The Press-Dispatch
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C-12 Wednesday, August 22, 2018 The Press-Dispatch EAST GIBSON NEWS Submit school news: Email: egnews@ pressdispatch.net Deadline: Noon on Friday WOOD MEMORIAL SPORTS SCHEDULED THURSDAY, AUG. 23 Boys' Varsity Soccer vs. Gibson Southern, A, 5 p.m. Girls' Varsity Volleyball vs. Tecumseh, A, 5:30 p.m. Boys' Varsity Tennis vs. NE Dubois, A, 4:30 p.m. MONDAY, AUG. 27 Girls' Varsity Volleyball vs. Shoals, A, 5:30 p.m. Boys' Varsity Tennis vs. Reitz, A, 4:30 p.m. TUESDAY, AUG. 28 Boys' Varsity Soccer vs. Shoals, H, 4:30 p.m. Girls' Varsity Volleyball vs. White River Valley, H, 5 p.m. Boys' Varsity Tennis vs. Princeton, A, 4:30 p.m. Boys' tennis loses 1-5 against Tecumseh The Wood Memorial boys' var- sity tennis team lost to Tecum- seh by a score of 1-5 on Monday, August 20, and junior varsity lost with a score of 0 -2. Wood Memo- rial Trojan Paxton Schwomeyer lost to Tecumseh's Woody Bruck- en 0 -6, 1-6 in the number one sin- gles. Even though the score does not reflect it, Schwomeyer played well. His opponent Brucken was able to start off with a good first serve and was able to keep up that consistently throughout the match. Jalen Doerner, who coach Bolin says "was not playing up to his full potential" after a re- al close match, lost in the num- ber two singles to Tecumseh's Jalen Oxley 2-6, 2-6. Playing in the number three singles, Tro- jan James Gates, who was "be- ing very consistent and able to keep the ball in play especially on the deciding points," accord- ing to Coach Bolin, defeated Te- cumseh's Kade Brown 6 -2, 6 -2. A fter a close match, number one doubles players for Wood Memorial Ryan Memmer and Braydon Bell lost to Tecum- seh's Logan Arnold and Kinzer Flowers 3-6, 2-6. While num- ber two doubles Trojans Isaian Norrick and Jacob Elaman, who "had trouble with consistency and keeping the ball in play," ac- cording to Bolin, lost to Dylan Greenberg and Pete Brucken, of Tecumseh, 1-6, 1-6. Both teams played well, Wood Memorial just came in short this game. They play Northeast Dubois next on Thursday, August 23. Council discusses where to make cuts By Janice Barniak As the Gibson County Council took in all the requests of county departments last week, they not- ed the biggest line item was per- sonnel, and if there were no raises, they could afford to pass all the de- partments' wish lists; however, no one was actually considering not giving county employees a raise. On the other hand, Council- man Jeremy Overton noted that if the wage increase was $1500 per employee for the year, of the $ 395,000 expected income growth next year, approximately $ 300,000 of it would be wages for the 200 county employees. "We're going to have to come up with a compromise between," said Overton, noting big issues like a county landfill and a jail upgrade were on the table. Councilman Bill McCon- nell said he believed the council missed out on an opportunity by not making a broad safety tax to support emergency services. Overton disagreed, saying that the county's funds are growing every year. He suggested half the $1500 — $750 —as the starting point for discussing raises. Sheriff Tim Bottoms requested an additional deputy for the de- partment and two additional jail- ers—which will cost $ 36,041 per officer before covering their holi- days and overtime. He also requested employee uniform stipends go from $ 600 per employee to $750 per employee. The council discussed wheth- er increasing salaries for jailers would help retention. On one hand, in Warrick Coun- ty, the officers are starting at $ 3,000 more per year in commu- nity corrections, and the sheriff recently did lose an employee to Warrick—the officers don't even have to go that far afield, however, as Princeton Police Department also pays significantly more than corrections officer work. Commissioner Steve Bottoms, who was giving input at the meet- ing, estimated the pay difference between the county and Princeton Police at $11,000. He said Evans- ville dispatchers are also making $5 per hour more than Gibson County's dispatchers. Councilman Jay Riley, who works for Princeton Police, said there probably would be more ap- plicants if the salary was raised, but jail work is considered a foot in the door to get experience for other positions. The council also discussed whether the current generation was more prone to moving than the previous. Looking for other places to cut, the council preliminarily struck Judge Rob Krieg's request for a judicial supplement that would provide an extra wage many oth- er counties give their judges. They also preliminarily cut the computer upgrades suggested by Parrish Consulting. For the