Tour and Taste of White returns to downtown Monticello

The Next Generation Youth Advocates will be making some improvements to this concourse in downtown Monticello. W.C. Madden/News & Review

The Monticello City Council approved the Main Street Tour and Taste of White for July 28 during their meeting on May 15.

The Main Street Tour will have two bands from Logansport this year, Rock America and The Twisted Riddler. They will be playing 70s, 80s, and 90s music starting at 5 p.m.

The Taste of White features some of the best food in the county by vendors. Besides food vendors including the Kettle Corn guy, Literacy Volunteers of White County will be doing Desserts for Donations and Whyte Horse Winery will be there serving wine. There will also be a beer garden. A motorcycle show will be held on Broadway Avenue.

Ingrid Landis, the organizer of the event, wanted the 100 block of North Main Street blocked off at 10:30 a.m. to make sure she can get ready for the event beginning at 5 p.m. It ends at midnight. She wanted Court Street for food vendors blocked off at 3 p.m. and Broadway Avenue blocked off at 5 p.m. She also wanted merchants downtown to stay open and get business from the event-goers.

Class reunions are expected as well. Reservations for the tables provided can be made by calling 574-583-3668 or stopping by Necessities.

She will ask the Monticello Police Department and White County Sheriff’s Department to help provide security and prevent people from bringing in alcohol or leaving with it. She said she usually donates $500 to the departments for helping. Emergency Management will be there with a special trailer for any emergencies.

She was told by city officials to make sure no grease is poured down the drains.

She is being helped by Richard Mead. She said he has agreed to run the event next year. Landis has run the event since she started it some 15 years ago.

“You guys have been wonderful,” said Landis to the council.

“We appreciate your efforts,” replied Mayor Cathy Gross.

The city council decided to table a couple of decisions at the meeting. They first tabled the bucket shake resolution. Council member Bill Cheever recommended tabling it and made the motion. He said he had some additional information he wants to review first.

They also tabled the first reading of the ordinance on utility adjustments.

“It would not be overly restrictive in my opinion,” said City Attorney George Loy. “I think it’s a good start. There are some communities that don’t allow this.”

Council Member Ken Houston didn’t understand one part of the proposed ordinance dealing with when a citizen can file an appeal of the utility bill. The council will look at rewriting this portion of the proposed change to make it more understandable.

The council approved a grant request for the Police Department. Chief Jeremy Kyburz apologized for already submitting it without the council’s approval, but the officer who requested it wasn’t aware of the procedure. The grant request is for a license-plate reader for the city. The grant of $3,700 would pay for the first year of coverage. After the first year, the fee is $3,000 per reader. The reader costs $2,500.

Houston asked if Chief Kyburz had the budget in 2024 to pay the $3,000 and he said he already put it in his budget for next year.

Council member David Roth explained how the cameras work as he is the Deputy Chief of the White County Sheriff’s Department, which has seven of these readers.

“We’ve been really successful with it,” Roth said.

The council approved a bucket shake for the Knights of Columbus. The Tootsie Roll Drive will occur on June 2, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and June 3, from 8 a.m. to noon, on Main and Illinois Streets. The benefits go to Lirio Resources, which has the Lirio Thrift Store on Illinois Street and a training center north of the city for people with special needs.

“This represents and exemplifies whom we want for the change of ordinance we just tabled,” said Houston. “This is the direction we’re wanting to go, so I’m proud to make this motion.”

The meeting began with the Next Generation Youth Advocates coming before the council and informing them what they plan to do with the concourse that is between the businesses and the movie theater on South Main Street.

They wanted an area that had more meaning and appeal, so they plan to paint a mural on the side of the theater building and other improvements. They made their goal of raising $10,000 and are up to about $25,000.

“I’m really excited with what you’re doing because we tried this before and we weren’t very successful,” said Houston, who was the former mayor when the council tried to do something about it.

“We wanted a good place to be in Monticello,” said Cadie Keene. “Something to be proud of and show off to people.” Other members of the group include Mayah McCarty, Sinai Aguilar, Elizabeth Castillo, Riley Jennings, Angela Montero, Luis Montero, Haley Smolek, Elina Henke, and Chloe Westbrook.

The audience then gave them a round of applause.

The council approved a rezoning petition for the new recycle center planned for 426 North Sixth Street next to the White County Correctional Facility by a narrow 3-2 margin. Roth and Houston voted against the measure.

“I don’t understand the change,” said Houston. “It wasn’t for this purpose. I object.”

Roth also objected to it. “I don’t think it should be there,” he said.

The property is being changed from industrial-1 to industrial-2 to allow the new recycle center to be built there. The current facility is in Reynolds in an older facility. Plus, most of the recycled material from the county comes from Monticello.

The council approved the change in zoning for 210 North Railroad Street. The property was incorrectly zoned business and it’s a home.

“This allows them to be proactive,” said Jenilynne Hall, assistant director of White County Area Plan.

Another property nearby wouldn’t respond to requests from Area Plan and the council decided to have Area Plan send them another letter before they act in another way. They can have Area Plan rezone the property or they can request to have it changed.

Philip Roth from American Structurepoint Inc. gave the council an update on their strategic plan. “This has been a long time in the making,” he said. The city applied for it two-and-half years ago.

The plan is funded by the Indiana Office of Community & Rural Affairs. OCRA must review the plan, making it a long process. “Much longer than I anticipated,” the senior planner said. “I finally got their approval, and the document meets all the requirements.”

Area Plan will review the plan and reach out to the public. “We haven’t eked all that out yet,” said Roth. He said they will be visiting in the coming weeks and give them a presentation.

“I think we’re in a good place,” said the mayor.