NORTH?MANCHESTER – Arbor Day in North Manchester will be celebrated April 28, the town council heard Wednesday. The community is urged to plant trees to support the town’s forestry program. The Tree Advisory Arbor Day presentation will be at Timbercrest at 3 p.m. A tree will be planted in honor of Phil Orpurt, a long-time member of the tree advisory. The town council approved the consideration of codifications of ordinances through American Legal Publishing. This would make the local ordinances available to the residents of North Manchester in print as well as an electronic resource for online access. It will take about a year to update the ordinances. It is recommended that the ordinances be updated every three to five years. Two probationary patrolmen, Parker Stouffer and Devin Bechtold, are now patrolling on their own for the North Manchester Police Department. The police chief thanked his officers for the great job they are doing on drug interdiction and actively doing traffic stops and looking for drugs. They made 29 arrests for drug-related charges. Most of the charges came from the traffic stops and were related to meth or heroine. Sixteen individuals were arrested for the drug-related charges. In an effort to reduce the cost of heating the bay area and the EMS living quarters, the fire department has bought eight ceiling fans. The fans were bought with the fire department’s budget and will be installed by Riverbridge Electric. The new fire engine’s construction will be set to begin May 1. The Parks and Recreation Department will offer its yearly life guarding class from Tuesday to April 29. The class will have online learning as well as a classroom learning experience. Participants must be 15 years old and the fee for the class is $75 per person. A new part-time maintenance employee has been hired and started April 3. The main responsibilities for this new position is to assist with snow removal, mowing, and landscaping approximately 20 hours per week.
