Town Meeting June 6th 2019

The Lapel Town Council held a regular Town Meeting at the Eagles on 9th St on June 6th from 7pm.

Council members present Deb Wainscott (President), Tony Pearson (Vice President) and Jason Kleinbub.

Excessive Dog Barking Complaint

Caitlin McGuire a resident on Gwinn Lane complained about an ordinance violation letter she received regarding excessive dog barking by her two dogs.

McGuire stated that she feels like she is being singled out and harassed by the Town of Lapel code enforcement officer.

Jason Kleinbub would like to see a list of dates and the people reporting the incidents of barking before choosing a course of action.

Deb Wainscott said they would get with Chris Hobbs (Code Enforcement Officer) and get more details.

Employee Handbook

The Employee Handbook was not approved, Tony Pearson would like more information on what he feels are details in the handbook that might overrule the existing salary ordinance.

RQAW Updates

RQAW gave several status updates.

• The Town has a quote from E&B paving to widen 3rd St at the new park to allow two lanes of traffic. Ashley Hopper, Town lawyer stated as this was a public works project, they need to seek two more quotes before choosing which company to go with.
• After a review of the bridge over the creek on 200 S near the High School and the bridge over the ditch on 300 S near the cemetery RQAW believes it will cost approximately $31,000 to repair both bridges to get a further 20 years of use out of them. If no repairs are completed the bridges could fail within 5 to 10 years. Quotes will be sought from companies to complete the work.
• Community Crossing Road Repaving - E&B is expected to start work on repaving after the Village Fair completes and it will take two to three weeks to complete all of the road repaving projects.
• 500 S will not be repaved until SR38 re-opens as it is currently being used by many motorists as an unofficial detour.
• The Council approved paying RQAW $2,500 to renew the road survey, a task that needs to be redone every three years to apply for more funds from the state Community Crossings program.
• A new round of Community Crossing funding opens in July.

Trash Rate Increase

The CGS contract states the trash rate will be going up from $12.50 to $12.88 starting in July although the rate increase will not be evident until the bills received in August.

Utilities - Ford St Well and Lift Station on 300 S

The Ford St Well is currently down, a 10-month-old pump has failed at the well house. Wiring may also need to be replaced. It is estimated the well house will be up and running Saturday at the earliest.

The Town is to talk to its insurance company to have them get the repairs covered under warranty.

The lift station on 300 S has recently had several issues with pumps getting clogged up and failing. Recent inspections have found the pumps to be clogged with string mop heads. 

The Town is working to get the issues at the lift station resolved but can do nothing to stop residents flushing unusual objects down their toilets.

Storm Water Complaints

Several residents of Lapel that live in the SR13 corridor annexed area were in attendance to complain about the $3.05 storm water fee that all residents of the Town of Lapel are currently being billed for.

The Town of Lapel passed a new ordinance at the end of 2018 that made the storm water fee apply to all residents of the Town of Lapel at the start of 2019.

Complaints regarding this matter include:

• It is unfair for the Town of Lapel to be charging everyone for a service that not everyone is getting.
• The Town should have sent a letter to all residents informing them of the change.
• No one knew about the Public Hearing concerning the rate increase held last year. It was published in the newspaper and advertised online which is all the Town of Lapel has to do under state rules.

Several concerned citizens stated they would gladly pay the $3.05 or more if they had storm water handled by the Town of Lapel that resolved standing water issues many of them face.

The Town Council took their complaints under advisement and will re-address the situation at the next town meeting on June 20th.

In the meantime people are advised to pay their bill.

Basketball Goals

A resident received a letter to move their basketball goal and felt like they were being singled out.

She complied with the letter which stated it had to be moved by May 26th but she still sees other basketball goals out near the street.

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