Commissioners receive bids for wedging program
May 21—GOSHEN — Bids were received for the 2024 wedging program.
Elkhart County Highway Engineer Charlie McKenzie explained that horseshoes beating on pavement naturally create a trough along the sides of the road. The indentations then hold water from rain or snow and eventually potholes are the final result. The wedging program consists of filling the troughs with fresh asphalt and then sealing the surface since the center of the roadways is generally not impacted.
The 2024 Wedging Program includes 24 miles of roadway, and funding comes from horse and buggy registration fees, at around $100 per year. Bids for this year's wedging program came from Niblock Excavating at $755,715.30 and Rieth-Riley Construction at $746,771.
Buggy plate revenue this past year came in around $500,000, though, and Elkhart County Commissioner Brad Rogers questioned how exactly the excess cost would be funded. Last year, this first year of the program, the cost was only around $400,000.
McKenzie told him that the remaining cost would have to be subsidized from the annual paving program, or certain roads would be eliminated from the program and that his department would return to a later meeting with a recommendation.
OTHER BUSINESS
Commissioners approved a zone map change for Osolo Township Little League, 52754 C.R. 9, Elkhart, though nothing about the use of the property will change. Attorney Chris Pottratz, of Warrick & Boyn LLP, explained to commissioners that when his company, legal counsel for the Little League, contacted the Indiana Department of Transportation about putting billboards up along the north end of the baseball field at I-90/Indiana Toll Road, they were informed that the property would need to be zoned for business, B-2. With residential, R-1, to the west and manufacturing to the right, the Elkhart County Planning & Development staff recommended approving the zone map change with a DPUD provision to prevent any other type of business than baseball from building without meeting with commissioners first.
Elkhart County Commissioner Suzie Weirick argued that if the baseball nonprofit attempted to add concessions, restrooms and bleachers, it could be perceived as non-baseball depending on who the county staff is at the time. She requested the motion move forward without the DPUD, and her counterparts voted unanimously for the zone map change alone with her.
Commissioners also approved a zone map change for a welding and small engine repair shop C.R. 16 near C.R. 43. The request comes from Marion E. Yoder and Laverta K. Yoder for the zone map change from A-1 to DPUD A-1 and a minor subdivision. The proposal includes a welding shop, a repair shop for ag equipment, and a small farm shop.
Two roads in Elkhart County were approved for speed regulation ordinance amendments, decreasing speed limits. In Goshen, on C.R. 29 between C.R. 34 and Ind. 14, an unposted statutory speed limit of 55 mph will decrease to 50 mph. In Elkhart, on C.R. 11, an also unposted 55 mph between C.R. 20/Mishawaka Road and C.R. 22 will be 40 mph.
Commissioners also approved, as part of a countywide process to consolidate the county code, a new Size and Weight Regulations Ordinance, managing restrictions on weight on roadways. The goal is to develop all traffic regulations as one codified ordinance including speed limits and stop ordinances. Currently, there are many weight ordinances across the county.
The county's Equal Employment Opportunity committee now has two new members. The now 14-member committee features Elkhart County staff working together to explore the diversity of staffing and recruiting efforts in relationship to the population of Elkhart County. Commissioners approved Ty Miller, Deputy Assessor for the Elkhart County Assessors Office; and Marco Mingucha, Youth Care Specialist at the Elkhart County Juvenile Detention.
Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.
