County Council approves $500,000 for downtown revitalization project

The Dubois County Council approved $500,000 to assist the City of Jasper in the Downtown Revitalization project currently underway.

The decision came after a lengthy discussion on the county’s responsibility to assist in the beautification and upgrades to the streets and sidewalks planned for the county seat.

Council president Mike Kluesner expressed concern for the county’s available economic development income tax funds in light of the unknown continued impact of the pandemic on the local economy. “Our uncommitted EDIT funds are about $852,000,” he said pointing out that in the 2022 budget, the county used $3.82 million in EDIT funds to support county operations.

The county is expected to get about $2.2 million in EDIT/LOIT funds for 2022, he added.

Under the downtown revitalization plan, the estimates for the work on county property — mainly the county courthouse — were about $340,000. This compared to the early estimate of about $4.3 million in total for the first phase of the project. Details on the project can be found here.

A driving factor in the redevelopment is a push to update infrastructure — water lines that are 100-plus years old as well as aged sanitary and storm sewer systems — as well as revitalize the area to match growth and development in the downtown and riverfront.

The new design renderings envision many elements that invigorate the downtown area. It includes the streets, alleys, and sidewalks within an area defined by Jackson, Fifth, Newton, and Seventh streets.

Kluesner pointed out that the City of Jasper appears to be well funded to accomplish the project on its own according to the numbers included in Mayor Dean Vonderheide’s State of the City presentation to the city council last week.

In attendance was Jasper City Attorney Renee Kabrick. To Kluesner’s comment, Kabrick explained that the numbers given were current funds but didn’t take into account the number of upcoming projects the city would be undertaking. She pointed to expansions and improvements to Mill Street and 36th Street that are being planned as well as potential projects associated with city’s comprehensive plan and the recently completed Dubois County Bicycle and Pedestrian plan.

“We don’t participate in those planning exercises to put the plan on the shelf and let them collect dust,” Kabrick said. “Those dollars are there but we have plenty of projects for which those dollars can be used.”

Councilman Craig Greulich said the infrastructure around the courthouse square including the water, sewer and other utilities under the street belonged to the city. “They want to enhance it and make it better,” he said about the plan comparing it to updating and renovating one’s bathroom. “I think we need to consider how we can contribute to help the county seat and the building.”

In the end, Kluesner said he was comfortable with the county contributing the $500,000 over two years in payments of $250,000. The motion was made, seconded and approved unanimously.

The City of Jasper issued a timeline associated with the project. The first advertisement for bids went out on January 20, 2022.

Here is the rest of the proposed tentative schedule.

Bid schedule

• January 27, 2022 — second advertisement for bids
• February 8, 2022 — pre-bid meeting for interested contractors
• February 22, 2022 — bids due/bid opening at Board of Public Works & Safety Meeting
• March 8, 2022 — bid approval/award contract

Tentative Construction Schedule:

• March 18, 2022 — notice to proceed with construction
• November 24 2022 to January 2, 2023 construction pause for about six weeks
• March 24, 2023 — substantial completion
• April 21, 2023 — final completion; about 56 weeks total

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911 Call Center move discussed

The council also heard of plans to move the 911 Call Center to the new jail under construction on Brucke Strasse.

Commissioner Chad Blessinger said the commissioners supported the move but since it would be costly (though covered by the Corrections and Rehabilitation Tax) he felt he should lay out the project for the council to allow them to chime in. He explained that it was estimated that the construction of the new facility in the jail would be about $765,000.

This figure didn’t include the costs associated with the move and updates to equipment.

According to 911 Director Stuart Wilson, an update was planned for the operations equipment at the call center before they began considering this move. That upgrade was set to take place in 2022, but they could wait on that expense if they moved into the security center and complete the upgrade as part of the move.

“I am a taxpayer, I don’t want to be wasteful,” Wilson said. “But what we do is important.”

The call center takes more than 38,000 calls a year and that number continues to increase. With the call center operators/dispatchers on duty for 12 hours per shift and not being able to leave the office, the updates that include more room and more comfortable furnishings are needed, according to Wilson.

Wilson also explained the move would add greater security for the call center as well as make it more accessible to law enforcement personnel. (Added this statement after the story was published since it was given as another important reason for the move. We apologize for the omission.)

Additionally, the Dubois County Health Department, which shares the building with the Call Center, would be able to expand to accommodate its current needs. Blessinger pointed out several issues the health department has with space for employees and paperwork they are required to store. Three health department employees currently share offices or use a printing room as an office due to space constraints.

According to Wilson’s estimates, the updates that would have been done to the 911 Call Center would likely have cost more than $300,000. This in addition to the cost of construction of the new call center.

The council gave consent to the move with a unanimous show of hands.

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The County Council took the following actions.

• Heard about the plan to add a new interpreter position to assist several county departments with translation services. The request came from the county courts, probation and prosecutor’s office but the health department could use the services of a translator as well. “We have a need fairly regularly,” Judge Mark McConnell told the council. Health Department Director Shawn Werner said the health department could use the services of an interpreter when they deal with Hispanic business owners and Hispanic individuals in the community asking about health-related issues. The council said they would need to see more information regarding how many hours they new position would require before they approved funding it.

• Heard about a new cook position at the Dubois County Security Center but it did not require any action from the council

• Approved funding to be used for Covid testing and other Covid-related expenses (nurses, Covid testing, contact tracing for the health department and local schools) as part of the Co-Ag Public Health Crisis Response Grant in the following categories: Personal services — $121,595; Supplies — $100,000; Other Services — $100,000; Capital Outlay — $118,405.

• Approved a transfer from the vaccine and immunization grant of $11,350.69 to the personal services/PRN position fund for the Dubois County Health Department. Health Department Director Shawn Werner said the money was available to cover travel expenses but the state allowed them to use if for PRN services and since the department was relying on PRN services as it responds to Covid, he wanted to use that money for that fund.