District 5 News:
Hello,
News from the latest town council meeting September 1, 2010.
The Cumberland Arts goes to Market was a big success. Twice the size of last year and at times so many people walking down Saturn that you couldn’t squeeze by. We had some great arts vendors, the farmers market vendors and music and performances at 2 tents. The rain even held off except for the one 10min rain about 2:30.
We had a guest from the Hancock County Education Alliance (HCEA) speak to the council. There has been many meetings about this topic in Greenfield of late and many citizen groups involved. He did say that they were going ahead with opening and will be using empty building space until an investor comes on board and builds at Progress Park and that they will be leasing any structure not building it.
We approved the spending of funds on inside and outside video cameras for around town hall. These funds are from a JAG grant and a Homeland Security grant.
We are also looking at alarm systems for the town buildings but will need to check the current budgets for these departments before we can determine weather to go ahead or not.
The town is working with Central Indian Power regarding the trees vs power line issue on 21st st and Buck Creek road. The lines were moved from in ground to above ground when 21st was rebuilt. Now the trees are growing up around the power lives and CIP wants to cut them down. We will continue to work with them on this issue.
The town is having DEA drug toss on Sept 25th. Residents are encouraged to bring there out dated prescription and over the counter drugs to the town for proper disposal by the DEA. Just use a marker to cross out any names or cut the name of the label but leave the drug name intact which will make it easier to dispose properly.
We received what I believe to be the final draft of the 2011 budget and I am very disappointed that it has an overall increase of over 500,000 and we have no large project currently scheduled for the next year. The increases seem to be across all departments which to me if we are going to increase for a big project then that fund is where we would have the increase. The first budget that I was in office for was the 2009 which had a increase of 5% and I voted against it. The 2010 budget had a decrease of 8% and I felt we were moving in the right direction. Now this 2011 budget has a 12% increase and I will be voting NO. I offered some suggestions to help get the budget down but they were not included. One Council is asking for 35,000 to pay a professional firm to maintain the plantings in the medians being build down Washington st. Another councilman was pushing for spending 750,000 to expand town hall. This last one did not make it in but the previous one was at a lesser amount. I was asking for funding for another police officer and that may not happen as I had hoped.
The Pennsy trail is still on schedule to open on time this fall (NOV 1) and there will be a ribbon cutting scheduled around that time.
The Washington street project is many months behind schedule and will miss the completion date of this fall and will be finished in the spring. I will again be asking that all of the barrels be removed from the road way before winter weather sets in.
We will be looking at preliminary work to rebuild the sewer and roadway on Hugo. There are many spots where the road is starting sink into the ground due to storm sewer breakdowns.
The Farmers Market is still going until the end of Oct and I will be there this sat 9/11 to work the towns welcome tent. Stop by and get your weekly produce and say Hi.
Joe Siefker
Cumberland town council Dist 5
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Sad, sad, sad
The Demoncrats have had control of the entire federal government for almost 2 years yet the President has accomplished nothing. Nothing to get us out of the recession, nothing to decrease unemployment. The only thing he has done is increase the deficit and debt and blame others for the problems he said he could fix.
We have Nancy Pelosi, who talked about getting rid of bad apples in government and two of her parties members in her own house are in ethics troubles, Rangel and Waters (one has already played the race card). The President went through numerous Democrats to fill positions in his cabinet when he took office because they kept with drawing their names due to past tax and corruption issues.
Two more state house reps in New Hampshire are tweeting and blogging how they feel Sarah Palin should have some type of mortal injury.
The Dem governer of Illinois is currently on trial for corruption, which seems to happen a lot there.
It's just sad. I am only waiting now for them to blame the republicans for making them corrupt.
UDPATE: and we have a winner. Waters from Cal just had a press conference where she blamed Bush for her corruption.
