Milltown held its monthly board meeting in rural Crawford County on Monday evening with many items on the agenda. Here are some of the highlights of that meeting:
Hailey Roark from Taylor, Siefker, and Williams Design Group showed up for a 3rd meeting with the Board to update the town on the Comprehensive Plan over the next 5 to 10 years to completely transform and revitalize Milltown with improvements in the areas of placemaking, land use, park and recreations, utilities, transportation, and economic development. This includes Broadband projects, dedicated property maintenance and clean-up of abandoned properties, better street lighting and sidewalk connectivity, a recreational trail alongside the Blue River, and much more. Roark mentioned the sewers and wastewater capacity to which the Milltown Board Members reminded her they only had a 3 or 4-year-old wastewater plant as that was a recent improvement already. Roark stated that the proposed plans were almost completed and could be presented for approval before the Board by the next meeting or the meeting thereafter.
Another interesting item discussed at the meeting was the lighting project for the Blue River Bridge. The old one-lane bridge spanning the river was replaced in 2010 with a more modern bridge painted blue but lacking lights. The lights will be colored, LED bulbs that can be changed to whatever color the town wants. This was done for increased lighting and a more aesthetically appealing entrance to Milltown. The decision was made to order the lights and source bids for a contract to do the installation.
The Town Hall building itself was discussed as the flooring and the doors require repair. Jay Smith, Town Manager, indicated he would be looking into contractor bids for this project. One of the side entry doors for the Town Hall has started to rot out of the frame and it’s apparent sub-floor damage as well.
Town Attorney Greg Reger spoke on a few topics including a look at overhauling or possibly re-making town ordinances. It was felt by some residents in the community and community leaders that doing this benefits everyone by keeping Milltown up to date and on the level with those in the community. $3500 was announced as the amount to get an overhaul and restructuring completed with the current ordinances with substantially more money involved if all new ordinances were to be created. Attorney Reger also made public knowledge of Milltown’s intent to sue a particular resident for the eye-sore outside of their home, located at 307 Day Lane. This current resident has let the outside of the residence go without maintaining it in addition to having a plethora of junk and waste piling up in their yard.
Town Marshall Jimmie Vincent asked the Board members to approve the purchase of a REACH text-alert system which is very similar to what Perry County uses. The cost to the Town would be $395 for the first year, no contract required, and if Milltown PD was happy with the service the amount would change for year two. REACH Alerts would send a text alerting of severe weather, police standoffs, road closures, etc. The Town Board unanimously approved this request.
Milltown, Indiana sets in far east Crawford County and is one of a dozen or so Indiana towns that span two counties as the Blue River splits Milltown into portions of Harrison County as well. The Milltown Town Board meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 7 PM EST.
