County Council - Regular Meeting

Review of the minutes from the April meeting. I didn't see anything. Anybody see anything in it?

Danny, the only thing I saw on it was when Jeremy was talking about the fairground updates. It says that the track was tiled, and I think what it should have said was the horse arena was tiled. The track was tiled. Everything down below. All right, very good.

We didn't go through the track, went around it. And then coming off the hill comes down to one collection station.

Then I didn't see anything in it fixed while I was... Yeah.

Nobody see anything, I'll entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

I'll second. Next motion, Billy seconds. Any other discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, Ms. Navi?

Good morning. So we've applied for a grant at the Health Department through the Food and Drug Administration and the National Environmental Health Association. We've been awarded the grant. I took it to the commissioners yesterday and they approved it, so I'm here presenting it to you today for approval. The grant is broken down into two parts. There's a $5,000 deliverable fixed funding grant, so we'll receive that at the end of the grant cycle. once deliverables have been met. And those deliverables include completing a self-assessment of our program, our food protection program, and how it aligns with the FDA's food protection program, completing an audit, and someone else who is already FDA standardized has to complete that audit. I've already got someone secured to do that. And then after those two have been completed, we will work on completing a strategic plan to start implementing changes into the food protection program to then align better with the FDA. This doesn't require any restaurants to do anything different, so there's no different regulations or anything like that. This is just all within the health department. The second part of the grant is a $3,500 grant. So that is for the training. So that would cover us to go to Kansas City, Missouri for the training that kind of walks us through self-assessment, the audit verification, and the strategic plan layout. So that's what I've got. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. I did provide a breakdown to each of you, I think, kind of with my estimates of how much would be spent. So the $3,500 portion will be reimbursed based on however much we spend. So I tried to keep it as low as I could. I'm not trying to spend all $3,500. And then the $5,000, there will be a portion of that left over once we get that reimbursed. I don't plan to spend all of that up front. We might need that in the future for equipment or any other inspection tools.

So it can be used for anything?

Yeah.

Yep.

Anybody have any questions? Well, the commissioner has approved the grant. Amount requested, $8,500, correct? Yes. Everybody have a copy of it? Mm-hmm. See what's going on? Absolutely. Any questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve.

I'll make that motion.

The NMX motion to approve.

I'll second it.

Kenny seconds. Any other questions or discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Mr. Planet?

Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I'm Brett, a plant CEO of Decatur county REMC. Uh, we appreciate the support Decatur county has shown throughout our process. ARPA funding helped us create real momentum for the broadband expansion. Power stream fiber is a true success story for our rural community. What began as a need and a vision is now delivering reliable high-speed internet to homes and businesses. It's improving access to education, supporting local businesses, and strengthening quality of life across our community. This project positions us not only for today, but for future generations. To get us started, I'd like to introduce Sam Ruff of Decatur County RMC. He's our technology manager and project lead for Firestream Fiber.

This visual gives you a quick overview of the handout in front of you that shows the main areas where the grant funding was invested throughout the project. A large portion of the ARPA funding went toward grant preparation, engineering, and project management needed to build out the fiber-to-the-home internet service. The first major opportunity in this effort came through Indiana's Next Level Connections Round 4 program. We submitted six separate grant applications. Since each application was capped at $5 million, taking that approach gave us the best chance to maximize coverage. Out of those six applications, one was awarded at approximately $4.67 million. While that award directly covered 565 unserved and underserved addresses, the infrastructure required to reach those locations did pass more than 1,400 homes overall. Another important part of this process was verifying broadband accuracy and confirming address eligibility. Through engineering studies and field validation, we found areas where reported internet speeds did not reflect the service residents were actually receiving. Because of that, we submitted challenges for 305 addresses, and 261 of those were accepted, restoring their eligibility for future bead funding. That work helped make sure rural residents were not left behind because of inaccurate reporting data. As we look at Phase 1, we're proud of the progress that has already been made. Mainline construction is complete. Customers are actively being connected to the network. We're already seeing local impact through community support. Most importantly, we're seeing what better connectivity means for homes, families, businesses, and rural areas that previously had limited options. From the beginning, one of our priorities was to make sure fiber internet remained reliable, affordable, and easy to understand. Our packages are built to meet a range of household needs while keeping pricing simple and transparent with symmetrical download and upload speeds. Plans start at $64.95 per month for 500 by 500 meg service and go up to 2 gig by 2 gig for $109.95 per month with no data caps. Looking ahead, phase two of the project will be supported by an additional $7.1 million through the BEAD program. This phase will allow us to serve 889 additional unserved and underserved addresses while building infrastructure that will pass approximately 2,800 homes overall. At this point, we are awaiting final state contracts and environmental approvals before construction can begin. In the meantime, we've received approval to begin purchasing materials, which helps us prepare to move efficiently once those final approvals are in place. Phase two represents another major step forward in expanding broadband across the rural communities and continuing the effort to bring reliable fiber internet to more homes throughout our area. At the end of the day, the ARPA funding created momentum that went far beyond a single project. It positioned our communities for long-term broadband expansion, improved our competitiveness for future grant opportunities, and ultimately leveraged $11.8 million in additional investment for our communities from grant dollars. Most importantly, it helped create a stronger foundation for economic development, education, healthcare access, and future growth in rural areas. We appreciate your continued support and the role you played in helping us make this progress possible. I would like to thank you.

Anybody have any questions?

Can you go back to the first map? It's kind of hard to see.

Yeah, it's awful small.

Sorry, I closed out. Roll to Keter County on there if you would.

Currently, how many people are signed up?

