Lewisport council meeting

The Lewisport City Council held its regularly scheduled city council meeting last Thursday evening. The meeting took place at City Hall at 7 p.m., and a light agenda greeted council members.

One of the more important items at the meeting concerned the termination of the lease with the Hancock County Public Library. A few months ago the library system opened the new Lewisport Library facility located across the street from City hall. Over a decade ago the library system leased the old fire station bays from the city and turned them into a branch library. Prior to moving into City hall, the library sat in a small room located on the side of the Lewisport Community Center. When the new facility opened across the street from City hall, the library no longer needed the space in the City hall building, and asked the city for permission to terminate the lease. The city council agreed.

The other major action item concerned Hancock Urban Planning Commission director Jeff Dame appearing before the council to update the council on the new planning and zoning manual. Dame said for the most part, the only changes concerned definitions in the publication. Otherwise, 98-percent of the manual was existing rules and regulations placed into an easy-to-read format, and organized to make it easier to find items in the book.

Lewisport Police Chief John Garner said nothing much changed for the police department; they were patrolling the city as normal. He say residents needed to be vigilant around their homes because in the past few weeks people started to report the theft of catalytic converters off of their vehicles. Garner said pickup trucks and other high sitting vehicles were the targets because they are easier to get under and remove a converter.

Supervisor of Utilities Jason Roberts said the public works department continues to operate smoothly with no major issues.
The city also paid its monthly claims and reviewed the monthly financial statements.

By Ralph Dickerson