The County Council met Tuesday evening with most of the members present in-person. Once again there were problems in getting audio working correctly for those on Zoom.
The Council did not approve the minutes because the minutes from the continued part of the meeting had not been prepared. The Council appointed Steven Eastridge to the Remington Economic Commission, a body that is becoming active again. (The Council has one appointment to make to the Commission.) It approved continuing the tax abatement for Wilson Industrial Sales. The abatement is on year nine of ten. Over the years the firm has averaged seven additional employees. Currently they are trying to hire four hazmat drivers and recently the company got a new president, a third generation of the Wilson family.
There was a long discussion of a request from the County Prosecutor to hire a full-time investigator to replace a part-time investigator who recently retired. The Council did not doubt the need for a full-time position but wondered from which fund it would be funded and if their approval would step on the toes of the Commissioners, who had tabled a similar request at their last meeting. They finally approved funding the position and the Prosecutor said he would not fill it until the Commissioners approve the hire.
The rest of the meeting was routine. The Council approved some additional appropriations for the Surveyor and Emergency Management. They also approved an amendment to the Salary Ordinance to conform to new salaries in the Sheriff's Department, CASA, and Community Corrections. Finally they corrected some appropriations that they apparently had doubly passed.
In other happenings, the contractor for the DeMotte sewer/water extension hit a gas pipeline on Tuesday, causing some excitement in the northern part of the county. The Francesville mural is finished and has been dedicated. Eden Valley Farms, also in Pulaski County, will have an open house on June 12. I have always wondered what the strange building on the northwest corner of the US 231/SR 16 interchange was. A video from Alliance Bank reveals that it was once a grocery store. It is now a residence.
The Senior Trail is now up in Milroy Park.
Paving of streets south of the River seems to be finished. North of the River Emilie and a block of block of Walnut are finished. As I write this, the crew is working on Franklin. There are still bits of Milton, Webster, and Merritt that are milled but not paved.
The White County United Way is administering a grant from the Lilly Foundation to help non-profits affected by the Covid shutdown. The grant has moneys allocated for Pulaski, Jasper, and White Counties and has to be spent by the end of July. The White County allocation has been totally spent but there is still a lot left in the Jasper County and the Pulaski County allocations. Groups that have received funding from the Jasper County funds include CDC Resources, Fendig Theater, Junior Achievement, KV School Corporation, St. Augustine School, Wheatfield Fire Department, SAGA in Kentland, Growing Patch Learning Center, and the Tri-County Backpack Program. If you know of an organization that can make a case, have them contact White County United Way. It would be a shame if we leave money on the table.
On Monday the Jasper County BZA met to consider two cases. One was a setback variance for a large garage that could not be put behind the house because of extreme changes in grade. The other was variance for sand mining north of Rensselaer where there are many ponds and lake from previous sand mining. Both were approved. Someone at the meeting said, referring to problems getting audio from the on-line viewers, "Technology is great, when it works."
As of last weekend, the new vet clinic had a concrete floor.
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