In the first phase, we have over 400. This map here is what you're talking about? So the blue, the light blue area in the bottom right is part of our, it was phase one. That was the grant that we were awarded. We applied for each of those different colors and it would have covered the entire Decatur County if we were awarded those. So it's a diagonal line, kind of runs through the orange. I don't know if there's a pointer. Our connection was in Ripley County and came up in the Decatur County, yes.

So what I'm looking at, most of the $500,000 we gave you was spent on administrative and engineering and things like that. So it really wasn't spent in Ripley County directly. Indirectly, yes.

Yeah, it wasn't spent on the wire that's hung up on the poles.

It came from that area anyway, right?

Yeah, that was our connection point to the internet I Think about this kind of as a value kind of thing that and I wasn't on the council when this was done, but I

The area that you got served up there with Bede, or Next Level, was a good portion of Ripley and Jennings? Not Jennings. Not Jennings, but Ripley? Ripley and Decatur County. So has Ripley come to the table with any sort of support for any of this like Decatur County did going forward? Because I've heard that they... They said, no, we're not going to do that.

We did not get direct grant funding from them, but we did get the tax abatement and letters of support from them.

Which you would have gotten from us, from Decatur County as well.

And some of those 400 are Ripley County people, right?

We did not choose where we got to start. The grant allowed, chose. So the grant chose where we actually started at. If we had it our way, we would have covered the entire thing.

Sure, I get it. Who was that grant that made the decision?

That was the state of Indiana.

The what?

State of Indiana, next level program.

I just want to be certain or want to bring up a discussion maybe about what did county taxpayers receive or the $500,000 that was thrown into the pot for that. You know, I'm fully supportive.

To be fair, this wasn't county tax dollars.

I get it, I get it, I get it.

So the next thing is also B. So it did help fund some of the B grant applications and stuff, and that's going to fund a very large portion of Decatur County as well.

Have you got more grants coming in?

With BEAD. With BEAD. That's the $7.1 million we're going to cover outside of that and kind of makes the whole loop around our territory. Once again, we applied for the entire Decatur County. We were awarded X amount of addresses out of Decatur County. We did not receive it all, but we did receive quite a few more addresses. We'll be serving a lot more Decatur County residents.

The light browned is the next phase.

I do not have the next phase on here. So this will be the next phase, which it's kind of hard to see. So in the bottom right is where we started, and then everything around and up and around that has color is areas that we're going with bead.

So it'll be base road. Base road south now is covered. Base road north. And how far north does it go?

I can't make it. It's hard to see. It's narrow paths because we're just getting to the addresses that we were awarded. So we can't branch out too much. There's a certain distance that we can reach by getting to those addresses. So that's why we were awarded 889 addresses, but we're able to pass at 2,800 homes.

Have you made it to the millhouse in there already yet?

We will be getting into that area with the bead grant.

Okay. I mean, I've got grandkids down there that, you know, it takes 45 minutes to download a paper to send to college, you know.

So those ones that you pass by, will they be able to connect at some point in time? Yes. Yeah.

Any of the homes that we, the passings that we pass, we'll be able to connect.

Okay. And then when this B grant application is overdone, will there be one right behind it for the rest of the addresses or? I don't know.

The rest of the addresses were awarded to other companies that were available. We don't foresee that they will release any more grants in the near future. Indiana does have a connections program. They call it ICP. And you can pick up a few addresses here or there with that. But that's the only other real grant opportunity as of right now.

The dirt buyer that you've passed by can at some point hook on to?

Yes. If we're able to pass by the home and it's on that road, then yes, we will connect. Okay.

Is this probably the last beads you're going to get?

I would say yes. There's a lot of talk because the state of Indiana did not use all of the bead dollars. They did not award it all. So there's still a lot of work at the legislative level of what they're going to do with that leftover money. And then also concerns that the people that have awarded the money may not build it out. So there could be opportunities in the future. But as of right now, we would say this is the last grant, large grant.

I've got two or three lines in front of my house on 46. Nobody hooked me up. I'm on Starlight now. You know, I mean, they just look at you. Nope. Going to Greensburg.

Can we get a better copy of that map? Can you give us one on paper that we can read? All this money we spend.

We can provide that.

I'd like one on paper that I can show people when they ask me. So it goes by your house, Danny?

No. Not this doesn't. No, I've got three other lines past the house. No, they don't. No, if they did, I'm on Duke, so they'll never use it. Probably never be able to do it.

Well, so you guys don't go past some of these houses the other companies are they gonna So will Decatur County be completely covered at some time?

According to the FCC maps and the bead grant, anything that was unserved and underserved is covered with the bead grant. Now, what the other companies do, I can't tell you what they end up doing with it. There was several other companies that were awarded grants in Decatur County.

But there's no guarantee they're going to be here? I can't speak for them. Yeah, I got you.

It's kind of like I think Watch County a little bit that they were awarded a grant to cover some areas, and I'm not convinced that they really covered what they said they could cover.

I was told they may not be around another year or two.

What are we doing about that? Are we just letting them off the hook, or what? Who's that? The companies that are not performing like they were.

Well, it's the state.

I was going to say, I don't know that we have any control over whatsoever, but the state would.

We didn't.

The only money we gave was to this power stream. We didn't give any money to anything else.

I remember years ago that watch company had gotten a horrendous amount of money from the federal government, so they were going to cover all the unserved parts of Decatur County, and I think they pocketed the money and went on vacation.

Which is why we decided to support REMC, a local company, to do this.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Okay. Any other questions or concerns?

I'll just say this. I think, and Danny, I don't know what you pay for Starlink, but Having the competition within the county, whatever company it is, whether it's Great Plains or PowerStream or whatever, but I think you're paying less per month now than you would have a year ago, probably. So there are values there that...

I think for me, I pay less than what they're charging on her. Yeah.

Yeah. So that's, that's a good thing. I think, um, for the community as a whole.

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Unless there's any questions from anybody else. Okay.