We have Nancy Pelosi, who talked about getting rid of bad apples in government and two of her parties members in her own house are in ethics troubles, Rangel and Waters (one has already played the race card). The President went through numerous Democrats to fill positions in his cabinet when he took office because they kept with drawing their names due to past tax and corruption issues.
Two more state house reps in New Hampshire are tweeting and blogging how they feel Sarah Palin should have some type of mortal injury.
The Dem governer of Illinois is currently on trial for corruption, which seems to happen a lot there.
It's just sad. I am only waiting now for them to blame the republicans for making them corrupt.
UDPATE: and we have a winner. Waters from Cal just had a press conference where she blamed Bush for her corruption.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Town News 8/4/10
District 5 News:
Hello,
News from the latest town council meeting August 4, 2010.
The city of Indy passed the operations of the water system to Citizens gas and they will in turn retain the water service advisory board which the town manager is on. I bring this up so that we will know how things are going and hopefully avoid the dramatic increase in water bills that Veolia was considering.
A couple of Tuesdays ago the road construction crews hit a gas line on Washington Street shutting down the road and diverting traffic (bog rigs included) down Hugo Street. This street was in bad enough shape already and in need of complete rebuild (road is breaking up and the sewer underneath has fallen apart). We will need to rebuild the road it is just a matter of how soon and this traffic may have made it more urgent.
Don’t forget the farmers market on Saturday mornings and Tuesday afternoons. There are a lot of items in season now and we have most of them at the markets. I will be working the market Aug 14th and remember the Cumberland Arts goes to Market on Aug 21st where not only will we have the regular market but also a huge arts and crafts fair stretching from town hall along behind speedway to the First Baptist Church on Muessing. I will be working the info booth from 1-3 and am sponsoring the live demonstration tent.
I have formally asked for the council consensus on having the legal consultant write an ordinance allowing and supporting our officers to check the legal residency status of individuals they stop or arrest if they feel there may be an issue. I feel that illegal immigrants in this country do in fact weigh down our economy and I do feel that they take legal Americans jobs in many areas. I also feel that with other states passing legislation targeting them that they will quite possibly move to Indiana causing our state to have to deal with.
The towns National Night Out event was a big hit. We had fire trucks, K9 search and rescue units and the Indy mounted police there with three horses. Food, drinks and chips. We also had a car seat safety check where citizens could have car safety seats checked for proper installation.
We are currently in the budget process and will be having a public hearing soon to introduce it and take public comment. We will then vote on it at a subsequent meeting per state regulations. Watch for the date if you want more info and want to come to speak. I will send out a reminder once the date is set. The budget for 2011 is going to be even tighter and I am trying to hopefully find the funds for another officer for the police dept. Our officers make less than their counterparts in Greenfield and Indianapolis so it is hard to find and keep good officers but I feel the chief does a very good job of this.
The Pennsy trail is moving along and we are waiting for the delivery of the bridges. We passed a trail rules ordinance which states what the rules for use are. Basically the obvious things like pets must be on leashes, if on a bike give right of way to pedestrians, pick up after your self and your pets, etc.
We introduced and ordinance to establish a “fund” (where the money the state sends us is put until used) for the CEDIT money we have received this year and also introduced the ordinance putting the funds in the account. At this point we do not know if CEDIT will continue past Nov but we had to make a place to put the funds we are getting this year.
That is about it for now. If you have any questions just call or email and I will try to get right back to you.
Joe Siefker
Cumberland Town Council Dist 5.
Hello,
News from the latest town council meeting August 4, 2010.
The city of Indy passed the operations of the water system to Citizens gas and they will in turn retain the water service advisory board which the town manager is on. I bring this up so that we will know how things are going and hopefully avoid the dramatic increase in water bills that Veolia was considering.
A couple of Tuesdays ago the road construction crews hit a gas line on Washington Street shutting down the road and diverting traffic (bog rigs included) down Hugo Street. This street was in bad enough shape already and in need of complete rebuild (road is breaking up and the sewer underneath has fallen apart). We will need to rebuild the road it is just a matter of how soon and this traffic may have made it more urgent.
