News

PUBLIC HEARING REMINDER

Reminder for the Public Hearing on Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. at the North Salem Town Hall.  This was advertised in the Hendricks County Republican, and was also posted on our Facebook page.  We are applying for an Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs water grant in the amount of $700,000.00.  We need residents to voice their concerns about the water quality at this hearing.  We also have a Drinking Water Quality Survey that can be picked up at the Town Hall.  We are experiencing some technical difficulties with our webpage, so we are currently unable to upload this survey or any links.

North Salem 2019 Farmers Market

North Salem’s Farmers Market will begin on Thursday, May 23rd, 2019 and run every Thursday through October 24th from 5-7:30 p.m.  If you receive the Explorer, the Hendricks County Parks and Recreation publication, it’s erroneously listed as Wednesdays.  It will always be on Thursday.

HEAVY TRASH DAY

HEAVY TRASH CURB SIDE PICK UP
TUESDAY – APRIL 30, 2019

ACCEPTABLE MATERIALS:
Furniture Swing Sets
Household Appliances (small)* Carpet & Floor Coverings
Water Heaters Small Amounts of Lumber Scraps
Large toys Small Amounts of Drywall
Bicycles
Window Glass (MUST be broken, boxed & securely sealed and marked “glass”)
*washers, dryers, dishwashers, and smaller, NON Freon bearing.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR FREON BEARING APPLIANCES:
Refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, dehumidifiers or any other appliance containing or ever having contained Freon or any other type of refrigerant must be purged by a certified technician and must be accompanied with the proper documentation issued by the certified technician. THEY WILL NOT BE PICKED UP WITHOUT THIS DOCUMENTATION.

UNACCEPTABLE MATERIALS:
Antifreeze Oil
Gasoline Gasoline Cans\Tanks
Propane Tanks Batteries
Paint Construction\Demolition Debris
Flammable Liquids Toxic Liquids
Concrete Brick
Sod Soil
Trees Paint thinners
Medical Waste Tires
Tree Trunks\Stumps ANY appliances that have NOT had Freon removed
E-WASTE of ANY kind, which includes TV’s, DVD Players, VHS Players, gaming consoles, computers, monitors, keyboards, towers, e-readers, etc.

Hendricks Solid Waste Management will provide five (5) days for proper disposal of the unacceptable items listed above. Following are the dates, times, and locations:
1. Brownsburg High School – April 6th
2. Hendricks County Fairgrounds – May 18th
3. Hickory Elementary School (Avon) – July 27th
4. Hendricks County Fairgrounds – September 14th
5. Plainfield Middle School – October 19th

All events listed above are 8 am to 1 pm. There are fees charged for tvs, appliances and tires. Please contact Hendricks Solid Waste at 317-858-6070 for more information.

October 2018 Council Meeting Minutes

 

 

 

MINUTES OF

TOWN OF NORTH SALEM

COUNCIL MEETING

OCTOBER 4, 2018

 

    1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER:
    2. The October 4, 2018, Council Meeting was called to order by Council Vice President Mike Russell at 6:00 pm.
    3. ROLL CALL:
    4. Mike Russell, Vice President – Present _________________________________
    5. Jimmy Roberts, Member – Present      _________________________________
    6. Rebecca Compton, President – Absent _________________________________
    7. PLEDGE/PRAYER:
    8. Council Vice President Mike Russell led with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a prayer by Jimmy Roberts.
    9. MINUTES:
    10. Mike asked if there were any additions or corrections to the September minutes; there being none, minutes were approved as written.
  • PUBLIC MEETING – 2019 BUDGET:  

 

