Week in Review, Dec. 20-26, 2020 | Heraldrepublican

Their labor of love was blessed Monday with two really big presents: $500 on their behalf to Noble Transit Service and $500 for themselves.

Noble Transit, affiliated with the Noble County Council on Aging, is a public transportation agency serving Noble County.

“We chose Noble Transit because they played a big part in my family’s life when my grandpa was going through dialysis and stroke recovery,” said David Waddles. “They always went above and beyond, and we want them to know they are appreciated for all the hard work they do.”

New homeowners, David and Jeanette (Campos) Waddles, 310 Iddings St., Kendallville, did not know about Hosler Realty’s fifth annual spirit of Christmas lighting contest until a friend urged them to enter.

With more than 2,000 votes cast, their home won the popular vote by about 60 votes, said Jennifer Streich, co-owner of Hosler Realty with Joe Sells.

AUBURN — Steps toward a pedestrian bridge for Morningstar Road and a major new water line received approval from the Auburn Board of Works and Public Safety Wednesday morning.

The board hired A&Z Engineering for $29,100 to design a pedestrian bridge across Cedar Creek on Morningstar Road.

The bridge would be part of plans to provide sidewalks both east and west of Cedar Creek along Morningstar Road, said City Engineer Daryl McConnell.

The city will advertise for construction price bids on a new water main under 15th Street, with connecting segments to the Fulton Street water tower on the city’s west side.

AUBURN — Construction of the new Credent Wealth Building in downtown will close the 100 block of North Cedar Street for a year.

The closure is scheduled to begin Jan. 6 and continue until early January 2022, Auburn Police Capt. Cory Heffelfinger told city officials Wednesday.

Michael Kinder and Sons will begin demolition of existing buildings on the site on Jan. 6. Plans call for a new, three-story office building at 200 E. 7th St. to house Credent Wealth Management and other businesses.

The contractors have agreed to open the street during the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival and DeKalb County Free Fall Fair next fall.

KENDALLVILLE — Downtown streetlights still aren’t lit.

On Sept. 29, installation of new streetlights was supposed be wrapped up by Halloween.

On Nov. 3, after that mark was missed, the mayor said downtown streetlights were reportedly “a week or two” away from being done.

On Dec. 8, after that mark was missed, light poles were finally being installed, but the city was supposedly a week or two away from the lights being lit.

Now two weeks after that, with the mark missed yet again, the lamps are still dark and the city is now simply left with a question mark as to when they’ll be completed.

“The company, including the owner himself, has told me they have virtually no one available to work right now and he said he would get me a schedule tomorrow or (Christmas Eve) at the latest,” city engineer Scott Derby said on Tuesday.

Derby, Mayor Suzanne Handshoe and Board of Works President Jim Dazey said they hear from city residents daily asking about when downtown is going to be done.

LIGONIER — A proposal to turn what used to be Ligonier’s last remaining brick alleyway into a centerpiece of the city’s Strawberry Valley Cultural Trail is gathering momentum among city officials.

The alley in question bisects the 200 block of South Cavin Street, between West 2nd Street and West 3rd Street, less than a block north of Ligonier City Hall.

While not particularly visually appealing in its current state, it does have one very important quality: the west end of the alley spills out onto South Main Street, where it intersects an already-existing path running through the city’s west-side residential neighborhoods.

The concept is to turn the run-down alleyway into an urban green space that pedestrians could enjoy and traverse, connecting the heart of downtown Ligonier with the 5 miles of planned and existing trails looping the city.

Glick replaces LaGrange County prosecutor

LAGRANGE — Travis Glick has been elected by the LaGrange County Republican Party to fill the soon-to-be-vacant job of LaGrange County Prosecutor.

Glick was chosen Tuesday night to fill the final two years of the prosecutor’s term by a caucus of Republican precinct committee members.

Glick, 38, had served as the LaGrange County Prosecutor’s office chief deputy. He will replace Greg Kenner, the current LaGrange County Prosecutor, who will retire at the end of this year. Kenner has two years left on his current term, and he nominated Glick, saying Glick is the right person to take over as the county’s prosecutor.

“If you want a prosecutor who will do the job right, you want Travis,” Kenner said. “He’ll look out for the citizen and law enforcement. He’ll make the right decisions. Travis is very thoughtful and careful when making decisions. That’s really important in this job.”

ANGOLA — A lawsuit pitting the superintendent of the Metropolitan School District of Steuben County against the district and school board has been continued to next year.

A hearing was scheduled for Tuesday morning in Steuben Superior Court, but Judge William Fee continued the pretrial conference until Tuesday, Jan. 19, at 10 a.m. It will be conducted by telephone.

Superintendent Brent Wilson filed suit March 3 against the district and board members for breach of contract. In 2016, the board removed a five-year rollover provision that added one additional year each year on June 30, resulting in a continuous five-year contract.

At the November school board meeting, the board voted 5-2 not to renew Wilson’s contract, which ends June 30. Board President Cory Archbold clarified a “new contract” for Wilson is possible.

Wilson’s Indianapolis attorney, Linda Pence, has said the alterations made to his contract in 2016 violate Indiana law. According to statute, an evaluation process is required at least once a year for education contracts, and Wilson says he was not properly evaluated.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Economic Development Corp., in partnership with Conexus Indiana, On Tuesday announced the third round of awards totaling approximately $1.5 million to 31 Indiana businesses in Manufacturing Readiness Grants.

DeKalb Molded Plastics received a $20,000 grant award.

Based in Butler for more than 40 years, DeKalb Molded Plastics is a custom structural foam molder specializing in large, multi-nozzle plastic products servicing the medical, safety, transportation and material handling industries. The company is installing two automated robot cells with Fanuc robots to increase efficiency.

Koester Metals Inc. in Steuben County also received a $20,000 grant award.

A sheet metal fabricator, Koester formed in Defiance, Ohio, in 1975 and moved the business to Fremont in 2010. It is upgrading to a more advanced laser-cutting system with expanded load and unload capability to expand capacity and capability for larger and thicker metal, enabling longer lights-out runs. The company is also adding remote monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities.

ALBION — The Noble County Commissioners gave their blessings to the Noble County Health Department’s search for a central

location to give the coronavirus vaccine — whenever that will be.

“There’s a lot of unknowns on how this is going to roll out,” Noble County Health Nurse Cheryl Brown said.

What Brown knows for sure — and that can change by the hour, she told the commissioners — is that the first doses of the vaccine to be received by Noble County will be the version produced by Moderna. The Moderna vaccine does not require the super-cold storage temperatures as the Pfizer vaccine currently being distributed in some areas.

Brown said the Noble County Health Department has a storage unit that can keep the Moderna vaccines at the proper temperature.

Like the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine requires a second dosage 28 days after the first, according to Brown.