HAYDEN J EMRAH
WZBD.com
In their monthly meeting, the Monroe town council discussed a variety of points, including updates to the town’s law enforcement procedures, annual utility maintenance, and updates to property taxes.
Town marshall AJ Bertsch spoke with members of the council regarding some somewhat-routine updates to the policies and procedures used by the Monroe Police Department. The updates, which involve minor changes to how the language of the procedures Monroe PD uses are written, is mostly to keep in line with state-level law verbiage.
While the council was made aware of the needed changes, it was decided to table the issue for May’s meeting, as town lawyer Clayton Lengerich was unable to attend. It should be noted that these procedure updates are fairly routine, with the last update occurring two years ago and focusing on the language about the use of deadly force and the operation of vehicles.
Following this was the report from town Superintendent Justin Shaffer, who reported that between April 29th and May 10th he and his team will begin flushing values around Monroe. He also stated that once the weather was more amicable he could begin work on fixing potholes that have occurred over the winter. He and the council then began to discuss the potential of acquiring a new mower for the utilities department, as the current one was acquired in 2011 and has about 1700 hours worth of use.
The discussion made it clear that trading in for a new mower would be both more cost effective and worthwhile, and the council agreed to and approved the purchase. The council also noted that in their efforts to establish a capital budget plan, that receiving a new mower every 10 years or so could be built into the town’s budget. The utility department mows most of the area surrounding the town hall, as well as along parts of the highway, the ball diamonds, and various other areas around town.
Lastly was an appearance from Craig Marcum, Senior Consultant at Baker Tilly, who addressed the council with updates to property tax collections. Currently, the town collects a controlled rate for property taxes at 4.84 cents, and wishes to raise that to an even 5 cents, which is the state maximum for that tax levy. Marcum commented that this will provide the town an additional $600 annually, which can add up to further help expenses in the town, and that citizens likely even notice such a small increase on their taxes as the amount will only increase by pennies.