TERRE HAUTE —
The Terre Haute City Council voted without opposition Thursday to impose a new $30 release fee on vehicles towed and impounded by the police as part of a criminal investigation.
About 1,800 vehicles, including junked and abandoned cars and trucks, are expected to be subject to the fee annually, said Councilman Norm Loudermilk, D-3rd, who brought the ordinance to the council late last year.
In all, the ordinance is expected to raise about $54,000 for the police department, Loudermilk said. Ten percent of that money will be used to help fund the Emergency Responder Training Academy on North Brown Avenue. The rest will to used for police continuing education and training, he said.
The fee will not be charged to recover impounded vehicles involved in accidents unless those accidents were part of a drunk driving incident or a situation where an arrest is made, said Lt. Hugh Crawford of the THPD.
• Also Thursday, the council voted without opposition to “vacate” public alleys north of Wabash Avenue near Hulman & Co. The alleys are between Eighth and Ninth streets and between Cherry Street and Wabash Avenue. “Vacating” the alleys legally gives them to Hulman & Co., which owns the entire block around the alleys.
Hulman & Co. spent $25,000 to maintain the east-west alley last year, said Rick Shagley, a Terre Haute attorney representing Hulman & Co. before the council. The north-south alley has already been closed to traffic by a parking lot. Business owners renting two bars on Wabash Avenue from Hulman & Co. near the alleys have spoken in support of the vacation, he said.
It is necessary to control the east-west alley during the Farmers Market and other events at the Clabber Girl Festival Marketplace, Shagley said.
• The council also voted Thursday to amend its own rules to require any transfers of city funds involving EDIT, CAGIT or wheel tax revenue to be formally introduced during monthly “sunshine” meetings. The change would allow the council at least one week to consider such transfers before voting on it, said Councilman Neil Garrison, D-5th, who sponsored the change.
• Finally, during a 30-minute period provided for public comment on non-agenda items, the council heard from Lyndon B. Johnson of South Ninth Street who complained that his dog received an identification microchip from the Terre Haute Humane Society against Johnson’s wishes.
In 2009, the council passed amendments to the city’s animal control ordinance that included mandatory microchipping of any stray dogs or cats brought to the Humane Shelter and are not wearing identification, such as a name tag. The ordinance also requires the pet owner to pay a $35 fee for the microchipping.
Pet microchips are about the size of a grain of rice and are normally implanted between a pet’s shoulders with a special syringe. The chips use radio waves to provide information that allow animal shelters to find a pet’s home quickly, reducing the cost to shelters of boarding lost pets.
Johnson told the council his dog escaped from his yard by digging under his fence and was not wearing identification at the time.
Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
Local & Bistate
City to impose $30 release fee on towed vehicles
Monies to be used for Terre Haute police continuing education and training
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TB case cause for concern, not panic
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