town’s stormwater board, the council accepted a list of improvements town-wide for a Community Development Block Grant through the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA). In turn, it also approved for Kleinpeter Consulting to conduct an income survey for $3,000.

Hartman said the board voted to undertake a project for $913,800, while an OCRA grant for $600,000 could be secured. Streets included in the list were Market Street, South Doe Creek Road and Stardust Way, with Hartman noting the latter as being a major rebuild.

Current council vice president Greg Jay and Town Attorney Richard Shagley joined Maners, Fidler, Tancak, Hull and Deputy-Clerk Treasurer Rebekah Kelly for the meeting.

The next regular meeting of the Cloverdale Town Council is set for Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. at the Cloverdale Town Hall.