The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1105696
A-2 Front Wednesday, April 17, 2019 The Press-Dispatch net edition yeah, it's that fast! Z M www.PressDispatch.net/Subscribe It's The Press-Dispatch. No matter where you live. Delivered every Wednesday morning! Add it for $5 to your current print subscription or stand-alone for $35/year. SCHOOL Continued from page 1 COUNCIL Continued from page 1 100 W VAN TREES ST • WASHINGTON Visit us online at www.deemdentistry.com For an appointment, please contact us at 812-254-7550 or info@deemdentistry.com Deem Dentistry, in Washington, is excited to introduce Dr. Austin Deem Visit us at www.bathbombspetersburg.com OPEN Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. No Checks 714 E. MAIN STREET • 812-789-3054 1. Choose Any Items In The Store Roses, Bath Bombs, Soaps, Candles, Gifts and More 2. Choose Your Basket or Bring Your Own 3. We'll Arrange It Beautifully and Finish It For Giving JEWELRY SOAP Variety of scents with a jewelry surprise inside NEW ARRIVALS JEWELRY BATH BOMBS Each one has a jewelry surprise inside TOY BATH BOMBS Available again! 100% natural Your Own Easter Basket Easter Basket BUILD ing was being a policeman," said Baumgart. He said Ar- nold has been working as a police officer in Bicknell. "He really liked it here. He couldn't believe people waved at him while he was riding down the street in the police cruiser. He will be an asset to Petersburg," said Baumgart. He was approved by a 4-0 vote. Councilman John Mel- hiser was not at the Mon- day's meeting. Petersburg is needing to replace two officers. Cpl. Scott Wright resigned two weeks ago after admitting to taking money from the city's evidence cage. That case re- mains under investigation. Cpl. Jared Simmons is still working for Petersburg, but has given them notice he has accepted a position with the Pike County Sheriff's De- partment. In related police busi- ness, councilmen also vot- ed 4-0 to increase the pay to $1,500 per two-week pay period. Mayor Klipsch said that works out to $ 39,500 a year. He said while they had made changes recently to increase the pay of other ranks, such as Corporal, Sgt. and Chief, they had not raised the rate of patrolman. At the time, they didn't have any officers at that rank. Klipsch said the current pay was not very competitive for the starting officer. Chief Baumgart said the new pay rate would make Pe- tersburg competitive at that rank. SGT. McCLELLAN HONORED FOR 20 YEARS SERVICE Sgt. Chad McClellan was honored for 20 years on the Petersburg force. He was presented with a case that had his service pis- tol and badges in it. Chief Baumgart said Monday was the 20th anni- versary of when McClellan started. "I have seen a lot of peo- ple interview suspects and he is probably the most top notch interviewer I have ev- er seen. He can sit there and talk to the worst person you can imagine and get the in- formation he needs for his case or he can be very com- passionate with another per- son who needs compassion. One of the best sergeants I have ever worked with in my career and I appreciate him being here, and you should too," said Baumgart as he presented him with the dis- play case. In street and water de- partment news, City Servic- es Manager Ross Elmore said they had finished work on replacing water lines on Fifth St. and they should fin- ish fairly soon on Fourth St. Elmore said they have had trouble with water lines in that area needing repairs. Consequently, they wanted to replace the old lines be- fore the streets are paved this summer. Petersburg received a Community Crossings grant from the Indiana Depart- ment of Transportation of $201,917 to pay 80 percent of the costs of paving 10 streets in Petersburg. Two of them being Fourth and Fifth sts. Klipsch said they hope re- placing those lines will pre- vent them from having to cut up newly paved streets to make repairs to the old lines. Elmore said he hopes to replace some lines on 16th St. as well before it is paved. The are also getting ready to do a sewer line repair along White River Ave. Pe- tersburg, last month, was notified they had received a $ 92,000 Community Cross- ings grant to repave White River Ave. So, they wanted to make those repairs prior to the paving as well. The streets that will be paved by the Community Crossings grant are: Lakeview Dr., from Alford Road (356) to Main St.; Poplar St., from 7th St. to 12th St.; 15th St., from Main St. to Highway 356; Third St., from Main St. to Sycamore St.; Nichols Ave., from Main St. to Pike Ave.; Fifth St., from Railroad to Spruce St.; 16th St., from Main St. to Highway 356; Fourth St., from Railroad to High St.; 12th St., from