August 11, 2020 at 4:45 p.m.
Pennville project funded
Stellar finalist $$ will go toward expansion of library
Pennville project funded
A larger library is coming to Pennville.
Jay County community development director Ami Huffman shared a project proposal to expand the library at the commissioner’s meeting Monday. Nearly 1,500 square feet will be added to the property, creating a larger building and parking lot.
The project will be mostly funded by the $333,000 awarded to Jay Region! for being a finalist for the 2019 Stellar Communities designation, a multi-million dollar investment initiative headed by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.
Huffman explained to commissioners that the project requires a 10% local match — about $33,000.
Commissioners Chad Aker and Mike Leonhard voiced concerns about the overall $350,000 estimate being too high. Commissioner Chuck Huffman noted the funding has already been approved by the state.
Aker suggested that the funds be used toward two different projects, but Ami Huffman said there weren’t two projects small enough for that. Aker added he doesn’t want anyone to “over-engineer” the building, with Ami Huffman then pointing out the estimates she shared could decrease.
Both Aker and Leonhard explained they didn’t want to take the opportunity away from Pennville.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Pennville, I mean, anytime they can get a benefit, it’s ideal,” Leonhard said.
Ami Huffman plans to meet with all parties involved soon to discuss the project in detail.
In relation to COVID-19, she said the library addition will be helpful to community members who need to fill out unemployment forms and parents with students doing online schoolwork.
“I think libraries are one of the greatest assets in every community,” Ami said. “I believe that Pennville’s (library) is undersized for the need there.”
Commissioners unanimously approved a motion to provide the matching funds. They also heard from highway department superintendent Donnie Corn, who requested they draft a temporary no-truck ordinance for country road 200 West between Mt. Pleasant Road and country road 400 South. The area receives heavy truck traffic, Corn explained, but it is one of the several roads being converted to a hard surface this year.
Chuck said converting a road from stone to hard surface often takes a few layers of chip and seal. This particular section of road will receive three layers, and it will need time to firm. The ordinance, which will last approximately 18 months, will be drafted and voted on at the next commissioner’s meeting.
Other roads being converted are county road 300 South between county 200 West and Blaine Pike, county road 350 South between county 200 West and county 100 West, county road 275 South between county road 100 West and U.S. 27 and county road 450 South between U.S. 27 and Boundary Pike.
About 70 miles of chip-and-seal road work has been completed, Corn noted. After finishing road conversions and reviewing the availability of funds, the highway department may treat a few more roads. The county’s new Ditch Angel, a mechanism used to clean out ditches, will arrive in the next two or three weeks. Highway department workers have been using the mini-excavator that the department received last year for cleaning ditches and putting in new driveway tubes and another machine that’s more than 30 years old.
Commissioners also received updates from county engineer Dan Watson, who noted all Bitter Ridge Wind Farm towers have been erected. He said he also requested the remainder of all paving projects be completed before winter, and the contractors are scheduled to start at the beginning of October. These paving projects are the result of a road use agreement between the county and Colorado-based Scout Clean Energy, which requires the company to restore the roads once construction is finished. Among the roads to be repaved are county roads 800 South, 600 West, 600 South and 575 South.
Watson discussed the closures of Indiana 67 for a bridge deck overlay construction project between county roads 300 South and 350 South. Local traffic uses county roads 500 West and 350 South as a detour, and an “extremely large amount of truck traffic” has attempted to use the same detour, he said. Local police have been writing tickets for any trucks not following the posted detour (Indiana 1 and Indiana 26). Construction on Indiana 67 should be completed by the end of August, Watson added.
In other business, commissioners:
•Approved the following: a $160,000 loan from First Financial Bank to pay for a new bulldozer for the county surveyor’s office and a $50,000 bulldozer down payment from the backhoe repair and replace fund; a contract for $15,000, which is funded by the Indiana Department of Health, for public health coordinator Amy Blakely; an invoice (which has not yet been received) for renovations to the clerk’s office; and $3,572 for the north bathroom construction at the fairgrounds.
•OK’d moving $50,000 from the local road and street fund to extend the ongoing Como Road paving project. A 9-mile stretch of Como Road paving from the Jay/Randolph county line to county road 50 South is being funded through a Community Crossings grant. The additional funds approved Monday — they will require final approval Wednesday from Jay County Council — will allow the paving to be extended to Indiana 26.
•Listened to a proposal from county recorder Betty St. Myers, who noted she would use a portion of her budget to pay for a security camera in the recorder’s office. She proposed the camera might be installed by Digital Video Solutions when the company installs hall and doorway cameras in the courthouse.
•Discussed with Jay County Sheriff Dwane Ford a few estimates for a new southwest door at the jail. After reviewing two doors with price ranges differing more than $1,700, commissioners decided to hold off choosing until Ford brought the last estimate to the next meeting. Aker suggested switching the door material from galvanized steel to fiberglass in order to cut down on costs. Ford also mentioned the cement blocks on the south side of the jail are coming loose and he shared a quote from Atlas Building Services Incorporated to have the exterior restored.
•Looked at potential uses for the remaining $57,400 in Bluff Point Wind Energy Center economic development funds. Both the Jay County Historical Society and the Jay Community Center have requested funds, and Chuck Huffman said he will ask both organizations to send representatives to the next commissioner’s meeting.
