Input sought for city (10/25/05)

DUNKIRK — Mayor Sam Hubbard announced the appointment of a 10-person committee Monday night designed to come up with ideas to improve the city.

Struggling with tight financial conditions and loss of tax revenue as a result of business closings and other setbacks, Hubbard said earlier this month that he wanted to form such a committee.

Originally the goal of the committee was to improve and streamline city operations, but Hubbard said Monday that its scope has now been expanded to deal with “anything to improve Dunkirk.”

The first committee meeting will be held Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. at city hall.

Members will include Hubbard, city police chief Arnold Clevenger, water department superintendent Dace Mumbower, city clerk-treasurer Jane Kesler, city councilman Tom Johnson and city librarian Ailesia Franklin along with Mike Shannon, Dru Hall, Sandy Doyle and Leo Glogas.

“I think a lot of ideas will come out of this group,” Hubbard said.

In other business at Monday’s meeting, council members unanimously approved sending a notice to water utility users and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission of their intention to have the city removed from the jurisdiction of the IURC.

Hubbard said that many municipalities have already taken such action. Dropping out of the IURC makes it less expensive to change water rates with a lot less red tape, council members said.

A meeting to consider adoption of the proposed ordinance to leave the IURC is set for 7 p.m. on Dec. 12 at city hall, 131 S. Main St.

Also Monday council members:

•Listened to a lengthy presentation by Tim Hill of Peerless-Midwest, Inc., Westfield, about the need for more work to improve the output of the city’s well No. 4.

A 10-horsepower submersible pump was installed in the well earlier this month, but it did not produce the desired effect, Hill and Mumbower said. The well shaft was also lined with stainless steel pipe because small pieces of limestone were interfering with the pumping operation.

Currently the well is producing discolored water at less than the desired rate of 150 gallons a minute, Hill said. He and Mumbower recommended that a procedure called “surging” be attempted and acidizing chemicals be applied to correct the situation.

Following a half-hour discussion, Hill said Peerless would do the additional work at a price not to exceed $4,000. Council members unanimously approved the expenditure.

•Heard Franklin address financial and maintenance problems at the Glass Museum. She said that tourism was down this year at the museum, resulting in a budget deficit of about $5,000, compared to the usual $1,000 year-end deficit.

Also she noted that windows on the upper level of the museum needed to be re-caulked, and she had a repair estimate of approximately $3,000.

The estimate is so high because of the height of the windows.

Hubbard suggested a local tree-trimming company could help the city by letting one of its bucket trucks be used with the caulking operation. “We’ll try to find some way to help,” Hubbard said.

However, the mayor also pointed out, “We’re running a little shy of funds ourselves.”

•Listened to more somber financial news about snow-plowing priorities for this winter.

Councilman Jim Doughty said that budget cuts and fuel increases have severely limited the amount of money which the street department now has available to pay city employees to plow snow.

Doughty said he was developing a map showing priority routes, with the main objective being keeping open the routes which are needed for the schools and Saint-Gobain Containers. Having other city department personnel assist with the snow plowing operations was also discussed at Monday’s meeting.

“I’m looking at a ton of red ink” in the street department, Doughty said.

•Noted that water hydrants in the community will be flushed during the first week of November, and residents should be careful about doing laundry in the daytime hours during that time period.

•Named Dunkirk resident Tony Franklin, 407 N. Meridian St., to serve on the city park board, replacing Ron Fuller who recently resigned from the board.[[In-content Ad]]