Spencer swears in new officer
The Town of Spencer swore in a new police officer during its council meeting last week.
“This is Jesus Arroyo. He has a great resume. He worked for the Department of Child Services for Lawrence County before coming to the police department,” Spencer Police Chief Rich Foutch said to introduce Arroyo.
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Arroyo previously served as a reserve officer.
“We’re really happy to have him,” Foutch said.
After swearing in Officer Arroyo, the council moved on to hearing an update on MyPath from director Kyle Hannon.
“The third time’s a charm for the MyPath system,” Hannon said.
He said that MyPath applied for some Next Level Trails grant funding from the state, and was awarded $640,000 to put into the trail.
Hannon also requested permission to paint the MyPath logo on the sidewalk that is part of the MyPath trail. The board gave Hannon their blessing to move forward.
Hiker's Path: The DePauw Nature Park.
Board president Jon Stantz then brought up a concern from citizens about poison hemlock. He said he spoke to Indiana Department of Natural Resources about it and that their herbicide individual was finishing training. He said that he anticipated someone coming out within the next week.
The next issue discussed by the board were parking meters. In a previous council meeting, board member Mike Spinks brought up how Fort Wayne turned old, unused parking meters into pieces of art and collection points for non-profit organizations.
Spinks once again brought up the parking meters.
“I know that from our experiences we haven’t had much luck maintaining these and taking care of them as well as people understanding what they’re there for,” Spinks said. “If you take those out, then we’re going to have more participation in the downtown.”
Spinks said he thinks that the town can do something, even if it is two-hour or one-hour parking spots on different parts of the square.
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“We need to decide,” Spinks said.
He also said that downtown employees could also purchase annual parking passes.
“I know that they have been a good and a bad thing,” Stantz said of parking meters.
Stantz suggested surveying the businesses around the downtown square.
Foutch also suggested either hiring a part-time retired individual who could have a varied schedule or utilizing the meters as a collection point for non-profits. The non-profit would change monthly and be responsible for collecting the meter’s donations.
There were several other comments and concerns made concerning parking meters. These topics included the availability of quarters, whether or not there should be a change machine, whether to upgrade to meters that take credit cards and the impact that it has on downtown businesses.
“I think you have heard a lot of good comments about the subject matter,” town attorney Richard Lorenz said. “I think nit probably deserves more study and more input.”
“If the town uses any device to have a fine or collection system, it will require you to monitor the way in which that’s operating,” Lorenz said.
The Spencer Council will meet again at 6 p.m. June 20 at the Spencer Municipal Building, 90 N. West St., Spencer.
This article originally appeared on Evening World: Spencer swears in new officer
