Douglas Denton Monterey Town Council President

06/15/2026

Good morning, a few updates. We are in the process of and being in the process of having some storm drain work done, as well as talking with some different folks about misc. Street work like I have told many of you as we seek to find insured contractors to do the work.

Since I was asked about paving, new drains etc. I have also been, and I am working on cost, bonds, and what it might do to local property taxes, since this work would need to be borrowed for and bonded and would for the best result be attached to property taxes as a local tax. I have been looking at researching costs for some time, but up to now, the reality has been more than we could afford. The street process, storm drains, curbs and more require grinding down streets and, at that same point, redoing storm drains so we do not have to go back and tear up what you just did. In our early numbers, on 2.4 miles of streets in town we are in the neighborhood of about 2 million dollars. Drains, since there would be less mileage or footage involved, would be around $4 million dollars or $1100 a foot material and labor for about 4000 ln ft. but might require more. These are all based on an estimated current cost standard, not exact. In many cases, for federal help in these times, it would probably need to be through INDOT but not 100% sure on the pass-through.

In speaking with our local CDC, the work could probably be done that way. Now not knowing at this point in time what we could get or not get, let's work off the 6 million figures stand alone.

I would think that the town's credit rating would be good to get if we could a 4% bond rate.

In 20 years, the payback would be 8.83 million or a payment of $441 thousand a year added to property taxes locally. Now some grant money and other things could maybe (and maybe be the operative word) get and this could reduce those numbers as far as the borrowing/bonding part. As I have been told, there is no free lunch, just a reduced one.

The next question would be, would local residents want to see this added to their property taxes? Most I have spoken to say no.

So there lies the problem. To borrow money or to bond money does require a repayment.

So, we keep working on affordable solutions to our problems. This is the thing we have been working on for many years and keep working on. There are many other pieces that also come into play in this. We feel the numbers are modest and conservative. To leverage your position without a good repayment solution would be reckless. All figures are approximate and not exact at this point due to inflation and other factors that are ever-changing.

Town Council.

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06/14/2026

Good evening follow-up. We have told folks before, but we will repeat this

The Sportsman's is under the control of the Pulaski County Commissioners/Building Department.

The town did not move or control fences and other issues at this point. The county is in the process

Of emergency demolition orders and are working through paperwork as told to us.

Please do not linger around the area or fences. The building department and EMA have looked over the issues.

Town Council

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06/13/2026

congratulations to my fellow Halleck award recipient Al Breyfogle. Doug

06/12/2026

Good evening. Well, we have got through this current storm with, from what we can tell, little damage. Thankfully, we did not lose power like in the past as well.I went around town tonight after the storm removed limbs that had come down. Fortunately, there were no major limbs down . We checked storm drains, and they were clear and draining except for the few problematic ones that always drain slowly.

We hope everyone has a nice weekend and enjoys the cooler weather.

Doug

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06/11/2026

Good afternoon. I want to take a second and try to clarify a point. On the bar here in town, Sportsman’s, we are not claiming that the county at this point owns it, just that they are the governing authority over the situation. As I understand it, paperwork has been being processed through legal channels to clean up this problem. At this point in time, we are not sure who owns what since the property has changed hands a few different times. But the oversight on the building is done by the county along with tracking ownership, not the town. We are "NOT" the legal authority on this again for clarification and have never been so. We are simply doing everything we can to compel the county to follow through.

Thank you, Town Council.

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06/11/2026

Temperatures will be above average for many this week across the Lower 48. High temperatures across the northern and central Plains could be 20-25 degrees above average tomorrow. By Thursday the Northeast will see temperatures well into the 90s.

You can prepare for extreme heat ahead of time: weather.gov/safety/heat

06/11/2026

Good morning, let's talk about unsafe building issues and codes. It was asked about the building being unsafe (Sportsman’s) and we agree it is that. Back in 2015, when this structure first came down in part, the then county building inspector was called.and the issues were noted, and the property was locked down, so to speak. Now the original owner, Miss Hardin, had walked away from this business but was still the owner of record, so it was still private property under the law. Some wanted to tear it down at that moment in time by disregarding permits and trespassing laws.but thankfully, cooler heads won out. You see the legal path that even Miss Hardin had was still viable and the main part of the building was still not labeled unsafe under the law's description. We then went to the county to at least secure the property from anyone who might venture onto it and the fences were brought over, and some rubble cleaned up. Miss Hardin still had her legal rights that, regardless of our feelings about them, had to be observed. The property was then sold in a county sale to Mr. Spurgeon, who scraped what he could and skipped out on the building as well. So, over the years, liens were filed, and more fines were put on. Through many past government leaders in the county little has been done about this issue. You see, like we have said a hundred times, we(the town) are not the governing authority over this issue. There was another idea about cleaning it up, as I recall, but again, any agreement between individuals and the county was not in the town's jurisdiction. Our only concerns that were voiced to us by residents were proper disposal of material and any groundwater issues that might happen, since there are all wells here, and also any airborne contaminates.

You simply can not tear down someone's structure or property because you think so without due process. The safeguards for everyone involved at the moment and the latter also has to be considered. I understand the frustration of all of this since I have worked on this fight for a decade. Promises from previous county leaders were proven to be empty. The bottom line is, we, the town or its residents can not take the law into our own hands. Yes, many things seem unfair, but the law protects everyone and one day those who want to take matters into their own hands will be the first to demand the protection of the laws they break. We simply say keep a cool head and allow the process to work no matter how slow.

Reckless knee-jerk uninformed or misinformed reactions are the enemy of everyone and, in the end, will cost everyone more, not just in money but possible injuries.

Rest assured we are doing what we can under the law and will continue to do so until this is resolved.

Doug Denton Monterey Town Council President
Aaron Gilley Councilman
Josh Stacy Councilman

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06/10/2026

We want to thank the Pukaski Co. sheriffs department sheriff Schramm deputy Pickens who was running the drone today has the Building department and EMA was on site evaluating the structure. Thank you to Karla the building inspector and Richel from EMA and also Pulaski County Highway department for bringing blockades an extra fencing. Response of this was very good this morning. Town council.

06/10/2026

As most know the river is rising rapidly this morning it was not even in the boat landing and now it's almost out of it we have removed the trash container from the park chances are the park will be underwater by it today if not by tomorrow we advise people to not go into the park until the water goes down.

06/10/2026

Millions across the U.S. are facing their first round of summer heat this week! 🌡️🥵

Your first instinct on a 90-degree day may be to get in the car, crank the AC to max and sit there, but there’s a much faster way to clear out stagnant air. ⤵️

And remember: a parked car gets dangerously hot instantly. Never leave a child alone in a vehicle — not even for a second.