Mayor’s Youth Council Provides Community Garden Update

The Huntingburg Common Council and Utility Board meeting came to order on Tuesday night as the Huntingburg Mayor’s Youth Council provided an update on their planned Community Garden project. Due to weather delays, they will be starting work on the garden in early March. Funds will be set aside by the city to contribute toward the project, and drop boxes will be set up outside of city hall and various other locations for donations of gardening supplies. The group will be buying supplies locally whenever possible. A bake sale fundraiser is planned for the future, but the details are yet to be determined. The Youth Council will ask the city to level the ground in the 50 by 50 area so that they can start building, and they have already begun sourcing concrete blocks for the 8 raised beds. They will receive assistance from the city in budgeting and will be supported by the city’s social media as well. A process is being developed for community members to reserve a spot in the garden. 

Huntingburg’s City Attorney advised the board that the fire chief will be recommending an ordinance update. The current ordinance structures the department with a chief and two assistants appointed by the mayor. The chief suggests that the ordinance be revised to provide for a chief and one assistant appointed by the mayor, with additional subordinate officers as the chief determines necessary to be appointed by the chief. 

An annual review of utility accounts receivable that are over a year old with no activity were written off, totaling $10,930.58. The city still pursues collection efforts on these accounts, including filing small claims when contact information is known or working with the Department of Revenue when delinquent account holders file for state tax refunds. As many of these accounts belong to renters with no forwarding addresses, there are some unique challenges involved in collection efforts. Some funds can be recovered through currently used methods, but discussions are being had at many levels as far as how to collect on these balances or require deposits in order to protect the city’s financial responsibility for the bad debt in the future.

 For more information on these and other updates, visit www.huntingburg-in.gov



 - By Drew Hasselbring