Huntingburg Council: Multiple wins in Huntingburg fuels Stellar excitement
The news about the success of projects in Huntingburg is adding up.
Mayor Denny Spinner and department heads reported several major projects moving were forward or were completed during the Thursday night council meeting.
Spinner reported he had received an email from Pete Schwiegeraht of Miller Valentine Group on Wednesday with the best news of all.
“It was three words, ‘closed and financed.'” he said.
The acquisition of 30,000 square feet of the property at St. Joseph Hospital is done and work will begin very soon on the construction of the facility into senior housing apartments. A ground-breaking ceremony will be held in the next few weeks.
The hospital has been empty since 2007. Miller Valentine became interested in creating senior housing out of about a third of the property in 2013.
Stellar project
City Planning Director Paul Lake told the council that the first Stellar project, the extension of West 9th Street from Styline Drive to Moenkhaus Drive has received bids in preparation for the overpass project.
Spinner added that the lowest quote came in $300,000 under the city’s estimates. “But to have a project that had a number of bidders – a very, very competitive bid – and to come in at $300,000 under the engineer’s estimate is just a great indication to me of how much interest there is in our Stellar projects,” he said.
Spinner also says the low bidder is a local company and the awarding of the bid will be held during the Redevelopment Commission meeting on Tuesday, March 17th.
New Ambulance Bay
Also in the meeting, Energy Superintendent John Reutepohler made a presentation on the newly renovated emergency medical service ambulance bay that included before, during and after pictures.
The council praised the work of his department in both the quality of workmanship and the ability to keep the costs at around $20,000 under budget.
Mid-state Corridor
Hank Menke, president of the I-67 Coalition gave an update on the Mid State Corridor (I-67) project. Menke reported that momentum to complete the 38 mile project through Dubois County is high because of the assistance of legislators and key government leaders at the state level who recognize the importance of the project to southern Indiana.
Menke talked about the tremendous advantage in having State Representative Mike Braun on the Transportation Committee, because as a business owner in Jasper, he understands the need for the highway, and has influence with the commissioner of INDOT, Karl Browning.
Menke asked the council for an allocation of money towards the project and the council appropriated $5,000 this year and the same next year towards continued development of the road that will run through Dubois County north and intersect with I-69 in Washington.
The council also took the following actions:
– Approved adding Cole Meyer to the Huntingburg Volunteer Fire Department.
– Approved additional appropriations to the 2015 budget.
– Approved a report from the Redevelopment Commission. Clerk-treasurer Tom Dippel submitted an annual report of the revenues, expenses and fund balances and activities of the commission.
–Approved a resolution to sign a letter on the topic of Senate bill 309, which would give rural electric cooperatives in Indiana an unfair advantage by restricting the ability of municipalities to gain electric customers when land is annexed. The resolution states that the city of Huntingburg supports an amendment to the bill that would give residents of a potential annexed area the right to petition the IURC to choose the electric services provided by a municipality over a rural electric cooperative.
