Public invited to see new community building
Open House set for Sunday at Holton
Wanda English Burnett - Editor

Members of the Holton Town Council announced that the Open House for the new community building will be held Sunday, July 11, from 2-5 p.m. at the facility on Versailles Street next to the Sewer Office Building. The community is invited to attend and see the beautiful building that will serve many purposes.

The ribbon cutting will be held at 2:00 p.m. with a reception to follow. The town council has worked diligently to make this project a reality and Council Member Wilma Myers was complimented for donating much of the décor items for the building.

Mike Stratton was in attendance and addressed the issue of getting pictures copied from the Holton High School saying they would cost between $1500-$2000 to do this depending on whether they wanted them framed or not. He was given permission from the council to approach the South Ripley School Administration about getting trophies that were once at the Holton school.

A lot of ground was covered at the regular meeting of the Holton Town Council on Tuesday evening, July 6.

The room was filled nearly to capacity as many members of the fire department came to show support for
a grant that is being applied for to purchase a new pump truck.

Mary McCarty of Southeastern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, was in attendance for a public hearing concerning getting a grant for a new pump truck for the fire department and noted they are seeking
$40,000 of match money for the vehicle. They already have been granted $35,000 from the Rising Sun Regional Foundation, and the fire department will contribute $5,000 of their own money toward the purchase Toney Mayberry, fire chief for the department addressed the council saying the truck they would be replacing was a 1971 International. The new truck would have a 1250 gal. per minute pumping capacity for the best possible ISO rating for the town. He noted that this would help with homeowners insurance rates.

Alan Franklin, president of the fire department said the truck needs to be replaced in a bad way. It was noted that sometimes the pump would freeze up, they've experienced dead batteries and equipment failure with replacement parts hard to find.

Robert Furst brought before the council the situation of unexpected additional costs the sewer department has incurred. After discussion, the council agreed they would have to do what they didn't want to and raise the rates. Since the sewer system was installed in 1994 there hasn't been a rate increase, but with the new costs it was decided there was no alternative. "The price hike will have to be shared with consumers," noted Furst.

This rate hike will become effective as soon as the proper paper work is completed. Furst noted that the town council members haven't given themselves a raise in quite a while and the sewer operator hasn't had a pay increase since the sewer was put in place. "We've tried to keep the costs down as much as possible," he noted.

A dog situation on South Marion Street was brought before the council with council members saying they were aware of the problem and heard police reports had been made.

Wilbur Myers made mention of
children riding scooters throughout the town and said some of them weren't old enough and didn't wear the proper gear. He referred to articles in newspapers saying how dangerous the scooters were. He also discussed some vandalism that was occurring at the community park.

Town employee Steve Troxell asked the council to consider giving him a raise, saying he'd been with the town for close to three years and makes $7.50 per hour. All of the council members agreed Troxell does a good job and they would give priority to consideration of a raise for him.

Clerk-Treasurer Velma Stickelman presented a letter from CSX saying the rail line that previously was being considered closed will not be. "CSXT has decided to postpone filing the abandonment at this time," the letter said. This includes a 37.6 mile stretch of rail line between Aurora and North Vernon running right through Ripley County.

The town council had collectively written a letter to CSX expressing their concern of losing the rail line and were pleased that the abandonment will not take place at this time.

President Robert Furst, Clerk-Treasurer Velma Stickelman, along with council members Wilma Myers and Rick Holman were in attendance at the meeting along with several members of the fire department, and other Holton residents. The next regularly scheduled meeting for the council will be held August 3, at 6:00 p.m. in the sewer office located on Versailles Street.