The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1301434
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, October 21, 2020 D-3 EAST GIBSON Submit East Gibson news items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: egnews@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Mrs. Emily Hudson's Kindergarten class learned about Echolocation as part of their science curricu- lum. Pictured is Mrs. Hudson with Saylor Ireland. Kindergartener Chloe Sandifar listened to a tuning fork as part of an Echolocation lesson. The BTS kindergarten performed a science experiment to show how mother bats find their pups with their powerful sense of smell. Complete with their bat masks, the Kindergarten class stopped for a group photo. Front row, from left: Rusti Riley, Jackson Phillips, Saylor Ireland and Gabriel Harrison; back row: Gabi Heavrin, Chloe Sandifar, Ross Maikranz, Emalyn Doerner and teacher Mrs. Emily Hudson. BTS participated in National Walk to School Day, but because of COVID, we couldn't do our tradition- al walk to school, so instead teachers took each class outside for an afternoon walk on school grounds. Above, third and fourth graders walked on the school grounds. Kindergarteners walked around the school as part of an adapted National Walk to School Day. HONOR ROLL Mrs. Jane Reed, princi- pal at Barton Township El- ementary School, would like to announce the hon- or roll recipients for the first grading period. FOURTH GRADE "A" Honor Roll Harper Gray Lexi Sandifar "A-B" Honor Roll Haley Deisher Presley Heichelbech Christian Tkacz FIFTH GRADE "A" Honor Roll Carly Schoonover Gavin Strickland "A-B" Honor Roll Savannah Craney Rochelle Heichelbech Cirra Lemeron Kaigan Nossett Emma Pierce Ireland Tkacz SIXTH GRADE "A" Honor Roll Elle Schlottman "A-B" Honor Roll Keziah Doerner Isaiah Richardt Kinley Stoffel Jesse Willis Barton Township Elementary Police receive 5K for body cams By Grace Miller Columbia Township Advi- sory Board member Tonya Deffendall and board trust- ee Shannon Green present- ed the Oakland City Police Department with a donation of $5,000 at an Oakland City Council meeting Oct. 13. Police Chief Tim Gaines accepted the check and said the money was going to buy body cameras and the sys- tems to accompany them. "We would like to thank you and the officers for your service to our community," said Green. The council also approved $200 towards the purchase of a refurbished radio, since of- ficers have been using a bor- rowed radio due to a recur- ring issue in one of the po- lice cars. Gaines told the council he was contacting Adult Protec- tive Services about a home posing a possible health haz- ard; the council plans to speak with their legal council about what can be done about the home. OC Council adopts budget By Grace Miller In the Oakland City Coun- cil meeting, the budget for 2021 was adopted, and May- or James Deffendall told the council the 2022 budget will most likely be smaller due to COVID-19. The council adopted the new salary ordinance for 2021, which applies to the mayor, clerk treasurer and council. Additionally, the sal- ary ordinance for the city em- ployees, attorney and build- ing inspector was adopted. Last week, Deffendall met with the insurance compa- ny, and they went through the current insurance policy and made suggestions. One issue brought to the coun- cil's attention was the pos- sibility for historical insur- ance for the old City Hall building, which would cost around $100 per year more than what they are current- ly paying. Deffendall encouraged the council members to look over the recommendations before making any official decisions. Oakland City awaits governor's Halloween guidance By Grace Miller The Oakland City council briefly discussed Halloween and trick-or-treating. They decided to wait until the governor's office releases a statement, and Mayor James Deffendall said he would ask around other communities to see what they do. "I don't want to be known as a hotspot. I would just rec- ommend against it," McGre- gor said, which received gen- eral agreement. OC Park Board requests 12 new campsites By Grace Miller Park Board president Phil Young told the Oakland City Council, during their meet- ing Oct. 13, he sent in the re- quest to the state to build 12 new campsites at New Lake. This is to see what kind of engineering the city will need to provide to add the new sites. At the time of the meeting, Young had not re- ceived a response. At the last meeting, the council approved the remov- al of three trees from Wirth Park. An additional oak lo- cated behind the commu- nity center was taken down and a preexisting stump was ground up, resulting in an ad- ditional $1,700 charge. The council motioned and ap- proved the additional work. The Oakland City Youth Baseball League requested to use the large shelter house at Wirth Park for batting cages during the winter. Deffendall said insurance did not find any issues with the request, but he wondered about the lack of heat in the building. Young said he had discussed it with the league, and they understood it might be too cold to use on certain days. "They're really, really put- ting a lot of energy and effort, and money into that field and the whole park out there, and I think there's a good group of young men that have tak- en that challenge to try and get that back up to where it was…" said Young. The council motioned and ap- proved the league's request. The council approved the purchase of a Club Cart with a sprayer to be used for small jobs around town. The main reason for this purchase was for the parks and recre- ation department to have the ability to sanitize the play- grounds, so the parks can be opened up again. Preliminary abatement for solar farm By Janice Barniak Gibson County Council ap- proved a preliminary abate- ment resolution for Elliott Solar Farm on Tuesday, af- ter adding an additional 700 acres that would increase the footprint and bring the town- ships affected to three— Center, Barton and Colum- bia. The project, valued as a $150 million investment, adds property to the Douglas Station area west of Somer- ville and east of I-69. Previ- ously, the properties were 75 percent in Center Township and 25 percent in Barton; the new land will change that. The council was consid- ering two options; the first is a five-year declining op- tion, abating 100 percent of the taxes the first year, 80 percent the second, 60 per- cent the third, 40 percent the fourth and 20 percent the fifth year. The second option was a five-year, 100 percent tax abatement, with a one-time economic development pay- ment of $750,000 to the coun- ty, which would be at the dis- cretion of locals on how that could be used. In the first plan, the money would go in- to the general fund, which has restricted uses, and is where many county expens- es, like employees and office costs, are taken. In the sec- ond plan, the economic devel- opment payment can be used for many more things, essen- tially at the discretion of the local decision makers. Some economic develop- ment projects discussed in- cluded directly funding proj- ects at East Gibson Schools, including connecting the el- ementary and middle school, and putting air conditioning in the gymnasium. One coun- ty has used economic devel- opment funds towards rural broadband. If everything stayed the same, said municipal finan- cial consultant Matt Eckerle, with Baker Tilly, then the tax base would be growing fast- er than the levies in those ar- eas, meaning homeowners in Center would see a $ 67.17 de- crease in annual taxes, and in Barton $ 62.20. Property taxes will not be abated for the company, how- ever. Councilman Craig Pflug abstained because he has property within the area in question. The final abatement hear- ing will be at 9 a.m. Nov. 10 at the North Annex.