Government & School Board

Monday, Feb. 16
Huntington County Board of Commissioners, 8:30 a.m., commissioners' room, first floor of Huntington County Courthouse.
Huntington Board of Public Works and Safety, 9 a.m., mayor's conference room, third floor of City Building.
Huntington Board of Aviation, 5:30 p.m., terminal building of Huntington Municipal Airport.

Tuesday, Feb. 17
Huntington County Soil and Water Conservation District, 7 a.m., SWCD office, 2040 Riverfork Drive.
Roanoke Town Council, 7 p.m., Roanoke Town Hall, 126 N. Main St., Roanoke.

Attorneys for the Huntington County Community School Corporation are preparing documents to fight a recommendation made by a federal judge that could stop the practice of offering a weekday religious education program to local elementary school students.

Monday, Feb. 9
Markle Park Board, 7:30 a.m., Markle Municipal Building, 155 W. Sparks St., Markle.

Huntington County Board of Commissioners, 8:30 a.m., commissioners' room, first floor of the Huntington County Courthouse.

Andrews Town Council, 6 p.m., Andrews Town Hall, 66 N. Main St., Andrews.

Warren Town Council, 6:30 p.m., Warren Assembly Hall, 131 N. Wayne St., Warren.

Huntington County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees, 7 p.m., Administrative Service Center, 1360 N. Warren Rd.

Money from Roanoke's share of CEDIT income will likely be spent on improvements to the town's infrastructure and updates to town buildings and equipment.

Members of the Roanoke Town Council approved the CEDIT spending outline during their meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 3. The town expects to receive $67,000 in CEDIT money for 2009, which will be added to the $36,000 of CEDIT funds the council still has from 2008.

It appears as though the parent of a local third-grader who filed suit to stop the practice of offering a religious education program on school grounds will have her way ... at least for now.

United States Magistrate Judge Roger B. Cosbey on Tuesday issued his report and recommendation on the pending legal case filed by the mother of an 8-year-old Horace Mann student on Nov. 12.

The Huntington County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees approved professional leave requests for several teachers and administrators during the school board meeting on Jan. 26.

Teachers or administrators making the request; the name of the school or facility where they work; and the name, date and location of the conference they plan to attend include:

• Dawn Eckert with Huntington-Whitley Special Services - Instructional Strategies for Special Needs Learners, West Lafayette, Jan. 15-16.

The purpose and details of an upcoming sewer separation project were explained to Huntington residents during a public meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 28

Mayor Steve Updike introduced Jeff DeWitt, engineering consultant of Bonar Group, and Bruce Mertz, of Geiger Excavating, the construction company that won the bid for the project.

Geiger outbid seven other companies for the project, a sign, DeWitt says, of the strained economy. The company won the bid at $2.7 million, much lower than the anticipated cost of $3.4 million.

Crescent Avenue, State Street, Oak Street and Poplar Street wil see construction for the sewer separation project announced recently by Huntington Mayor Steve Updike begin this spring, while construction on Waren and Guilford streets will begin in June.

In other business during the Monday, Jan. 26, Huntington County Community School Corporation Board meeting, trustees acted upon several items.

These actions included:

• Receiving a list of individuals who passed their GED tests on Oct. 7 and 8. They included: Matthew Dominguez, Michael Graft, Jennifer Overby and Jacob Price, all of Huntington; John Nichols and Khristina Wyche, both of Andrews; Joseph Burnsworth, of Lagro; Nicole Hall, of South Whitley; and Adam Mendenhall, of Bluffton.

A room full of interested people listened intently as an attorney for the local school board gave an update on the legal case against a long-established practice of offering religious education to elementary-age students during the school day.

Chris Hoke (left) is sworn in as a Huntington County (IN) Council member during a ceremony Wednesday, Dec. 31, in the Huntington County Courthouse rotunda. Huntington Circuit Court Judge Tom Hakes (right) officiates, and Hoke's wife, Beth Hoke, holds the Bible.