The Mentone Town Council heads into the 2015 year with the same members as 2014, but hopes that decisions don’t have to be made solely by council members Tim Croy, Shelly Krueger and Jill Gross.
Croy, the council president, explained that he hopes the new year will bring increased input from Mentone residents, “To us, it is not a three-person decision, it is a community decision. Being in a small town we bump into people and they voice there opinions but we haven’t been able to get many people to actually come into the meetings and we would like to see more of that. Not sure how to get people to give up their Monday evenings.”
The past year saw the council approve the destruction of an aging building on the corner of Main and Morgan streets. Croy detailed how the council hopes to turn the new space into a beneficial element of the community, “We originally thought of putting a parking lot there, but we are not going to gain much from a parking lot, so we are now thinking of landscaping it so it looks nice when peiople are driving in. We are considering putting a gazebo there or a bench so that people can sit and watch the cars go by.”
Croy explained the council did not have to dedicate as much of efforts towards repairs as other towns in the wake of the infamous winter of 2013-14. The town’s was made easier due to the hard work of the street department.
“We did not have water mane issues. We did have a lot of snow, which our guys in my opinion went beyond what they were expected to do,” explained Croy, before continuing, “All of our street guys live beyond city limits, but there was one night where they were here cleaning the streets and instead of going home that night they slept in their trucks in town in order to be able to wake up and plow the streets again.”
The next Mentone town council meeting will be 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5. All residents are encouraged to attend and voice their opinions.