The Seymour Board of Public Works and Safety unanimously approved various special requests during a regularly scheduled meeting Thursday morning at city hall.
Requests approved included Indiana Health Center’s request to use the Burkhart Plaza and Community Center parking lot for a 20th anniversary event on Sept. 12, the Seymour Evening Lion’s Club’ request to use the Seymour Musuem parking lot for Scoop the Loop T-shirt sales on Aug. 17, and requests for two barricades,two trash cans and six to eight picnic tables for a Coventry Place picnic on Dover Court on Aug. 11.
Board member Brad Lucas raised concerns about Eclectic Sounds Entertainment LLC’s request to close West Second Street between Poplar and Walnut streets for a festival on Aug. 31. The local party entertainment service also requested to close Poplar St. between Second and Third streets on that date.
Lucas said his apprehension to close the requested section of West Second Street stemmed from ongoing reconstruction and improvement of that street. He proposed Eclectic Sounds instead close Third Street between Poplar and Walnut streets, which was approved by the board.
Following the board’s approval of special requests, city engineer Bernie Hauersperger gave the board several updates on ongoing construction projects.
He said he recently met with representatives of Indiana American Water and discussed the company’s progress in putting a new plant on O’Brien Street.
Hauersperger also said issues have arose with paving on Fourth Avenue in Freeman Field. He said the pavement placed by Mac Construction has failed twice.
“The third time’s a charm, and we hope to have that completed today,” Hauersperger said. “We put [the pavement] down but there’s a lot of turning traffic right there because it’s one of the main exits of Freeman Field, so that will be a problem for the rest of the night … [Mac Construction] thought minimal traffic would be on that, then they walked away from it, and we have a lot of turning semis coming through there … A little waiting time should make that go a lot better.”
After Hauersperger’s updates, the board also approved numerous sewer bill adjustments.
Next, the board unanimously approved a food truck license renewal for Covered Bridge BBQ and for Don Chuy Mexican Food Truck’s ice cream truck.
Also, Police Chief Greg O’Brien notified the board of a new general order for arrestee handling and transportation. He gave board members a six-page outline of the policy.
“It’s basically a handcuffing policy update,” O’Brien said. “Prisoners have to be seat-belted, and there’s some stuff in there about the use of force.”
O’Brien also spoke before the board on entering a contract agreement with National Background Investigation Services (NBIS).
“I can buy fingerprint readers all day long — they’re about $1,900 — [but] you have to have the software to go with it, which is NBIS,” O’Brien said. “NBIS will connect to Homeland Security, the FBI, U.S. marshals — all the federal agencies basically go into NBIS.”
NBIS has a $100,000 yearly maintenance fee and a set-up fee that costs approximately $1.1 million; however, the state police or the Department of Public Safety leases the service to local law enforcement for around $1,000, O’Brien said.
“I did reach out to the attorney general this morning,” he said. “I’ve reached out to my representative Jim Lucas; I reached out to the Indiana State Police, so my plan going forward is to work with them — maybe through the Indiana Criminal Justice Insitute — to be able to bring NBIS to Indiana and then we piggy-back off of it.”
The Seymour Board of Public Works and Safety meets every second and fourth Thursday in the council chambers of city hall, 301-309 N. Chestnut St. Meetings are open to the public and the press.