Sheriff. I have a couple requests here to pay for a couple of items out of commissary. Both of these items fit under the Indiana code as far as the commissary purchases that the sheriff can purchase. But due to the actions of a couple sheriffs and scrutiny of commissary lately, I want to be up front and make sure I'm transparency with you. So anyway, the first one is the Serve Safe program. It's a food safety program. Typically, we have eight or nine inmates who work in our kitchen every day, and a couple of them expressed interest in this program. What this does, it's a one-day class the Board of Health is going to put on for free for us. There's costs in the books and the tests of $59 for the books, $38 for the test. The Board of Health will grade the tests, and upon successful completion, they get a certification. And what this does is once they're released from our custody, it does give them a leg up to have this certification, get a job in the food service industry somewhere. So it's just a little perk for them, and it helps us as well in our kitchen. So, again, I don't know what that total cost will be because I'm not sure how many participants we're going to have. But regardless, I'd like to pay for that out of commissary. And the second one is for a drone. Actually, two drones in this package. But again, drones have become a necessary piece of equipment for law enforcement these days. Greensburg recently had a couple of lost people where drones came in handy. These also come in handy for crashes with serious body injury or fatal. That overhead view of crashes have changed the game as well. And what else can be done for tactical uses? One of these is a small drone, one's a big one. We can put a drone inside of a house and check out for officer safety what's going on inside that house. So the total cost on the drones is $15,235.99. That's the total package. That includes software. That includes everything. And again, both of these fit within that commissary Indiana code. So I'm just requesting approval to go ahead and make those repurchases.

What kind of money is in commissary?

Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Our balance as of this morning was $85,616. I'll make a motion. We align.

purchase both of those. I'll second.

Motion made by Bill. Second by Deanna to purchase a drone. You don't know how many books you're going to need yet, do you, Sheriff?

Again, I don't. I don't anticipate that being more than $500 total. Okay. No problem.

How long does it take to get them?

The class?

How long before you have them up and running, the drones?

Drones?

We'll have the drones in four to six weeks.

Any other questions, concerns? This $85,000 balance you have in the commissary, is there at some point where you need to maintain the dollar amount in there for certain things, or where are you at on that?

I'd like to maintain around $100,000.

You're a little short of that right now.

Correct, we are. That's what's ideal for me, but again, these are purchases that, in my opinion, are important.

Yeah. Well, I understand that part of it.

The numbers have been down a little bit, right?

Our inmate numbers are down. Our population's down right now, which is good and bad for us.

Any other questions? We've got a motion and a second on the floor. Any other? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Animal Control Director Introduction. I don't have a name, sorry.

That's why the introduction, I guess.

Good morning. My name is Matthew Spear, and I just started as the animal control director last Monday. Previously, I was a kennel technician at the Greensburg Decatur County Animal Shelter in 2019. And for the last six years, I've been working at a rescue in Colorado while I completed my master's in communications for nonprofits. I was a community engagement manager previously and the assistant executive director. So yeah, I'm happy to be here. Again, just getting to know everybody and just started.

Are you a local?

Yeah, I went to North Decatur. Yeah. Yep.

Any other questions?

Welcome. Thank you.

I appreciate it. Thank you.

Glad to have you. Okay. Mr. Paisel.

Good morning. Just to talk a little bit more about Matthew there. He does bring a lot of experience in the grant funding, not-for-profit world on trying to go and actually find funding that's available through other resources. And with where we are right now with the animal shelter, reaching that no kill status where we're actually going to be looking at potentially building a new shelter if we can get the grant funding. I think his experience in that area of going out and knowing what grants to look for and how to apply for them is going to be invaluable. I think that's one of the biggest benefits that he can bring to the shelter. So I'm here today because during the hiring process and I know that Ashley while she's not here today had kept you guys informed that in the first round the salary was not sufficient enough to be able to actually get applicants. or the shelter director position. And so she had come to us and asked if they could increase that salary. And so based on that, I'm here today to ask for the salary director's spot for the animal shelter to be increased to 50,000. That total increase would be $8,484 on the salary. FICA would be $649.03. PERF would be $950.21. So the total for the increase would be $10,083.24. $10,083.24. Looking at the budget for the shelter, It looks like they're on budget for the total staffing requirements through just a couple days ago. They were at 66% of the budget remaining, which as we sit here in the middle of May, they're right on schedule. I don't believe that looking through their budget that they would have a sufficient amount to cover the increase in FICA, PERF, and the salary. So there would have to be an additional there. I know in talking with Ernie, he had asked if This would alleviate the need for some of the overtime requirements. I don't believe that's necessarily the case. When Mindy was here, we still had overtime requirements. We still had to pay part time workers as well. So I think that we're really in a position, same position that we were in before. we just weren't able to actually attract qualified candidates for the role with the salary that we had in place before. Unfortunately, this is the trend that we've seen over a number of different positions that we've hired from the communications director to parks department. Unfortunately, that's the trend that we keep seeing. Um, and so that's why I'm here today is to ask for that increase.

How do we eliminate overtime? We're getting a lot of overtime and I don't know. I think there's too much.

There is. Um, I think that the big benefit that we have had over the last couple of years is the friends of the grant that they had received. Um, the bad thing on that is that that grain expires at the end of 2026 and it was a one time grant, so they will not be able to apply for that funding again. So hopefully between the friends of and also Matthew's experience with finding funding for animal shelters that will be able to replace that funding. I know when talking with Ashley before today's meeting, they were going to discuss during budget session of trying to bring at least one of those individuals that was, uh, funded through the friends of grant in onto the Decatur County budget, um, was what she had indicated. I don't know if that's possible. I mean, that's obviously up to you guys. Um, but we will have to look for additional funding to cover some of those costs. Sorry.

WHAT IS THIS HOUR NOW?

