The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By: Shirley Linder, Quill Editor
Zoning discussions were the main topic of the Village of Stronghurst board meeting on Tuesday, September 8th.
The zoning committee is in the process of updating the current zoning ordinances and had questions for the trustees for guidance as to how to proceed.
Discussions were held on who is in charge of making sure buildings are built according to the permit issued; If shipping containers can be placed on resident's property; That no buildings (ie dog house, garage, etc) can be built on a property until the house is complete.
There are two stipulations for erecting a fence on your property, one the property must be surveyed and two the fence must be 4' from the property line unless with written permission of the neighbors. Currently a resident has built a fence but not regarded the 4' set back on two sides when they did not have permission to do so. They will check with the village attorney regarding the matter.
It was voted for the zoning committee to work with Attorney Mariah Wallace to update these ordinances with more specific rules and bring it back to the board for approval.
The board voted to rezone the property at 216 E. Maple and 208 E Maple Street from residential to commercial so Shane Gipe could construct a building for his business there.
Ronnie Gittings reported another water main leak and valve leaking on North Division Street and North Logan Street. He had contacted Laverdiere Construction and gotten an estimate of $24,000 plus $2,000 for engineering fees to replace the water mains. This has been a reoccurring issue losing ½ million gallon of water, due to the fact they are small leaks and are not always found right away. The board voted to contact the engineer and start the process needed to do the repairs.
Gittings also discussed upgrading the water meters. If this new device is added to the water meter the meters would not have to be read by Gittings. Clerk Hollie Allen would have a program on the computer that would tell of the water usage. The new device would eliminated having to forgive water usage due to leaking. Now leaking can only be detected once a month when the meters are read, but with the new device customers can see how much water they are using and would be responsible for any leaking that occurred. The board agreed to pay $1500 to obtain the computer program and 5 devices to test and see how they work and then possibly upgrade a certain number a year.
Police report for August: 71 hours worked; 425 miles on squad car; 1 traffic stop with a verbal warning; 10 service calls; 1 arrest; 20 business courtesy checks.
In other business the board:
Present were: Mayor Brendan Schaley; Trustees, Mike Bohnenkamp, Jerry Nortrup, Shane Reed, Amanda Van Arsdale, Mike Swisher, Randy Jarvis; Employees, Ronnie Gittings, Arbry Vancil, Hollie Allen; Guests, David Knutstrom, Shane Gipe, Shirley Linder
The next board meeting will be held on Monday, October 5th at 6 p.m.