County council discusses deputies, siren updates, sewer district

A couple of items to note with the Dubois County Council meeting held Monday evening.

You can watch the full meeting here and an agenda is at the end of the story.

Sheriff pushes back over lack of support for additional deputies

Dubois County Sheriff Tom Kleinhelter asked the seven-person council why they won’t support the additional deputies he requested late last year.

According to Council President Mike Kluesner, though they approved the two positions during the budget hearings, the approval was contingent on the county receiving the COPS Grant. That grant would have provided about $250,000 for the positions.

Kleinhelter pushed back at the council, stating there was a lack of funding. “When I originally addressed the need, there was a funding option presented,” he said. “It was not something y’all were wanting to do, which is fine, but I presented that. So I don’t like to hear that we don’t have a funding option because it’s there.”

Kleinhelter recommended the county enact a public safety income tax to help provide more funding for the department. However, those funds would be split between all the county’s emergency services, including the cities and towns departments.

He asked the council if they were considering other funding options.

Councilman Darrel Schmitt stated the council decided that to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money, they needed to utilize the available grants to offset the costs of those personnel.

“The need is not going away and the county is only getting bigger,” Kleinhelter told them, adding they would always be working with a deficit in deputies if they didn’t begin to address the staffing now.

Schmitt stated the census data showed the area the sheriff’s department covered was shrinking while the cities in the county were growing. “Do you really believe that,” Kleinhelter asked. “I think you know as well as I do that the county is growing by way more than the numbers in the census.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to support you and don’t want to support your employees,” Schmitt said. “If there is somehow to make this work and save the taxpayers a couple-two hundred thousand by waiting until later this year…”

“What if we don’t get the funding,” Kleinhelter asked.

Schmitt said he wouldn’t speak for the other council members but said it would be a bridge they will have to cross if it comes to that.

Councilman Doug Uebelhor said he couldn’t support the addition of the deputies without the extra support from the grants.

“We’ve added several new positions, and that’s been a strain on the budget,” he said. “So I think we just need to be cautious…because looking at the trends of the amount of money that we’re getting and spending, it’s not going in the right direction.”

The sheriff will be reapplying for the grant but stated he likely won’t know the status of that grant until later this year.

The council did recently approve a new deputy to fill a newly created position that requires the deputy to hold a degree in social work.

Council approves updates to county siren system

To ensure the county’s 22 weather sirens activate when triggered, the county approved funding to update the system’s signal process.

Dubois County Emergency Management Director Tammy Humbert said the current signal is the same one used by the paging system for the county’s fire departments. “That is our busiest frequency in the county,” she said. “And there are times the sirens don’t activate and the reason for that … there’s just too much going on.”

Humbert said she was able to go through the Federal Communications Commission to get a frequency approved specifically for the siren activation.

The updated broadcast system will be added to the cost of the updated 9-1-1 center being added to the security center. Communication Director Stuart Wilson noted the majority of the cost for the update is the addition of a backup to ensure the signal could be sent even if there are problems at the communication center.

The plan calls for new antennas to be added to the new security center and the Jasper Police Department so Jasper’s communication center can be the backup option.

“Whether we like it or not, people are really dependent upon the sirens,” Humbert said. “Even though I have preached for 30 years that the sirens are for outdoor use only.”

It is recommended that residents purchase weather radios to get the most up-to-date warnings issued through the National Weather Service. They can help program your radio if you purchase one.

Councilman Ryan Craig asked if investing in a cellphone-based system would be better than relying on the sirens. Humbert explained that mobile notification systems can be costly–many are subscription-based, and they still can’t guarantee residents will use it if offered.

The county council approved advertising $41,292 to be paid from the county’s EDIT fund to update the system.

Regional sewer district discussion

The council briefly discussed the status of the Dubois County Regional Sewer District during Monday’s meeting.

Kluesner noted that in a recent discussion with the Indiana Finance Authority about the State Revolving Loan Fund, the project had some limitations in meeting their approval guidelines for low-interest loans. Additionally, to apply for funding this year, the county would need to be ready to start construction in July if any funding was awarded–the project isn’t likely to begin until 2025 at the earliest.

The county has been working on bringing wastewater services to the county for several years. A study completed by Clark Dietz identified Haysville and Portersville as ideal areas to begin adding sewer services. The collected wastewater would be processed through Jasper’s Wastewater Facility.

Noting that the planned wastewater processing facility expansion on Jasper’s north side didn’t get funded last year, Kluesner said, “With no place to put the sewage….this doesn’t seem realistic.”

The formation of the Dubois County Regional Sewer District is important for the county to be considered for the loans. The county took another step in that direction last week as the Indiana Department of Environmental Management hosted the required public hearing for the formation of the district. Two people spoke at the required meeting. One resident was concerned they would not be allowed to remain off the system. Another resident asked if the county could install fire hydrants as they add the sanitary sewer lines since the work could possibly be done simultaneously.

Residents can still write in comments to IDEM until February 8. Send those letters to

Ms. Emily Faust
Office of Water Quality
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
100 North Senate Ave., IGCN-1255
Indianapolis, IN 46204

The county should know if IDEM will allow the county to form the district by the end of February.

Councilman Alex Hohl wondered if it would help with the funding if they considered a more populated area of the county to expand the services to.

Members of Clark Dietz will possibly be meeting with the council at the regular February meeting to discuss the project according to Councilman Kluesner.