Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - Syracuse Town Council members met Tuesday evening and approved a couple of task orders for Commonwealth Engineers.
Chris Harrison and Robyn Matthews from Commonwealth were there.
Harrison told the council that the utility plans for North Trace RV Park are under review. He also had a task order to update the wellhead protection plan. He explained Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) requires that the town review and update the Wellhead Protection Plan every five years, including identifying a delineation period of how long it would take for a contaminant to reach the well.
Public Works Superintendent Mark Aurich said, “We’ve done extensive testing on all three wells and found no contamination. We have a beautiful aquifer, and this helps keep it that way.”
The council approved the task order in an amount not to exceed $10,000. Harrison said the work would be done on an hourly basis.
Robyn Matthews told the council that Jeremy Hardy, the town’s representative from Commonwealth, was concerned about lack of paperwork for right-of-way work on the water lines.
Town attorney Jay Rigdon explained he prepared a document for the council’s consideration on behalf of the town and Commonwealth, which would indemnify Commonwealth from any liability in the event someone should question the right-of-way. Rigdon explained that in the past some town governments weren’t always great about platting roads, but the state said if it’s been used as a road for 20 years, they’re good.
“Commonwealth wants to have the town indemnify them if there are any issues with the dedicated right-of-way. They’re going to be building in the street that’s already there, so there shouldn’t be any issues, but they want to make sure the town will cover them,” he said.
The council approved the indemnification.
Matthews then went over road projects. She said the 2026 projects got pushed to 2027 and they were working on design and applications for the 2027 CCMG (Community Crossing Matching Grant) for 2027.
Aurich explained that they did not get the CCMG funding for this year, so they changed the project to pave non-grant eligible items this year like alleys and public works property. He said they included Kern Road this year because it’s in such bad shape. He said right now it’s 2 inches of asphalt on top of sand.
“Someone saved a lot of money when they built Kern Road,” Aurich said.
Matthews asked for approval of task order for road projects. She said there are three phases of the project that she broke down for the council, but the total amount of the task order is $40,000.
Ordinances Introduced
Two ordinances were introduced but no action was taken on them. The first was introducing an ordinance for a State Revolving Fund bond. Council members had some questions about paying it off early, but they were told it typically is a 10-year bond.
The second ordinance introduced regarded purchasing procedure. Town Manager David Wilkinson said after they reviewed ordinances for updating, he found this one. He said ordinance 245 states that town employees can purchase up to $15,000 without council approval and it mentions purchases between $50,000-$150,000 requires three quotes and council approval, but there’s nothing in writing that fills the gap between those two amounts, so this ordinance attempts to fill that gap. The ordinance states that amounts over $15,000 but less than $50,000 requires council approval but not three quotes.
There was discussion about a discussion that the town manager didn’t recall. They ended up tabling the ordinance to allow Rigdon to add language.
In other business, the council:
• Tabled a deed for land donation to the library approved last month to add language that matches the first land donation.
• Discussion to change the meeting time was on the agenda but they didn’t take action. Councilman Nathan Scherer wants to make it earlier. Rigdon said his prior meeting commitment changed their time to allow him to make the Syracuse meeting, so he’d have to make some adjustments if they change the time.
• Approved a sign design for the municipal pier.
• Approved using $3,615.43 a year for the DARE program at Syracuse and Milford Elementary schools.
• Approved the purchase of an ATV for the police department that could be used year-round and trade in a golf cart. The amount of the purchase is $15,627.86 with $2,500 trade in on the old car.
• Heard they received the Tree City Award for 2025.
• Heard the Farmer and Artisan market has started with more vendors this year.
• Heard the annual Mudtastic will take place June 20.
• Scherer mentioned at the end of the meeting that the Wawasee High School robotics team is really good and should have some recognition. They’re considering ways to do that.
• The Memorial Day Parade in Syracuse will start Monday at 1:30 p.m. A program will follow at Syracuse Cemetery with retired Naval officer and Pastor Pat Park as the speaker.
