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Markle councilmen decided next move -- literally

Markle Town Councilman Rick Bower (right) is sworn into his next four-year term in office by town Clerk-Treasurer Shelley Monticue during the town council’s meeting Wednesday, Feb. 18.
Markle Town Councilman Rick Bower (right) is sworn into his next four-year term in office by town Clerk-Treasurer Shelley Monticue during the town council’s meeting Wednesday, Feb. 18. Photo provided.

Markle town councilmen decided their next move -- literally -- on Wednesday, Feb. 18 – moving the town hall offices to the Turnpointe Community Church of the Brethren.

The council has been looking for a temporary place to set up shop after the town sold the land on which the present town hall sits at 155 W. Sparks Street to the Huntington City-Township Public Library. The library plans to build a new Markle branch on the spot, vacat-ing its current location at 197 E. Morse St., the building of which is owned by the town.

When the new library is built the town plans to move into the library’s present location.

After weighing pros and cons of both the church and renting modular units to place at the fire station, council members voted 3-0 to rent the church’s parson-age, which has parking, handicap access and a toilet. There is also Inter-net access and a phone line installed in the building.

Town Assistant Mike Grant noted that the modular offices have no restrooms, nor is there a hook-up available to run to the trailers. Council President Jeff Humbarger said the town may also need to rent additional space for storage, which will not be necessary at the parsonage.

“It really comes down to just a couple of issues, and one is location,” Humbarger said. “The parsonage is pretty much ready to go and is handi-cap-accessible, but it’s on the outskirts of town. The mobile unit here behind the (fire station) would be centrally-located and would kind of keep it pretty close to where it’s already at.”

Rent of the parsonage is $500 per month plus utilities. Town officials expect the temporary quarters will be needed for a minimum of 18 months, and as much as 36 months. A public hearing will have to be held since the town is planning to lease the space. Humbarger directed Clerk-Treasurer Shelley Monticue to work with the church to place an ad announcing a special meeting for the public hearing.

The move is projected to take place as early as April 1. A moving company will likely need to be hired to move the offices to the parsonage, Grant said.
Grant, who is also on the Markle Library construction committee, said the library has hired an architect and expects to have plans finished by the end of April or early May. Construction bids are planned to go out in June.

• In other business, the town considered a flood plain ordinance presented by Huntington County-wide Department of Community Development Mark Mussman. He explained that new, digital county flood maps issued by the National Flood Insurance Program will become official on June 2, which requires repeal and replacement of Section 917 of the flood hazard area overlay district.

Mussman said Markle will not likely be affected any differently by the changes, but acceptance of Ordinance No. 2015-1 by the council is necessary as part of participation in the program, which provided Markle residents the opportunity to obtain guaranteed flood insurance.

“The flood maps – the new ones – are county-wide. They used to be specific to the political subdivisions in which they were located, but now they’re county-wide maps,” Mussman explained. “The map of flood hazard areas – it will flood; it’s not a matter of ‘if.’ It will … I think this does a really good job of protecting as much as possible those existing structures and any new structures that will be developed in the special flood hazard area.”

Mussman added the Markle Plan Commission passed the ordinance on with a favorable recommendation.
The council tabled the matter until its next meet-ing in order to read through the 27-page ordinance.

• Jay Stankiewicz of DLZ Indiana provided an update on the Tracy Street project, in which the firm requested the town approve a supple-mental agreement for the survey, design and environmental documentation associated with installing the off-site storm sewer for Tracy Street.
“Basically, it’s a storm sewer that will drain the stormwater runoff on Tracy Street at the corner of State Road 116 and Tracy Street,” Stankiewicz explained, adding DLZ has deter-mined the 30-inch off-site storm sewer would run about 1,400 feet and be installed within the existing right-of-way, with the outfall to land owned by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The cost would raise the contract amount from $352,660 to $388,370, an increase of $35,720. Stankiewicz said the amount is covered under the 80/20 funding, with $7,000 coming out of the town’s coffers.

In a second item, Stankiewicz asked for approval of an authorization request to transfer federal funds from the construction phase to the preliminary engineering phase to cover various supplements of the Tracy Street project.
Stankiewicz also asked to move back the letting date on the project from August 2015 to spring of 2016.

“If we bid it in August the contractor would start probably sometime in September or October, or October-November, and there would be a high potential of the roadway being torn up over the winter,” he said. “In discussions with Rick (Asher, town superintendent) we both agreed that it’s probably not ideal for the town.”

Councilmen approved the recommendations, including voting 3-0 to adopt the supplemental agreement for the survey.

• A memorandum of understanding between the town and the Markle Area Historical Society was tabled until the next council meeting on March 18 to allow the society to catalog items in its “Exhibit A” attachment, which has not yet been completed. The memorandum outlines the roles and responsi-bility of the town and the society as they relate to the storage and use of items currently stored in the soon-to-be-demolished town hall building.