Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
MENTONE – Mentone Town Council said they will look into what can be done with two properties that they received complaints about Wednesday.
The first property discussed was 405 Tucker St.
Richard Bose said the property has been uninhabited for 10 or 15 years. Complaints include rats on the property.
Councilman Tim Croy said the weeds on the property are probably a couple feet high.
Dan Penn also brought up the property at 112 Maple St. He said there’s issues with things like groundhogs and possums. Croy said there’s still dishes on the kitchen table in that house.
Croy said both properties were deemed unsafe two or three years ago. The Kosciusko County Health Department posted notices on both houses. The notice on the property on Tucker Street was torn down. It’s still owned by the same people, he said.
Croy said the two properties brought up Wednesday were probably the two worst in town.
While talking about the Tucker Street property, town attorney Andrew Grossnickle said he will reach out to the property owner, who he believed was K S & F Properties LLC, and see if there is a legal remedy to get the property cleaned up. If the property is too far gone, he’ll reach out to the health department to see what can be done. It’s possible since the properties were already deemed unsafe it could allow any process the health department has to get the situation rectified faster.
After hearing about both properties, Town Council President Jill Gross said the council will look into what can be done about them.
Later in the meeting, Grossnickle brought up information he found about the town creating zoning, cemetery and parks boards.
By ordinance, a zoning board has already been established, he said. The original ordinance goes back to 1961. The ordinance cites state statute, which Grossnickle looked up. The state statute talks about two members from the planning board being on the zoning board. Mentone doesn’t have a planning board.
Gross asked if the town council could be the planning board. Grossnickle said possibly, but he’d have to look into it.
He said the other option was to look into joining the Area Plan Commission as he believes Mentone is one of the only small towns without a zoning board of their own or being part of the APC. Grossnickle said he talked to Area Plan Director Matt Sandy and Sandy said he could talk to the council about the process of joining the APC.
As for the cemetery board, Grossnickle said there is a way for the town to create a one, but a sexton would have to be set up. Gross said Utilities Superintendent Josh Shepherd is the cemetery sexton. Grossnickle will have to look into whether the cemetery board will have to bring things to the town council for approval.
Grossnickle said, as far as the parks board, from what he was able to find, the town would have to create a separate department of parks and recreation.
Gross asked what the difference was between a parks or cemetery board and a parks or cemetery committee. Grossnickle said he will have to look into the difference.
No action was taken Wednesday.
In other business, the council:
• Learned the income surveys in regards to see if the town is eligible for Community Development Block Grant monies should start going out mid-August. It will be a random sampling.
For residents who are sent surveys and do not respond, Michiana Area Council of Governments staff will go door to door to see if they can get responses from those people.
• Learned Councilwoman Shelly Krueger reached out to Norfolk Southern Railway about the railroads in Mentone and initially didn’t get a response back.
She said she contacted a Congressman and reached out again to the railroad company before getting a call back.
Krueger said it will take a couple weeks for the railroad company to look into the situation before possible repairs are done.
• Learned new digital speed signs are up coming into and out of town in various spots.
• Learned from Clerk-Treasurer Amanda Yaprak she passed on all the town’s ordinances on to American Legal Publishing. They will provide two copies of binders with the ordinances, as well as electronic versions of the ordinances. Yaprak said the ordinances can be posted onto the town’s website.
The estimated cost for the work is $1,800.
• Approved a quote of $5,100 for Garage Force, Fort Wayne, to repair and poxy the utilities shop and garage floors.
• Learned from Krueger she is thinking of trying to put together a “Food Truck Friday” during the Farmers Market.
Anyone interested in possibly trying to put something together or being part of it can email sk5196@yahoo.com.
