Getting a jumpstart on the upcoming holiday season, Chelsea Lea sought permission from Allen County Commissioners Tuesday morning to decorate the square with Christmas lights.
“We’re hoping to get them up the first week of November,” said Lea. She noted that she will be putting information in the Register in the coming weeks on how people can donate towards the endeavor.
“These donations will help us to start buying the Christmas lights, because they’re already on the shelves,” she said. Lea doesn’t plan on doing anything drastically different from years past in terms of the decorations.
“We’re trying to figure out the mapping of how to expand as far as the towers for electricity go,” said Lea. “It’s always kind of hard to build off of them because you can’t put too much on them.”
Lea plans to decorate along Madison Avenue, each corner of the square, and in front of the memorial wall. “I don’t plan on doing anything in the grassy areas of the courthouse lawn,” she explained. “Just along the walkways. Hopefully we get a lot of donations and we can keep updating as it goes.”
Commissioners unanimously approve Lea’s request.
IN OTHER NEWS, commissioners approved the purchase of a new 2024 Caterpillar road grader from Foley Equipment, of Chanute, for the Road and Bridge department. The grader costs $384,931, heavily discounted from the sell price of $607,653.54. The department will trade in its 2010 Komatsu grader for a savings of $30,000, coupled with loyalty and sourcewell discounts totaling $242,877.30. Road and Bridge Director Jeremy Hopkins added that this purchase is included in the department’s budget.
Commissioner David Lee noted he will be manning a booth space dedicated to informing the community about the proposed half cent EMS sales tax at Farm City Days.
Additionally, Commissioner Bruce Symes said that the Farm City Days committee has added two new categories for judging parade floats — Mayor’s Choice and Commissioner’s Choice.
Symes will serve as the judge of this year’s Commissioner’s Choice float.