41,000. HOLD ON, LET ME PULL IT BACK UP HERE. IT WOULD BE $41,516.

How many people does the director manage?

It would be everybody that's in the shelter, from the full-time staff to also part-time. I don't have an exact number.

Have we gotten Chris's salary updated? We talked about that probably five, six months ago. Has that been done?

I don't know if that has come back from Wagner, Irwin, Shealy. I don't know that.

It hasn't came back yet from them. Any other discussion?

When do you expect that back?

Now, is this a non-exempt? Did I read that right? Non-exempt. This is non-exempt, correct?

which is surprising, being a director position. I mean, when you're talking about overtime.

The status changed.

Yeah.

Is that the reason it's non-exempt now? Because it went from whatever it was. Any other questions, concerns?

Is this something we look at at budget time?

Do what? They want to do it now. I'm pretty sure he was hired on at that rate, yes. That was my...

Yeah, it was Ashley had brought it to us during that hiring process. So I apologize because I mean, when I was making the phone calls talking with all of you before today, I was under the misunderstanding, I guess, that it had been. brought to you guys. So that's, that's my fault. Um, because that, that number had been brought to us during the hiring process to attract qualified candidates. So that's, that's my fault. They're earning. Yeah, that's, that's, that's my fault.

I just think we're doing things backwards.

No, I, I completely understand that.

And I don't, I don't disagree with you there.

I mean, it was, that was my That was my fault for a misunderstanding that I didn't realize because I know Ashley's on the board. She had brought it to us, so that's my fault. Any other questions?

I feel like we have a whole lot of options here.

No, I don't think we've got any. We've been forced in a corner. If you hire somebody at a certain price, you've got to pay them. That's not the only ones we need to look at either. I'll entertain a motion to approve.

I'll approve it. I'll make that motion.

Rick makes a motion to approve.

I'll second it.

Deanna seconds. Any more discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

I'd like to ask if you could, I mean, when you think about some of this communication of what you bring to the county in regards to, I'll just use this number, if we're paying you $50,000 and you bring in $150,000 of grant and all that kind of stuff, that is great information for this group to have and the commissioners to have. And it just adds value, just like the Parks Department, you know, tournaments, all this kind of stuff. And it really allows us to support good people, good salaries, all that stuff, because you're adding value to it.

So we had set, and we agreed to them at yesterday's meeting, metrics to evaluate the first six months for Matthew. And so we had sent... We had had the animal shelter board send us their ideas for what these metrics should be for the first six months. And then we had added some thoughts of our own to them, sent them back for some additions or corrections from the shelter board. And some of that was communication, public input, public involvement. and then also obtaining that different grant funding, as well as increasing the communication between the county, the city, and the public, and ensuring that we have the cooperation between law enforcement, your local entities that are served by the shelter, so that we can increase just the awareness of what the shelter is doing.

The city still pays half of that, correct? Correct, yes. They're on board? Yep.

we are gonna go talk to them about that. So yeah, yep. Good luck. I know.

Okay, Mr. Ortman. Good morning, gentlemen.

So I'm here, we'll be applying for two different grants this year. I have been to the commissioners, got their approval. One will be the community crossing grant that we usually put in for, which is a million dollar grant. It's a 75-25, 25%, state 75%. They do the funding changes, So basically, the Community Crossing Grant runs about $300 million. So with new legislation, they've busted that in two pots. One about $200 million, one about $100 million. $200 million will be distributed to counties that have wheel tax. So we will be getting an automatic distribution coming down. The other $100 million will be in this Community Crossing Grant. The amount we receive in distribution will be deducted from the $1 million that we're eligible for the grant. if we get three quarters million dollars eligible already down distributed we're only eligible for 250 000 in the grant process so i'm asking for the financial commitment to proceed on whatever we can forward i mean what we're allowed to proceed with when it's announced how much we need to so that'd be the first grant i'm asking financial commitment community crossings community you know how much is in the wheel tax 200 million, they have not told us what our distribution will be.

They have not. You have to have wheel tax to get that.

Yes, you have to have wheel tax to get it, yes. It's only with the counties that have wheel tax that 200 million will be distributed.

I thought they went to 80-20.

Huh? It may be 80-20. You're right. I believe you're right. Yes, I believe you're correct. It is 80-20.

Because if you have wheel tax, it's 80-20.

Yes, I believe it started out last year. You're correct.

If you don't have wheel tax, it is 80-20. It might be 60-40 or something.

I know the city's 50-50. It's 50-50. It's what the city's...

It turned out we got 100%, wasn't it? We first passed that. We got 100% back. When I first started, there was a dash.

75-25. Now it's 80-20. Okay. So you put up $20,000, they give you $80,000.

So that's the first one. The second one is the Highway Safety Improvement Grant. So what we're doing is proposing to run LIDAR. So basically, they will drive the county, and within this, they will develop a traffic safety plan, and we'll identify the areas like three inches or greater asphalt drop-offs, signs that do not have enough reflectivity on them, locations that have guardrail or need guardrail, trees within the clear zone. It's all based on safety. So it's designed to be all data-driven, and it's designed to be systemic across the whole county is what they're doing. It also goes as far as says, okay, this intersection configuration you've had X amount of accidents at over the last 10 years. Where's other intersections with the same geometry that maybe we can get our head up with signage, okay? So that's the first part of the grant, all right? Within that, once that plan is approved and created, we can go after the additional grant following years to get the signs done or get the guardrail done. But you have to do the planning grant first to open the door for the rest of it. That's what it boils down to. This grant is a failed grant. It is up to a 100%. but they put guidance out. So the guidance last year was 90-10, county 10%, feds 90% is what it was. Within this, there is now interest with Greensburg and the Assembly of Incorporated Towns to partner to have theirs also run, which increases our chance of getting it if we partner with other organizations. So there will be a meeting taking place with all the partner parties for that. So I think we got a pretty good chance of getting it. I'm guessing our share is probably going to be, I mean, total $650,000, $700,000. Ours will be a $65,000, $70,000 cost share if it's the 90-10 like it was last year. That's not been announced yet. I mean, it could be up to 100%.

