By Tim Pinkham
LOOGOOTEE — The Loogootee City Council agreed Monday night to erect as least two signs, which will read “Residential Area, No Through Traffic,” at points leading into certain residential areas of the city.
Dick Walker requested the signs, saying he had seen similar signs in another Indiana city. He complained many out-of-town drivers were using Loogootee’s city streets “as a highway” to avoid the three traffic lights on U.S. 50. He is concerned pedestrians walking on the residential streets, which have no sidewalks, or children darting into the street will be hit by a driver trying to avoid the lights.
As someone who walks regularly, Walker said he is driven off the street every week by people driving through the residential area where he lives.
Councilwoman Phyllis Parker suggested a police officer patrol the area to issue tickets to any driver exceeding the city’s 20 mph speed limit for residential areas.
However, Walker said speeding wasn’t the issue, but rather the increased number of vehicles. If the signs don’t work, he wants the council to pass an ordinance banning out-of-town drivers from using residential streets as a shortcut to avoid lights.
Since residential streets are open to public use as much as state highways, Walker never explained how the council could legally ban certain drivers from using them, as long as they drove safely and obeyed all traffic laws. He simply wants the excess traffic gone from his neighborhood.
The council did adopted a new policy and procedure manual for city employees. Parker initially wanted to table the issue for a month, because only three council members were present, but Councilmen Rick Norris and Rich Taylor wanted to adopt the manual without delay.
Susan Brewer was absent due to illness, while Joe Mattox is still recovering from a broken bone in his leg sustained more than a month ago when he was struck by a vehicle while attending a graveside service.
Mayor Don Bowling said the new manual includes many changes which were suggested during meetings between the council members and city employees. These changes include new caps on the amount of sick hours, vacation days and compensatory time which may be accrued.
Bowling said the previous manual also included limits on sick hours, vacation days and comp time, but had been routinely ignored for years. As a result, some long-time employees have accumulated dozens, if not hundreds, of unused sick hours and comp time hours.
The council members said current employees will not lose these extra hours, but will be expected to steadily reduce them. Supervisors must approve the use of these hours by their employees, while Bowling must approve any hours used by supervisors.
Norris said the new manual caps comp time hours at 160. Any new vacation or sick days accrued this year must be used by the end of June 2011.
Bowling also said the new manual increases the amount of vacation time earned by most city employees. After 10 years of service, the number of vacation days allowed increases by one day per year. For example, after 11 years of service employees will receive 11 vacation days. It will increase one day per year through 20 years of service.
In other business
Mowing bid
The council approved the sole mowing bid of $3,126 from Cutting Edge Lawn Care, Loogootee. This was a 50 percent increase from the company’s winning bid last year. The bid covers 26 weeks of mowing city property at the wastewater plant, water tower and well fields.
Water towers
The low bid of $4,600 from Utility Service Co., Perry, Ga., to clean and inspect the city’s two water towers was approved. The last time the towers were cleaned and inspected was in 2002. Utility Manager Bo Wilson said the state Department of Environmental Management is pushing for such maintenance at least every five years.
Wastewater plant
Wilson said the electric motor and electric heater at the wastewater treatment plant both failed Feb. 18. He believes it was due to a power surge and an insurance claim has been submitted. The city has a $500 deductible, but the repairs costs are $2,545 and $1,850.
Insurance
Anthem Insurance Co. informed the council the city’s health insurance premium would increase 4.8 percent this year to more than $287,000. Medical insurance accounts for 12.2 percent of the city’s annual budget.
