Snow and ice

We got a taste of real winter during the past few days. We got a bit of snow that did not melt immediately. 

The temperatures got low enough for ice to form on the river.

Hopefully it will all melt with the warmer temperatures this week.

Special County Council meeting

On Monday evening the County Council met for a short meeting to approve the sale of the former prosecutor/Health Department Annex, otherwise known as the former REMC building. (The Sale had been approved by the Commissioners at their November meeting.)  Two offers have been made for the building and the Commissioners have accepted the higher bid of $125,000. That is considerably less than the original asking price, but a reason that the County decided to move offices from the building was that the heating/cooling system needed to be replaced and the estimated replacement cost was very high. The potential buyer was not known by the Council, which approved the sale.

After the vote, the Council spent another ten minutes discussing whether construction bids could be limited to local contractors and the need for shopping for options for employee health insurance.

Missing from the meeting was Jeff DeYoung, who resigned from the Council after he was appointed by the Republican precinct  committee men and women to replace Kendell Culp as a commissioner. WLQI reported that five ballots were needed for DeYoung to get a a majority of the 24 members present. DeYoung was an at-large representative on the County Council and his replacement will be named by the same Republican committeemen at a meeting on December 8. 

County Plan Commission

The County Plan Commission also met on Monday evening, though later and at a different location. It had four items on its agenda. The first took by far the longest. It was for a rezone from A1 to A2 of a 15 acre parcel in Jordan Township so that a residence could be built on a four-acre section. The other 11 acres are in the floodplain of Carpenter Creek. If the rezone was granted, the only way according to the County Code to split off the four acres would be to create a two lot subdivision, but the Commission did not want to do this because one of the lots would look like it was buildable but it is not. After a lot of discussion, they approved the rezone (which is only advisory; the Commissioners have the final say) with the condition that the 15 acre lot be combined with the 26 acre lot owned by the same person, and then the four acres split off. Apparently if the acreage is large enough, a small lot for a residence can be split off without having it declared a subdivision. 

Two items were for a two-lot subdivision, one splitting 20 acres in Keener Township and the other splitting 25 acres in Walker Township. Both were approved. The final agenda item was for a rezone from A1 to GC (General Commerce?) in Keener Township. Bos Farms is currently using a building on the site as an office and wants to build a new office building, so wants to get the zoning right. It was approved. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!