During the first 2022 Roanoke Town Council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 4, the council appointed their officials for the year.
Councilwoman Mandy Sands was elected president and former president Dave Meitzler was elected as the new vice president.
The council liaisons for each town department are as follows:
• Police: Councilwoman Joan Abbott.
• Fire: Councilman Nick Scheer.
• Park: Councilman Pat Scher.
• Utility: Vice President Meitzler.
• Library: President Sands.
In unrelated business, Dave Mettler, of Mettler Insurance Agency, attended the meeting to discuss the renewal for the town’s insurance. Mettler detailed increases to different areas of the insurance and also went over additions the town could make to their insurance coverage.
Councilman Scheer asked Superintendent of Operations Aaron Popplewell to look over the renewal documents to make sure there weren’t any “glaring misses” in what the town had covered and Popplewell agreed to take care of it.
The council approved the renewal of the insurance, but Mettler said they could look over the additions they discussed during the meeting and let Mettler know if they would like to add any coverage. For example, Mettler spoke of cyber liability insurance that the town could add to its plan if they chose to.
“It’s no different than adding a car (to the plan),” Mettler said.
During department reports, Fire Chief Brandon Taylor asked for clarification on the rules for purchasing things for the department.
Clerk-Treasurer Sarah Milton said that, going forward, the council would need three quotes presented to them and that they could only approve invoices once the product had arrived.
“We can’t pay for items that aren’t received,” Milton said.
Council President Sands recommended that Taylor set up business accounts with these entities in order to have the invoices sent to the town rather than having to pay in advance.
Taylor also reported that there have been mice in the fire department recently and asked what route he should take with disposing of them. Sands said to use traps first and to let the council know if that doesn’t help so that they can call someone.
Superintendent Popplewell reported that the town received the first payout for the Indiana Department of Transportation’s Community Crossings grant in the amount of $166,882.72, which is about 12 percent of the work that’s been completed.
“We’re expecting to start back up in March,” Popplewell said.
Popplewell also said that County Council Member Terry Miller contacted him to ask for a representative from Roanoke to join his housing opportunity group. Miller plans to have them meet every other month. The first meeting is Thursday, Jan. 20, at 1:30 p.m.
Since none of the council members had availability at that time, Popplewell agreed to be Roanoke’s representative.
Clerk-Treasurer Milton presented the Firefighting, Rescue and First Responder contracts for the Jackson and Union townships. She reported that there have been no changes to the contracts and the council approved both.
Milton also said that the possible tenant for the Old Town Hall fell through, so she wondered what the council wanted to do. The council agreed that they should see if they can find another tenant for the space.
In other business:
• Councilman Scher requested that the Roanoke Police Department starts submitting a yearly report of their activity. Town Marshal Jim Wood agreed to do this and said he would submit the 2021 report.
• A representative from the Roanoke American Legion requested the council’s permission to put up a new sign for the Legion on Locust and Main streets. The signs they used to have on were in poor condition, so they wanted to replace it. The council approved the request as long as the Legion coordinated with Town Marshal Wood.
• Councilman Scheer reported that he is trying to get quotes for lawn mowing the park in the summer, but said he is “having trouble getting estimates.” He said he would continue to reach out to entities about this.
