Crothersville council studies options for a new town hall

CROTHERSVILLE - Discussion of a new town hall has been on the council's agenda several times since the original building was damaged by a storm in 2006.

Talk continued Wednesday night during the monthly council meeting, and that project may be getting closer to reality.

While council members were mixed on the issue, they agreed the town needs to get out of the lease situation it's in now.

"We've concluded that this building does not meet our needs," Councilman Bill Nagle said of the leased building at 101 W. Howard St., which also houses the police department.

The current town hall is a block from the former building, and the town still owns that property. One option that's being considered is building a new town hall there.

John Salewicz of Tyson Corp. presented ideas to the council during the September meeting of constructing a modular-type building. He was asked at that meeting to name some other buildings in the area that his company had built. One of those was at Vienna-Finley Elementary School in Scottsburg.

Councilwoman Karen Mains and Clerk-treasurer NaLona Bush visited the school to check out the building.

"We were totally shocked at the excellent quality and how wonderful it was," Mains said of the building. "It was really made well. It's ideal for our situation. It's more economical for us."

After talking to the principal at Vienna, Mains learned the company worked to ensure the school was satisfied.

Of Tyson's proposed layout and cost, Mitchell said, "I'm becoming less and less comfortable with the viability of the structure."

Mitchell asked council if they considered the Crothersville Family Medicine building, which is for sale after closing today. It's at Moore and Preston streets.

The options there, Mitchell said, are to construct a new building or add on.

Bush said she's been inside the medical building and doesn't think it's feasible.

"I don't see us and the police department fitting in that building, so you would have to look into building on for a separate building for the police department," she said.

Nagle agreed with Mains on pursuing the land the town owns.

"If the preference is to just go that way, that's where I'll focus my energy," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he would work through some numbers and narrow the type of construction to get the project going.

Town attorney Travis Thompson said he recently renewed the six-month lease for the current town hall. But when the town hall project is decided upon, Mitchell said, there would probably only be a couple of months remaining on the lease.

No matter what decision is made for the building, Mitchell said, he wants to get the town hall built in 2009.

In other business

Also Wednesday, Crothersville Town Council:

Heard from members of the Red, White & Blue Festival committee who presented the idea of getting the town or the parks board involved with the festival. After some back-and-forth discussion of insurance coverage, council agreed to have the town's insurance representative, Betty Bush, attend the Dec. 2 meeting.

Approved the bid of Dave O'Mara Contractor of North Vernon for the pothole and patching project throughout town. O'Mara's bid was $175 per ton. The other bid, $224 per ton, was from All Star Paving Inc. of Seymour.

Heard from town attorney Travis Thompson of the consideration of drafting an ordinance to allow the town to prosecute traffic violations on local roads.
Those are currently handled by the county prosecutor. Council took no action on the ordinance, but members said they would talk to other towns that have or used to have a similar ordinance.

Approved for the town hall to be closed Nov. 20 so associates can attend the annual Keystone software training.