The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1346684
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, March 3, 2021 A-3 LOCAL Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg COMMISSIONERS Continued from page 1 NEWS BRIEFS United Way-Phase III Pike Co. ERI grant now available Phase III (last phase), of the United Way, of Pike Coun- ty's ERI grant is now open. More than $17,000 will be on the table for qualifying ap- plicants. Phase III is specifically for "Long Term Recov- ery." Funds are not intended for reimbursement to agen- cies of loss of revenue due to COVID; rather, they are to help with moving forward in your work, re-building the community, and serving clients in need during these try- ing times. Thinking creatively and outside the box of how to still serve our community and those in need due to the COVID pandemic. Application deadline is April 1. To re- ceive an application or to ask any questions, contact UW Director, Krista Robinette at 812-582-9781 or unitedway- pike@frontier.com. WES Kindergarten/Preschool roundup starts soon Winslow Elementary School will be hosting their annu- al Kindergarten and Preschool roundup on March 9 and 12 respectively. School administrators ask only one parent per student come to roundup, due to COVID precautions. If the parent or child has any symptoms, they are asked to stay home, arrangements can be made for another day to bring your child in to be assessed. Kindergarten roundup will be from 4 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9. Four students will be scheduled for testing every 15 min- utes. Four teachers will be administering testing in four different classrooms. Parents will be seated in our entry area separated and masked. For an appointment, call 812-789 -2209. Preschool roundup is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, March 12. One student will be scheduled every 30 minutes to be tested for preschool. Mrs. McConnell will test the student in our conference room. Parents will wait in the entry area. For an appointment, call 812-789 -2209. Spring Break in a box The Pike County Purdue Extension office will be offer- ing free, "Make your own grass head," to all students in grades K-8. You do not have to be enrolled in 4-H to par- ticpate. The activity is limited one box per family. Contact the Extension office by March 12 to reserve your box. Boxes will be available for pickup at the fair- grounds on March 18 and 19 from 4-6 p.m. or at the Ex- tension office, March 18 -24 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 122 gallons $732. • $19.352 for two inch overlay in Lo- gan Township on CR300W from CR200S to asphalt 1,678 feet; tack oil 179 gallons $ 358. The commissioners voted 3-0 to ap- prove the county entering into an agree- ment with BakerTilly to do a comprehen- sive financial plan for the county. Paige Sansone of Baker Tilly told the commissioners the plan would look at 14 of the county's basic operating funds. "The main reason for doing this is IPL is decommissioning their coal plants." She said the plan would look at how that was going to affect Pike County's tax reve- nues and how the revenues would be af- fected by "circuit breaker" limits. The so called circuit breaker limits only allows the actual property tax paid by homeown- ers to go by a set percentage each year. Sansone said Pike County's impact from the circuit breaker law is about 11 percent of the property tax revenue al- ready. She said that could increase dramat- ically in the future as IPL shuts down units and the county loses assessed val- ue. Sansone said the study would go back three years and forward 10 years. County Councilman Jon Craig attend- ed the meeting. "I'm the one who has been driving this," said Craig of the com- prehensive review of revenues. He said things shifted dramatically when Pike County was notified IPL was shifting assets in Pike County to Morgan County, where they had a lower proper- ty tax rate. This happened despite those assets remaining Pike County, except on paper, they were moved to the lower rate in Morgan County. State law allows utilities to have assets taxed in any county where they have fa- cilities despite where the actual assets are located. "We were thrown such a curve ball last year with their asset shift. We all expect- ed to need to plan ahead. But the shift of assets to Morgan County really acceler- ated this," said Craig. Craig said Pike County had several funds that "aren't going to be sustain- able." He said the reassessment fund and the River Boat Fund, which pays the Sher- iff's Department retirement fund were not going to be sustainable and the Gen- eral Fund was going to take a big hit. He said Pike County's property tax rate had increased to such a point over the last few years that even with tax abatement the Ratts Solar Farm was go- ing to be paying more property tax in Pike County than in other surrounding counties. Craig advocated using Rainy Day Funds to pay for the study. Commissioner Flint asked how much the study would cost. Sansone said, "not to exceed $ 30,000." She added it would be helpful to the council because it would give them ac- curate revenue projects for the various line items in their budget. Commissioner Jeff Nelson asked if the school could use this study. "We will make it available to