Letter: Open door law and discussions with INDOT

Our elected officials should be aware of their duty to comply with Indiana’s Open Door Laws and Access Public Record Act. Those laws are sometimes referred to as Sunshine laws, APRA, or public meeting laws. The philosophy behind these two laws is that all people are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of their government and governmental officials and to ensure that actions of public agencies and officials are conducted and taken openly so that the public may be fully informed. 

A meeting is a majority of all the elected members of the governing body (i.e. council, board, etc.) for the purpose of taking official action. Official Action is defined by Indiana Code § 5-14-1.5-2(d) and includes more than simply voting on an item. However, Official Action does not include social gatherings, traveling to meetings, orientations focused on roles and responsibilities, caucuses, on-site inspections of a project, administering oaths, collective bargaining sessions, or considering an industrial prospect.

So, here we are with exceptions to the Open Door laws whereby government officials can have meeting without the public’s involvement or knowledge; and this appears to be what INDOT is doing with our City and County officials. INDOT appears to be meeting and discussing their desire to abandon the maintenance of US 231 through Dubois County including Huntingburg and Jasper. Is this an attempt by INDOT to have state money available to continue to do useless studies and to prosecute private property owners?

Like the “shot heard around the world,” the first salvo of Gov. Braun and INDOT’s lawfare was delivered Friday, May 16, 2025, in the Dubois County Courthouse in Jasper. Judge Nathan Verkamp ruled against 121 local property owners who had kept INDOT’s surveyors off their private land for about a year. They are protesting the governor’s pet project, the Mid-States Corridor.

Our state is struggling with a lack of funds, and INDOT is especially short on funds. Yet, despite these fiscal hurdles, Gov. Braun and INDOT are foolishly pouring millions of dollars into an unneeded and unwanted new terrain highway in Dubois, Martin and Daviess counties. This new terrain highway will cost taxpayers over $3 billion to construct a 52-mile highway through some of the state’s most productive agricultural farmlands.

INDOT, recently issued its Tier 2 Draft report. The draft, which is supposed to show the need for the highway, actually proved it was unneeded and unwarranted. This highway will only benefit a couple of local trucking and freight companies while destroying hundreds of acres of farmland. There are several Hoosier Heritage generational farms in the proposed path of the Mid-States Corridor. Some of them have recently been honored by Gov. Braun.

Indiana farmers and rural citizens all need to stand up in support of the folks in Dubois County. The Mid-States Corridor project is a travesty and if INDOT and Gov. Braun are allowed to go forward with this project all of Indiana’s farmlands will be at risk.

Jim Arvin
Rutherford Township
Martin County

To clarify, this is not Mr. Jim Arvin of Jasper, the former CEO of Jasper Desk