The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1331323
D-2 Wednesday, Januar y 20, 2021 The Press-Dispatch Amick replaces Michel on Redev. board By Janice Barniak SG Star-Times Editor editor@sgstartimes.com New Redevelopment Com- mission member Larry Mi- chel replaced James Amick on the board for 2021, intro- ducing himself last Monday as a person who had always been concerned about use of TIF dollars. "It looks like a lot of work to do. I agreed to serve just because I want to represent the taxpayers and see where the money is being spent, and see if I can make the dol- lars stretch farther," Michel said. "How much money is in the kitty? Is it all used up? " The answer was "no," but also that it's complicat- ed; there are many pending projects, and a few that need closed out and off the books. The board gave Michel the T V guide version of how a request becomes a project, and how they determine if it meets the important cri- teria of supporting the eco- nomic development district to which it belongs. In last five years, the board said they've started opening relationships with the school districts, working to in- crease the money that pass- es through to the districts. The Toyota TIF will ter- minate in 2025, so they're watching the projects that apply to that area closely. According to Phil Young, board member Mark Iun- ghuhn made it clear a few years ago the effect their de- cisions about pass-through had on the schools. "Making sure all your kids are educated is about the best economic development you can do," Young said. The board's next meeting will be 6 p.m. Feb. 8. Council grants court reporter overtime By Janice Barniak Gibson County Council approved overtime for court reporters in their regular meeting Jan. 12, after initial- ly vetoing overtime for all but emergency and health de- partments in the approved budget for the year. The council also approved a raise for the pre-trial ser- vices coordinator in a year when no raises were ap- proved in the budget by the council, except those hand- ed down by the state as man- datory. Judge Robert Krieg told the council, by law they had no choice about overtime unless they would hire more court reporters. Many court reporters are using the internet to work from home, and there are a large number of cases with information that the state re- quires to go into an online da- tabase, and the court report- ers keep up with that data en- try. Krieg said that as far as the pre-trial services posi- tion, when the director was hired, he understood the council was agreeing to hire her at a lower pay level, but that she would stay with the same raises she would have received if she'd remained with the probation depart- ment personnel, whose rais- es are mandated by the state. "The very first budget that comes along, you guys didn't do that. What I believe is you all have the responsibility to change to what you said you were going to do," Krieg said. The position requires a bachelor's degree, the same as the probation department director. "The probation salary is set by the state, but this one isn't," asked Councilman Dan Beard. Councilman Jay Riley said he didn't disagree with the raise, but said he wasn't ready to tie it to the state sal- ary schedule. Krieg said he believes it will follow the state salary schedule at some point, but that isn't required yet. Beard said he had reser- vations because no other un- mandated employee had a raise. "If we agreed to it, I think we've got to pay," said Coun- cilman Mike Stilwell. "I've been in law enforce- ment 17 years, and I can see the amount of work Bree is trying to do. I don't disagree with the raise," said Council- man Derek McGraw. Councilman Bill McCon- nell worried about the bud- get. "I don't want to put a com- plete chill on this meeting, but we're talking about op- erations and additional over- time. I want to talk about money. Our tax base is in a mumbo jumbo. We don't quite know where it is at this point. We're having a lot of write-offs," he said. "It's all money and why we don't have enough to do all those things." Ultimately, the council vot- ed unanimously in favor of both measures. Wood Memorial nipped in final minute A road trip to Pike Central for the Wood Memorial Trojan eighth grade resulted in a 45 - 42 win for the Chargers when Drew Dawson popped a three bagger for the last score with 43 seconds remaining. Bren- ton Fryrear got a 40 -39 lead for the Chargers with 1:45 to go, and then a rebound by Jake Pauw and a Wood foul sent Charger Barrett Cooper to the line for two and a 42-39 advan- tage with 1:14 remaining. Wood Memorial's Talon Strickland connected on a clutch three-pointer to knot things up at 42 all with the clock at 1:03. Dawson's three bagger broke the tie and held up with Wood's Hous- ton Schoonover taking a fi- nal shot at the buzzer. Wood called time out with six sec- onds left to set up the final play but couldn't make it happen. Houston Schoonover was the game's leading scorer with 15 points and Charger Drew Dawson was good for 14. Oth- er Wood Memorial scorers in- cluded Garrett Parke with 12, Memmer 11, Braden Nikeum 3 and Jared Stoltz one. Char- ger scorers were Barrett Coo- per 11, Brenton Fryrear eight, Jake Pauw 6, Randy Meece four and Ryan Whann two. The Chargers had the lead at 11-8 at the first stop, but then slipped to 26 -21 at the half when Schoonover, Parke. Memmer and Nikeum hustled in 18 markers. The Chargers came back with 10 markers to eight in the third, and then battled close for the win with a 14-8 fourth quarter. Memo- rial's Schoonover had a trio of threes in his 15 -point total. Dawson had two three-point- ers, and Meece and Cooper one apiece. PC: 11 10 10 14-45 WM: 8 18 8 8 -42 Seventh grade Trojan Talon Strickland (#23) drives inside at Old Petersburg Gym in Monday's 37-31 win over their hosts, the Pike Central Chargers. James Capozella photo Above: Houston Schoonover (#24) was the game's leading scorer in the Trojan eighth grade loss to Pike Central at the Old Petersburg Gym on Monday. Houston had a trio of three pointers and a total of 15 markers. Left: Trojan eighth grader Garrett Parke (#11) was good for a dozen points in Monday's 45-42 loss to Pike Central at the Old Petersburg Gym. Sheriff's Merit board meets The Gibson County Sher- iff's Merit Board met for its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 12. This committee meets monthly and makes deci- sions pertaining to standard operating procedures, hir- ing and disciplinary actions. At the recent meeting, board members elected Bruce Ad- ams as president and Joe Maxey as secretary. The Sheriff's Merit Board is made up of five members, three of whom are selected by the sheriff and two are vot- ed on by the deputies. Other members of the Merit Board are Jim Mc- Donald, Jon Adams and Jer- ry Basham. The 2021 meetings of the Gibson County Sheriff's Merit Board will be at 12:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month in the Gibson County Community Correc- tions Conference room, locat- ed at 112 E. Emerson Street, Princeton. Drury University announces Fall 2020 Dean's List Earning a spot on Drury University's Dean's List is a significant accomplishment; it means a student earned a grade point average of 3.6 or greater (on a 4-point scale) while carrying a full-time course load of 12 or more semester hours at Drury, a top Midwestern university, according to U.S News and World Report. In the fall semester, the fol- lowing student(s) made the evening school Dean's list: Tearee West, of Princeton. it takes 3 minutes to subscribe to Call 812-354-8500