  1. The 2019 budget was presented for adoption. No comments were made. Jimmy made a motion to adopt; Mike seconded.
  2. OLD ITEMS:
  1. Ham and Bean Supper – October 27th – Beth and Rebecca met last month to go over plans and finalize a few things. Mark is having signs made to put out the week of event. These will be ones that do not have a date so we can use them each year.
  • NEW ITEMS:
  • Steven Walls, INDOT – Mr. Walls was in attendance to discuss the 2021 paving project that will be coming through town on 236.   There was discussion of the possibility of having sidewalk and curb work done at the same time. Mr. Walls stated that they would need a commitment from us for maybe $20,000-$25,000 to put towards this work. There is also the possibility of having to move a sidewalk, etc. After much discussion, it was decided that the Council will discuss further with Mark and Beth before a decision is made. Mr. Walls stated that they would need to know our plans by the first of the year.
  • Ordinance 2018-4. Beth explained this Ordinance which increases the meter surcharges a total of $4.50 each month to be put into effect January, 2019. Jimmy made a motion to approve; Mike seconded. Second reading will be in November.
  • Halloween- Trick or Treating will be October 31st from 6-8 pm.

 

October 4, 2018 Board Meeting Minutes – page 2

 

  1. REPORTS:
  2. Mark – Mark let the Council know that he had some trees trimmed on Ladoga Avenue as well as at the Park. We have several trees in town that need work, but a limited budget. He will pick the worst ones to take care of in this budget year.
  3. NSPD – For the record, Mike presented the NSPD report for the month of September.
  4. Council – None
  5. Harold Blake – None
  6. Clerk-Treasurer – None
  1. PUBLIC:
  2. Bill Compton wanted to remind and invite everyone to the North Salem Revitalization Committee’s Fall Festival this coming weekend.
  3. Jay Thompson was in attendance as a small town representative with the Hendricks County Communications Center. He is trying to establish a County wide bond to help purchase radios for the fire departments and police departments.
  4. Victoria Goodspeed was in attendance to discuss a side walk problem they are having around their kids bus stop. The kids are standing in water and mud after it rains. Mark will look at the area and possibility of adding some stone.
  5. Amanda Traut and Doug Frazier were in attendance to discuss the fund they have set up at the bank for donations for the North Salem Town Park playground equipment. They are very close to reaching their initial goal. The Council let them know that all proceeds from the Ham and Bean Supper would be donated to their fund.
  6. ADJOURNMENT:
  7. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:48 pm. The next Council Meeting will be November 1st at 6:00 pm.

Attest:

 

 

___________________________________

Beth Russell

Clerk-Treasurer

Water & Sewer Rates and How we got here.

Water & Sewer Rates Update & Background.

 

During the last few months the Town Council of North Salem has been working to meet financial deficits in our water and sewer operating funds.

 

Indiana State law requires that every utility must be operated as a ‘stand alone’ fund, meaning that each utility must bring in enough revenue to cover it’s own expenses.

If a utility does not bring in enough funding then the only two choices are to;

1.      Provide loans to offset expenses as a short term remedy and raise rates to repay the loan in a short time,

2.      Expect the State of Indiana to take over control of that utility.

 

Each utility has unexpected expenses and each has to be dealt with on a case by case basis. The Town has been operating, maintaining and repairing on an as needed basis. At the time the state Auditor came in, we were in the midst of a somewhat major repair and had just applied for a grant to cover most of the expense for it. This along with state mandates changing at the same time caught us a little off guard as the state Auditor examined our accounting and found both water and sewer funds operating in deficit conditions so remedies had to be made quickly.

 

The need to remedy these deficits and do so as affordably as possible with long term protection against happening again was the intent of the Town Council in July, 2008 and since that time we have received a major part of the grant money we had applied for.

 

The Council decided to order a “Rate Study” to calculate all operating and funding history and find out what other towns are doing, what possibilities we have to correct our situation and how we can best serve our community. We instituted the “Surcharge” for each utility as a short term measure basically until the end of 2008 and are expected to have sufficient funds to pay our Bond payment. The ‘rate study’ should provide us with several options to avoid deficit accounts, stop possible state take over and avoid the need to borrow money.

 

That being said the Town Council wants to provide you information on what and why we are at these decisions now. The following is intended to provide you with an overview of basics of our options and history of how we arrived at this time to these circumstances.

