Improvements being made to East Otto town facilities

EAST OTTO — As summer draws to a close and the cold weather season approaches, the East Otto Town Board is seeking to improve its facilities.

During its Aug. 14 meeting, the board announced that it had arranged to have the East Otto Historical Building painted.

Supervisor James Beach said he would purchase a power washer from Home Depot and thoroughly clean the building, prior to its being renovated. The benches in front of the building also received a fresh coat of paint.

Work was recently done on the town’s roads. According to Highway Superintendent Tom Benz, the CHIPS roadwork is now complete and will be submitted for reimbursement.

He added that he is planning to contract out the changing of two culverts, one on Utley Road and one on Spring Street. The town will also be installing dry hydrants in those areas.

The town’s storage shed also had a face lift, which is now completed. On the docket were repairs to the bottoms of the doors.

In other matters:
– Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Holler announced that he answered 16 phone calls, issued one lean-to shed permit, one addition permit, one deck permit and one single family permit, issued one stop order and one address and completed 11 inspections. He paid Town Clerk Ann Rugg $360 for permits.

– The final state equalization rate, 69.50 percent, was received.

– A donation for the town playground was received from Robert and Nancy Hintz, in memory of Richard Bridges.

– Beach was authorized to pay JND Home Improvements $13,000 as part of the total bid of $16,546, as per the phone survey conducted July 22. That company was also paid $3,546 from account A 1620.4, added to general abstract, the final installment for the bid.

– The audit of the July 2012 prepaid utility bills was presented to the board and was accepted.

– The bills on abstract highway DA 5110.4 were approved to be paid, after that abstract was completed.

– The board was notified that 10 – 12 children from East Otto were participating in the swim program.

“We will check with other participating towns, to see how many are attending from there,” Rugg said.

The next East Otto Board meeting will be held Sept. 11 at 8 p.m.