A community garden could take root behind Huntington North High School this spring.

Stan Bippus, representing Helping Hands Gardening, asked the Board of Public Works and Safety on Monday, March 15, for access to water for a community garden at that location.

The request was unanimously approved, and will be handed off to the city's water department for implementation.

Both the Huntington fire chief and police chief were on hand Monday morning, March 15, during the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting to offer updates on two events that happened on Thursday, March 11.

Fire Chief Matt Armstrong updated the board on the oil spill at Gladieux, where an estimated 250,000 gallons of fuel oil leaked out of one of the tanks during a transfer process. Armstrong said that an employee there forgot to shut off the transfer motor overnight. He added that he received the call about 3 a.m. on Thursday morning.

Cheryl Schenkel has announced that she is a candidate for the Republican nomination as Huntington County Recorder.

Schenkel has served as chief deputy in the recorder's office since 2005, performing the duties of the recorder in her absence. That experience, she says has given her the training and experience she would need to serve as recorder.

Schenkel also worked in the Huntington County Auditor's office for two years and prior to that, worked for 6-1/2 years at Jones Abstract and Title Company.

The Huntington Plan Commission will meet Thursday, March 18, at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers of the City Building, 300 Cherry St.

The agenda includes a review of a city sign ordinance, which was rejected March 9 by the Huntington Common Council.

Commission members will also review proposed changes to the city's subdivision ordinance.

Indiana Auditor Tim Berry will be the featured speaker at the Huntington County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner.

The event will be held on Friday, March 26, at 6 p.m. at the LaFontaine Center.

Berry is in his first term as state auditor. He previously served as state treasurer and Allen County treasurer. He is on pace to return 12 percent of his budget appropriation for fiscal year 2010 back to the state general fund. He has focused his efforts on cost-saving initiatives to better serve Hoosier taxpayers.

Photo provided.

Terry Stoffel has announced that he is a candidate in the May primary for the Republican nomination as Huntington County Sheriff.

"For as long as I can recall, my interest has been about this community and the people that reside here," says Stoffel, a lifelong Huntington County resident.

Candidates seeking their parties' nominations to the United States Senate and House of Representatives will take part in a debate on Friday, March 26, sponsored by the Huntington TEA Party.

Senate candidates who have agreed to participate are Richard Behney, John Hostettler, Don Bates Jr. and Marlin Stutzman. All are seeking the Republican nomination to the seat being vacated by Evan Bayh.

The Roanoke Library Board has rescheduled a previously announced executive session.

The board will meet Thursday, March 18, at 2 p.m. in the Fireman's Room of the Roanoke Town Hall. The agenda includes an employee job performance evaluation.

Photo provided.

Terri Boone, the incumbent Huntington County Assessor, has announced that she is a candidate for the Republican nomination to retain that office.

Boone says she has 30 years of experience in the assessor's office, is a level 1 and 2 certified assessor appraiser and is working on her level 3 certification.

The county assessor's office absorbed the duties of the Huntington Township assessor's office and some duties of township trustees in July 2008. Boone says she cut the staff from 10 to seven, saving $100,000 per year.

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Stacey Elzey Bischoff has announced that she is a candidate for the Republican nomination for Huntington County Clerk.

Bischoff, a lifelong Huntington resident, was employed as a procurement technician by Donor Services of Indiana for three years. In that position, she says, she was required to be familiar with and follow many standard operating procedures as well as medical and government requirements.

Photo by Jessica Williams.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at J.E. Roush Lake is currently installing articulated concrete block mats that will serve as erosion protection on the north and south downstream slopes of J.E. Roush Dam adjacent to the spillway.

While contractors are working in the area, the parking lot in Arrowhead South Recreation Area will remain closed to the public. Work is scheduled to be complete by May 31, 2010. Arrowhead North will remain open to the public, and visitors can park in that area to gain access to the Wabash River.

Recommendations from an informal task force organized by Huntington Common Council member Steve McIntyre - including an assertion that the Huntington Police Department has 10 too many officers - were presented to the council on Tuesday, March 9, setting off an exchange that prompted a union official to characterize city government as "dysfunctional."

The sale of $13.5 million in bonds to pay for improvements to Huntington's wastewater treatment system, along with a 20 percent increase in sewage fees for city residents, sailed through the Huntington Common Council on Tuesday, March 9.

The Markle Town Council has postponed its next meeting until Wednesday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the Markle Town Hall.

The meeting had been scheduled for March 17.

Photo by Cindy Klepper.

Jerry Helvie has announced that he will seek the Republican nomination to stand for re-election to the Huntington County Commissioner seat he has held for the past eight years.

Helvie represents the first district, which covers Jackson, Clear Creek, Warren and Dallas townships. However, voters throughout Huntington County are eligible to vote for all commissioners, regardless of the district they represent.

New Tech at Huntington North High School is beginning to take shape.

Dana Wannemacher, a project architect with Barton, Coe and Vilamaa of Fort Wayne, presented some design options to the Huntington County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees on Monday night, March 8.

The location for the first year or two of the program is projected to be a 10-classroom block beside the cafeteria and the high school radio station, which is currently home to foreign languages and English classes.