Don’t forget the farmers market on Saturday mornings and Tuesday afternoons. There are a lot of items in season now and we have most of them at the markets. I will be working the market Aug 14th and remember the Cumberland Arts goes to Market on Aug 21st where not only will we have the regular market but also a huge arts and crafts fair stretching from town hall along behind speedway to the First Baptist Church on Muessing. I will be working the info booth from 1-3 and am sponsoring the live demonstration tent.
I have formally asked for the council consensus on having the legal consultant write an ordinance allowing and supporting our officers to check the legal residency status of individuals they stop or arrest if they feel there may be an issue. I feel that illegal immigrants in this country do in fact weigh down our economy and I do feel that they take legal Americans jobs in many areas. I also feel that with other states passing legislation targeting them that they will quite possibly move to Indiana causing our state to have to deal with.
The towns National Night Out event was a big hit. We had fire trucks, K9 search and rescue units and the Indy mounted police there with three horses. Food, drinks and chips. We also had a car seat safety check where citizens could have car safety seats checked for proper installation.
We are currently in the budget process and will be having a public hearing soon to introduce it and take public comment. We will then vote on it at a subsequent meeting per state regulations. Watch for the date if you want more info and want to come to speak. I will send out a reminder once the date is set. The budget for 2011 is going to be even tighter and I am trying to hopefully find the funds for another officer for the police dept. Our officers make less than their counterparts in Greenfield and Indianapolis so it is hard to find and keep good officers but I feel the chief does a very good job of this.
The Pennsy trail is moving along and we are waiting for the delivery of the bridges. We passed a trail rules ordinance which states what the rules for use are. Basically the obvious things like pets must be on leashes, if on a bike give right of way to pedestrians, pick up after your self and your pets, etc.
We introduced and ordinance to establish a “fund” (where the money the state sends us is put until used) for the CEDIT money we have received this year and also introduced the ordinance putting the funds in the account. At this point we do not know if CEDIT will continue past Nov but we had to make a place to put the funds we are getting this year.
That is about it for now. If you have any questions just call or email and I will try to get right back to you.
Joe Siefker
Cumberland Town Council Dist 5.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Town news 7/7/10
Hello,
Here is the latest from the town council meeting on 7/7/10.
The IURC approved the purchase of GEM utilities but did not approve the financing. The commission, which consists of a few new persons, made the decision that a private utility owner can not sell a utility for more than what they themselves actually have invested. Meaning that there is no allowance for increased value including any portion donated to the utility by a developer. We are still looking into how they can make that determination. This statement will deter anyone from ever starting a utility in a rural area and put Indiana back about 100 yrs since it will force the state to allow well and septic systems.
We passed a water conservation ordinance that follows Indy water guidelines. This will come into play only during times of drought. The mayor of Indy can call for a water emergency and Indianapolis' water ordinance and ours comes into play restricting water of lawns, washing cars, etc until the emergency is lifted. It has been almost 30 yrs since we had a drought that required this so they are few and far between. Indy had asked all municipalities they serve to adopt some type of rules.
We also adopted a couple of changes to the large vehicle parking ordinance providing for an increasing scale of fines for future violations and the ability for the town to tow a vehicle after the 4Th offense. Large commercial/construction vehicles parked on the town streets become a safety hazard with decreased visibility around them. If residents are aware of vehicles like this being left for more than 24 hrs they should contact the town.
IN DOT has informed the town that the US40/Washington street project is 90 days behind schedule due to the rainy June. (my personal opinion is that it is due equally to the fact that the crews float from project to project day to day).
The Pennsy trail project is moving along and the two bridges are being built in the factory and will hopefully be shipped to us soon.
I have over 50 persons in the email distribution list for the farmers market and one thing I can tell everyone is that if there is something you need at the market get there early. There was a large amount of produce at this past Saturdays market and by 10:30 am it was almost all gone. If you would like to be on the email list for the eNewsletter just reply to this email and I will add you to the list.
