County to seek grants $ for roads, bridges

Roads are expensive to resurface.

Bridges are expensive to repair.

County officials are hoping to secure grant dollars for both.

Jay County Commissioners OK’d a $295,505 commitment Monday for a Community Crossings grant application for paving approximately 3 miles of county road 400 South. They also approved an agreement with Indianapolis engineering firm SJCA to apply for federal funding to repair a county road 400 North bridge.

Commissioners in August approved a $23,000 contract with engineering firm USI Consultants in order to apply for Community Crossings — it’s a grant program administered through Indiana Department of Transportation — for the 400 South project. Hopes are to pave the stretch of road between Indiana 67 and Indiana 1.

The program would pay for up to $1 million of the project. Commissioners’ commitment Monday would serve as matching dollars, if the grant is awarded.

Also Monday, commissioners approved an agreement not to exceed $3,000 with SJCA to apply for federal funding in December for repairing the bridge on county road 400 North between 700 and 850 East. SJCA will help to prepare and submit the county’s application.

Also, commissioners heard repairs to the bridge on county road 600 West between Indiana 26 and county road 200 North started Monday. The road will be closed until further notice.

Commissioners also discussed next steps regarding community coordinator Darlesia Lee’s former office at Community Resource Center in Portland. Currently, the county pays $350 a month in rent to the city for the office, which was used by community coordinators hired through East Central Indiana Regional Planning District before the county’s contract with the organization came to an end in August.

The county has the option to terminate its contract up to 60 days before it expires. (Commissioners approved a one-year contract for the space in July.) Jay County Development Corporation executive director Ceann Bales talked about her organization potentially taking over the county’s lease — JCDC also operates out of the building — in order to use the office for a proposed new employee. 

Bales shared hopes to hire a new community development director — the position was eliminated in 2022 but is now being reinstated — to begin Jan. 1. She also noted extra furniture purchased by commissioners in the office, suggesting commissioners offer the furniture to other departments or look into selling it.

In other business, commissioners Chad Aker, Duane Monroe and Doug Horn:

•Appointed Jeff Bailey to Jay County Redevelopment Commission, with Aker dissenting. (Aker requested to be appointed to the commission after sharing news of Ted Champ’s resignation. Horn currently sits on redevelopment commission.)

•Approved a settlement — the amount for Jay County is still pending — from the Purdue Pharma national class action lawsuit. (It’s a part of the National Opioids Settlement.) In June, the states approved a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma regarding its opioids marketing.

•Signed a letter of support with Mercer County Commissioners to request United States Department of Agriculture assistance to study drone activity in the area of livestock facilities.

•Tabled an application for right-of-way access to complete utilities excavation work in rural parts of Dunkirk, including along county road 400 South between Industrial Park Road and county road 1100 West and also on county road 1100 West.

•Heard Jay County Emergency Management Agency received a $30,000 grant to update Geographic Information System data.

•OK’d Jay County Highway Department to provide a vehicle for Westminster Early Learning Academy’s “Touch a Truck” family event from 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 18.

•Heard a complaint from a local resident about a neighbor’s driveway along U.S. 27. She alleged the driveway has been causing drainage issues in the area. Commissioners noted they would need to look into the matter and whether it would fall under the state’s jurisdiction. 

•Paid more than $124,300 in claims for work completed in the owner-occupied rehabilitation program, with the largest amount paid to Mustard Seed Remodeling at $28,657.33.

•Agreed to pay $125 in fees for Jay County Health Department’s fuel credit cards, with commissioners requesting the county attempt to recoup the fees.

•Paid a $33,570 claim from MSS Engineering for engineering on the proposed public safety building, with Monroe dissenting.

•Accepted a $50 donation for the health department.