Main St. to Spruce St.; Sycamore St., from 5th St. to 9th St. Mayor Klipsch said be- cause of the Community Crossroads program, Pe- tersburg is going to do about $400,000 in paving this year and it is only going to cost Petersburg about $ 90,000. In other business, Coun- cilman Gary Leavitt asked police to start watching for parking violations on Main St. He said there is a two- hour parking limit on Main St. and it isn't being en- forced. Leavitt complained three cars were parked on Main St. near Marge's Hall- mark all day. He said an el- derly customer had to park around the block and walk a long way to their business. Chief Baumgart told his officers, who were all in at- tendance at the meeting, to start watching for parking violations. The next Petersburg meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 13. tary schools from the bond issuance. So that will allow them to do other items. Blake said the projected cost of the things they want to do is $ 3.5 million, so the $ 3.6 million cap should give them some room for contin- gency. The board voted 4-1 to ap- prove using the proceeds of the bond sale for the list of projects estimated at $ 3.52 million. Forrest Boger vot- ed against it. In a related matter, Blake requested the school corpo- ration hire Midwestern En- gineering, Inc. to oversee their water tower project. She said Midwest would help with the bids so they would come in properly and more consistent. Todd Harker said they have two bids that varied by $50,000. He said he isn't familiar with that type of work, so he doesn't know why they are so different. Chris McKinney asked if the school had anyone who could oversee it. Harker said he wasn't familiar with that type of project. McKinney said they were going to have to pay Midwestern nearly half the cost of the project to just oversee it. Manning moved to ap- prove hiring Midwestern and it was passed by a 5 -0 vote. SCHOOL BUS DRIVER TERMINATED "I'm here to ask you to re- consider my termination. I said things out of haste. I have sent messages and said 'I'm sorry' to Todd Harker," said Heather Braunecker. "I'm a single mother try- ing to make it. I can't get any one to answer me. I need this job. I would like to be re- considered for this job. That is how I supported my fami- ly," said Braunecker during patron concerns. The board took no action immediately. However, later in the meeting, while deal- ing with other personnel matters, Superintendent Blake asked Braunecker if she wanted to rescind her resignation. Blake said she had prepared a letter re- questing the board accept her Braunecker's resigna- tion. The letter stated, "On March 15, she was noti- fied she would be placed on three-day leave due to safe- ty violations. At that time, she responded by cursing and stating she quit. A fter reviews of the conversation on bus camera, I'm recom- mending her resignation be accepted." However, Blake said if Braunecker wanted to re- scind her resignation, Blake would change her recom- mendation to termination. Board member Chris McKinney said, "We have never been in this situation before that I know of. Heath- er, since you are here, do you want to resign or are you saying you are not resign- ing? " "No, I'm not resigning," said Braunecker. "I understand, but I know what I heard and saw," said McKinney. He continued, "I'm going to make a mo- tion." His motion was to termi- nate Braunecker. It passed by a 5 -0 vote. In other personnel mat- ters, they accepted retire- ment notices from Libby Dedman and Tanya Goff, both from Petersburg Ele- mentary School. Custodian Billy Nixon also resigned. They also approved hir- ing Michelle Sloan as a Ti- tle I teaching assistant at WES for the remainder of this school year. Sharon Gladish was hired as a spe- cial needs preschool teacher assistant and Alex Benefiel was approved as a volunteer boys' track assistant. Jarrett Robinson was hired as third shift custodi- an at Pike Central, effective April 8 Pike County received a check from INDOT for more than $525,000 for road improvements. Accepting the check are county commissioners, from left: Jeff Nelson, Mark Flint and Ryan Coleman. Petersburg Police Sgt. Chad McClellan was honored for 20 years of ser- vice at Petersburg's City Council meeting on Monday night. Above: Peters- burg Police Chief Chuck Baumgart presented McClellan with a display case with his service pistol and badges in it. The City of Petersburg received a check from INDOT for more than $92,000 for road improvements. Accepting the check are, from left: councilman Brian Van Meter, clerk-treasurer Tammy Selby, Mayor R.C. Klipsch, and councilmen Fran Lewis, Gary Leavitt and Bertie Jenkins.