News and sports in the Whitewater Valley

By John Estridge

Brookville resident Justin Moore attended the July 14 Brookville Town Council meeting because he has a water problem.

Moore said he purchased a house near the river off Market Street and has been trying to fix it up. It is an historical home, which needed many upgrades. He came home several weeks ago on a Friday and found Brookville Water Department employees on the street outside his house. They told him he had a leak. Moore said he didn’t see evidence of the leak, but he called Burkharts and had the leak fixed. He paid them.

Then, he got his water bill. Usually, his household does not use the minimum amount of water allowed on the bill, and his bills usually run between $47 and $49 per month. His bill for that month was $751.91, and it claimed he had used 309,000 gallons.

Moore asked for relief from his bill.

At that meeting, BTC President Mike Biltz said the soil in that area is sandy, and the water from the leak could have just gone down into the soil and never made it to the surface.

Some town council members were for forgiving Moore the bill on a one-time basis, especially because he had the leak fixed as soon as it was brought to his attention. Other council members said it was not fair to do that because it had not been done in the past; thus, it would be unfair to the residents who have paid the full amount. That brought the argument the current council should not do things just because that was the way councils did things in the past.

That situation was also the topic of discussion at the Tuesday, July 28, meeting. In the two weeks between meetings, Brookville Clerk/Treasurer Gina Gillman reached out to other town and city clerks in the state to find out how they handled similar situations.

According to Gillman, she received 13 responses to her question, and of those 13 responses, there were a variety of answers including: a sewer adjustment, which Brookville currently does, two allow residents to file an appeal to council, and others make adjustments to coincide with ordinances those towns and cities have passed.

Gillman said Moore had paid his regular amount for that month, and he is waiting to see what decision council makes in the matter. She said the town is not charging him any late fees because she is also waiting on a decision by council members.

Town council member Curtis Ward said he favored the last scenario which would mean council will pass an amendment to its water ordinance allowing an adjustment in certain situations. He also said the sandy soil in that area could have easily kept the evidence of a leak from being shown. Ward had a similar situation in the winter when a water line in his garage burst, and he did not know about it for a couple of days.

According to Ward, if a homeowner shows a bill to the clerk’s office where the leak was fixed as soon as possible after the leak was discovered, he was good with forgiving the bill.

Gillman said one of the ordinances specified the forgiveness of a bill if the leak was something unseen as opposed to a running toilet.

Council member Eric Johnson said forgiving Moore’s bill could become a slippery slope for the town.

However, Ward and others said the proper ordinance would limit when the adjustments can be made.

Gillman had sample ordinances from other towns and cities and said she would forward those to town attorney Tammy Davis and council members. A committee of two council members was appointed by Biltz to give a recommendation to the full council.

By John Estridge

At the Tuesday, July 28, Brookville Town Council meeting, it was announced an engineering study must be accomplished before the town can make 5^th Street to the west of Main Street, Progress Street and Fourth Street, also to the west of Main Street, one way.

Brookville Town Manager Tim Ripperger told council about the need close to the end of the meeting.

Ripperger said the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) requested the engineering study to help the state employees to program the affected traffic signals for the new traffic flow.

At the Tuesday, July 14, BTC meeting, it was announced the town planned to make those streets one way to facilitate needed parking at the Valley House Flats project.

According to information at the two meetings and in talks with local business owners, 5^th street will be one-way west on the west side of Main. Angle parking is planned on the north side of the street with the present parking on the south side of 5^th Street eliminated.

It had been planned to have angle parking on the west side of Progress Street, but BTC member Curtis Ward said it was decided to move that angled parking to the east side of Progress Street because it was feared the added weight on the west side of the street would precipitate additional sliding of the hill upon which the street sits.

The hill, on which Progress Street sits, is sliding down toward the river. It was constructed of fill in the mid 20^th Century in an un-engineered fashion.

A wastewater relocation project is planned for the bottom of Progress Street. Currently, the large pipe is within the hill, and it is feared the slippage will cause a catastrophic failure.

Earlier this year and in 2019, there were large depressions near the sidewalk on the west side of Progress Street, and police tape had been strung along the west side to keep people from using the overlook and vehicles from parking on that side of the street. In many places, the sidewalk on the west side of Progress Street was without support and had voids between the sidewalk and the street and ground.

The sidewalk has been removed.

Ward said he and fellow BTC member Sam Schuck met with Brookville businessmen Bruce Rippe, the Valley House Flats developer; George Gillman, owner of George’s Pharmacy and an investor in Valley House Flats; and Mick Wilz, who owns several businesses and properties along Main Street and is also an investor in Valley House Flats, to come up with the plan.

Rippe told Ward, in those meetings, the parking on the east side of Progress Street would be more advantageous for Valley House Flats renters as they would not have to cross Progress Street to get to the apartment complex.

Council members did not announce which side of 4^th street angled parking will be on. It is currently on both sides of 4^th Street.

Ward announced, at the July 14 meeting, all business owners adjacent to the affected streets are on board with the plan.

Once the wastewater project is completed, as well as the engineering study, the town plans to move forward with the one-way-streets plan.

Part of the plan calls for the town to resurface Progress Street at an estimated cost of $100,000. Ward said Rippe is working to get grants to offset the resurfacing costs. Ward also suggested, at the July 28 meeting, Rippe’s previous engineering studies concerning Progress Street in relation to his development could be used to facilitate INDOT’s demands.