Paving underway in Dyer
By Cara Zarecor
With a quorum present, Dyer Mayor Chris Younger opened the Oct. 26 board meeting with news that the street repaving project in town had begun.
“Delta started today milling North Main and part of South Main,” he said. “They’ll start back in the morning milling the other side of South Main. [Street Superintendent] Dale [Carroll] will talk to them on whether or not they’re going to start paving tomorrow or Friday or Monday. College Street down toward the stop sign will be milled or scraped down and get it cleaned up to where the asphalt will hold to the road there. They looked at Linden Street also this morning and everything is good, and the asphalt will hold like it is supposed to. So that’s where we are at on the paving.”
Alderman Tom Mikkelsen asked if Younger had noticed the cracks in the road on N. Main and what could be done about it. Younger replied, “Dale had a conversation with them and from what they said, there’s absolutely no way to get rid of the cracks. It will go all the way down to the concrete base and still have the cracks in there. We’re going by the company’s engineer’s recommendations. They looked at it and with the amount of money it would cost to take it all the way down to the base, there’s just no way possible we could ever even think about affording that. They’re down to the good now. If you get too far down, you have to take it all off, and they don’t recommend that at all.”
In the second half of the mayor’s report, Carroll recommended the hiring of fulltime employee John Dodd to the street crew. Younger explained that Carroll had conducted phone interviews and Dodd was his recommendation to the board, who voted unanimously in favor of hiring the new employee.
Younger said that Dyer Station Committee had phoned and that the first Saturday in December “unless something drastic happens between now and then” will be the annual Christmas parade. The committee will reportedly make the parade route longer, if necessary, in order for onlookers to social distance. Lineup will begin at 4 p.m. at Tate’s Quick Stop, and the parade will begin at 5.
In the finance and personnel portion of department reports, City Recorder Nathan Reed called the group’s attention to the September financials as he reported, “I added our state sales tax to the revenue because, actually, we’re performing a little ahead of what we should be. The Local Option Sales Tax continues to amaze us. We expected that to be much lower that what it is. Including October’s numbers, we are running about 9% ahead of where we should be for this year. We ought to be about 33% through, but we are about 43% through where we ought to be.”
Reed concluded his report by reminding everyone that property tax notices had gone out and that tax relief through the state is available for the elderly, disabled, and service-disabled veterans that may offset some or all of the cost. For help with an application, residents are encouraged to phone Dyer City Hall at 731-692-3767.
Alderman Michael Barron inquired as to whether one of the park lights that continues to cut off by itself had been inspected. Younger said that a contactor inside the switch box had been changed out, but that the city will call Higdon Electric to look at it again.
In new business, all board members voted unanimously to pay for two separate purchases of sand and gravel from King Construction for a total amount of $2,584. Also unanimously approved was the purchase of chemicals in the amount of $1,950 from American Development Corp.
All members voted in favor of paying accounts totaling $17,193.
Just prior to adjournment, Younger announced that there will be a committee meeting on Nov. 16, which falls between November’s first and second board meetings.
“We’re going to discuss finance, personnel and administration,” he said. “We need to discuss a tree that has been cut that needs stump removal. Also, we need to discuss tree roots that are growing under the road, employee vacations and a couple more things.”