Jay County community development director Ami Huffman shared a project proposal to expand the library at the commissioner’s meeting Monday. Nearly 1,500 square feet will be added to the property, creating a larger building and parking lot.
The project will be mostly funded by the $333,000 awarded to Jay Region! for being a finalist for the 2019 Stellar Communities designation, a multi-million dollar investment initiative headed by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.
Huffman explained to commissioners that the project requires a 10% local match — about $33,000.
Commissioners Chad Aker and Mike Leonhard voiced concerns about the overall $350,000 estimate being too high. Commissioner Chuck Huffman noted the funding has already been approved by the state.
Aker suggested that the funds be used toward two different projects, but Ami Huffman said there weren’t two projects small enough for that. Aker added he doesn’t want anyone to “over-engineer” the building, with Ami Huffman then pointing out the estimates she shared could decrease.
Both Aker and Leonhard explained they didn’t want to take the opportunity away from Pennville.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Pennville, I mean, anytime they can get a benefit, it’s ideal,” Leonhard said.
Ami Huffman plans to meet with all parties involved soon to discuss the project in detail.
In relation to COVID-19, she said the library addition will be helpful to community members who need to fill out unemployment forms and parents with students doing online schoolwork.
“I think libraries are one of the greatest assets in every community,” Ami said. “I believe that Pennville’s (library) is undersized for the need there.”
Commissioners unanimously approved a motion to provide the matching funds. They also heard from highway department superintendent Donnie Corn, who requested they draft a temporary no-truck ordinance for country road 200 West between Mt. Pleasant Road and country road 400 South. The area receives heavy truck traffic, Corn explained, but it is one of the several roads being converted to a hard surface this year.
Chuck said converting a road from stone to hard surface often takes a few layers of chip and seal. This particular section of road will receive three layers, and it will need time to firm. The ordinance, which will last approximately 18 months, will be drafted and voted on at the next commissioner’s meeting.
Other roads being converted are county road 300 South between county 200 West and Blaine Pike, county road 350 South between county 200 West and county 100 West, county road 275 South between county road 100 West and U.S. 27 and county road 450 South between U.S. 27 and Boundary Pike.
About 70 miles of chip-and-seal road work has been completed, Corn noted. After finishing road conversions and reviewing the availability of funds, the highway department may treat a few more roads. The county’s new Ditch Angel, a mechanism used to clean out ditches, will arrive in the next two or three weeks. Highway department workers have been using the mini-excavator that the department received last year for cleaning ditches and putting in new driveway tubes and another machine that’s more than 30 years old.
Commissioners also received updates from county engineer Dan Watson, who noted all Bitter Ridge Wind Farm towers have been erected. He said he also requested the remainder of all paving projects be completed before winter, and the contractors are scheduled to start at the beginning of October. These paving projects are the result of a road use agreement between the county and Colorado-based Scout Clean Energy, which requires the company to restore the roads once construction is finished. Among the roads to be repaved are county roads 800 South, 600 West, 600 South and 575 South.
Watson discussed the closures of Indiana 67 for a bridge deck overlay construction project between county roads 300 South and 350 South. Local traffic uses county roads 500 West and 350 South as a detour, and an “extremely large amount of truck traffic” has attempted to use the same detour, he said. Local police have been writing tickets for any trucks not following the posted detour (Indiana 1 and Indiana 26). Construction on Indiana 67 should be completed by the end of August, Watson added.
In other business, commissioners:
•Approved the following: a $160,000 loan from First Financial Bank to pay for a new bulldozer for the county surveyor’s office and a $50,000 bulldozer down payment from the backhoe repair and replace fund; a contract for $15,000, which is funded by the Indiana Department of Health, for public health coordinator Amy Blakely; an invoice (which has not yet been received) for renovations to the clerk’s office; and $3,572 for the north bathroom construction at the fairgrounds.
•OK’d moving $50,000 from the local road and street fund to extend the ongoing Como Road paving project. A 9-mile stretch of Como Road paving from the Jay/Randolph county line to county road 50 South is being funded through a Community Crossings grant. The additional funds approved Monday — they will require final approval Wednesday from Jay County Council — will allow the paving to be extended to Indiana 26.
•Listened to a proposal from county recorder Betty St. Myers, who noted she would use a portion of her budget to pay for a security camera in the recorder’s office. She proposed the camera might be installed by Digital Video Solutions when the company installs hall and doorway cameras in the courthouse.
•Discussed with Jay County Sheriff Dwane Ford a few estimates for a new southwest door at the jail. After reviewing two doors with price ranges differing more than $1,700, commissioners decided to hold off choosing until Ford brought the last estimate to the next meeting. Aker suggested switching the door material from galvanized steel to fiberglass in order to cut down on costs. Ford also mentioned the cement blocks on the south side of the jail are coming loose and he shared a quote from Atlas Building Services Incorporated to have the exterior restored.
•Looked at potential uses for the remaining $57,400 in Bluff Point Wind Energy Center economic development funds. Both the Jay County Historical Society and the Jay Community Center have requested funds, and Chuck Huffman said he will ask both organizations to send representatives to the next commissioner’s meeting.
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