At their Tuesday meeting, the Pike Township Trustees were informed that the fire department’s medic unit will need a motor replacement due to cylinder damage in the medic’s engine. It is currently estimated that a repair would be more expensive than to replace the engine altogether. A motion was passed to pay $700 for a diagnosis of the medic’s engine failure.
Similar news; the department’s new fire truck is soon to be put under construction. This new fire truck will replace two previous fire trucks. An ’87 as well as a ’91 model fire truck will be replaced by this new installment. A preconstruction meeting for the new truck is currently in the works for August.
“Mare’s Tail”, a prolific weed named after the shape it takes, continues to complicate local farming due to its resistance to normal herbicides. There’s currently no state threshold for the Mare’s Tail weed, although it continues to be invasive and problematic for farmers. It’s not clear if nuisances claimed against the prevalence of the weed are enforceable or not due to the lack of legislation regarding the issue. The general consensus of the board and others was that even if there were legal precedent to pursue nuisance claims against the weed would be overbearing due to the inability of most farmers to purge the weed from their fields.
The zoning management of Pike Township will potentially change hands within the next year. Currently, Pike Township handles its own zoning districts, but it is on the trustees’ table to pass management of the town’s zoning over to Clark County due to the inability of the township to raise the adequate amount of funding for managing the township’s zoning. Handing the zoning over to the county would put the responsibility of funds on the county, as opposed to Pike Township, which has currently lost $28,000 over the last decade in managing the town’s zoning. The trustees expressed that this is a burdensome amount of funding for the township, and that it is an expense three times greater than the fiscal value it brings to the town.
A motion was passed to accept an alternate formula for distribution to the township government funds. The three-year plan leaves Pike Township in possession of just under 0.3% of Clark County’s funding, which won’t be a substantial deviation from the past funding that the township has received.
The trustees discussed the renewal of Pike’s gas contract, and looked at several different plan options with several different providers. The trustees motioned to make a contract with Volunteer Gas Supplier.
Minor news includes the township’s dump truck, which has a broken water pump that will need repairing, although the cost of the endeavor is not yet projected.
The Fire Department’s medical director, Dr. Pickett, will be moving out of state. Although Pike had only a few visits per year from the director, it is a relevant administrative change for the EMS and Fire Department, and Dr. Pickett will be wished farewell.
The next Pike trustee meeting will take place on August 15th at 8:30 A.M.
