MENTONE — The Town of Mentone hired a new town attorney on Monday, April 1 and also changed its monthly meeting day, discussed stray dogs and what to do with residents and outsiders who don’t obey the rules regarding what to discard during spring cleanup.

During its monthly meeting on Monday, the town board approved the hiring of Andrew Grossnickle as the town’s new attorney to replace Larry Beeson, who recently stepped down. Town Board President Jill Gross told the rest of the panel that she spoke with four attorneys, including Grossnickle. She recommended the board hire Grossnickle.

Grossnickle is an attorney with Beers, Mallers, Backs & Salin, LLP who also represents Turkey Creek Township and Advisory Board, Turkey Creek Fire Protection Territory, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Protection Territory, Turkey Creek Regional Sewer District and Blue Lake Conservancy District. The board approved Grossnickle, who told Gross he could accept the slot if the board would agree to move its monthly meeting to the first Wednesday of the month from its current time of the first Monday.

The board changed its meeting schedule and Gross announced next month’s meeting would be May 1.

For The Dogs

Town Board Member Tim Croy publicly reminded residents to keep their pooches penned or tied up, lest those negligent pet owners suffer a hit to their pocketbooks.

“I wanted to let people know that we do have an ordinance against dogs running at large,” said Croy. “We have had an issue. But, people need to understand that when they let their dogs out, they still have to be confined to their property, whether they’re in a fence or on a leash. They can’t just let them run. Now that the weather’s getting nice, I’m sure dogs are going to want to be out running.”

Croy said the fine for violating the ordinance is no less than $50 and no more than $500 per violation.

Spring Cleaning And Illegal Dumping

The town board discussed the annual spring cleanup, which is set for Wednesday, May 15.

According to Croy, the town’s trash contractor, Valley Sanitation, will be providing dumpsters for the town residents who wish to discard accepted items during the annual event.

Croy initially told the board that the dumpsters would be placed in multiple locations around the town.

Town board members Jill Gross, Shelly Krueger and Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross all expressed concerns about the proposed new way of collecting discarded items, which previously were collected curbside in front of each residence.

“I have had nothing but negative (comments) since you put it on Facebook,” Ross told Croy. “Besides that, this is the first it’s been discussed at a meeting.”

Croy told the board that even though there are restrictions on what can be thrown away and what would be accepted, those banned items still find their way to the curb. Croy said the trash contractor finds it more convenient to sort out those things later instead of rejecting items at each residence.

The board agreed that it would be a better idea to place all the dumpsters in one central, high-visibility area.

“I think we should have them in one centralized area,” said Gross. “I don’t think we should have them all over town. At least that gives us some control and we can monitor them a little bit. I would think if we have them right here, at the corner of (SR) 25 and (SR) 19, beside the police and fire stations, I would hope they would use a little bit of common sense.”

Croy said he would contact Valley Sanitation and request the alternate plan for the dumpsters. He added that for residents who still needed curbside pickup at their residence, this could be accomplished by calling Valley Sanitation directly.

In other news, Krueger announced that the town’s first farmer’s market would be May 18.