'No more stigma'

“No more stigma, no more shame.”

That was the message displayed across the auditorium at Jay County Council’s meeting Wednesday.

About 20 people in the crowd wore t-shirts emblazoned with the phrase, a response to recent backlash about placing a recovery residence in Redkey.

Jay County Opioid Settlement Taskforce — it was created to determine how to use dollars from the National Opioid Settlement — has been seeking a location for a sober living facility for several months. In December, Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition director Kimbra Reynolds announced the group had preliminarily selected a house at 319 N. Meridian St., Redkey. Commissioners approved a $35,000 request at that time to conduct a feasibility study on the home and put down earnest money.

Two days later, residents from Redkey poured into a Jay County Council meeting to voice their thoughts about the facility, citing a lack of amenities and resources in Redkey as well as safety concerns. Council at that time tabled a decision on the funding request, which was later rescinded by commissioners.

Reynolds explained Wednesday because the funds were rescinded, the group pulled its offer on the Redkey house.

“Redkey's basically off the table,” said Mike Weitzel, who serves as a task force member and is Portland’s fire chief.

The task force chose the Redkey location initially because of its price and square footage, explained Weitzel. To be sustainable, he continued, the facility needs to be able to accommodate 15 to 18 residents, which would require roughly 4,000 to 5,000 square feet.

Without a location or feasibility study, the task force can’t apply for grant dollars for the project because it won’t know how much construction, renovation or property acquisition will cost, explained Reynolds.

Council vice president Cindy Bracy — she was elected to the role Wednesday — asked what the cost would be to run the facility after opioid settlement funds are depleted.

Based on estimates, said Reynolds, it would likely need a $300,000 budget each year. Weitzel pointed out the settlement dollars would not be enough for initial startup costs, noting the project will also need grant funding or other dollars. For 18 years, added Reynolds, opioid settlement will sustain the facility, but thereafter it will need to be self-sustainable.

One aspect of sustainability will be from the residents, who will be expected to maintain jobs and pay the facility a portion of their wages for living expenses. (Recovery Works will also reimburse the group until residents are able to work. The state program aims to help those seeking recovery.)

Reynolds pointed out the facility would not be open to those actively using drugs or detoxing.

“With a recovery home, the desire is that they are in active recovery, and there is no place for them to go that is safe, and for them to work and maintain in recovery,” said Reynolds.

Another state grant will be available within the next month, added Reynolds. The turnaround time is usually 30 days.

“We have to have something to be able to go forward,” she said, noting the group will at least need to select a location by that point to be eligible.

Weitzel asked council for its blessing to continue looking into options for a recovery residence.

Council members Jeanne Houchins, Matt Minnich and Randy May spoke in favor of the group continuing its search.

“I think last month, it was better to table that just because of the situation, it didn’t mean that I don’t want this to happen somewhere in this county,” said Houchins. “I don’t think anybody around this bench can say they don’t want to see this happen. We all know, or should know, that we need this.”

Council member Faron Parr advocated for educating residents on what the recovery residence will do.

“You’re taking individuals (who are) trapped, bringing them back into the community to be an asset,” said Parr.

Reynolds pointed out Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition will be hosting a community forum regarding recovery housing in Jay County at 6 p.m. Jan. 24 at IU Health Jay.

Council also approved a final 10-year tax abatement with Hodson Energy for its proposed New Jay Solar, a 220-acre renewable energy farm planned just east of Dunkirk’s city limits. 

The company will have 100% of property taxes abated over the entirety of the 10-year period. Hodson Energy will save $4.4 million in property taxes with the abatement. As part of the negotiation, the company agreed to provide $2.516 million in economic development funds to the county over four years.

Hodson Energy is the fourth renewable energy firm to formally pursue constructing a solar farm in Jay County. Other prospective farms on the horizon include Skycrest Solar from Invenergy, Rose Gold Solar from Leeward Renewable Energy and Sun Chief Solar from Scout Clean Energy.

In related news, Leeward Renewable Energy representatives reached out to county officials in November to share an update about its progress with Rose Gold Solar, a $150 million, 150-megawatt project planned on about 1,430 acres just north of Dunkirk.  

County attorney Wes Schemenaur said Wednesday he thought the company would be at the meeting to request an amendment to its economic development agreement, specifically to push back the projected construction start date to April 2026 and projection completion date to September 2027. He told council he would follow up with the company.

In other business, council members Harold Towell, Houchins, Minnich, Parr, May and Bracy, absent Dave Haines:

•Tabled updates to the personnel policy, with Towell noting he would like more time to review it. Changes to the policy include adding a workplace relationship disclosure, adjusting Jay County Highway Department’s work hours and compensating all Jay County Sheriff’s Office and Jay County Jail employees for eight hours of holiday pay at their standard hourly rate on holidays. (If sheriff’s office/jail employees are required to work on the designated holiday, they will be compensated at a rate 1.5 times their standard rate for all hours worked.)

•Heard plans are in the works for an ordinance to create a board to oversee Jay County Country Living. Bracy noted she received a draft Wednesday from Schemenaur, who pointed out the document in its current state — he said it isn’t ready for formal action yet — would create an advisory board to “assist the commissioners and the council in the administration and oversight of the county home.”

•Made the following additional appropriations: $76,400 for Ritter Strategic Services to provide a study looking into radios for emergency responders and $16,509.05 for Rundell Ernstberger Associates of Indianapolis in its efforts to create a plan for developing the county’s 68 acres along Indiana 67 on the western edge of Portland. (The latter had been proposed at the full cost of $395,000, but council chose to only pay the first claim Wednesday.)

•Elected Minnich as president. He takes over the position from Houchins, who had previously served as council president for seven years.