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Andrews council takes steps to re-establish fund for fire dept.

The Andrews Town Council took steps to re-establish a fund that the Andrews Volunteer Fire Department would be able to utilize for a variety of purposes at its meeting on Monday, Jan. 27.

The board approved Ordinance 2020-1 on first reading, the first action that needed to occur in order to reinstitute the town’s cumulative fire special fund. The fund, if ultimately approved on final reading, would be a source of capital that the fire department could use to pay for equipment, facility improvements and other needs as prescribed by the state.

If the ordinance passes, residents would pay approximately $4.82 annually through property taxes to support the fund.
The next step in the process is a public hearing that will be held during council’s meeting on Feb. 24 in the Andrews Municipal Building at 6 p.m.

Council revisited the ongoing matter of the Antioch Mobile Home Park clean-up process at the meeting. The board unsealed two bids for the demolition and removal of the final two mobile homes in the park judged to be unsafe by the Huntington Countywide Department of Community Development.

Council approved a bid from Amor Excavating totaling $6,760.

After a mandatory 10-day waiting period, during which time Brian Salerno, the managing member of Antioch Mobile Home Park LLC, will be informed of council’s decision, Amor Excavating will be able to remove the homes from the property starting Friday, Feb. 7.

Council stated that if Salerno was able to remove the homes prior to that date, it would call off Amor Excavating.

In other business:

• The board approved a bid from Watson Excavating for the town’s stormwater infrastructure project on East McKeever Street. The bid totaled $431,185.

• Council President John Harshbarger reported that the last two things that needed to happen before construction could begin on a Dollar General store just outside of town was the obtainment of permits from the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The store would be built near the intersection of Ind.-105 and U.S.-24.