MARKLEVILLE — Though just in the preliminary stages, Markleville Town Council reported it has been contacted about interest in building a Dollar General in Markleville.
Hamilton Designs, a planning and design firm in Fishers, reached out to the council about bringing the variety store chain to the South Madison County town.
“In the last few years since I’ve been on town council, it’s been really exciting to hear a lot of the positive comments,” council president Daniel Roseberry said. “Since COVID-19 has happened, a lot of people are sitting at home more often. It seems like people are a lot more attentive of all the things that haven’t made progress, so it’d be really exciting to see new development.
“We have Mark Tool and Die beginning physical construction of their expansion. That’s really going well. It’d be neat to see new businesses that are willing to invest in the area as well. Hopefully that will be a strong encouragement for the citizens of Markleville that there are still people that do care about the community.”
Roseberry said the developers are looking at an area at State Road 109 and State Road 38 as the location for the popular store that has more than 16,000 locations, including more than 500 in Indiana.
According to the 2010 Census, Markleville’s population is 528.
Nearby Dollar General locations include Pendleton (2010 Census population, 4,263), Middletown in Henry County (2,322) and Wilkinson in Hancock County (449).
Improving Markleville
Jamie Hurst, a member of the local civic group Markleville Visionaries, spoke at the meeting about upcoming plans the group.
has for the town. Hurst said the group is working on a beautification project for the town’s park and hopes to have other ventures in the future.
Other business
• In his street report, Street/Environmental Director Todd Leever told the council a broken stop sign has been replaced on Lick Creek Drive.
• Police chief Tim Basey said the department has sold two older used vehicles for $4,574. A Ford Crown Victoria was sold for $2,550, and a Dodge Charger sold for $2,024. Both cars were out of service for the department.
• Basey also said the department is looking into changing its annual Trunk ’n’ Treat program because of COVID-19 restrictions. The Halloween celebration with local youngsters takes place at Markleville Community Park Shelter House. The department is discussing using a “drive-thru” method to deliver candies to costumed children.
• The town is still looking to add two members to complete its Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA). The current board has three members and can function, but is looking to expand to a five-member board. “We have two seats we need to fill,” council member Matt Gustin said. “We have three and one alternate. They can meet, but you have to have three votes to pass, so it would have to be a unanimous vote. Ideally, you want to have five people.”
The next town council meeting is 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28.