So our 10% is going to be $600,000?

No, $60,000. Total grant, $650,000. Total. 10% would be $65,000. And like I said, that just depends on what they come out with announced. But the last couple of years it's been 90-10 is what it's been. That would be our cost for our portion. Theirs would be above and beyond. So if theirs was $200,000, they would have to pony up our $20,000. It would be a cooperation of putting them in together, but it would still be separate projects within it. So like in Greensburg, they want to identify all their ADA sidewalk ramps. They want to identify streetlights. They have other things they want to identify differently than us. in their portion they can identify manholes or utilities so that's what a lot of like westport they will identify the other utility type stuff also so it's different for each individual what they're wanting to identify within their assets how many total how many

What total dollars are you looking at and where is it coming from? That's the easiest way to...

So right now I'm going to forecast $65,000, okay, and I would be looking at doing it out of a capital improvement portion, so probably MVH is probably what it would be because the data would actually be considered an asset, okay? So since we're above $5,000, that would be how I'd propose it.

Everybody get that?

So you won't, is this the same deal that the executive committee and SERPIC talked about? Or you weren't there, never mind. So I think this was talked about at the South Eastern Indiana Regional Planning Executive Meeting. So when you think about 65,000, and to Danny's point, how long will it take to drive all of these intersections When will that $65,000 bill come due, you might say? Is that kind of where you're going?

So what I would forecast, it would get awarded this year, next spring. It would actually be awarded out to the contractors to drive the roads, et cetera. So, I mean, you're probably talking two weeks to drive the roads. You're talking about 2007 before this would start. Yes, it would be 2027.

So if we need to account for this in budget time, we can do so for 2027.

Yes, yes, it would be a 2027 budget. We've got to apply this year. We have to have the financial commitment letter this year with the application.

The letter is different than the green salad of salvation.

It is. It is. That is exactly correct. So, yes, I'm asking for the financial commitment.

You're asking for a commitment?

Yes.

All right. don't see a problem with it. I think it might be something that needs to be done. That's just my opinion.

If it saves litigation on one issue at some point, you know, it could make a difference. If it allows the Sheriff's Department to know and understand a crossing or an area that's risky, you know, maybe that's good stuff. So I would...

I'll entertain a motion to make a commitment.

So moved.

Rick makes motion.

I'll second it.

Millie seconds. Any other questions, concerns? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Okay.

Thank you.

Yes.

So this just popped into my head.

Yes.

You are estimating that this might be 90-10. Yes. So we need to be prepared for 80-20 or whatever it shakes out to be, right?

Yes, we need to be prepared. But like I said, the last two years or three years has been 90-10. They will not tell us that until they say, okay, go ahead and apply.

But you will have that in your budget for this year? Yes, we will have that.

We've actually been in conversation with NDOT. So within this process, you have to get Federal Highway approval to even say it's eligible to apply before you can even apply. The Federal Highways have said, yeah, this is an eligible project to go ahead and apply. Yeah, we've been in contact with them. The odds look decent. They really do.

I like 100% better.

I do, too. If you can pull it off, we'll go for it.

How long is Northeast 80 going to be cool?

60-day closure. June 1st to July 31st, and that's part of the I-74 project. So that would be the overpass reconstruction, northeast 80. So it's a June 1st, like I said, to July 31st projection. Following that, we actually have a culvert going in down there would be west of 350, which we can't close them both just because merge response and everything else would be very bad to close both at the same time. So we will hold off until they open. Ours will be like a week closure is what ours will be.

Going to take those trees off the overpass or anything?

I do not know what the scope is for that.

It'd be a good time to do it. Could you mention that to them?

Yes, I can follow up the contract and see if we can get something. I'll get you some information on it.

I mean, that'd be a perfect time to do that. That overpass is so grilled up. Even where you guys took that off, it's just hard to maintain. Yes.

So, yeah, I will follow up and get some information on it.

Any other questions for Tim?

Danny, are you guys committing to both grants or just the... Just that one that we voted on, just the $65,000 right now.

I didn't know if you did the community crossing one as well. You never told me the money on the other one.

You didn't cross the grants the first one.

Yes.

But that's the one that's tied to the wheel tax distribution by us not knowing what's coming down. Yes, that's another one. We have to have the financial commitment letter to submit with the application. But I can't say what it's going to be because I don't know what the distribution is going to be that we're going to be eligible for.

Is there funding in there to cover? Yes. Okay.

We've got the funding, yeah. Like I said, it's reoccurring, so we're anticipating it already.

Okay. Then we just need to add that onto there. Do what? We just need to add it onto that.

Add it onto that? Yeah. Okay, add it onto that. Yeah.

If we have the funding to do it already, would you?

Yeah, we've got. It's probably in the wheel tax funding. Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, transfers. Let's go through what we've got here. We've got one. 4D, $600. To cover summer conference and child support.

Make a motion to approve them.

Bill makes a motion to approve.

I'll second.

30 seconds. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Salary ordinance. I see all that. This one we voted on last meeting for the clerk. I think we did, didn't we?

If it's the increase in pay for the bookkeeper, yes, we voted on that to approve that.

It went from $21.70 to $22.78. Yeah. Okay, so it's just a... Just the formality to make sure it's in there, okay? I'll entertain a motion to approve salary ordinance.

So moved.

Rick makes a motion.

I'll second it.

Bill seconds it. Any other discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Riverboat money, not for profits. What is that for?

