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Churubusco Town Council members John Hart, Viv Sade Rosswurm and Frank Kessler, along with annexation consultant Kristi Sturtz, financial consultant Greg Guerrettaz, town attorney Ron Felger and a representative of Bonar Engineering Group, Mark Jesse, met with a number of the South side businesses owners who are included in the area that has been - on and off - the topic of discussion for annexation for more than two decades.

The area being discussed contains 144 acres of land on the east side of U.S. 33 from the former Dana Corp. (now Mahle Corp.) south to the C& A Tool Engineering property.

Sade Rosswurm said the next logical step is to grow to the south if the Town is to grow at all. She noted that the school and town have seen declining enrollment and population in the last few years.

“We have had two new businesses reject Churubusco because of this,” she said. She also said it was illegal to “leapfrog annex” and that the Town must begin with the south side businesses, many of whom already have sewer and water lines installed years ago and/or available to their properties.

“The corporate Town limits are kind of crazy,” she said. “Part of McDonalds is annexed into the Town, part of it is not. I’m not sure why the Town did not have property owners sign a non-remonstrance agreement 20 years ago when they ran the lines.”

Bob Egolf, owner of Egolf’s IGA, explained what had happened on his property.

“When we talked about getting the utility lines to our store along with Star Financial Bank, the Town wanted nothing to do with it,” Egolf said. “We paid $25,000 out of our own pockets to run those lines to our businesses. Then when the Town later came to us and wanted us to sign an agreement not to remonstrate against any future annexation, we said to heck with that.”

This came as a surprise to Guerrettaz, who has been working with the Town for more than 25 years, as well as to council members.

Smith Township trustee Don Amber said he thought choosing Busco’s largest industries to annex amounted to nothing more than “cherry picking,” on the Town’s behalf.

The only township line item that would lose funding if the south side was annexed, according to the latest available figures from the Whitley County Auditor’s office, was the cumulative fire fund, which would lose approximately $6,000, Sturtz said.

Both Amber and Town Council members agreed that any loss would be compensated for in the annual fire protection contract between the township and town, now at about $30,000 a year.

Hart said he thought the area should be annexed since they already receive many town services, including water, sewer and police and fire protection, and since the town was more than willing to make up any loss to the township’s cumulative fire fund account.

Kessler also spoke in favor of annexation, saying it only made sense to keep Busco’s population strong as a way to attract skilled workers and enhance the businesses already located in Busco, as well as attract new business.

“We’re all interdependent on one another,” Kessler said.

Dick Conrow, owner of C&A Tool Engineering, wanted the town to look at annexing the entire south side area, both the east side and the west side of U.S. 33 from Mahle and Holiday Mobile Home Park to C.R. 375N.

Some residents on the west side have reported experiencing septic sewer problems. The area contains approximately 150 residential properties with $4.6 million worth of assessed valuation.

Several people who reside on the west side have called the Town to ask if they could get city utilities, Sade Rosswurm said.

A study conducted by Bonar Engineering last fall showed that annexing the west side would cost the Town about $2 million. Revenue recovered in the first year would be around $30,000, Sturtz said.

“I know it’s a problem, especially for some of the people located directly across the highway from C&A Tool,” Sade Rosswurm said. “The Whitley County Board of Health is keeping an eye on it, the county is keeping an eye on it and the Town is keeping an eye on it, but everyone is reluctant to run in and try and solve the problem.”

Conrow said the town and county may wait too long and then, “the state would step in and mandate that something be done because of the health issue.”

Amber, a resident of the west side, said his sewer was working fine and as far as he knew, his neighbors’ septics were working fine, as well, and he did not see annexation as an option for the west side.

According to the study done on the east side properties, the Town would receive about $100,000 a year in revenue if the area was annexed, Sturtz said.

She said the east side was the first step in annexation, adding that the high costs of annexing the west side made it cost-prohibitive to the Town at this point.

John Black, plant manager of Mahle Corp., said he wants to do “what is right for the Town,” but at the same time, does not want to be taken advantage of.

Noting that he was the town attorney when Churubusco was unsuccessful in its attempts to annex two decades ago, Felger said the Town really had no interest in proceeding with a west-side annexation where a few people have already said they would fight it - “it would only end up in court with the town spending thousands in litigation,” Felger said.

“The Council has talked about eventually running lines out there (on the west side) and then people could pay a tap fee and connect to the lines voluntarily as they need the services,” Sade Rosswurm said.

The meeting ended with no decisions being made.

Guerrettaz also said he could prepare a cost analysis of having in lieu of annexation agreements for south side residents and businesses - an alternative to annexation - if the Council so requests.

The Council will discuss the matter in July. Watch this Web site for future meeting times and detailed agendas.