town news 11/17/10

District 5 News:

Hello,
News from the latest town council meeting November 17, 2010.

The Solar System Model and Trail ribbon cutting and opening on Saturday, November 13, 2010, was a success/ we had about 200 in attendance and the rain held off long enough for many to walk the trail. It is now officially open for use and the remaining solar system panels are going in. The trail is located along the west entrance drive to Meijer off of German Church rd and extends all the way to 600 west. The next phase is the planning and right of way acquisition is the Buck Creek Trail portion headed north along the creek. This is being initially funded by state money left from the original Pennsy Trail state grant.
I gave a report on the Hancock Economic Development Council. In the past year or so the HEDC has been instrumental in bringing business to Hancock County, not in Cumberland yet but getting closer. Interdell coming in up at Mt. Comfort area means employees will be looking for housing and Cumberland will almost certainly be on the list. Stanley/Black and Decker in Shelbyville has decided to consolidate that factory with one in Connecticut and relocate both to the Eaton plant in Greenfield and Covance has almost doubled the number of jobs they have in the past 2 yrs. There is also a company relocating from Marion County to Fortville which is bringing jobs. I believe that any companies coming to Hancock county, especially the west side, is good for the county and good for Cumberland because all of those employees will have to live and shop somewhere and hopefully some will look at Cumberland. The HEDC has a couple of more possibilities that I can not elaborate on yet. I can say that a majority of the businesses that locate here come as leads through the HEDC and with out that organization the possibility of growth would drop a good amount.
The purchase of GEM utilities has gone through and the town is now in the process of working on the billing system integration with our current version.
The town council has voted in favor of approving the Autumn Woods changes requested by the potential developer Pulte Homes by a vote of 4-1 with mine being the nay vote. I expressed my concern that we were allowing the requirements to fall back down to what they were when asked for originally years ago.
The Washington street project is wrapping up for the year and INDOT has told us they hope to have the barrels gone by the end of November. The street lights are still an issue as a billing question with INDOT and the manufacturer being behind schedule have delayed their construction and install.
The town legal council has introduced an ordinance regard the owning and keeping of farm livestock on properties with in the town limits. We had an issue where horses, goats and other farm animals were being kept at a residence in the old part of town. We have since had at least one resident request that changes to this be made to make is possible to keep a small number chickens for personal egg supply be included. This change was included in the final introduced draft.


Joe Siefker
Cumberland town council.