First let me wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.  I am very thankful for many things, but primarily for a healthy and happy family, and I wish the same to you and yours.

Reflecting upon all the blessings of the last two years since becoming the Town Manager, one item is foremost above all others and that is being given the opportunity to come back to Merrillville and serve here again.

Years ago, when I was the Planning and Building Administrator in Merrillville, I often discussed and spoke about shaping our future, about focusing on transportation issues, more jobs, better parks, enhanced quality of life, bike trails, historic districts, etc., well today I can honestly tell everyone that your local government staff is working on all of these initiatives and more.

Many of these items were started before I came back as Town Manager in November of 2004, and it has been a pleasure seeing the details emerge in the development process of projects such as the Merrillville Historical District Plan along 73rd Avenue, the creation of the new Veteran’s Memorial Site and unveiling of the new Statue, and the possibility of developing another bike/hike trail from Broadway towards our neighbors in Griffith.

While these items are a fun part of being a Manager there are many items just as important or even more important such as the redesigning of US 30 to alleviate future fatalities, dispelling rumors about blockbusting and panic selling, and solving the sewer backups from too much groundwater infiltration into dilapidated sanitary sewer systems.

And finally, there are the day to day items such as health benefits programs, liability insurance, personnel issues, ordinances, resolutions, meetings, complaints, and telephone calls.

I tell people who ask or wonder why I work in this profession that my job may be quite frustrating at times but it is never ever boring.  I have a great set of bosses and I enjoy working for them and all citizens of the Town.

Over the last couple of years I have focused most of my energies towards creating a brighter future here in Merrillville with new commercial and industrial growth to stabilize our job markets and provide new and expanding job opportunities. 

The Merrillville Chamber of Commerce has been instrumental in helping focus these energies by helping to create new road maps, folders, brochures, and other marketing opportunities.  Our new Community Development Director, Mr. Howard Fink, has been able to enhance and broaden our marketing and we expect a very good year for Merrillville in 2007.  We have had lots of development in commercial areas with new restaurants and shops, but we try to focus our energies on the higher wage industrial positions, the commercial development will come to our area whether we focus on it or not. 

Municipal government has the obligation to provide adequate and equitable services for all its citizens, this is the underlining principal of why local municipalities exist historically and presently.  I would like to inform the citizens and readers of one item I consider to be of primary importance in the upcoming state legislative session in 2007.  Towards the end of the 2006 legislative session a new statute was adopted and signed by the Governor that immediately affected all single family residences within the state of Indiana and will affect in 2008 all other residential units, and in 2010 affects all commercial and industrial properties in the State.  I am talking about the 2% property tax caps.

I will not go into the details this month, but I will focus on this item in the December newsletter.  Services can certainly be reduced or even eliminated, but the effects of limiting or reducing services are questionable at best, whom do we trust to eliminate what service or services, me?, you?, our elected legislators down state?

I stated publicly in 2001 that it would take five years before the reassessment mess would be concluded, I was wrong, it is going to take longer.  In the mean time, it has been most difficult to operate municipal services effectively with not knowing the final financial impact.  You will read or maybe hear of communities that are coming to “the wall”, a point of no return.  The “wall” is a point where supplying the basic public services most citizens expect becomes jeopardized because of shrinking revenues. I would rather like to avoid “the wall” type of decisions because by that time all choices are bad.

While there may be many solutions, I believe that truly understanding the issues is primary to any solution, stay tuned to the Manager’s report in December for the basics of the 2% property tax cap.  Thank You.  TAB

The sculptor, Jerry McKenna of Boerne, Texas, was present at the ceremony on the morning of Nov. 11, shortly before the 11 a.m. in front of Town Hall, 7820 Broadway when a veterans statue for the Merrillville/Ross Township Veterans Memorial was unveiled.

McKenna, a U.S. Air Force veteran has also created a number of other well-known statues in the Chicago area. His other creations include sculptures of Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Brickhouse and former White Sox owner Charles A. Comiskey in Chicago.

He said he has created about 160 statues in his lifetime, but this piece is the first for a veterans memorial centerpiece.

"This is a very special day for me," he said. "It was truly a labor of love."

