Residents urge commissioners to fund Tioga Bridge Project
Preachin' to the choir
By Debbie Lowe Staff writer

There is a element of the local population who want the county to fully fund its portion of the restoration of the Tioga Bridge. They want the bridge to become a pedestrian bridge after it is raised so that those standing in boats traveling on the water below will not hit their heads. They want people in Monticello to walk across the bridge and come to Carroll County. The Carroll County Commissioners were in agreement with them at their Monday night meeting.

However, the commissioners' do not hold the county purse strings. That job belongs to the county council, who at their last meeting tabled a request to transfer funds from another bridge account to pay for the Tioga Bridge.

Calling the Tioga Bridge a "great historic aspect," Carroll County Parks Board member David McCain urged commissioners to find a way to fund the rehabilitation and raising project begun several years ago in conjunction with White County.

"It's a good asset," he told commissioners. "It will cost more to take it down than to destroy it."

Speaking on behalf of Delphi Historic Trails, Dan McCain agreed with his brother's recommendation. He said the bridge was "a historic resource that needs to be saved." He compared the Tioga Bridge between Monticello and the area south of Lake Freeman to the Main St. Bridge between Lafayette and West Lafayette. He encouraged commissioners to "do all you can to make it happen."

Monticello Mayor Jason Thompson described his city's five-year master park plan which included the renovation of the pedestrian bridge. He said the bridge project would help to "regionalize" the area for recreational activities in support of the project.

Commissioners' president Loren Hylton said he thought Carroll County "dropped the ball" by not funding the countyportion of the project in 2008.

Highway superintendent Ron Francis said it was better to spend money now to renovate the structure rather than spend more money later to remove it.

Commissioner Bill Brown said he was embarrassed the county has not "lived up to their agreement" with White County.

Commissioner George Mears estimated approximately 14 people would cross the bridge daily from Monticello and each one of those individuals would spend $10 in Carroll County, which would pay the county approximately $50,000 each year.

But council member Steve Ashby disagreed with Mears about the amount of money the county would realize from the tourist trade. He tried to debunk the notion that the county would see a financial windfall from tourist traffic as described by Mears. He estimated money receipted into county general would be significantly less than Mears' prediction and it would come primarily from county residents' income taxes employed in Carroll County businesses.

Highway Department

According to Francis, more than $100,000 has been spent for flood-related clean-up activities by his department. He said the work is not yet finished.

Francis provided a breakdown of expenses. He said as of Friday, $11,773.11 was spent on landfill costs, $1,978 for transfer station fees, $12,867.26 for fuel and $10,519.95 for 1,631 tons of material to repair 30 damaged roads. In addition, the cost to repair seven damaged hard-surfaced roads was $7,500 and one culvert repair not yet fully calculated but $24,100 has been spent on it to date. Labor costs equal $34,588.54, which is not FEMA reimbursable. Francis reported the grand total cost of flood-related expenses to the county is $103,326.86. He said the highway department will continue to remove debris from roadways for two more weeks before taking requests on a case-by-case basis.

"This is not a rosey picture," he said.

Francis said he hopes to be able to use Major Moves money and funds from the roads and streets accounts to pay for the road work and repairs. He said he will ask the council to grant an additional appropriation until FEMA reimbursement is received. He said he expected all costs associated with the flood, except for labor costs, to be fully reimbursed.

The highway department received permission to proceed with a plan to improve a private access road off of CR1225W as an emergency access road in case of another flood. Francis said the only way out of one flooded area is to travel toward the river before reaching safer ground.

Francis was directed to work with the land owner to reach an agreement.

Fee Ordinance

Francis said the Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District has not applied for permits to bore on county right-of-ways to install sewer pipes. However, he is concerned about what to charge the sewer district in light of the recent approved fee increases.

Auditor Beth Myers advised that a significant amount of highway fees goes into county general.

Francis said no exception to the fee schedule exists for utility companies. He recommended TLRSD be expected to apply for and pay the current fee for standard permits.

Brown said he was wary of abdicating oversight for any project and expected the sewer district to follow the standard procedure.

"I believe the fees should stand and they should go through the permitting process," he said.

Carroll Manor

Dann Kiser of Cornerstone Design recommended payment of two payment applications for $100,205 to Cooley Construction. He said a punch list was developed and the elevator is close to completion. March 3 is the date the elevator will be connected to power, which must happen prior to scheduling the state inspection. Kiser said $61,204 remained in retainage until the project is completed.

Kiser advised the payment applications, to be paid out of local match, had to be paid for the county to be in compliance with the grant. Commissioners approved the payments.

Superintendent Martha Lewis reported the project was "coming together."

A change order for just over $5,000 was approved. Owner-requested omissions from the original plan mitigated the change order.

Underground storage tanks

Commissioners agreed to pay no more than $11,225 to close the investigation and remediation of the underground storage tank site on the county jail property. Steve Stringfield, who was hired to do the final phase of the work, presented a work plan to proceed with closing the project by the end of the year.

Commissioners' attorney Barry Emerson was directed to examine the previous investigation and remediation service provider's contract with the county for non-compliance issues.

Other business

Commissioners agreed to join INdigital telecom to petition the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to compel AT&T to allow INdigital to connect to the county's wireless system. INdigital intends to provide a network service to all 911 departments in the state which would streamline emergency 911 calls.

E-911 department head Jay Dee Cree will testify on behalf of INdigital in front of the IURC. Carroll County will incur no cost.

Natural Resources Conservation Service worker Joe O'Donnell said the Emergency Watershed Protection Program is available for governmental agencies to stabilize storm-damaged banks and property. He advised the program could help individual landowners if the county government made the application for them.

"Anyway you think our program can help, I'd go out and look at the sites," O'Donnell offered.

Delphi Youth Baseball will post a sign on the courthouse lawn Feb. 19 to 24.

The next meeting will be March 4 at 9 a.m. Commissioners will meet in joint session with the county council Feb. 20 at 6 p.m.