Karena Wilkinson, owner of Harvest Coffee and part-time assistant clerk for Milford, has been hired as a community event coordinator for the Milford Community Building. The town council also discussed a contract with Neptune Equipment for water meter installation at a special meeting Tuesday, Oct. 1. Photo by Lilli Dwyer.

By Lilli Dwyer
InkFreeNews

MILFORD — Milford Town Council held a special meeting Tuesday, Oct. 4, to discuss the hiring of Karena Wilkinson, owner of Harvest Coffee and a part-time assistant clerk for the town, in a new position at the Milford Community Building.

The community event coordinator position will involve organizing events within the community building and for the town, including the Santa parade; communicating with service organizations which meet at the building; creating marketing materials for events and more. The council approved the job description and Wilkinson’s hiring.

A new salary ordinance for the position was approved at $15 per hour, approximately 10 hours per week. Gall stated she already had this new salary factored into her budget for this year.

“I’m excited about the opportunity,” said Wilkinson.

The council discussed the possibility of installing cameras in the future, to make sure renters are not damaging or dirtying the community building.

“We don’t have a mechanism in place to prove damage,” said Clerk-Treasurer Tricia Gall. “I could look into getting cameras in there.”

Both Jim Smiley and Vice President Ken Long agreed this was a good idea.

“I don’t think people respect the building at all,” said Smiley.

Superintendent Steven Marquart pointed out cameras could also be used to monitor the community food locker, which was recently moved from Milford Elementary to the community building.

Milford received a notice to proceed, notice of award, and an escrow agreement from Neptune Equipment Company, the firm handling replacement of Milford’s water meters. The council signed this contract into effect, already approved and signed by the town’s attorney, Jay Rigdon.

The next step in the water meter replacement project will be ordering the new meters and a pre-construction meeting with Neptune. The scheduling of this meeting will depend on when the meters arrive.

Residents will receive a notice and scheduling information when installations are ready to begin.

Marquart informed the council of an operation issue with the town street sweeper and presented a repair bill of $2,759.86 from Brown Equipment, which they approved.

The council also approved service on the chlorine injection system, which was last serviced in 2019 and must be kept up to stay in compliance with IDEM standards. The service from Living Waters comes to $4,972.33.

Under the previous wastewater superintendent, Mark Brubaker, Indiana Pump Works was contracted for pump installation on South Main Street for $8,950. During the installation, workers found a bad conduit, which needs to be replaced, bringing the cost up to $9,850, which the council approved.

A resident on Maple Street asked for a utility credit on their water bills after finding their septic was flowing into their neighbor’s backyard instead of the town’s system. According to Marquart, the resident is now connected to the town system after hiring an as of yet unknown contractor to tap into the town system. The contractor did so without obtaining permission from the town or paying a tap fee. The council tabled decision making until more information about the situation is available, but, Long said, “the contractor is in the wrong right now.”

Lastly, Marquart presented two quotes for rock removal and planting grass seed: Kyle’s Lawn Care, $1,950, and Beer’s Lawn Installation, $1,350. This service is for the ground that was torn up when tree roots were removed from the impacted water line in North Park. The council approved service from Beer’s.

Smiley stated he felt North Park residents had not received enough notice about the work that would be done in the easement next to their yards. Rocks had flown into some yards. He suggested town employees put fliers in residents’ doors prior to public work.

“I think we could be better neighbors, and have better communication; we like communication ourselves,” Smiley said.

Long pointed out there had been news coverage of the issue and there is a text, email and phone call system called Reach Alert, which notifies residents of upcoming public works; however, he also found an alert about the easement work which had not been sent out until the day of, when work had already started.

“I think we need to make people better aware of the alert system. … Some people don’t text, they have landlines,” Smiley said.

Residents can sign up for the Reach Alert system at reachalert.com or by calling (877) 307-9313.

The next regular Milford Town Council meeting will be 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15.