 

Our sewer system was completed in 1980 and the first payment on the bond loan was October 1, 1981. The beginning loan was for $ 398,000.00 and was financed for 40 years. For our 249 users the bond and interest payments amount to almost $ 8 per month for the sewer alone and the cost of operations continue to rise as other expenses also climb.

 

In contacts with engineers and town residents it seems that the original calculations were based on Hendricks County growth rate and applied to the town sewer and in fact the updated water filtration system also.

 

When these factors were applied it was calculated that “IF North Salem” grew at the same rate as the rest of Hendricks County, then the population figures in 1981 extended to the year 2,000 would increase town population to about 2,000 residents. The increase of utility users would spread the payments over more users and any increases in operations, inflation and unforeseen expenses would be covered by growth of population.

 

As a result of these assumptions, we have water and sewer rates that have remained static for several years because the population has not increased much. From the population of 500 in 1981, we now show a 2006 census population of 633.

Not even close to the over 2,000 calculated in 1981. Of course this causes greater expense to fewer users.

 

Just a side note, the $ 398,000 dollars in 1981 is equal to $ 875,600 dollars in 2008. This gives a simple comparison of values over the period of time we are in now.

 

As a result of misguided assumptions, we now face much larger operating expenses at a time when national and state economics are in decline and our population is aging with fewer dollars earned as income and almost no population growth.

 

Additional reductions of our Annual Budget the last two years have put us in a difficult position. The budget for 2007 was reduced by over  $ 44,000 and 2008 has been reduced by almost $ 59,000 so every area is feeling the pinch.

 

Along with these difficult circumstances the state of Indiana often has changed requirements of both water and sewage making more expensive demands that are unfunded, meaning they make these demands and never increase our funds to implement their requirements.

 

Now combine these circumstances with the life span of our water tower built in 1935 and engineered as a 75 year tower. This brings us to the situation we face of replacing our water tower around 2010, about the time we will Celebrate our 175 year Birthday.

 

Quite a set of circumstances to face without a doubt.

 

 

Town Council Plans;

 

At the August 2008 Town Council meeting a “Rate Study” was ordered for our town water and wastewater (sewer) operations. The study will look at operating expenses versus income of each utility, and compare both former rates and future rates with similar size towns in Indiana.

 

While this research is being conducted we voted to adopt a “Surcharge” of $ 10 on wastewater and $ 20 on water until December and reconcile new rates that would provide enough funds to keep our utilities solvent and commit to more intensive monitoring of accounting.

 

At the October 2, 2008 Town Council meeting we received a part of the ‘Rate Study’ materials and decided to have a ‘Workshop’ to develop new rates and exercise examples of monthly utility trials to keep rates as low as possible, yet avoid a repeat of future deficits.

 

The Council intends to formally adopt new rates at our November 6, 2008 meeting and comply with state rules of new Ordinance procedures to begin applying new rates as soon as possible after January 1, 2009.

 

For the future need to replace our water tower we will await political election results as they dictate how and when we will apply for state funding grants and required planning and engineering studies to support grant application figures.  At this point the Council can only research possibilities of future needs and continue maintaining our facilities as best we can.

 

 

If you have questions or suggestions please attend the Town Council meeting, contact Town Hall or leave a reply on this Blog.

 

Thanks.

 

Mike Selch – Town Council Member

Welcome!

“Welcome” to our web site for the Town of North Salem, Indiana.

This is a “Blog” so that you can leave comments, suggestions and other information and be moderated before appearing here. To comment, please click on the comment link below any particular entry.

This is also a work “In Progress” and will change as it develops. Town and area events will also be posted here as they become available and links to those websites available as this site grows.

Town Council meeting dates and minutes from those meetings will be posted here.
Special meetings and upcoming Town agenda items will be posted as available.

We hope our community will be more involved and help us develop this to benefit all.

Many Thanks, North Salem Town Council.