City OKs JCDC deal

A contract between The City of Portland and Jay County Development Corporation has been approved.

Portland Board of Works approved an agreement with the organization during its meeting Thursday.

JCDC’s board of directors unanimously approved the contract at its meeting Tuesday. 

JCDC executive director Travis Richards visited Portland City Council in September to discuss funding from the city. Portland has given the organization $50,000 for the last few years.

City attorney Wes Schemenaur recommended Portland and JCDC have a contract in place before any funds are dispersed, explaining his reading of state statute is that a contract is required. Portland City Council members unanimously approved the funding contingent on a contract at the status quo, meaning no requests for changes to board membership or new definitions of duties that have been requested by Jay County Commissioners in their separate contract negotiations.

Richards shared a previous version of an agreement dating back to 2012 with the city, and Schemenaur made minor updates to the version before it was approved by JCDC. 

According to Richards on Thursday, changes from the old agreement include: adjusting the date of the contract, which runs from Oct. 3 to Dec. 31, 2025, with a $50,000 payment for the current year and another $50,000 payment in 2025; making the 60-day termination clause into a 30-day termination clause should either party decide to terminate the agreement; adding Schemenaur’s office as a copied recipient of all formal notices; and requiring JCDC to report semiannually to the city on its work, progress and updates.

Board member Jerry Leonhard noted he had not yet read the contract and took a few minutes to review the document. He then made a motion to approve it, and he and Mayor Jeff Westlake, absent Steve McIntosh, voted in favor.

Also Thursday, the board of works approved a notice of termination with Community Development Institute, which has served as operator of Portland Head Start, 406 E. Arch St., since August 2022. Westlake explained grant holders for the service have changed. Effective Oct. 31, Community Development Institute of Denver, Colorado, will no longer administer the Head Start program. Clerk-treasurer Lori Phillips noted the program in Portland will continue but will operate under a new grant administrator, adding that she and Westlake planned to have a meeting with the group Friday to discuss details.

The board of works also OK’d hiring seven part-time firefighters — Bryan McIver, Mark Leavell, Nolan Crump, Matt Darby, Jordan Tinkham, Sammy Thomas-Stewart and Angel Perez. Assistant fire chief Dustine Hilfiker explained the department had eight open slots on their part-time roster and that the applicants completed interviews, physical agility assessments and a written exam. Westlake and Leonhard expressed an interest to meet the new part-time firefighters soon.

In other business, board of works approved:

•The following pay requests: $40,000 — $4,000 of that amount will be retained — from James S. Jackson Company of Bluffton for the wet weather pump station and $117,690.92 from Scodeller Construction of Wixom, Michigan, for sealing cracks in streets throughout Portland. (The sealing project is mainly funded through an Indiana Department of Transportation grant, with Portland contributing a $29,422.73 match.) 

•A revised $13,319.89 change order for the Blaine Pike paving and multi-use path project. Phillips explained the order, originally approved by board of works in August, had an error from the engineering firm Beam, Longest and Neff, leading to a $417.71 increase from the original price. The city will pay the full amount up front, with 80% to be reimbursed by INDOT. She reminded board of works about plans to file a claim against Beam, Longest and Neff — she told board members in August the firm’s original project specifications were not correct — in order to attempt to recoup the remaining 20%.

•A $11,511 change order for James S. Jackson Company for the wet weather pump station project at Portland Wastewater Treatment Plant. Phillips explained plans now call for incorporating three 500-kilowatt diesel generators instead of one 1500-kilowatt generator.

Also, Board of works members:

•Heard about property damage on the lot where the former Hunt's building once sat, 208 and 210 N. Meridian St. Street department superintendent Marr Shauver noted the contractor working on the side of the remaining building left ruts in the ground. (Phillips said the contractor has offered to repair the damage once the ground dries.) Shauver asked the board of works to consider what the town should do with the lot now that it is empty and offered the street department’s services.

•Learned bulletproof windows are being installed around Portland City Hall offices

•Heard a request from Rob Weaver of WPGW Radio, who asked Shauver if the street department would install a new sidewalk next to the lot formerly occupied by the Bailey building, near the Greazy Pickle.