County awards paving contract

A construction company has been selected for paving a few county roads.

Work should begin later this year.

Jay County Commissioners awarded a $1,088,045 contract Monday to the lowest bidder, Brooks Construction of Fort Wayne, for road work on several roads west of Indiana 1, just south of its intersection with Indiana 26.

Milestone Contractors of Portland also submitted a bid for the work at $1,296,250. 

Roads set to be paved are Knox Road and county roads 100 South and 150 South. Commissioner president Chad Aker explained the roads, which are currently stone, are commonly used as a bypass when Indiana 1 floods. Converting the roads should help decrease the county’s spending on stone in future years, he said.

The work will be paid for using a Community Crossings grant the county received last month. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and the Indiana Department of Transportation announced in April that Jay County had been awarded $1.18 million for the project.

Originally, the county planned to apply for Community Crossings funding to replace the Seventh Street Bridge over the Salamonie River between Blaine Pike and Meridian Street in Portland. The project was delayed because of issues with receiving right-of-way access for the project from an adjoining property owner. 

Jay County will contribute about $393,914 for the Community Crossings project, which requires a 25% match.

Also Monday, commissioners OK’d contributing $10,000 in economic development dollars or American Rescue Plan Act dollars toward items at Bryant Area Park.

The town has developed its park in the last three years on five acres of former railroad property west of Meridian Street and north of Elm Street. With help from state and local grant funding, the park includes various amenities, including playground equipment, a new parking lot between Elm and Main streets and the 130-year-old former jail building, which has been repaired and relocated to the southwest corner of the park. It also includes a more than half-mile walking trail — construction was completed on the project in November — that starts along Wilson Street and continues north, passing the community pavilion and traveling along the west side of the park until reaching Indiana 67.

Park director Paul VanCise explained that because of inflation, additional items had to be cut from the project. He asked commissioners Monday to contribute $10,000 to purchase a new drinking fountain, bike rack, trash cans and a leaf blower.

Commissioners agreed to contribute the funding, noting the decision requires joint approval from Jay County Council. 

In other business, commissioners Rex Journay, Brian McGalliard and Aker:

•Amended a letter of intent signed on April 22 to Portland Economic Development Corporation regarding a 75-acre parcel on the southwest side of Portland. The new version allows the county to negotiate giving road frontage or an easement to Portland Economic Development Corporation, explained county attorney Wes Schemenaur, to prevent the remaining parcel from being landlocked.

•Heard from Bill Walters of East Central Indiana Regional Planning District, who shared a presentation on projects his organization has worked on since its partnership with Jay County was reestablished in October 2022. He highlighted a few projects, including: MainStream Fiber Networks’ proposal to install 395 miles of fiberoptic internet throughout rural Jay County and efforts toward the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program; and work on the owner-occupied rehabilitation program, a $1 million home repair program for residents with low to middle-range incomes that opened applications Tuesday. He also noted at least $500,000 in grants procured and the comprehensive economic development strategy (CEDS) grant initiative, which requires the district to produce a plan for the region every five years.

•Approved the following: amending the salary ordinance to give employees discounts on their health insurance for the next six months, which comes as a result of a refund distributed by Physicians Health Plan; paying $32,700 for a new mower from Kalida Truck Equipment of Kalida, Ohio; Jay County Highway Department’s annual operations report; transferring a truck from Jay County Country Living to Jay County Health Department; a contract with regional workforce development group Eastern Indiana Works for being a part of economic growth region 6, which includes Blackford, Delaware, Fayette, Henry, Randolph, Rush, Union and Wayne counties; an agreement with Comcast to provide Jay County Purdue Extension Office internet service at Jay County Fairgrounds during the Jay County Fair; reimbursement agreements with Jay County Sheriff’s Office deputies Brinnin Kobe Wasson and James B. Robinette for their training at Indiana Law Enforcement Academy.

•Heard about a recent Indiana Department of Environmental Management inspection at Jay County Country Living, which cited a few violations at the property. Jay County Health Department environmentalist and administrator Heath Butz, who also serves as a site facility operator (water tester) at the facility, explained the county will need to make a few changes. One of those includes Butz visiting the property three times a week instead of once.

•OK’d Jay County Country Living to pay $39,974.16 to Medler’s Furniture for installing new flooring throughout the facility. The funding, which comes from an Indiana Residential Care Assistance Program grant, must be spent by June 30.

•Discussed whether to allow pets at Jay County Country Living.

•Forwarded a request to Jay County Personnel Committee from county clerk Jon Eads to raise the reimbursement amount for meals for county employees while at conventions in-state. (Currently the amount for out-of-state reimbursement is higher.)

•OK’d accepting sealed bids of at least $1,500 for a decommissioned ambulance.

•Appointed Aker to a committee studying animal control ordinances for Jay County Humane Society.

•Paid $1,390,321.04 in claims.