What that is is, and correct me if I'm wrong, but Christie has been getting some questions from folks about coming before the council at budget time to request riverboat money. kind of a new thought, but I know there's been some just offside discussion about moving that riverboat money in as a whole to the Decatur County United Fund and allowing them to use those funds as part of their maybe campaign or whatever. But I don't know of anybody that has requested riverboat funds that do not already work with the United Fund. And if you've ever been on the United Fund Board or been part of that, they do a tremendous job in looking over all of the work that these nonprofits do and really making sure that they're doing what they're supposed to do and that there's value in all of that. So if we ever wonder if we're given to the right group in the right amount, we give it to the United Fund, I think we can rest assured that it'll be handled in the most appropriate way possible. So that's the suggestion. I don't know that there's any action needs to be taken on it, but Christy... We'd have to approve it.

I'm not so sure they still wouldn't come back.

Well, maybe so. Maybe so. I'm not sure. But at that point, you could just say... Go to the United Fund because that's where this is at. Currently, I think the United Fund works with 15 or 16 nonprofits. I don't know if anybody else knows an updated number. Certainly there's others that could apply if somebody that normally comes here, but Catch-a-Ride goes there, New Directions goes there. The list is not so.

Basically it would just take that off of our agenda where each one of them comes to us and basically we're just dividing it anyway. So they would actually be vetting them a lot more than we already are.

Have you talked to Joanne? I have mentioned it to her, only in passing, because I didn't want to get the cart before the horse necessarily. But she is aware.

Okay. Well, I think we definitely ought to pursue it. I'd like to see that. I mean, we did what we were able to do, but I think we could do a better job with that money if we had somebody looking it over besides us. I mean, that's what they do, so... And I don't know how long that money is going to be there. It may not be there much longer. Maybe it will. I don't know.

But what's there right now, I think we could do a better job of... Can we do that just a bunch of time, just know what the amount is and then put that in there?

I'm sure it can be handled in multiple ways just as long as... Because Christy knows that that's the direction we're going, so she can tell those nonprofits that are asking for agenda time on the budget discussion that this is going to happen and they need to go across the street to the foundation or the United Fund.

I'd say we pursue it.

My vote would be if we can do it, I have no problem with it.

I don't have a problem. Brian. I've got a question.

Absolutely.

Yes.

With these organizations,

If they're already working with the United Fund, they are currently doing, respecting those blackouts. If the Brian Robbins non-profit would go to the United Fund, he would likely have to be subject to that blackout time period as well, yes. I can check that out. You can check that out if you want.

I think most of them are 501c3s.

I would say most of them are already experiencing that. That's a good point, Brian. I got it. I'll follow up on that.

Most of what we do give to are good organizations.

That may be something that if it becomes an issue that we could review those criteria and establish our own out of that.

I definitely would pursue it.

Along those same lines, do you have nonprofits that the council gives to or not?

That's a question that I don't know for sure yet. We've got to figure that out.

I would say 4-H is probably not with the United Fund.

Does 4-H get riverboat money, though? Yes.

They do.

4-H Council gets riverboat money. We give them riverboat money. And there might be another one or two on there.

I guess we could still at budget time say we'll give you. If we have our 4-H somebody we want to give a special amount to, then they can do the rest. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Well, any time you think about something different, it poses questions.

I'm not sure the council is 501C3, are they, Bill? I'm not sure the 4-H council is 501C3. I don't think so. Things like that.

I know the 4-H council has gotten grants from the community foundation in the past, but I'm not aware that the council ever got anything from the United Fund.

That's more tracking to do, so we'll do that. It can be tweaked, yeah. Okay. ARPA interest ordinance. Everybody get a copy of that? You're going to add the ARPA's interest to the ordinance?

There was an issue on that that it wasn't being separated out. Right. This clarifies all of it, yeah.

We just added to it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, need a motion to approve Ordinance 2026? 12. 12?

So moved.

Ernie makes motion.

I'll second.

The end of seconds. Any other discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Okay, well, they're signing. Brian, you got anything for us? Yeah. Can I jump in there? I'll catch you, Dickinson. You're not up there talking.

updated the commissioners biggest thing from the ready field is the 2.9 million dollar grant that the region received from the lily portion of ready that's in addition to the 30 million that we've already received through the ready proper and that 2.9 is towards blight removal and addressing blight in the region we've been working with Shelby County in Rush County Batesville apparently doesn't have much blight, but we're working with the other two, both of which who have established blight programs and kind of see how we can build something in the region to last beyond this and be able to go around and address, you know, dilapidated properties and such around within our region. So that's a plus. One, to thank Mike and the EMA for meeting with the local industries, talking about the weather-related hazards and such and how that decision process goes on the county level to make sure that they know exactly all the steps that are taken prior to declaring a red-level warning or others. AS WELL AS LET MIKE UNDERSTAND WHAT THE PROCESS IS WITHIN THE INDUSTRIES, WHEN THE SHIFTS ARE, WHEN THEY WOULD IDEALLY NEED TO KNOW. SO I THINK THOSE LINES OF COMMUNICATIONS ARE OPEN. AND THEN WHILE WE EVALUATE PROJECTS THAT ARE IN THE AREA WHICH WE ARE GETTING Some more looks, particularly in the Adams Rail Park area there north of Honda. We've been preoccupied with the tax abatements, the reporting that's coming in. They were due on the 15th. One thing that the city is doing because of SEA 1, they are reviewing their guidelines, tax guidelines, particularly with regard to personal property taxes because of the depreciation level going down to zero. I would say this is something that maybe the county looks at. I know it's kind of nothing been set in stone the way you guys review tax abatement requests. but having something, having a set of guidelines to go by and a scoring kind of takes that subjectivity out of it, you know, and it's been quite successful with the city. Plus that also, in my talks with businesses, the businesses know what to expect and what not to expect if you have a guideline. So now it's not the law, it's not an ordinance, but it guides, helps guide your decision making in doing that and gives them, you know, an idea of what they can expect from, um the county when it comes to incentives and whatnot so i'll toss that out there be glad to share the city's guidelines with you guys if you want to do it but something i'd be glad to help with if you guys want to do that

I THINK ME AND YOU WENT THROUGH THAT ONE TIME BEFORE. IT WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE SOME TEMPLATES ON OTHER COUNTIES, EVEN IF IT'S OTHER COUNTIES, PLUS WHAT THE CITY'S GOT.

