Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - Syracuse Town Council members met Tuesday night and held a public hearing on a water rate increase for out-of-town residents, which caused a lot of discussion, but from the council members not the public.
Ordinance 2025-18 called for a 15% surcharge over and above the established rates for out-of-town users, effective March 1.
Councilman Larry Siegel said he didn’t have any problem with that part of the ordinance, however he said he could not support the ordinance because of the language that states, “to ensure that persons who are receiving water service from the town who are beyond the town boundaries have fairly contributed to the capital and operating costs of the Syracuse waterworks system.”
Siegel mentioned millions of dollars that have been spent in the recent past and said out-of-town residents have not “fairly contributed to that.”
Town attorney Jay Rigdon said the ordinance is not meant to concern past projects. Siegel said the 15% surcharge “won’t even put tires on the truck.”
Rigdon responded that what they’re trying to do is prevent rate payers from saying, “Why am I paying more?” The challenge is not whether they’ve fairly contributed or not but it’s to deal with a potential legal challenge about why they’re being charged the surcharge. When asked by other council members if the language was necessary, Rigdon felt it was but said it is the town’s ordinance so they can change it if they’d like.
No one from the public spoke for or against the issue and the ordinance passed 3-1 with Siegel voting against it.
Commonwealth Engineer’s Update
Jeremy Hardy, of Commonwealth Engineer, was present and gave updates on a couple of projects.
Hardy said he was waiting to get confirmation on final asphalt amounts for paving before presenting the pay application to the council. He had two task orders for the council’s approval. One was for $439,000 for additional design work and having an inspector on site for the water main project. They are adding a Kern Road loop to that project. Hardy said the original estimate for the project was $6.2 million but after the Office of Community Rural Affairs grant and other savings, the town will be responsible for $4.6 million. The council approved that task order.
The other task order approved was for on-call service for 2026 in a not-to-exceed amount of $10,000.
Department Reports
Town Manager David Wilkinson reported on several meetings and projects, including a meeting with the Beautification Committee who gathered with other organizations to discuss plans for celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States this year.
He said one plan in discussion was to host a community family-friendly festival the weekend before the Fourth of July. He said the only action he’d need from the council was approval to shut down a portion of Main Street either on Saturday and Sunday or maybe just Sunday. Council members had some questions that Wilkinson couldn’t answer as everything is still in the early planning stages, but the council said as long as any issues were resolved, they’d be open to closing that portion of Main Street.
For the police department, Councilman Nate Scherer had questions regarding the code enforcement report and he said he wanted to get the information out that for those in violations of the town code because they are unable to fix the violation, there are churches in town that are willing to help.
Park Superintendent Chad Jonsson submitted an end-of-year report for the tree board, which he said was the same as the report they send to Tree City USA and he just wanted the council to see it.
Public Works Superintendent Mark Aurich received approval to replace a couple of street department trucks. One was a pickup truck with dump truck capabilities and had an International chassis at a cost of $79,998.84. That truck will replace a 2006 truck. The other was a truck with salt spreader at a cost of $62,277.04. He told the council the turn-around to receive the trucks should be immediate.
The council also approved paying a portion of the cost of upgrading the water main to North Trace RV Park in the amount of $71,483. He said they got a good deal at $75 a lineal foot. He also said working with the people and contractor involved with the RV park has been “tremendous and great to work with.”
The fire department received approval to purchase a ladder truck and also to purchase turn out gear for a new firefighter joining the department in the amount of $3,940.
In other business, the council:
• Approved a resolution authorizing Cindy Kaiser as council president to sign necessary paperwork for the State Revolving Fund grants and OCRA grants.
• Approved a resolution appropriating pier rental fees to police department for continuing education.
• Tabled an ordinance to change the town code regarding pier rental fees as they thought it needed to have more clarity.
