[0:02] thank you for tuning in to our first
episode of inside Argus uh my name is
[0:07] Mark vanderwell I'm here with my co-host
Joe Stone Good morning Joe how we doing
[0:11] today I'm doing today is a wonderful day
and we will get to that here just a
[0:16] little bit why it is such a wonderful
day uh but uh we wanted to come to you
[0:22] and and kind of let you know what's
happening in Argus uh as everyone knows
[0:27] there's rumors that fly around there's
different things said uh we're just
[0:31] trying to bring some transparency so we
thought we'd uh try to start these
[0:35] episodes maybe monthly just trying to
fill everybody in and let them know
[0:39] what's going on so everybody has the
correct
[0:42] information yes transparency is
everything yes it is uh so the first
[0:48] topic we're going to start with today is
housing
[0:51] Joe we need everybody needs it right we
need more housing everybody needs it
[0:56] more affordable housing over the last 10
to 12 years uh as you can tell Argus has
[1:01] become very Progressive we've tried to
to move forward we've tried to to to
[1:06] push ourselves to go in a different
direction of just being stagnant housing
[1:10] has been a big push and it's taken a
long time to try to get to the point
[1:13] that we are uh but we've finally gotten
to the point where we've got the last
[1:20] stage of colonial courts done there's
one lot left to build one lot uh and
[1:24] we've got the first phase of Deerfield
Meadows almost completed out of the
[1:29] three
there's two houses left in that first
[1:32] phase so we actually this week signed
the contract to to start the next three
[1:38] so that'll be be coming down the pike in
the next few months uh so Argus is
[1:43] growing uh I know it's not a rapid Pace
uh but I always ask people because a lot
[1:49] of times I get questions growth takes
time it doesn't happen overnight and I
[1:53] turn return that that question to them
what do you want to be what do you want
[1:57] Argus to be I I don't want to be
something I don't want to be
[2:00] what is the happy medium and I don't
know if there's an answer to that it's
[2:04] just continuing to to see some type of
growth and not be stagnant yeah it's
[2:09] it's it's tough I mean it's a tough uh
it's a tough question to ask because you
[2:14] have one one side you want to grow you
want to get bigger you you want more
[2:19] industry but on the other side you don't
want to get too big where you know we
[2:23] have too many too influx of people
coming into town too quickly so I mean
[2:28] it's it's it's a very tough question
because we've got a limit uh the school
[2:32] can only take so many students and you
don't want to get into a problem where
[2:36] oh you've added 200 houses and you've
added 200 students and now we have to
[2:40] add on so we try to look at all of those
things as we move
[2:43] forward uh obviously Deerfield is not
the only housing project there are other
[2:48] things in the planning stages uh so
it'll be interesting to see here in the
[2:52] next uh while what does come forward so
uh and we I mean we'd love to hear from
[2:59] from the towns people what's their
perspective how do they want to see
[3:02] Argus grow yep uh and in doing that that
brings up another another thing that
[3:07] we're working on we're updating our comp
plan uh our comprehension plan is
[3:12] basically a strategic plan it's what we
use to to grow uh it shows the areas we
[3:17] want growth to be uh kind of the mix of
what we need uh what we need to do to
[3:22] move forward so uh as Joe said it kind
of gives you a chance to tell us what
[3:27] you need and during that process will be
a couple different surveys that will be
[3:32] sent out that will need to be taken uh
the first one will be roughly the end of
[3:36] March 1 of April you'll see information
on that we ask please and this is
[3:40] everybody in the AR Community please
fill those surveys out uh that'll help
[3:45] us get us information and and by all
means just because we put in there you
[3:49] know we need ABC Warehouse that doesn't
mean that's going to come obviously
[3:54] within perspective there are things that
need done uh but the town is very
[3:58] limited on what can do uh private
business is what sparks everything and
[4:05] and that doesn't always go the way we
want but we try what we can do and and
[4:08] go from there but like I said that'll be
coming here over the next few months so
[4:13] we will need assistance in completing
that so uh the other thing we want to
[4:18] talk about today and some people may not
know this but in
[4:22] 2022 the town of Vargus was awarded a
$700,000 okra Grant okra is the office
[4:28] of community rural Affairs uh we applied
for that Grant to do uh water tower
[4:36] maintenance keep and we replaced some
some water mains and lines around town y
[4:42] uh you obviously know the areas running
the water department that we put all
[4:46] those lines so yeah well I mean we did
new water extension main extension um
[4:51] down North Maple Street all the way to
Marshall Street um that was huge we got
[4:55] rid of an old 2-inch galvanized line
which if you don't know we're going
[5:01] through this new lead survey through
Indiana uh Department of um management
[5:07] and uh it's it's huge uh getting rid of
that we put a 6inch water main we Loop
[5:13] the whole entire system from Michigan
Street down Marshall all the way up
[5:17] North Maple so it's all one giant Loop
which is wonderful for fire protection
[5:23] and you know helps our ISO raing out
immensely we added in two hydrants uh
[5:28] it's just a huge project
which you know shout out to the town of
[5:32] Argus it took us two and a half days to
