Old Williams Hotel demolition ready to start next week

"On Monday, I expect to get the official notice to proceed. Assuming the contractor can start on Monday, the building should be down in two weeks," said Harp.

The effort to demolish the building, which is an asbestos abatement and removal project, was begun years ago.

Construction on another big project set to start soon is the Downtown Renovation Project, or Worthington Streetscape.

Harp said town officials will participate in a meeting on Friday with INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) in Linton.

To prepare final plans, Harp said he wanted the council to go over the details of the lighting fixtures that will be installed to make sure they were in agreement.

The council discussed features of poles and globes and all agreed on one style.

In regular business, the council discussed a continuing problem with users of the Municipal Building and Community Building not cleaning up the facilities. They also discussed raising the rental fees.

"I know we raised some of these fees a few months ago but when we did that, we neglected to raise the rental feel for the Municipal Building," said Harp.

The council agreed that the rental fee for both facilities should be $100, but that non-profit organizations could use the buildings free of charge provided they cleaned the building after their use and returned it to the same condition they found it.

In regular reports, assistant fire chief Kyle Steward said the preceding month had been pretty quiet for the town's fire department. The WJVFD report on monthly activity included 15 runs made. Nine of those were medical, three were fires and two were for traffic accidents. The department logged 39 man-hours, provided one mutual aid assist and received one mutual aid assist.

Town Marshal Dennis Conaway informed the Council that the Worthington Police Department was looking into obtaining in-car video equipment but explained that with generous donations from the community, the department would be able to cover the cost without asking the Council for funds.

Harp also explained that the WPD had suggested implementing a town violations bureau to allow local ticketing and payments for offenses involving town ordinances.

"We've had the ability to do this on the books for many years, but just have not implemented it," said Harp.

After several questions, the Council reacted favorably and agreed the idea should be passed on to Town Attorney Jacob Fish for his opinion before putting it into action.