them," said Sansone. Commissioners were told they could give their approval "contingent upon it re- ceiving funding" from the county coun- cil. They voted 3-0 to approve the council entering into a contract with BakerTilly. The county council at last month's meeting tabled the matter. Commissioners also voted 3-0 to renew their casualty, property and liability in- surance policies with German American Bank. The county's premium increased from $252,438 over the last 12 months to $275,777 for the next 12 months. Tony Cochren of GAB Insurance told the commissioner about half of that in- crease was due to an updated appraisal of the courthouse. He said EMC Insur- ance, which is writing the policy for the county, had a large loss on a courthouse recently and ordered courthouses they cover to be reappraised. Cochren said the new appraisal of the courthouse increased its value from $ 9 million to $19 million. The items covered in the $275,777 premium are: property, general liability, linebacker, law enforce- ment, crime, inland marine, business au- to, umbrella, workman's comp and cy- ber liability. The property premium in- creased from $26,389 to $ 36,379. Overall it was about a 14 percent in- crease. Cochren said an increase in coun- ty payroll of about $250,000 also contrib- uted to the increased premium. Cochren said the current policy expired on March 3 and he didn't think they could get an ex- tension on that. Flint said he wished they had been told of the large increase sooner than two days before the policy expired. "I don't see we have a choice," said Commissioner Jeff Nelson about renew- ing the current policy, just two days be- fore it expires. "I will say EMC has been a good part- ner. I don't now if we have ever had a claim that wasn't satisfied," said Cochren. "I think we were satisfied as far as the payout. With the ambulance we had to negotiate a little," said Flint. Cochren said they had taken the coun- ty's insurance out to the market a few years ago and next year would be glad to do that again. The next commissioner meeting is set for 8:30 a.m. Monday, March 15 in the courthouse auditorium. Garrett charged with four counts including public indecency By James Capozella Tony K. Garrett, 46, 304 N. Cherry St., Winslow, has been charged with criminal trespass, public intoxication, public inde- cency and sexual battery in an incident on Saturday. It involved a 17-year old fe- male in a vehicle with Garrett at 300 N. Cherry St. in Winslow. Pike County Dep- uty Buck Seger responded to a complaint from Tony Garrett that Steven Robling had forced him to leave. When Deputies Buck Seger and Mike Willis arrived at Garrett's residence they were unable to locate him but found Tan- ner Veit nearby. Veit stated that earlier in the evening Tony had come to the res- idence and got into a car and exposed himself to a 17 year old girl in the pres- ence of Kasondra Austin according to Seger's report. Veit advised Seger that Tony Garrett kept touching the 17 year old's legs in a sexual manner and that the girl got scared and got out of the back seat and into the front. A fter other indecent actions and state- ments by Garrett, Kasondra told Garrett to get out of the car but he refused and the two girls ran to the house. While officers were filling out state- ment forms, Seger observed a male near- ly fall when walking and staggering from one side of the alleyway toward officers. Officers identified the male as Garrett and observed bloodshot eyes, heavily slurred speech and the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage from his person. A fter Garrett tested .22 on a breatha- lyzer, Garrett told deputies that he "didn't do anything" but then later admitted to Deputy Willis that he did get into the rear of the vehicle. Willis transported Garrett to the Pike County Security Center. READER GUIDE Subscriptions: Change of address: subscribers changing addresses will please give old address as well as new one along with phone number. We cannot guarantee prompt change unless this is done. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Press-Dispatch., P.O. Box 68, Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 or e-mail to subscribe@ pressdispatch.net. Subscription rates: One year: $35 for Pike County and all 475/476 zip codes; $38 in the state of Indiana; $55 elsewhere in the USA. Paid in advance. Subscriptions taken after noon on Friday will not receive a paper until the second edition after their subscription date. About us: Andy Heuring and John B. Heuring, Publishers Andy Heuring, Editor John B. Heuring, Adv. Mgr. Eric Gogel, Production Mgr. Monica Sinclair, Office Mgr. Cindy Petty, Adv. Sales Pam Lemond, Adv. Sales Brakston Farrar, Adv. Designer • • • Published every Wednesday by the Pike County Publishing Co. Phone: 812-354-8500 820 E. Poplar St., P.O. Box 68, Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 • • • Entered in the Post Office in Petersburg, Indiana for transmission through the mails as Periodical Mail, postage paid at Petersburg, Indiana – published weekly. 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Hernandez, 41, of Kingsport, Tennessee who was driving the FedEx truck was getting out of the truck when the collision occurred and was partially ejected. He complained of back pain, but refused medical assistance.