Last night, Indiana borough council heard from several citizens who were affected by the flooding and related problems.
Prior to public comment, borough council president Peter Broad talked about what the borough has done concerning the problems with storm water and sewage backup. This includes doubling down enforcement efforts for storm water ordinance violations, lobbying the state legislature to allow boroughs to charge a storm water fee that would go to infrastructure repairs, and promising the next 3-4 years of community development block grant money to remediate choke points in the storm water system.
Many of those in attendance complained about sewage backup, which creates a health hazard. Bill Darr, who spoke on behalf of borough resident Peg Allison, said that while the borough staff has done their best, the borough’s leadership is to blame for focusing on other issues instead of tackling one that affects the health and well-being of their citizens. Others pointed out that some areas of Indiana flood more often than the “Once in 100 year storms” that hit the area.
In a related matter, borough manager Bradley Gotshall said he only received 60 flood damage reports, and while the time to submit reports to be passed on to the state Emergency Management Agency, you are still asked to submit one as Gotshall wants to put together a map of trouble spots in the borough.
You can get a form at the borough’s website, www.indianaboro.com. You can also get the form from their Facebook page, or stopping by the borough offices.
In other business, council also heard some support for easing the open container ordinance for festivals in the borough. Right now, the open container ordinance does not allow open alcoholic beverages to go “out the door” of any restaurants and bars in Indiana, but some establishment owners want to see those rules relaxed for festivals, like the upcoming Northern Appalachian Folk Festival. One idea that had gone around was a wristband system to easily identify those who were allowed to drink alcoholic beverages, and using the existing roadblocks for the festival to assist with containment. Tony DiLoretto of Spaghetti Benders said the establishments would help make sure that all liquor laws would be followed. This topic will be on the agenda for discussion at the next Public Safety committee meeting on August 17th.
Also, the borough approved advertising for applying for a $2.4 million line of credit for work on the Community Center building that currently houses the Indiana Free Library, the Jimmy Stewart Museum and the Downtown Indiana, Inc. offices. Borough Manager Bradley Gotshall said that the grant money that the borough was promised for this project would go to pay off the line of credit.
