LAPEL — In an effort to be more efficient and self-sustaining, the Lapel Town Council voted unanimously to purchase a vacuum truck for its utility department.
At a special town council meeting held virtually on Thursday, Feb. 3, the council voted 4-0 (councilman Jason Kleinbub was not present) to purchase the truck from Best Equipment, in Indianapolis, for $390,608.
“I’ve brought it up the last two or three meetings. It’s really a vital piece of equipment that we absolutely need to do our jobs efficiently,” said Brandon Hutchison of the utility department. “It’s going to save us money from having to call Culy Contracting (out of Winchester) or contract out (with another company). In the long run, it is going to pay for itself.”
Council President Teresa Retherford said last year the town paid $58,000 to Culy.
“With this new vac truck, we can jet our own storm drains, fix water lines,” she said.
Retherford added that last week the town had to call Culy after a water main break.
“If we had a vac truck that could do that, we wouldn’t have had to call them, and that was on a Sunday and an emergency, so we don’t know how much that is going to cost us,” she said.
Vice President Chad Blake added, “The biggest thing that tells me we need it, and it’s not just the things that it will allow us to do — like everywhere, our town is growing and we have to be more self-sufficient. We can’t just stay in the past and do things the way we have done them and think everything is going to be OK.
“We have to invest in our future, and this truck is part of our future of being able to do things more efficiently and just take care of ourselves.”
Blake added that when calling Culy you typically have a couple of hours before they can arrive to Lapel.
“A couple of hours of water flowing under a road can cause a lot of damage,” he said. “If you take what we paid Culy last year, the payments (for the truck) are only about $10,000 more. All the extra things we can do on our own with it, it’s going to save us that much more.”
Fiber-optic internet
Representatives of On-Ramp Indiana (ORI.NET) Inc. out of Noblesville spoke to the council about the possibility of bringing high-speed, fiber-optic internet to Lapel.
Mark LaManna of ORI.NET said the company’s ultimate goal is to put fiber through every home and business in town.
The cost, LaManna said, is more than $1 million.
Lapel Deputy-Clerk Paula Lee said the town recently received information regarding the possibility of obtaining grants for broadband from the federal government. The grants are to provide better broadband for under-serviced areas.
She added states receive the funds and determine distribution.
Both the town and ORI.NET agreed to do further research on funding and project options/proposals.
“Our funding is limited. We have a lot of projects going on,” Blake said. “It’d be great to have $1 million to get fiber all over town, but we don’t have it.”
Mark LePere, of ORI.NET, said, “We’d love to partner with you. We’re committed to being in Lapel regardless.”
Rescue funds
The council voted to approve Reedy Financial to handle processing and reporting of the town’s America Rescue Plan Act funds to the treasury department and Indiana Gateway for Government Units.
“There are a lot of hoops to jump through when it comes to reporting this to the treasury and state,” Lee said.
Lee added that Reedy is already handling processing of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds to Gateway.
Revolving loans
The council passed a resolution that would give any member of the council the ability to authorize State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan documents.
In 2020, a resolution was approved permitting just the town council president to authorize the documents.
The resolution, read to the council by president Retherford, stated that the new resolution would provide flexibility if a town official is unable to authorize an SRF file. All elected or appointed council members will now be authorized representatives of the town.