THERE'S A LOT OF ADJUSTMENT GOING ON BECAUSE OF SEA 1. IT'S GOING TO HAVE AN IMPACT. OBVIOUSLY, ANYBODY WITH EQUIPMENT IS VALUED. $2 million or under aren't even going to be paying personal property taxes. So that's going to be, you know, a benefit to some of the smaller industries. But, you know, I think Delta and Nipro are the only two that the county has out. But, you know, any further expansions, you know, that's going to need to be taken into account. That's true.

We haven't done it. Did we do it? We did. Yeah, we did.

Yeah, we did. We established it. It's just not – they haven't had to report yet or anything like that.

How's the St. Paul deal going?

Is it – It's still moving. Yeah, they want to move forward. We're going to get some new numbers, new investment numbers, which I think I shared with you are going to be higher than what they originally – Should go up a little bit, shouldn't it? Should, yeah.

Hopefully.

Yep. So steady as she goes on that.

Thanks, Brian. Thanks for all the work you do. Seriously. Dawn, you have anything for us?

Good morning.

We do have an after-hours networking event tonight at the top from 4 to 6 p.m. that is free and open to the public. Main Street Greensburg's Executive Director, Allison Beck, will be presenting, and she'll be talking about different opportunities that people can get involved with with Main Street and the downtown district. So, um if you have the time to come out and hear a little bit more about those opportunities we'd love to have you we do have the women in business conference coming up we are probably about 80 sold out on that we do have a few vendor spaces left as well as attendee tickets so if you're Wanting a day out of the office, that is a great day to be just renewed and invigorated and let us pour into you for that day. So it's just a really, really great inspirational day. We do have Jan Green coming back. Ann Marie Tiernan from WTHR, and Nicole Bush, who is somewhat local to the state of Indiana. So really great lineup there. I do want to announce, and I forgot to mention this yesterday in the commissioner meeting, we have a ribbon cutting for the Batesville Memorial Public Library's Arts and Innovation Hub. That is on June the 3rd. That is one of the ready projects that has been completed for the region. So they will be hosting an open house from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. that day with a ribbon cutting portion and all of the comments being made at the 11 o'clock hours. So please feel free to join us for that. And then upcoming, we've got our golf, our 41st annual Day of Summer Golf Fundraiser being held on August the 7th at the Greensburg Golf Club. So look for more information on our website and social media for that. Any questions for me?

Just I want to add the Historical Society is ever moving closer to the 250th anniversary celebration on the 4th of July. Obermeyer and Young, if they've not told you yet, has agreed to come in to hang flags and stuff with their crane. Is that... you wear that okay I think in the notes of the last meeting said that Obermeyer had offered to do that so There'll be a shirt purchase available, I believe, because they're going to recreate a picture. Everybody on the courthouse lawn, I think the shirts are $25 or something like that. Sponsorships for those are currently being sought after in the amount of $250, $500, whatever it might be. So if there's a local business... that wants to do that, reach out to the Historical Society and get that squared away. But that'll be a pretty cool event.

Thank you, Don. Anybody else have anything for? Yes, ma'am.

I just wanted to give you guys a quick update.

I haven't spoken with you in a while, but this week is our install of our new 911 system. So just a quick update, this is the install week. It's been a project, it's been about a year, a little under a year, but right at almost a year since we talked about it. So installs this week, next week is configuration week. First week in June is going to be our training week, and then June 8th, we go live with our new system. So we're really excited. A lot of new things coming to 911. And then also today, the other project that we talked about, again, which was about a year ago, is our... SITE FOR THE LOCAL TOWER, THE UPGRADE ON THAT. HOPEFULLY TODAY AFTER OUR LAST PIECE OF EQUIPMENT TODAY COULD BE UP AND RUNNING WITH THAT NEW COMMUNICATION AT THE LOCAL TOWER SITE. SO JUST WANTED TO GIVE YOU THAT QUICK UPDATE THAT TWO PROJECTS HOPEFULLY ARE REACHING FINALIZATION HERE REAL SOON. The other thing, obviously, when you reach completion, it also comes money. So you guys approved that money last year, but because the projects weren't completed on the 911 within the calendar year, it went back into our general fund area. So here within the next month, you'll see me do a transfer. Those monies had already been requested, but I'll have to... do another request for it to go back in, just so you'll see. So I'll have to get with Christie to do another advertisement to move those monies back again. Make sure it's all advertised again. Yes, yes. I went over that last year. Yes, so I just wanted to remind you so you would see that money go back and make sure you understand what that was for. Okay? Sure, I can. All right, thank you.

Anybody else got anything for us? Danny.

