Terre Haute City Council OKs amendments to garbage ordinance

The Terre Haute City Council took up the matter of garbage again Thursday evening, approving an amendment to the City Code regarding the handling of trash.

Last week, City Attorney Michael Wright requested amending the Code's chapter six in order to take dumpsters that had rusted through or were not winterized off the market. Councilman Todd Nation noted that there was additional outdated language in the Code and Wright rewrote those parts to reflect the current method of trash collection throughout the city. The council voted unanimously, 7-0, to approve Wright's updated revision.

It also approved a request from ANA Property Group, LLC to rezone property at 1250 Locust St. to a residential district so that it could build 50 single-family houses upon it. The land had previously been home to Gerstmeyer High School then Chauncey Rose Middle School and later the Boys & Girls Club's center, but maintenance of the remaining gymnasium building was oppressively expensive for the club.

Nation wondered if the owners had a drainage plan for the property for when those homes were built, and expressed concern when he learned that there wasn't. His was the lone nay vote for the ordinance, which passed 5-1.

The council unanimously agreed to a request from Larry Wetnight, the city's Chief Information Officer, to transfer $107,030 from Terre Haute's Information Technology budget to go to the purchase of personal computers and upgraded software. The city currently has a number of PCs with software that cannot be upgraded and Microsoft will cease supporting Windows 10 on Oct. 14, 2025.

Jesse Tohill of the Board of Public Works gave the Council an update of its accomplishments in 2024 and its goals for 2025. He touted the three multi-site city cleanup events that collected 104 tons of rubbish and recycled nine tons of electronics devices, far more than previous years' cleanup efforts. He noted that the city's 311 line had received more than 10,000 calls in the first nine months of the year, and that 95% of the callers' requests had been resolved.

Tohill was pleased to announce that effective Jan. 1, 2025, Terre Haute Transit will go completely fare free, with expectations of increased ridership. Bus stops will be more clearly marked, he said.

He also said that currently, only 1% of Terre Haute pet owners have licensed their animals, which he hopes will be boosted to 25% after a campaign to encourage people to secure said license.

Council members George Azar and Jim Chalos were absent from the meeting because they were out of town.