Golf Carts on the Streets Still a Possibility in Teutopolis

The issue of golf carts on village streets is still alive in Teutopolis.

Village board members participated in a straw poll at Wednesday's meeting.  Three trustees...Dan Zerrusen, Greg Oseland and David Tegeler...said they favored going ahead with guidelines governing the use of golf carts on roadways.  Two other trustees...Kenny Esker and Roger Henderson...said they were against going ahead with the idea and Village President Greg Hess said Trustee John Mette, who was not present, told him he was against going ahead.

That left things at 3-3 so Hess as a sort of tiebreaker in the straw poll directed that work proceed on developing guidelines.  The Board's Public Health and Safety Committee is to work on the guidelines, which would then be reviewed by Village Attorney Bill Austin before they would come back to the Village Board for a vote, so any decision is still some months away.

The Board also heard from Jeff Weis of Weis Insurance Agency who reviewed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulations regarding low-speed vehicles on roadways.

Board members also discussed a storm water drainage problem in the area of the CSX Railroad tracks adjacent to the Teutopolis Knights of Columbus Hall.  Estimates are that it would cost more than $40,000 to bore under the tracks and clean out the storm drain.  Instead, the Board agreed that the Village would install a culvert under the entrance to the K of C Hall parking lot along Vine Street and dig a ditch that would send the storm water east and then south.  The KC would have to re-route the water from the southeast corner drain and tile it to the edge of the KC property so the storm water would flow south.

The Teutopolis board also discussed developing a parking lot on the west side of the Village Hall to provide for additional parking for the village.  The parcel is to eventually serve as the site of a new Village Hall.