The Roanoke Town Council approved the use of golf carts on town streets with some restrictions at the council's meeting on Tuesday, March 2.

Councilman Nick Altman has overseen the ordinance, which is based on a similar ordinance passed by the town of Ossian in 2009.

Golf carts were banned from municipal streets by a 2009 Indiana law, but towns and cities were given permission to create exemptions.

Roanoke will allow the vehicles to be operated from March 1 to Nov. 30 during daylight hours.

The Huntington Common Council will meet on Tuesday, March 9, at 7 p.m.

The agenda includes public hearings on a proposed wastewater rate increase and proposed changes to the zoning code concerning signage. Both proposals are expected to be brought to the council that evening for an initial vote.

In addition, the council is scheduled to vote on a resolution regarding longevity payments to city employees and on a bond for improvements to the sewage treatment plant.

The Roanoke Public Library Board of Trustees will meet Tuesday, March 9, at 7 p.m. at the library.

The meeting agenda includes the establishment of a 2010 spending plan.

Following the regular meeting, the board will meet in executive session to conduct job performance evaluations of library employees.

Public hearings will be held on Tuesday, March 9, on two ordinances under consideration by the Huntington Common Council - a proposed increase in sewage treatment fees, and proposed changes in regulations for commercial and noncommercial signs.

Both hearings will be held in the council chambers, located on the third floor of the City Building, 300 Cherry St. The hearing on sewage fees will begin at 7 p.m., with the public hearing on the sign ordinance beginning immediately after the end of the first hearing.
The council will also hold a regular meeting that evening.

The number of Huntington County property owners who filed appeals of their tax assessments in 2009 is down 70 percent from the number of appeals filed in 2008, Huntington County Assessor Terri Boone has announced.

The deadline for filing an appeal of the 2009 assessment was Feb. 16. As of that date, Boone says, 244 appeals had been filed. In 2008, she says, 774 appeals were filed.

The Huntington Board of Public Works and Safety, acting on a request by board member Shirley Powell on Monday, March 1, will revisit the trash pick-up decision during the first board meeting of May.

Powell, who has been absent from board meetings for an extended amount of time due to illness, asked to discuss Mayor Steve Updike's announcement made on Feb. 11 to move garbage pick-up to twice a month from weekly. Powell said she wants to make sure that the decision is still necessary to save money.

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Kendall Mickley has announced that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination to the second district seat on Huntington County Council.

Mickley says he believes his financial experience gives him the resources to deal with property tax caps and other revenue shortfalls county government is currently facing.

Huntington's every-other-week trash collection begins this month.

The Huntington Street Department will collect trash the first full week of the month and the third week of each month. A week that begins on a Sunday or a Monday is considered a full week.

The specific day on which a resident's trash is picked up will not change.

The Huntington County Community School Board of Trustees approved a 2.25 percent raise for Superintendent of Schools Tracey Shafer on Monday, Feb. 22.

Shafer's compensation was approved by a close 4-3 vote. The raise is retroactive to July 2009. Those voting with the majority were Rick Brubaker, vice president, and members Dr. Jennifer Goff, Troy Smart and Tom King. Those voting against the compensation were Kevin Patrick, president; Rex Baxter, secretary; and member Scott Hoffman.

Photo provided.

Tom Carney, a 21-year veteran of the Huntington County Sheriff's Department, has announced that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination as sheriff.

Carney has served as major, the department's second in command, under Sheriff Kent Farthing for both of Farthing's terms in office. Farthing is limited by state law to two four-year terms.

Carney also served as a reserve officer with the Sheriff's Department before being hired on as a full-time officer in 1988.

The Huntington County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees will meet in executive session on Wednesday, March 3, at 7 p.m. in the Administrative Services Center, 1360 Warren Rd.

The agenda for the meeting includes discussion of strategy with respect to collective bargaining.

Executive sessions are closed to the public.

Case managers Abbey Cole, Diana Guzman and Sylvia Wade, who work with the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Aging and In-Home Services of Northeast Indiana, have completed the training to become certified State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) counselors.

As SHIP counselors, they are able to answer questions and counsel Medicare beneficiaries and caregivers about Medicare, Medicare supplements, Medicare Advantage, Medicare prescription drug plans, long-term care insurance and other health insurance concerns.

The Huntington County Treasurer's office will be closed Wednesday, March 3, so that the staff can attend a district conference in Kokomo.

The office will reopen Thursday, March 4.

Huntington County department heads have been asked by the Huntington County Council to reduce their 2010 budgets by seven percent.

The request was made during the County Council meeting on Monday, Feb. 22.

After receiving certified tax rates in early February, Huntington County Auditor Kathy Juillerat told Council members she expects a $945,000 shortfall in the county's general fund. The deficit comes as a result of tax cap losses, collection rates and appeals, Juillerat says.

The Huntington Redevelopment Commission will hold a special meeting on Friday, March 5, 2010, at 10 a.m.

The meeting will be held in the mayor's conference room on the third floor of the City Building, 300 Cherry St. in Huntington.

The agenda includes organization, establishment of meeting dates, reports, proposals and any other matter brought before the commission.

A meeting of the Huntington Board of Zoning Appeals scheduled for tonight, March 1, has been canceled.

The meeting was canceled because there are no items on the agenda.