That is about all from this past week. More in the future.
Joe Siefker
Cumberland town council.
Here is the latest from the town council meeting on 7/7/10.
The IURC approved the purchase of GEM utilities but did not approve the financing. The commission, which consists of a few new persons, made the decision that a private utility owner can not sell a utility for more than what they themselves actually have invested. Meaning that there is no allowance for increased value including any portion donated to the utility by a developer. We are still looking into how they can make that determination. This statement will deter anyone from ever starting a utility in a rural area and put Indiana back about 100 yrs since it will force the state to allow well and septic systems.
We passed a water conservation ordinance that follows Indy water guidelines. This will come into play only during times of drought. The mayor of Indy can call for a water emergency and Indianapolis' water ordinance and ours comes into play restricting water of lawns, washing cars, etc until the emergency is lifted. It has been almost 30 yrs since we had a drought that required this so they are few and far between. Indy had asked all municipalities they serve to adopt some type of rules.
We also adopted a couple of changes to the large vehicle parking ordinance providing for an increasing scale of fines for future violations and the ability for the town to tow a vehicle after the 4Th offense. Large commercial/construction vehicles parked on the town streets become a safety hazard with decreased visibility around them. If residents are aware of vehicles like this being left for more than 24 hrs they should contact the town.
IN DOT has informed the town that the US40/Washington street project is 90 days behind schedule due to the rainy June. (my personal opinion is that it is due equally to the fact that the crews float from project to project day to day).
The Pennsy trail project is moving along and the two bridges are being built in the factory and will hopefully be shipped to us soon.
I have over 50 persons in the email distribution list for the farmers market and one thing I can tell everyone is that if there is something you need at the market get there early. There was a large amount of produce at this past Saturdays market and by 10:30 am it was almost all gone. If you would like to be on the email list for the eNewsletter just reply to this email and I will add you to the list.
That is about all from this past week. More in the future.
Joe Siefker
Cumberland town council.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Town news 5/5/10
Here's the latest from the town council.
The police report that they have apprehended a couple of criminals who had pawned some stuff they stole from break ins. The police department is going to be getting a new, quicker reporting system that monitors what pawn shops take in by the serial number of the item. Be sure to make a list of everything valuable in your homes with make, model and serial number and put the list somewhere hidden.
Two Cumberland officers received special victim rights awards. Roger Wagoner won from the police dept itself and Officer Jimmy Laws won from the US District ATTY's office.
The Pennsy trail in moving along quickly. it had been almost completely cleared from the town to 600w. They will be installing a bring over Carroll rd and over buck creek and we will have a ground breaking ceremony at 10am on June 19Th at the trail head at Carroll and Warehouse st. I looked at the project last week and I think it is going to be a very nice trail for the citizens of Cumberland.
We will be looking at the contract with United water (they operate our sewer plant) as it will be up at the end of 2010. I am hoping for a reduction as it is, and has been, the largest single budget item for the utility. We are hoping that with GEM coming into the town that their employees can be cross trained to run our plant reducing the need for outside services.
If you received your tax bill a few of you may have noticed that it went up a bit. I am told that even though the town decreased our budget and the tax cap went down to its next level that we were hit with school debt issues and that the buck creek Twp portion of the town actually had a net assessed valuation decrease. I have not heard from anyone who had theirs go up but some might have. We will be working on next years budget soon and I have asked for more cuts with the exception of the police department. The towns main function should be safety then roads and infrastructure then on and on down the line.
The storm sewer board is having a meeting next Tues at 7pm at the town if you have any issues to bring up. The town council president is also the chair of this board.
No new news from the us 40 project. If you pass along there you can see the changes daily. Also please be aware that the speed limit is 30 on us40 in town and I think INDOT is planning to leave it at that or maybe 35 but not likely back up to 40 or 45.