Gibson County High- way Dept., Supervisor Chuck Lew- is had suggested a 20 -percent in- crease across the board, which represented utilizing the new gas tax. Councilman Jay Riley said the county roads used to be main- tained at a lower amount, and the county has already doubled the amount of road paving completed and gone for many grants that pro- vide improvements. "There's got to be a breaking point somewhere," he said, a point at which county roads were main- tained adequately. "We're spending substantially more," Overton agreed. "Can we do a little less and al- leviate some of the other prob- lems," Overton asked Commis- sioner Steve Bottoms, pointing es- pecially to addressing the county's landfill, which the county is pay- ing a significant amount to have monitored until it can meet envi- ronmental standards. If the landfill could be made to comply with state regulations, it would save the county in the long run. Bottoms said he would go to the commissioners and ask. Riley asked if the highway de- partment would be able to stay even with what they spent last year. "It's a double-edged sword be- cause on the other hand, they get so much more done," Over- ton said. Boys' tennis defeat North Daviess 3-2 The Wood Memorial boys' var- sity tennis team pulled in a win against North Daviess on Tues- day, August 14 by a remarkable score of 3-2, and junior varsity won with a score of 2-0. All of the boys on the team played well for this being the first match, and with a lot of heart. Trojan boys' tennis coach Dan Bolin states, "It is always nice to win the first match of the year. There still is room for improvement, but they played with consistency and it paid off in the end." Trojan Paxton Schwomeyer lost to North Daviess' Garrett Huff 1-6, 1-6 in the number one singles. Wood Memorial's Jalen Doerner lost to North Daviess' Landon Mokris 2-6, 3-6 in the number two singles. In the num- ber three singles, Trojan James Gates won over North Daviess' Dryce Graber 6 -2, 6 -0. In the number one doubles, Wood Memorial's Ryan Memmer and Braydon Bell defeated North Daviess' Aric Wade and Brooks Helms 7-6 (11-8), 5 -7, 10 -8. Tro- jans Isaiah Norrick and Alex Poe won over North Daviess' Markus Britton and Conner Mullins 6 -4, 6 -3 in the number two doubles. Jail debate continues; council plans another two jailers in 2019 By Janice Barniak The county council heard a plea from commissioners to add four additional jailers Tuesday morn- ing, but elected to stay the course with the plan to add two in 2019, despite a request to add four more people—a number that would still leave the jail seven jailers short. Commissioner Stephen Bot- toms gave the council a copy of an email from the county's insur- ance broker, detailing concerns of the company that underwrites the policy, including overcrowding and understaffing. "I want to express my fear of what is occurring here," Bottoms said. "You can read between the lines here. If we lose our insur- ance coverage, it goes to the open market. On the open market, they know why we're coming to them." He said on the open market, in- surance can be as high as 50 per- cent more than the county current- ly pays, and paying more on insur- ance will be money that can't go to- wards a new jail or more jailers to fix the problem. "The taxpayers are going to be spending money that's not going to fix the problem over there," Bot- toms said. "Please add more jail- ers. I don't feel like that's enough. We're being cited." Councilman Bill McConnell firmly turned down the request, saying he is waiting for the Su- preme Court to rule about bail, which, if lowered or abolished, would help empty the jails of peo- ple awaiting their court date. "I thank we stated our case pretty well before. I don't know if anyone has changed their mind," he said. "If the insurance company that covers us now wants to push us further, I think the fight starts there. We're the fiscal body...we're not in the mood right now to come up with any additional funds." Bottoms said that judges have told him the earliest bail ruling would be 2020. "You write a letter to the Depart- ment of Corrections and tell them that we're working in a direction here...Tell them to stop sending us any additional prisoners," McCon- nell said. "The law is—" began Bottoms. "I don't care what the law is—" said McConnell. "I do," said Bottoms. Level six prisoners used to be held in state-run facilities, but as overcrowding hit, the state has re- quired county facilities to host the inmates. The state pays Gibson County per day for hosting their prison- ers, but the amount paid doesn't meet the costs incurred, Bottoms has said in the past. Councilman Jay Riley said he wanted to