LAPEL — It’s with great disappointment, Lapel police chief Kelly Naselroad said, that he asked the town council to approve his department’s sale of its K-9 officer, Taiko, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois.

The dog was purchased with donations by town businesses in 2017.

The dog’s original handler, officer Michael Porter, left for a position in Cicero Police Department earlier this year. The department swore in a new officer, Michael Garner, in March, but he resigned his position in May.

No other officers on staff are able to handle the duties.

Naselroad said the department — with the help of Ultimate K-9, the company from which Lapel purchased the dog — will sell Taiko for $5,000 to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s Drug Task Force.

The council approved making the sale, as well as the department selling the kennel, leash, collar and two training-related items. The IMPD is purchasing only Taiko.

“I want the people in the town to know we did everything we could do to maintain that dog,” Naselroad said. “We definitely appreciate everything the town did to help us get the dog, but due to circumstances, we are unable to maintain it. We have no handlers.

“I get that the town is going to be upset, but this was a last resort. We went through every option we could, but ended up we had to sell it.”

Naselroad said Taiko will be put to use a IMPD; he has not been used by the Lapel department since the beginning of the year. The chief said even if they would be able to get a handler, it would be another four or five months of officer training, putting Taiko out of service for close to a year.

Taiko is a single-purpose dog, trained for drug-tracking and not apprehension, Naselroad added.

The money received for Taiko will be used to meet other needs of the police department, he said.

“I fought like heck to keep the dog, did everything I could do to try to keep it,” Naselroad said.

No more Republicans for plan commission

The board held off on plans to add two new members to the Lapel Plan Commission.

A new state statute requires commissions to include seven members. Currently the Lapel group has five. At its July 2 meeting, the board asked for volunteers.

Two potential new commission members were at the July 18 meeting but found out they were unable to take a seat with the board because they were registered Republicans.

“We have since found out, by statute, that you have to have both parties represented,” council president Deb Wainscott said. “Right now we have all Republicans, so the next two have to be Democrats or registered independents or Libertarians.”

To date, only Republicans had reached out about the open commission spots.

Town residents registered as Democrats, Libertarian or Independent interested in serving on the commission can contact Deputy Clerk Paula Lee at [email protected].

Wainscott also said she has contacted Madison County Republican Party Treasurer Rob Steele for a list of voters to help find people who would qualify for the openings.

“Hopefully we can find somebody,” Wainscott said.

The commission can continue to do business as long as it has a quorum.

Road projects

Josh Goodmon, a representative from the engineering and design firm RQAW, and the town council discussed plans on multiple road repair projects.

The town looks to fund two projects while it will seek state assistance with two other projects through the Indiana Department of Transportation’s Community Crossings Matching Grant Program.

For one of the town projects, a resident donated two eight-inch culvert pipes for road repair on County Road 700 South. The council approved E&B Paving’s quote of $6,650 to do the installing and repaving.

The town is waiting for a report on specifics from RQAW for its other project, a larger culvert project at the bridge located at County Road 200 South.

The town will seek a state grant is to improve Main Street from State Road 13 to Ninth Street, including sidewalk and curb repairs. The funding request will be part of the Community Crossings application due this month.

A widening of County Road 300 South, including rehabilitation of a bridge, will go on the docket next year. It is expected to be part of a Community Crossings application for January 2020.

Pleasant View development

The board approved a resolution to add the Pleasant View development, located off of Old State Road 132 near Central Avenue, to a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district, established by the Lapel Redevelopment Committee.

The board’s approval is the third of four stages to complete the process, which began with the redevelopment group before going to the Lapel Plan Commission and town council. The final approval will be made by the redevelopment committee at an upcoming meeting.

Meeting procedure

The town has established a new format, beginning in August, for public comment at meetings.

If residents want to be added to the agenda, they must give the board 72 hours notice prior to the meeting.

Also, the council will now beginning meetings with a 15-minute open forum segment for public comment on non-agenda items.

Council meeting are set for 7 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays each month.