He advised those in attendance to study the faces and emotions of the figures in his creation, which represents the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and a Civil War Union soldier carrying a U.S. flag.

"Everytime I do a sculpture I use a family or friend," he said. "I do a private dedication."

In this case, he said he patterned the Marine after a good friend, Jack Connor, who served in the armed services and was an FBI agent prior to his death a few years ago.

McKenna then presented an American flag to Connor's widow, Alice, of Chicago.

The bronze statue includes life-size figures representing the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. At the center of the statue is a Civil War Union soldier carrying a U.S. flag.

The statue will eventually be erected at its permanent place at the veterans’ memorial west of the Ross Township Cemetery off 73rd Avenue just east of Broadway.

The cost of the statue is $123,000. The committee needs to raise about $377,000 for the entire project.

For more information about the commemorative Brick Program or other gift opportunities, please contact The Merrillville Ross Township Veterans Memorial Committee at any of these telephone numbers:

•  219-981-2841   
•  219-313-8849  
•  219-980-0142 
•  219-313-8379

or by email: vetmemorial@townofmerrillville.com

...I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

A proclamation by The President of The United States of America

October 16 - 21, 2006 Merrillville Community Schools helped children 'stomp out bullying'  

The program teaches about three kinds of people in a bullying situation.

1. The Victim
2. The Bully
3. The Bystander                      

Bystanders have three choices under the program. They help the bully by participating in the bullying or by doing nothing, or they can help the victim by reporting the incident.

Indiana Bullying Prevention information 

click here

Online bullying

A study recently published in Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice surveyed children under 18. More than 29 percent of the children surveyed reported experiencing online bullying. More than 47 percent reported witnessing online bullying.

E-mail messages reveal an address and provider. You can report the sender to the e-mail provider. The same can be done with instant messaging or chat room conversations.

Yahoo! offers an online form for reporting abuse.

Harassing Hotmail messages can be forwarded to abuse@hotmail.com.

For AOL, the address is TOSgeneral@aol.com.

Harassment in social networking sites like MySpace should be reported as well.

MySpace, Xanga and LiveJournal provide instructions for reporting abuse.

Madison Meadows  -  76th & Madison St.

Old Time Pottery

8225 Broadway

http://www.oldtimepottery.com

Portillo's Hot Dogs & Barnelli's Pasta Bowl 555 E. 81st Ave

http://www.portillos.com/portillos

Letters from Santa

All Ages 

This year we are assisting Santa and his elves at the North Pole with the  delivery of letters from Santa.  If there is someone you know that would   enjoy receiving a letter from Santa this year, simply fill out the form and submit with payment by December 11, 2006.  Santa’s Hint sheets and forms will be available at Park’s office and online starting  November  6, 2006.

Registration Deadline:  12/11/06

Fee: 

Residents $4   Non-Residents $6

Santa Hint Sheet

Santa’s Workshop

All Ages

Have fun and be creative as you and your family build miniature gingerbread houses.  All tools and supplies will be provided.  After completing your project, we will show a   Christmas movie.  Special guest appearance by SANTA!  Parent/caregiver participation required. 

Registration Deadline:  12/08/06  

Fee: 

Residents $6     Non-Residents $8

Stuff & Fluff Workshop: 

We have invited Noah’s Ark Workshop (Stuff & Fluff) to lead a workshop at the Pruzin Community Center on Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 6:30 p.m.  Children and adults of all ages will enjoy the opportunity to make their own stuffed animal.  Once you have the featured animal you will stuff it and fill out a personalized birth certificate.  Also, you may color or decorate your bag for your new animal. 

Resident Fee:  $20

Non-Resident Fee:  $23

Registration Deadline:  December 7, 2006. 

Outfits sold separately.

Christmas Pet Photo Contest: 

We are hosting our First Annual Christmas Costume Contest for Pets.  Prizes will be awarded for best pet/owner theme, most unique costume and the most festive.  On the back of each photo should be the pets name, owners name, phone number and address. 

Resident Fee: FREE

Non-Resident:  $5

Deadline to turn in pictures is December 15, 2006.

Winners will be announced on December 20, 2006.