The farmers market is now open on Sat mornings so if you have a chance stop by and pick up some fresh items. And don't forget the open house for the comprehensive plan on Sat May 15Th from 8-12. I will be there working it so stop by.
Joe Siefker
Cumberland town council.
Dist5
The police report that they have apprehended a couple of criminals who had pawned some stuff they stole from break ins. The police department is going to be getting a new, quicker reporting system that monitors what pawn shops take in by the serial number of the item. Be sure to make a list of everything valuable in your homes with make, model and serial number and put the list somewhere hidden.
Two Cumberland officers received special victim rights awards. Roger Wagoner won from the police dept itself and Officer Jimmy Laws won from the US District ATTY's office.
The Pennsy trail in moving along quickly. it had been almost completely cleared from the town to 600w. They will be installing a bring over Carroll rd and over buck creek and we will have a ground breaking ceremony at 10am on June 19Th at the trail head at Carroll and Warehouse st. I looked at the project last week and I think it is going to be a very nice trail for the citizens of Cumberland.
We will be looking at the contract with United water (they operate our sewer plant) as it will be up at the end of 2010. I am hoping for a reduction as it is, and has been, the largest single budget item for the utility. We are hoping that with GEM coming into the town that their employees can be cross trained to run our plant reducing the need for outside services.
If you received your tax bill a few of you may have noticed that it went up a bit. I am told that even though the town decreased our budget and the tax cap went down to its next level that we were hit with school debt issues and that the buck creek Twp portion of the town actually had a net assessed valuation decrease. I have not heard from anyone who had theirs go up but some might have. We will be working on next years budget soon and I have asked for more cuts with the exception of the police department. The towns main function should be safety then roads and infrastructure then on and on down the line.
The storm sewer board is having a meeting next Tues at 7pm at the town if you have any issues to bring up. The town council president is also the chair of this board.
No new news from the us 40 project. If you pass along there you can see the changes daily. Also please be aware that the speed limit is 30 on us40 in town and I think INDOT is planning to leave it at that or maybe 35 but not likely back up to 40 or 45.
The farmers market is now open on Sat mornings so if you have a chance stop by and pick up some fresh items. And don't forget the open house for the comprehensive plan on Sat May 15Th from 8-12. I will be there working it so stop by.
Joe Siefker
Cumberland town council.
Dist5
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Aliens
What is it about ILLEGAL that our government does not get. There are laws on the books that make entering this country with out permission ILLEGAL, yet the feds will not enforce it. Enter Arizona, they pass a state law so thay can deal with all of the issues that come with illegal's by trying to cut the problem off before it gets worse and everyone, including someone else's elected leaders, are lambasting them for it. Illegals cost our country A LOT of money every year. Medical, education, food, housing, tax refunds, etc.
I wonder if anyone knows that in Mexico it is Illegal to enter their country, Illegal to work there with out a visa and even if you move there and buy a business you CAN NOT work in your own shop if a native mexican is qualified and available to work there. You go to prison, Mexican prison, no tv's, lounge chairs, computers, steak dinners like our prisons if you break these laws.
WOW, maybe we should all leave, become citizens of mexico then sneak back here. We would have it made.
I wonder if anyone knows that in Mexico it is Illegal to enter their country, Illegal to work there with out a visa and even if you move there and buy a business you CAN NOT work in your own shop if a native mexican is qualified and available to work there. You go to prison, Mexican prison, no tv's, lounge chairs, computers, steak dinners like our prisons if you break these laws.
WOW, maybe we should all leave, become citizens of mexico then sneak back here. We would have it made.
Friday, April 23, 2010
health care underhaul
Soooooo. The great health care overhaul is going to actually cost more money not save it. That must be what the great and powerful Pelosi was talking about when she said vote for it and we will see what is in it. Pay no attention to the idiot behind the curtain. Who would have thought they were lying to us.
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