move forward with pro- viding more people—just the oth- er two that could show a good faith effort toward improvement. "I'm worried that's not enough," Bottoms said. Councilman Craig Pflug said more people might not be the long- term solution the council is look- ing for; the council is also looking at what it would cost to build a new facility. Sheriff Tim Bottoms, in his monthly report, said there were 130 inmates in the 120 -capacity jail. He added the jail is supposed to operate at 80 -percent capacity; in the past he's explained that al- lows the jailers to segregate some inmates from the general popula- tion. "We're not moving on this," Mc- Connell said. "I'm not going to forget it," Bot- toms said. "You're just wasting our time here," McConnell added. The council approved moving more than $ 9,000 into the Sher- iff's Department overtime fund be- cause the county has lost officers to sickness, other employment and the military. County Council decides against abatement citing economic boom By Janice Barniak Gibson County Council mem- bers said they would not increase tax abatements for Beelman Trucking, a recent addition to the county, for the company to grow from 28 to 77 employees. Beelman attorney Krista Lock- year, said the company filed for ad- ditional abatements after deciding a Gibson County expansion looked more promising than their origi- nal plan to expand in Indianapolis. "We absolutely love Gibson County and the workforce," Lock- year said. The company's plan was to dou- ble their original investment, driv- ing it up to $1.25 million, hiring predominantly truck drivers. "We really want to make it a very big workforce in the county. The idea and hope now is to make it huge instead of just servicing the coal mine," Lockyear said, passing out a tax abatement analysis that would represent $72,600 abated over five years. "They will continue to thrive and grow in Gibson County," she said. Three employees came to speak on behalf of their employer. Darren Harmon, of Vincennes, a professional truck driver of two years, said sometimes promises don't get delivered from recruit- ment in the competitive industry, but that Beelman had the benefits and wages promised. Logan Kyle said he transitioned from a career as a coal miner into truck driving, but his first week on the job, his son passed away. When his son died, he called the owners and, despite his only work- ing for a week, they gave him time off with pay. "I don't think any other compa- ny would have done that for me, and I hadn't been there long, and I'm very grateful," he said. A third driver said their pres- ence locally has driven up the rates of the other companies hir- ing drivers. Councilman Bill McConnell was the first to speak against an abate- ment. "A lot of my friends and neigh- bors in business are having dif- ficulty finding employees," he said. "It puts pressure on peo- ple who have been here a long time...I would feel reluctant to put any more pressure on them at that time." He said 6,000 people drive into the county every day for employ- ment already. While Lockyear ar- gued driving up employment op- portunities raises the workforce in the long run and supports cre- ating additional housing, McCon- nell was not convinced, and other members agreed. Jeremy Overton said in talking to a South Gibson trucking com- pany, they already have trucks sit- ting, waiting for drivers. "I can't see subsidizing that in the future...that's where I stand," he said. Councilman Mike Stilwell said his constituents were against the abatement, and as a businessman, he said when he was in business, he didn't request money from the county. "We have a multitude of truck- ing companies here now," he said. Councilman Craig Pflug said any time a company chooses Gib- son County, it's positive in his opin- ion, but he saw the decision to move here as made because the compa- ny has already bought ground and begun hiring. In his opinion, tax abatements are to draw in inves- tors, but he felt that the trucking company would choose the area re- gardless. "I've talked to a lot of farmers, and they want us to think seriously before abatements in the future," he said. Councilman Dan Beard agreed. "I don't think it's something we can support right now," he said. GOT SCHOOL NEWS? Email: egnews@pressdispatch.net SEE A GREAT PHOTO? If you see something that you think should be photographed for the East Gibson page in the Press-Dispatch let us know at 812-354-8500. Or you can take the picture and e-mail it to egnews@pressdispatch.net. 820 Poplar Street, Petersburg, IN 47567 812-354-8500 egnews@pressdispatch.net net edition yeah, it's that fast! 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