Stellar discussion with county yet to come
The Nashville Redevelopment Commission is still interested in the town possibly applying for a Stellar Communities designation from the state. But this would have to be a joint application with another governmental unit, like the county, and so far, no commitments have been made by any group about whether or not to try for it.
Stellar Communities allows select Indiana communities and regions access to special pools of funding to do community projects. Nashville tried on its own to become “Stellar” in 2013, but did not make the final cut, as some residents visibly protested how the application came together and the state team questioned how much the public had been involved.
Now, the Stellar program mandates that applicants be part of a partnership; one community cannot apply on its own.
in June, Nashville RDC adviser Ed Curtin had introduced the idea of trying again, and he also presented to the Nashville Town Council about it later that month. The newspaper asked about the status of the topic at the RDC’s December meeting, which was the first time the commission had met since September.
RDC member and town council President Jane Gore said the town council was interested, but someone from the RDC needed to volunteer to pull in the county for a discussion. RDC President Dan Snow said he’d tried, but he hadn’t been successful yet.
RDC member Ray Modglin asked why a phone call couldn’t be made to one person to get a yes or no. RDC member Roger Kelso explained that few if any public officials have unilateral power; decisions must be made jointly and in public.
A tentative plan was made for a town RDC representative to go to the joint meeting already scheduled between the county RDC and county commissioners on Dec. 11. Curtin attended that meeting, but he did not speak during it.
Stellar letters of interest for 2020 are due to the state in April. Town RDC members came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t have enough time to do all the necessary steps — including getting the public involved in creating a possible project list — in time to apply next year, but 2021 could be a possibility if county leaders and residents would be on board.
Town park commission still working on design
The Nashville Town Park Commission continues to talk monthly about developing the new Lincoln Pinch park at the corner of Washington and Johnson streets.
Right now, the park contains trees, grass and an old log cabin that is not being used. At the November town council meeting, park commission and town council member Anna Hofstetter passed around a drawing showing other possible ideas for the green space.
She said that community comments showed interest in a sculpture park and something for kids to play on, and maybe a bathroom. She said she liked the idea of having boulders for kids to climb on. No decisions have been made yet.
The commission is still in the process of collecting plastic lids to melt down and turn into new benches for the park, and collecting monetary donations to pay for them. Benches can be sponsored for $350 each. As of Dec. 19, six of the eight benches had been sponsored. If interested, contact Phyllis Carr at Town Hall at 812-988-5526 or [email protected].
The Nashville Town Council voted on Dec. 19 to restrict traffic on the section of Pittman House Lane that runs next to this park to non-motorized traffic only.
Town not writing new law to regulate scooters
A couple months after having the town attorney look into it, the Nashville Town Council has decided that maybe it doesn’t need a new ordinance to preemptively regulate or prohibit ride-sharing rental scooters in town.
Town officials did not want to see rental scooters discarded along Nashville sidewalks, as has been the case in other communities since those kinds of services became popular.
“Do we pass something to prevent a potential problem that might not be a problem, or do we wait and see if it becomes a problem and deal with it then?” asked council member Anna Hofstetter.
Strategic direction adviser Dax Norton told the council that scooters cannot operate on state highways anyway, so he didn’t think that Nashville would be a very attractive venue for companies to run their scooter-sharing businesses. He said the council was probably wasting its time worrying about this.
Hofstetter and audience member Andrew Tilton said they also wouldn’t want to see any new ordinance hinder business opportunities for bike-sharing, for instance, like when the Salt Creek Trail is finished to tie downtown to the state park. Many communities have rental bikes that can be rented and returned to a docking station.
The council took the idea of a scooter ordinance off Town Attorney James T. Roberts’ work list.
Resident: Communicate more about outages
A Nashville resident asked the town council last month for more communication if work is going to be done on the water system that could affect service.
Julie Gabriel lives on Coffey Hill and also works at The Seasons Lodge. She said when she bought her home in 2010, sometimes the water would go off, but often she would know in advance that that might happen because she’d get a call from the town saying that they were doing work in the area. Lately, she’s been surprised by water outages at home and at work, which makes it harder to plan her day. When water goes out at The Seasons, it also affects guests, she said.
Town Utility Coordinator Sean Cassiday said that the outage that happened Nov. 20 shouldn’t have affected her, because the leak was on the other side of town, but its reach was larger than expected.
Robin Willey, who works for the town’s utilities departments, said part of the problem was that a valve in the school bus parking lot never got turned back on after a leak happened near the Cornerstone Inn last year. With that valve off, the loop that’s supposed to serve customers when the primary method is out didn’t work as designed. Instructions were left with the people fixing that leak about turning the valve back on, he said. Willey and Cassiday had differing opinions about who was responsible for what.
Gabriel suggested doing “quality checks” to make sure that things like that are communicated and carried through. “We’re in the process of working on it. We realize it’s a problem,” said council member Alisha Gredy.
Cassiday said the town is currently without an emergency alert service, as it dropped Nixle and hasn’t yet received training on how to use Everbridge. The Brown County Democrat reporter present at this meeting suggested letting the paper know so we could use The Democrat’s social media channels to inform people about water leaks, boil orders and the like.
Help town identify burnt-out streetlights
If you see a streetlight out in town, please report it to Town Hall. The town council talked in its November meeting about lighting and asked that residents help improve upon it by letting town workers know when they see bulbs out. Call Town Hall at 812-988-5526 or email [email protected] to make a report.
Council turns down request for mileage pay
The Nashville Town Council declined to pay a Nashville Tree Board member a mileage reimbursement, citing a “slippery slope” that that could cause for other volunteers.
The tree board member requested reimbursement from the town of $84.22 for picking up trees that were going to be replanted in town. Town Chief Administrator Phyllis Carr said the town had never paid a volunteer before.
Council member David Rudd motioned to approve the reimbursement, but then other council members started voicing concerns about the precedent this could set. Council member Nancy Crocker said she drives all over for the town doing volunteer work and she’s never asked to be paid for it. Town Attorney James T. Roberts also said he didn’t feel comfortable with it.
Crocker said the town appreciates its volunteers, “but that’s part of being a volunteer, not getting paid.”