do so well and some of those is with any
[5:36] project as you know and I I totally get
it uh some of those streets were tore up
[5:40] for some time yeah but obviously we had
to plan when we did these projects to be
[5:44] able to come back through and pave in
that same year correct and you know
[5:48] that's why we sorry about that that's
why we did uh we do what we do y um you
[5:55] know uh especially with the with the
Stella Grant for the sidewalks and yep
[6:02] and oh Stellar was uh some of those were
ochre projects also that was amazing I
[6:07] mean that's basically what paid for your
downtown Square it it did the upgrades
[6:12] of Folker Park uh and one portion we've
not got completed yet is sidewalks along
[6:17] State Road 10 yeah that that project has
been slow uh there's been some funding
[6:22] issues but hopefully at some point it
will get completed Y and with the soer
[6:26] grant we did a whole new water line got
another rid of another lying down on
[6:30] South Street West South Street all the
way around to Short Street back up
[6:34] Broadway which is another huge Loop um
we put an 8 inch ductal iron water M
[6:40] through there um and got rid of a 2in I
mean 2- in was feeding 11 houses and now
[6:46] we have it all at 8 in added a fire
hydrant again I think that helped the
[6:51] water pressure that helped the water
pressure immensely down in that area um
[6:56] have nothing but good good you know like
I said it took a while to get the uh the
[7:00] street repaired and paved en Paving did
it this year and U new curbs but uh it
[7:08] looks wonderful down there it's amazing
all new water taps to each house there's
[7:12] 11 houses on a 2-inch line it was
amazing that nobody ever called in and
[7:16] complained about water pressure I get
that I get that so those are are just a
[7:21] few of the things going on but one of
the main topics today the reason we we
[7:25] wanted to come to you as you can see Joe
is bright and yellow yes right today is
[7:31] a is a very happy day but also a sad day
in the town of Argus sad day a sad day
[7:37] for myself how many 3 33 years Joe stone
is retiring from the town of Argus uh
[7:43] today is actually his last day uh 33
years that's kind of a long time that's
[7:48] a very long time but I started when I
was very young and that's a rarity in
[7:53] today's age that that is somebody stays
at one job for that long that is so so 3
[7:59] years wow the things I've seen I'm not
even that old yeah you are oh okay sorry
[8:05] so uh I mean most people probably know
you uh and know you've been here I mean
[8:12] I I doubt there's many that don't know
you but uh there's some there's some new
[8:17] people I don't know I mean you've lived
here that that entire time probably your
[8:21] whole life pretty much yeah I've like I
said moved into Argus so you have uh
[8:26] when I was six months old and been here
ever since yeah so married you are
[8:31] course married for 30 years so and
that's Amy with a Y we Amy with a you
[8:37] don't want to confuse that with with
Andy's Amy with two e yeah big Amy
[8:41] little Amy so yep and and you you've
blessed our our town and our schools
[8:46] with how many kids five five kids yes
five kids so and you've added you've
[8:51] added a son-in-law at least right yeah
I've had one son-in-law you got kids are
[8:55] all graduated born raised here in Argus
graduated life life is good then oh
[9:00] life's wonderful here so moving on you
moving on what what does that bring what
[9:05] are you what are you looking to do now I
have no idea okay I I just uh I knew it
[9:10] was time to go um because I guess that's
what I should say we call that
[9:14] retirement but yeah not going to not do
anything it's great to have options I've
[9:19] had a lot I can list all your future
jobs that that Doug Middleton's found
[9:23] for you but that that may not be we
don't have enough time yeah Doug Doug's
[9:26] been Doug's been wonderful and trying to
find me a job on the outside but uh so I
[9:31] guess one of my questions I always try
to ask people and you've been here your
[9:35] whole life I've been here my whole life
I can answer it one way and you're going
[9:37] to answer a different way I'm sure but
why Argus uh it's just a great Community
[9:42] I mean great school system you know uh
great services that the town offers when
[9:48] I first started here we we didn't chip
limbs we brought that service in we
[9:52] didn't pick up leaves when when I first
started here people burn their leaves uh
[9:56] along the curbs which you know the
entire town was under a smoke Hazard for
[10:01] a while but um and so we brought in leaf
leaf leaf
[10:05] pickup and uh tree trimming we took
trees down for people that needed it um
[10:13] we don't do that much anymore you know
the entire Town's getting old we're
[10:18] getting old the whole Workforce is
getting old well you know but we brought
[10:22] in a lot of services and did a lot of we
poured all of our own sidewalks we did
[10:25] all of our own sidewalk repair and I
mean Jamie and I Jamie Lindstrom our
[10:31] superintendent now but back then it was
him and I and two part-time kids and we
[10:35] put in every bit almost every bit of the
sidewalk that was in the town of Argus
[10:39] and you've seen a lot of amenity changes
in that time FR yeah a lot I mean look
[10:43] at we've added Community Park Community
Park was not there when you started n it
[10:48] wasn't started you know it was just one
big giant field and you know I had to do
[10:53] all the mowing back then so fulker park
that wasn't there it was just one
[10:58] big one big giant field and you know we
added two ponds together I was there
[11:03] when we cut the two coun pond with Zer
