Commissioners select $395k proposal

Another step has been taken toward developing the land county officials purchased this year.

Jay County Commissioners selected a $395,000 proposal Monday from Rundell Ernstberger and Associates (REA) of Indianapolis for planning development of county-owned land on the western edge of Portland. The decision moves next to Jay County Council, which meets Sept. 6.

County officials purchased 68 acres of farm ground on the north side of Indiana 67 in March with about $1.1 million in federal coronavirus relief dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act. (Proposed plans for developing the land have included constructing infrastructure for housing and building a new multi-faceted public safety building.)

Commissioners opened bids July 24 from REA, RQAW of Fishers ($145,000) and Butler, Fairman & Seufert of Indianapolis ($148,750). After taking the bids under advisement, they discussed their options at a meeting Aug. 14. Commissioner Brian McGalliard noted he sent the same request for scope of services to all three companies, and he favored the lowest offer from RQAW.

Answering a question from commissioner Rex Journay, East Central Indiana Regional Planning District director Bill Walters confirmed Aug. 14 the planning aspect should present development phases and how much they are anticipated to cost.

After discussion, McGalliard made a motion Aug. 14 to table the decision in order for county attorney Wes Schemenaur to have time to review the materials and make sure they are fair comparisons of one another. (At that time, he noted RQAW’s proposal included a line stating “additional services will be negotiated.”)

Schemenaur explained Monday he reviewed the proposals from RQAW and REA and told commissioners he thought REA’s proposal seemed to include more of a complete package of the work needed.

“The REA proposal seemed to be the much more comprehensive, start-to-finish plan, or proposal, the RQAW proposal indicated these were preliminary phases of the project,” he said. “Yeah, it’s more money, but it looks to me like … you’re going to have a finished product to take to developers, with a design, a layout, road layout, stormwater, site research and analysis. That was my take on it.”

REA’s proposal offered a breakdown of its services, which included conceptual design, schematic design, survey and additional work. It also includes an update to the county’s tax increment financing (TIF) district plan, which Schemenaur said would be a major component of developing the land.

Commissioners president Chad Aker pointed out the planning contract is the first step in the development process. McGalliard added that a main focus of the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) 2.0 — it’s a state funding opportunity for Indiana regions — is housing.

Commissioners selected REA and agreed to pay for the work using economic development income tax (EDIT) funds. 

Also Monday, commissioners amended the county’s truck ordinance, which prohibits trucks from using certain parts of Jay County roads. (Exceptions are granted for school buses, state- or county-owned vehicles, delivery vehicles stopping in the area and vehicles owned or operated by local residents.)

Trucks, truck tractors and semitrailers are prohibited from using the following sections of road: Como Road between Indiana 26 and U.S 27; county road 50 North between county roads 300 West and 200 West; county road 100 North between U.S. 27 and county road 200 West; county road 200 South between U.S. 27 and Indiana 67; county road 200 West between county road 300 North and Indiana 67; county road 300 East between Indiana 26 and Division Road; county road 500 South between Indiana 1 and Indiana 67 and between county roads 1150 West and 1225 West; county road 750 West between county roads 300 North and 400 North, 450 North and 400 North and Indiana 18 to 550 North; Division Road between the eastern edge of Portland and county road 300 East; and county road 1150 West between county road 500 South and Dunkirk.

The same vehicles are prohibited from using the following roads when state highways are closed with an official detour: State Line Road between county roads 300 North and 400 South; county roads 700 East, 600 East and 300 East between county roads 300 North and 400 South; county road 100 East between Indiana 26 and county road 200 South; Division Road between Portland and county road 600 East; county road 100 North between U.S. 27 and county road 600 East; county road 200 North between U.S. 27 and county road 700 East; county road 300 North between U.S. 27 and State Line Road; county road 100 South between Portland and Indiana 26; and county roads 200 South and 400 South between U.S. 27 and State Line Road.

Penalties for violating the ordinance come at a minimum $275 fine and maximum $2,500 fine for an initial violation, with at least $500 fines for subsequent violations. 

Commissioners OK’d shifting Jay County Highway Department to a four-day work week year round. Currently the department operates on a four-day week with 10-hour shifts throughout the summer and adjusts back to five-day, eight-hour shifts in the winter. 

Highway superintendent Eric Butcher brought up the subject at a meeting Aug. 14. Jay County Personnel Committee recommended Thursday commissioners approve the change. Commissioner Rex Journay asked about how the county would handle other departments making similar requests, with Aker pointing out different jobs have different schedules.

“If you want this type of schedule, you ought to do this type of work,” he said. “If you wanna work two days a week, two 24-hour shifts, become an EMT. Become a paramedic. We’ll hire you over there. There’s certain jobs, certain offices that lead certain hours … you can’t treat everybody the same because they don’t have the same jobs.”

Commissioners also tabled a request from Aflac insurance agent Chris Jones, who asked for permission to offer supplemental insurance to county employees. (Aker, a Portland city employee, noted he opts into the service.) Commissioners chose to hold off on a decision — they discussed approving Jones to offer her services to full-time employees — until Jones could meet with auditor Emily Franks to discuss the financial bookkeeping.

They also took an offer under advisement from Aaron Shaff of Level 365. Shaff proposed the county switch to his company’s phone services, providing a monthly offer of $2,139.36 and a one-time fee of $18,538.74. Level 365 provides unified communications (a cloud program) to connect office phones, computers and cell phones through a common app. Some of its features include call forwarding and a voicemail-to-email option.

In other business, commissioners:

•Heard from Jay County’s Purdue Extension office director Allison Keen about two new employees. (Keen is taking over the role as former director Amanda Bullion transitions to Delaware County.) Emily Kring was hired in May as the new agriculture and natural resources educator, and Ashley Drees was recently hired as the new health and human sciences educator.

•Learned from community coordinator Nate Kimball about a few grant and loan opportunities applicable to local needs, including grants for housing, economic development and wastewater projects as well as a loan for water and wastewater projects.

•Approved Jay Emergency Medical Service director Kyle Gerlach to sign claims on behalf of the department. Director Gary Barnett also shared July’s monthly expenses and income, which came to $61,523.23 and $81,482.25, respectively.

•Were reminded about Kleinpeter Consulting completing an income survey for Jay County, with McGalliard noting the results indicated Jay County is a low-income county. The survey, which is valid for four years, may be used to apply for grants and other funding.

•Paid claims, including a quarterly $47,694 claim from LifeStream Services.