The Andrews Town Council passed a variety of ordinances during its monthly meeting on Monday, Nov. 12.
Before the ordinances were addressed, the council passed Resolution 2012-13, which permits the council to present a synopsis of ordinances and resolutions instead of reading them in full, simplifying the process.
The council passed Ordinances 2012-8 and 2012-9, which concern zoning issues pertaining to flag poles and driveways.
"The planning commission represents all the zoning issues of all the towns, so everybody's consistent," said Clerk/Treasurer Bill Johnson. "Andrews is getting in-sync with the other communities and that way everybody's together."
The council also passed Ordinance 2012-10, which approved a document containing rules and regulations that govern meetings, and Ordinance 2012-11, which was passed to get Andrews in line with a recent state ruling that said that customers who have had their water shut off have the right to appeal their case before their town council.
"It came from a case in Avon," said Johnson. "The state Supreme Court ruled with the resident, who said he didn't get proper notice. So, all towns now are passing that ordinance."
The council discussed an issue pertaining to how volunteers with the fire department are compensated for their clothing allowance and travel. The trustee currently covers this and state law requires that the town guarantee payment.
"There's a little sticking point there because the town is wanting to pay (the volunteers) directly and not have the trustee do it and the township advisory board wants to continue to let the trustee pay them," said Johnson. "The town needs accountability and currently we don't have any."
Ways to reduce the cost of town employees' health insurance were discussed. Johnson said that the expense is currently $88,000 a year and that the council wants to lower that cost to around $55,000 a year. An option the council is considering is to have town employees pay dependent costs.
Town Marshal Van Juillerat informed the council that there were no major issues on Halloween, and Fire Marshal Tom Wuensch reported that the Halloween teen dance party at the fire station went well.