Yoga: 

Our yoga class is a huge success!    Our next class starts on Thursday, January 11, 2007 and since we had such an overwhelming response the registration is now closed.  Due to the overwhelming response, we have added another class!  The new class begins on Friday, January 12, 2007 from 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. 

This class is FREE to Merrillville residents age 50 and over.  Non-residents any age will pay a fee of $25 and Merrillville residents under 50 will a pay a fee of $20 for five weeks. 

Please note you cannot enroll in both classes unless you are a fee paying participant.  If you would like to reserve a spot for our new Friday class beginning on January 12, 2007, please visit the Parks Department Monday-Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Registration is required and remember to bring your identification for address and age verification.

Registration Deadline: January 5, 2007.

Tumblebears Gymnastics: 

We offer three different classes for three separate age groups.  Your child will learn basic skills in vault, bars, beam, air trak, and tumbling.  They will experience forward and backward rolls, cartwheels and handstands.  Parent & Tot and program will learn age appropriate activities including gross motor, balance, movement to music and hand/’eye coordination. 

Our other two age groups will gain coordination, body awareness and self-confidence.  As each skill is learned, new challenges are added so students continue to learn at their own pace.

Classes begin on December 6, 2006. 

Times: Parent & Tot:  5:50 - 6:25 p.m.

3-5 Years:       5:15 - 5:50 p.m.

5 Years & Up: 4:30 - 5:15 p.m.

Resident Fee:  $35

Non-Resident Fee:  $40 

Registration Deadline:  November 29, 2006.

The Value of Exercise

No matter how old you are, exercise can benefit your health.  Physical activity can boost your health.  Physical activity can boost your heart, your mood and your confidence level.  Being physically fit allows you to be stronger and more independent.

Vigorous exercise can strengthen the heart and lungs.  A regular brisk walk can lower your risk for heart disease.  Climbing stairs and doing housework can increase your strength and stamina.  Strength training is a good way to stop muscle loss and slow down bone loss.  

People who are physically active are less likely to develop diabetes. Strength training can lessen arthritis pain. Light exercise is also good for your mental health.

Talk you a doctor before you begin any type of exercise program.

Upcoming Events:

Blood Pressure Checks:

2nd Tuesday of each month, December 12, 2006, at 9:30 a.m.

FREE   Sponsored:   Adarna

Why are Cholesterol Levels  Important?

Thursday, November 30, 2006 at 9:00 a.m.

FREE Sponsored: Internal Medicine

Weight Management

Thursday, January 25,   2007 at 9:00 a.m.

FREE    Sponsored: Internal Medicine

Town Council     view

Know the Law

Nuisance Ordinance Sec. 13-1. Definitions.

For the purposes of this article, the word "nuisance" is hereby defined as the doing of an unlawful act, or the omitting to perform a duty, or the suffering or permitting any condition or thing to be or exist, which act, omission, condition or thing either:

(1) Injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of others; or

(2) Offends decency; or

(3) Is offensive to the sense; or

(4) Unlawfully interferes with, obstructs or tends to obstruct or renders dangerous for passage any public or private street, highway, sidewalk, stream, ditch or drainage; or

(5) In any way renders other persons insecure in life or the use of property; or

(6) Essentially interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property, or tends to depreciate the value of the property of others.

Ward 1

Terrell Taylor

Ward 2

Richard Hardaway

Ward 3

D. Lance Huish

Ward 4

David Uzelac

Ward 5

Joe Shudick Jr.

Ward 6

Shawn Pettit

Ward 7

Ron Widing

Town Government Telephone numbers

Town Manager

769-5711

Clerk-Treasurer

769-3501

Planning & Building

769-3631

Town Engineer

769-5711

Public Works

769-6784

Emergency Medical Service

769-0400

Parks & Recreation

980-5911

Ross Township Fire Service

769-0004

Police Non-Emergency

769-3531

Police Administration

769-3722

Police Sub-Station

884-3841

Code Enforcement

769-3631

Town Court

756-6185

Meeting Schedules

events calendar

The Town Council

2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at 6:30p.m.

The Plan Commission

3rd Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m.

The Police Commission

1st Friday of the month at 8:00 a.m.

The Board of Zoning Appeals

4th Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m.

The Town Hall is open Monday

Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.