Winona Lake Town Manager Craig Allebach, Council President Jim Lancaster and Councilman Austin Reynolds prepare for the special meeting Tuesday night.

Text and Photos
By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

WINONA LAKE — Winona Lake Town Manager Craig Allebach has submitted his intent to retire effective the end of October or as soon as a replacement is found.

Craig Allebach quietly listens to his letter of intent to retire being read.

Jim Lancaster, Winona Lake town council president, announced Allebach’s intention during a special council meeting Tuesday evening. Lancaster had received the notice Monday, Oct. 7. He quoted Allebach’s letter stating “it has been an honor and a privilege to serve the town of Winona Lake for over 24 years.” The letter of intent also noted Allebach had reached his retirement age and wanted to give the town time to find his replacement.

“I would just like to say on behalf of the town of Winona Lake, the town council, it’s been an honor and a privilege to learn from you Craig, and to see all of the tireless and the energy and effort you’ve brought to the town of Winona Lake and I would even say the greater Kosciusko County,” stated Lancaster. “Thank you very much for that.”

The council will be looking at a draft of the job description and begin the process of hiring a new town manager.

While the special meeting was to conduct a public hearing on the 2025 Budget, the town also handled other business, including awarding trash and recycling bids for the next five years, starting Nov. 1.

Waste Away Trash Group, Elkhart, who is the parent company of Borden and Stafford, was awarded the contract for the town. Waste Away submitted a bid of $17.80 per month/per resident with a 4% increase each year. The cost would be $20.82 at the end of the contract. The bid was for the same trash and recycling service already in place.

A bid was received by Waste Management, the current trash contractor for the town. Their bid was $17.87 for the first year, going up to $20.89 at five years.

There was discussion about the changing of trash containers from one company to another and what will happen to the old containers. Allebach stated the switch would be as seamless as it can be with 3,400 containers.

Eric Ivory, Waste Away representative, briefly spoke regarding the transition. He stated welcome letters will be sent to customers, explaining what will be happening and who to contact. He also stated new containers will be on hand and at the curb on Nov. 1.

Budget Hearing

Opening up the meeting for the budget hearing, Lancaster stated the purpose of the hearing was for public comment. Jerry Nelson questioned how the public could ask questions if there was no presentation. A copy of the proposed budget was included on the back of the evening’s agenda.

Jerry Nelson presents questions during the public hearing on Winona Lake’s 2025 Budget.

Nelson did question several matters: where the ice rink and salaries were listed in the budget, and breakdown of what was in the various funds. He also questioned the Casino/Riverboat line item of $125,000, questioning if that is incoming or outgoing money.

Nelson was given an explanation for his questions, being advised the ice rink was not part of the budget, but would be self sufficient. It was also noted the casino/riverboat funds have a broad range of where funds can be used, where other budget line items may have limited uses.

Additionally, he also questioned what funds received tax dollars. A member of the audience stated there are four funds: general, motor vehicle highway, park and cumulative capital development that receive tax funds. The rates were noted on the sheet provided.

The budget provided showed a tax rate of $.6897, with a budget of $4,624,746, and a tax levy of $1,609,153. Figures were also shown for the home-ruled funds totaling $537,857. These funds included Opioid settlement restricted, two TIF districts, school resource officer and American Rescue Plan Act.

Nelson also stated the budget did not show the sewer/trash income and questioned if there was going to be a rate increase. He was advised that yes, increases are anticipated but a rate study would need to be done before an increase in sewer rates. There is no anticipated increase for storm water.

Other Matters

During other discussion the council approved the hiring of OMG Orange Marketing Group, Warsaw, to handle advertising, social media and securing private rentals for the Miller Sunset Pavilion. The cost would be $3,900 per month. Following discussion on confusion how long the contract was for, the council approved the company be hired for three months, with an option to hire them on a month to month basis.

The council also approved hiring Ice Games 88 LLC, Marion, at a cost not to exceed $50,000, for the upcoming season. The company will install the ice, take care of the ice and tear out the ice at the end of the season. The contract goes from Oct. 28 until seven days after the rink’s closing on March 1. The contract will be reviewed by the town attorney and presented for signatures at the next council meeting.

The final matter of business was approving advertising for part-time attendants for the pavilion at $10-$14 per hour..

Ashley McGinnis announced she hopes to bring a budget for the Miller Sunset Pavilion at the the next meeting.

At the request of Nelson, he was given time for public comment. Nelson commented he thought it would make sense for the town to use some money to make the Sunset Pavilion successful, and it was silly to him for the town not to properly support it. Other matters he questioned was the lack of minutes from the August and September meetings on the town’s website, and that up until September 2023, payable vouchers had been on the site. He requested the vouchers be added to the site again. His final concern was getting the sewer booklets to residents in a timely fashion and to have the coupons perforated. It was noted the town will be switching to monthly billing.