Dubois County Commissioners hold final meeting of the year
The final Dubois County Commissioner’s meeting of 2024 was a brief affair compared to most meetings. While many average more than two to three hours in length, Monday’s meeting edged a bit over an hour.
Longtime Highway Superintendent Steve Berg gave his final report to the commissioners, who congratulated him on being named the Indiana Association of County Commissioners’ 2024 Highway Superintendent of the Year.
The commissioners held a brief discussion on using opioid settlement funds as part of a matching grant awarded to the Justice Reinvestment Advisory Committee (JRAC). The county agreed to match the grant with 10 percent of the funding. They were awarded $460,300, and the county has paid $10,000 of the matching funds so far.
Of the remaining $36,000, JRAC recommended $21,100 going to community corrections to help fund positions there, $10,000 to support the Dove House and $4,800 for the Next Step Men’s Recovery Home.
The commissioners ultimately favored allocating most or all of the funds toward new community corrections positions and decided to wait until January’s meeting for final approval. Commissioner Chad Blessinger said he would welcome input from representatives of the Dove House or Next Steps before the final decision was made.
They opened a quote from Pfaff Construction in Ireland for $107,052 to renovate/reconstruct a portion of the swine barn at the Dubois 4-H Fairground. The commissioners will consider approving the quote and awarding the contract at the first meeting in January.
Commissioners took several additional actions, including:
- Approving a training room use policy for the health department’s new space
- Approved a $5,110 change order for construction work on the renovation at the health department, including renovating a wall used by the emergency call center when it was located there
- Signed the annual service agreement with Dubois Strong for $59,260.
- Granted Heart of Jasper’s Courthouse use request for the Pamper My Princess event, which will be held from 9:45 to 2 pm on Saturday, February 22.
- Requested clarification and minor revisions to the Purdue Extension Office Rent Increase request from Southwest Indiana Child Advocacy Center Coalition, which operates Center on 5th where the extension office is now located.
- Heard they had received nine applications for the maintenance position at Community Corrections.
Editor’s note: We incorrectly identified the contractor for the swine barn project and the extent of the work on the swine barn in the original version of this article. It has been corrected. The story originally said Hopf Contracting was the contractor, and it was for the construction of a new swine barn. Pfaff Construction is the contractor to renovate/reconstruct a portion of the existing barn.
