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Commissioners approve appointments, infrastructure supplemental, temporary speed limit and several contracts; resident asks about rail quiet zone
Summary
At its Oct. 8 meeting, the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners approved routine bills, three Community Corrections appointments, a supplemental infrastructure agreement with DLZ, a temporary reduced speed limit on Lisonbee Boulevard, a postpartum support facilitator contract, and a fire-dispatch maintenance renewal; a resident asked about creating a rail quiet zone.
St. Joseph County commissioners used their Oct. 8 meeting to approve routine business and several local actions, and to hear one public comment about train noise.
Appointments and routine approvals: The board unanimously approved the accounts payable docket and appointed three members to the Community Corrections Advisory Board — Antoine White, Joseph Grable and Matthew Kaczmarek. White briefly addressed the board after his appointment; colleagues and a maintenance manager offered testimony about his work with Portage Manor.
Infrastructure supplemental agreement: Skye Metters of Infrastructure Planning and Growth explained supplemental agreement No. 2 with engineering firm DLZ, clarifying a $20,000 requested increase and a $60,000 bid-and-construction-phase line that represents the earlier $40,000 plus the new $20,000. The board untabled the item and unanimously approved the supplemental agreement.
Traffic ordinance: The board approved a temporary traffic regulatory ordinance reducing the speed limit on Lisonbee Boulevard (from State Road 2 to Edison Road) from 40 to 30 mph for the duration of a construction project; Metters estimated the temporary limit could be in place for up to two years and noted the sheriff’s office has conducted enforcement several days a week, with some overtime funded by AWS. The board discussed issuing a public notice to inform residents.
Health and public-safety contracts: Commissioners approved an employment agreement contracting Kelly Bridal to facilitate a postpartum support group for the county Department of Health; Renata Williams reported program participation (7–8 women per class; 29 women have participated since Sept. 10) and said a commercial campaign began last week to boost awareness. The board also approved the annual maintenance renewal for the Locution Systems fire dispatch hardware and software used to send CAD alerts to local fire agencies.
Public comment and recess: Peter Stepanov, a resident in the Lyddic area, asked whether the county could pursue a ‘quiet zone’ at Pins Road and Pier Road rail crossings because train horns are loud; the chair thanked him for the comment and noted agency representatives were present. With no further business, commissioners recessed the meeting.
Actions taken at the meeting were recorded as unanimous votes unless otherwise noted.