Pond and we cut it out dredged it all
[11:08] out and put it all one giant Pond you
know BP wasn't here when I first started
[11:13] Casey's General Store wasn't here you
know I mean there's there's been a lot
[11:17] of growth since I've started here so
what uh in looking at all of that I'm
[11:23] going to ask you a simple question what
direction would you like to see I would
[11:28] like to see
I mean I bleed black and gold everybody
[11:31] knows that uh coached at The Argus
Community Schools for started out at
[11:37] Junior High elementary basketball then
went to Junior High soccer to high
[11:41] school soccer to college one year at
College back to high school soccer and
[11:46] and I'm still here coaching I retired
from the girls program soccer and they
[11:52] coach lacrosse is it yeah I got swindled
into doing
[11:57] lacrosse so um the high school coach
here at Argus LA and I would agree with
[12:01] that I I get that I mean school is
everything the school is our backbone so
[12:06] I'd love to see growth where I mean we
have growth we've had a lot of houses
[12:10] bought in Argus here lately but some of
them you know some of them have been
[12:16] retired people wanting to come in and
move in and you know I I just love to
[12:20] see to see growth where our school get
does get bigger and you know yep and I
[12:27] and I think uh one of our
I would say one of our disadvantages one
[12:31] of the hardest things in in development
uh working towards making your town
[12:37] better is trying to retain those
students that they come back and it's
[12:42] not just here I mean it's everywhere
most students where they go to high
[12:44] school they do not end up in life and I
get that yeah uh trying to if we could
[12:49] hit 20% I would be happy agree but Argus
is it's a great school I mean and it's a
[12:55] tough school you know I mean I got one
one boy Vincent he's lives in Wisconsin
[13:01] now he's a police officer up there you
know so he left Argus and I mean he in a
[13:06] big city of Jamesville Wisconsin it's a
size of to put it relatively it's a
[13:11] little bit bigger than what mishal is
you know so he's he's doing a wonderful
[13:15] job up there and you know I mean artists
get you ready for life and that's what
[13:21] we want well good well 33 years has been
nice so yeah it's been wonderful okay
[13:27] our our next few topics before we we
wrap it up for today uh just some
[13:32] upcoming things uh I wanted to hit on uh
event wise our next event's probably
[13:38] going to be the Easter egg hunt in the
Memorial Park in April uh we're kind of
[13:42] in that that winter time we're not much
is going on but we did want to hit on
[13:47] that uh a couple other points today uh I
know trash has been a big topic uh if
[13:53] you can if you've driven around town
you're seeing red cans uh obviously back
[13:58] at the end of last year the town uh
their contract was up with the Republic
[14:02] so we quoted out trash service uh and
the Town Council made the decision to
[14:07] change uh the only big difference I see
between the two right now that is hard
[14:12] for people to get used to trash is
Thursday recycles every other
[14:16] Friday uh if you do have any problems by
all means please reach out to the town
[14:21] office uh they will assist you in any
way that they can uh to try to get this
[14:27] this uh change over to make it smooth as
possible uh I've had no problems I've
[14:32] had no no complaints the only thing I am
seeing I see a lot of people still do
[14:36] they will not take trash that is left on
the ground you have to have all of your
[14:40] trash in the container yes uh I sorry
that but they are not getting out with
[14:44] their trucks uh and I have noticed
they're pretty stinging on on
[14:49] Recycle uh so on the top of the the
container it says basically what they
[14:53] will and won't take so please check that
out uh and make their job easier but uh
[15:00] the last topic today is kind of an a a
growth thing I think moving forward into
[15:05] the the 2st century uh the town of Argus
has recently signed on to add a phone
[15:12] app so in the next month or so you'll
see information coming about how to get
[15:16] signed up for that once it's up and
running uh but I think that'll be a
[15:20] great tool and asset for our town uh
being able to send out
[15:24] notifications uh being able to to let
people know what events are going on
[15:28] obviously any emergencies any situations
like that uh with this currently we use
[15:32] a a service called reach alert uh that
will be ending it'll last most of this
[15:37] year but this new service will actually
have a phone and email notification or
[15:42] an SMS notification with it uh so we'll
just have to assist people in getting
[15:46] signed up for that uh but we hope it's
going to be a good tool for the town and
[15:51] keep us up and running so uh that was
pretty much all I had in this episode
[15:55] Joe I know we'll be back another day oh
yeah we have a lot a lot of topics to
[16:00] talk about we have fire territory we can
talk about I mean um come one of the
[16:04] next episodes I can tell you maybe not
the next but down the pike will be the
[16:08] uh R screen Development Corporation yep
I'll probably have Ron Lee from B there
[16:12] dump that come in with us and talk and
it'll be a good yep I think it'll be a
[16:16] good thing so uh just so everybody knows
today remember is a great day Joe's
[16:20] leaving us uh but he's not going
anywhere he'll still no I'll still be
[16:24] living here in Argus I'm not leaving but
what can we say everything's going good
[16:28] everything's great I guess until next
time I'm Mark and I'm Joe there we go
[16:32] see you later