County working on development plan

The Jay County Commissioners can expect a draft of Jay County Development Corporation’s updated capital improvement plan by Dec. 1, JCDC executive director Bill Bradley said Monday.
The plan is formed with input from Jay County communities on how county economic development income tax funds should be spent.
Though the plan focuses on the big picture rather than the details, at least 75 percent of anticipated funds are, to some degree, committed to a particular project or area of development.
“You can’t just be collecting the tax and storing it away,” Bradley said.
Money can be set aside, for example, for road construction and maintenance, or for use as a local match when a community receives a state or federal grant. The plan doesn’t get as specific as which roads will see work or what grants a city or town plans to apply for.
A new plan is written every five years, though it can be amended at any time. This plan will cover Jan. 1, 2016, through the end of 2020.
The commissioners approve the plan, while county council votes on the ordinance allowing the tax. The current ordinance is in effect through Dec. 31, 2017.
In other business, the commissioners:
•Learned from county engineer Dan Watson that he has sent requests for qualifications to engineering firms that could conduct a comprehensive study of flooding issues in the county. Qualified firms may receive specific bid requests later.
The commissioners first discussed having a study done in July after the county experienced its most damaging bout of flooding this summer.
•Heard a request from Kelly Dixon, 3886 W. 300 North, that the county do something alleviate flooding in his yard.