Indian Hills names new interim general manager

Former Indian Hills General Improvement District Trustee Art Baer has been named interim general manager.

Baer was appointed at a July 23 meeting of the board after he volunteered to do it for free.

"When I left after putting in four years as a trustee the district was in pretty good shape," Baer said Friday. "In the last two and a half years, I've watched it go to hell. Something had to be done."

Baer, 74, said the district's bookkeeper, who was taken away by ambulance after taking an overdose of medication on July 16, appeared to be overwhelmed.

The district has an accountant working on the books, Baer said.

"Anything's fixable," Baer said. "I have a super accountant, Peggy Hoffman. I don't know what I'd do without her. She's really cleaning up the financial end of this thing."

Baer said the district is current on its bills, something that District Secretary-Treasurer Bill Eisele reported wasn't true a few weeks ago.

"Nobody is ready to forclose on us, but we still have a few issues hanging to clean up," Baer said. "We need to get the IRS off our backs. But otherwise we're in good shape. Back on the straight and narrow again."

Baer said there are some issues looming that the district needs to address.

"We need to do the water and sewer rate study," he said. "I'm afraid rates will have to go up, but hopefully not much. I'm a long way from having all the answers, but after 35 years of kicking around water plants, sewer plants, petrochemical plants, some of it has rubbed off on me."

Baer is also a candidate for improvement district trustee.