What's going on in Veterans Services? A lot of people don't know that I'm there. Slowly, word's finally getting out. More and more people. Abby's husband came and saw me. So we got him taken care of. We got several from the Sheriff's Department that's been over. So I just want to start from January 1 when you guys gave me the ability to become full-time. Since January 1, I have processed approximately 159 claims for our veterans within the community. within our county. To date, 45 new veterans who have never done anything through the VA have come and seen me. A couple success stories. I've had one Vietnam veteran that is 90 years old, never did anything with the VA. His wife called me just asking, is there anything I can do to help them with just care? And I took it a step farther. I went to their home, got his story, got all of his information. Before he passed, he just recently passed, I was able, we, not me, we were able to get this veteran up to 90% before he passed. Not only did that help, but it helped his surviving spouse now have an income that's going to be coming in monthly to be able to help her. He didn't add her to his, he was a retiree from the military. She will receive no money from the military for retirement. He did not add her as a benefit for her. So this extra money is going to help her. I had another Vietnam veteran who's been struggling cancer for a number of years, didn't think he was eligible for anything. They came and saw me. They were really looking at the daughter came and saw me and said, we are just planning for his funeral. What can we get for his funeral? I heard their story, went to their house, gathered all the information. That veteran is now at 100%. from his injuries and all the cancer treatments that he's doing. A very big success story again for veterans in our community. Another one that I got, this gentleman, a Korean veteran, lost his eyesight recently, finally got it connected, service connected, lost his eyesight. We're gonna be able to get him a grant for about $126,000 to renovate his house to make it more handicap accessible for him to make life easier for him and his wife. I'm going to be speaking at Aspen Place. I just did a thing for United Funds to show what we do. I'm going to speak at the Westport Memorial Day Service. We're doing a lot of great things over there, and I don't see it changing. I don't see it slowing down. I see it continuing where we're at, and I just want to say thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve. Our veterans, there was a quote that I saw this morning that I just wanted to share because I think this is great. It says, a nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten. And that's on your thing right outside our own memorial thing outside of this courthouse. So just thank you for what we do.

Thank you. Thank you. The VA was so good to my dad. Say that again. The VA was really great to my dad. We had to go through a round of bush to get it all done. That was the biggest thing. They redone his house, redone the bathroom. They redone a lot of things for him, but we didn't have the local support. I wish I had local support back then like you got now. Okay. Anybody else? Doug, you got anything on the comp plan deal? Yeah.

Since we last met, we had the Big Ideas open house, and there was 20 people that attended at lunchtime and 10 in the afternoon, and then we had 75 surveys that came in from the time that the Big Ideas open house. Those surveys opened up then, and then they closed this past weekend. Not quite the numbers that we would have liked, but... THAT IT'S KIND OF BECOME THE NORM. WE WILL HAVE OUR NEXT STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING ON JUNE 4TH, AND THAT WILL START PUTTING SOME ACTION STEPS TOGETHER TO START CREATING THE DRAFT FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. Also, since we last met the battery storage facility, their plan review has been completed a few weeks ago, and then they've submitted their permit fee. So we have issued a full permit for the construction of the battery storage facility. So that's moving forward as well.

Have they started up there?

Yep.

Is that survey still up?

The survey just closed.

It just closed?

Yeah, it just closed on Monday.

But everything's looking good on the comp plan so far.

Yeah, it sure is.

Doug's done a great job on that, I guarantee it. That's probably been one of the biggest projects he's had on. Well, maybe second biggest. Just taking care of everything else, is it?

Yeah.

Anybody have any questions for Doug? Thanks, Doug. You're doing a great job. Anybody else? Come up here, Gary. Tell us what's going on.

an update on the building our storage building we had all the prints approved ready to send out for bid the sheriff was talking about maybe building a storage building from them commissioners asked could we attach that to our building so we are basically starting over with the prints um I contacted the architect yesterday, and as soon as they redo the prints, they'll get them re-approved by the state, we can send them out for bids. By combining the building, it should save some money, and we're going to move it, instead of being on the north side of the lot, it will go to the south side of the lot, and they've talked about maybe cutting off where the building's going to be, adding that to the sheriff's lot, so that if for some reason you were to sell the county was to sell the annex portion, that building and everything would stay with the sheriff's lot. So this is just an FYI, let you guys know what's going on. You got any questions?

No, I know it's been a project, Gary. Yeah, thanks, Gary.

Danny, I just wanted two things on the ARPA committee. We are still meeting. Right now it consists of Brian, Rick, and Deanna and I are still on that. We're We have until the end of this year to make sure all that money is dispersed. We've got a few accounts out there that still have some funding, but we're on top of that. Second thing was, and I don't know why Christie didn't bring it this morning, but we approved to give $67,000 to the sheriff for the new radios project. We need to approve that. I don't know. why that wasn't put on the agenda for today, but maybe she forgot.

I think it's because she's at conference and she wanted to be here to explain it.

Okay. Well, that's what it was. And that's the interest account is what we have left, and we have that forever. So we're monitoring that and taking requests for those funds, but that 67,000 will come out of that interest money, which we have sole discretion to spend that. There's no state attached to it.

And we don't have a timeline on that.

There's no timeline on that. That's just something we've accrued, and we'll continue to draw the interest on it. But we want to spend 67,000 out of that to help the sheriff get new radios.

Will it have to be advertised?

No, it doesn't. I don't think so. That's our fund.

I don't know.

It's interest money. Be safe. But anyway, we're bringing $67,000 to the council to approve that whenever that has to be done.

It probably ought to be advertised. Be safe.

Yeah, being how it's our own money, I don't know if we have to do it or not, but whatever has to take place, we can vote on it next meeting. But we're in good shape. We've... I think we've done a tremendous amount of work for the community with that money.

Now, is the principal about spent? Is it gone?

Yeah, it's all been appropriated. There's still some lingering monies in there.

That deadline to appropriate it is already gone.

Yeah, yeah. Everything's been appropriated out of the monies that we got. This money we have now is interest that we got. And we're going to try to maintain some in there and continue to draw interest on that. Okay.

Yeah. Good idea. Very good. Anybody else have anything else? Entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved. Second.

Who makes the motion? 30 seconds. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed to that?

Okay.