The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1386251
Law enforcement liability coverage cost increases By Janice Barniak Gibson County Commis- sioners were walked through a number of insurance chang- es, touching on everything from law enforcement liability, to building insurance, to cor- rectional facility insurance, to cyber crime. Law enforcement liability insurance has gone up this year due to civil disruption and optics on law enforce- ment, so liability is at an all- time high, said insurance agent Brian Hancock. The deductible, should the county have a claim, would be $25,000 on law enforcement li- ability. As for the jail, the agent said all facilities are facing the same issue. "When we talk about cor- rectional facilities, the num- ber one issue in our country is overcrowded and under- staffed. It's nobody's fault," Hancock said. The cost inflation for law en- forcement liability insurance is not unique to the county ei- ther. "It's not a Gibson County problem as much as a nation- al issue," said commissioner Warren Fleetwood. "Back the blue." The insurer talked about a rise in cyber crimes, ran- som-ware and extortions tar- geting municipalities, for which the county has $1 mil- lion coverage, which can take the form of paying ransom or fixing problems in the hacked system. While municipalities are seeing average extortion claims from half million to $2 million, many cannot afford to raise their coverage. When Fleetwood asked where the attacks were com- ing from, Hancock said they were international. Commissioners passed al- lowing auto-renewal on the coverage, even as they plan to look at whether they need increased protection against cyber crime. Attorney Jason Spindler said he'd read of noteworthy attacks in Indiana. "I don't know if $1 million would cut it," he said. Gibson County Commissioners set TIF timeline By Janice Barniak Commissioners discussed TIF requests with the Fort Branch Johnson Township Library during their meet- ing June 15, as the library di- rector, Laura Happe, asked what the library needed to do to move on to the redevelop- ment board. Commissioner Warren Fleetwood had suggested commissioners had more questions for the library, and Happe requested a list. Fleet- wood also said he wanted to set a timeline so all possible projects that might want to come before the redevelop- ment board before the Toyo- ta TIF expires could be heard at one time. He suggested a September deadline for prospective proj- ects. "I think it's too long. They need to get working. They have the ability to go after grants, and need to know the answer," said commissioner Mary Key. Fleetwood said that be- tween the YMCA and Fort Branch Community Center, there will likely not be TIF funds available in the near fu- ture. Happe said the library un- derstands that, but they're looking at a bridge loan they could get and knowing their potential funding may help them find grants. Key said the important fac- tor to her was knowing the li- brary can qualify for TIF fund- ing, as libraries have qualified before, whereas other projects might not meet that criteria. "Waiting until September is way too long, I think," she said. "We've been talking about this stuff for a long time already." Commissioner Kenneth Montgomery agreed. Key suggested the end of July as a timeline for propos- als. Owensville Town Council member Corey Taylor came with a $27,000 potential proj- ect, and was told to consult with others who had gone through the process about how to possibly get funding to bridge the gap. "Right now, near money is not there, it's basically al- ready spent," Fleetwood said. "We have to look and see when some would come available." Highway Department to buy loader By Janice Barniak Gibson County Highway Dept. Supervisor Brant John- son was approved to buy a $150,000 John Deere loader by Gibson County Commis- sioners June 15. Right now, he said the county is spend- ing a lot of money in main- tenance on the loader they have. If ordered now, the county could expect to receive the loader in November. The county would have around $ 60,000 in trade-in credit from the current ma- chine. Padded cell strains unpadded budget By Janice Barniak Gibson County's jail needs padding replaced in the pad- ded jail cell after an inmate destroyed it, but Sheriff Tim Bottoms said that the $ 6,825 will strain the $20,000 he has left in his jail budget for the year. Charges were filed against the inmate for the damage, but other building mainte- nance issues have taken a toll on the sheriff's resourc- es, and he asked if the coun- ty could find the money in the budget from somewhere else. "I know we need it. I know Tim's budget is short. With- out looking at the budget, I don't know if we can afford it at this point in time...We would have to look at what we've got, and where we've got it," said commissioner Mary Key, who added the county's building fund has also taken a few major hits this year. Schwomeyer places 33rd at state finals By Andy Heuring Wood Memorial senior Paxton Schwomeyer fin- ished 33rd in the state finals last week at Carmel. "It was an awesome ex- perience like none other," said Schwomeyer of his two days competing against the best players in Indiana. He showed he can play with the best players in the state. He shot a one over par 73 on the first day, including a three- hole streak of birdies on holes three, four and five. The championship was played at Prairie View in Carmel from the black tees, which are 7,073 yards with a slope of 137. The three holes he birdied, three through five, play 590, 215 and 363 yards. "I had an awesome first day. It was exactly how I wanted things to go," said Schwomeyer. It was good enough to get him into the final pairing on the second day. "I put my- self in a great position," said Schwomeyer. He struggled on the sec- ond day, starting with a dou- ble bogey on the first hole. He still shot a 12 over for an 84. It wasn't the score he was hoping for, but he fin- ished tied for 33rd out of 102 players, who are the best 102 high school players in the state. To qualify for the state, a team had to be in the top three teams or top five in- dividuals in the sectional and then again in the regional to make it to Carmel. Schwomeyer was in the first group to go off on Wednesday, playing with the eventual champion, Kash Bellar, of Peru, who shot 69 for six under, eight shots ahead of second place Jacob Modleski, of Guerin Catholic. Schwomeyer said Ball State and Indiana Universi- ty's coaches were following his group. "I'm already com- mitted to Vincennes Univer- sity, but it was still a little bit of pressure. It wasn't why I played bad. I know I could play with them. I wasn't chas- ing Bellar, I knew I couldn't catch him." "I was hitting the ball well, it just wasn't going where I wanted it to go," said Schwomeyer. "I kept telling myself not to give up. I tried to make an adjustment half- way through the round, but the results didn't change." "It kind of stung a little," said Schwomeyer of his 33rd place in the tournament. But he said it was a great expe- rience. He doesn't have many tour- naments on his schedule this summer, other than to play in the Evansville Men's City tournament. The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, June 23, 2021 A-9 Submit East Gibson news items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: egnews@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg EAST GIBSON SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY? Email eastgibson@pressdispatch.net Jail project looks at construction management firm, locations By Janice Barniak Jail consultant Byron Sanders said he expects to bring six configurations and site options to Gibson Coun- ty Commissioners in July af- ter receiving Gibson County Sheriff's Office input. He also recommended a construction management firm, and said he'd solicited input from 10 companies, and three firms have come to the top based on their ability to take on this type of project. He said the jail steering committee would start se- lection the next week, but currently he expects the jail to still be on budget and on time. Solar project economic dev. agreement passed By Janice Barniak Gibson County Commis- sioners signed an economic development agreement with Tenaska June 15 in their reg- ular meeting with two com- missioners in favor and com- missioners' president War- ren Fleetwood abstaining. According to attorney Ja- son Spindler, Fleetwood has family potentially being of- fered an incentive from Te- naska, so even though it's not legally a conflict of inter- est, he asked Fleetwood to abstain to keep an appear- ance of propriety and to be consistent with a precedent by county council member Craig Pflug, who abstained from a similar vote when the EDA came before the coun- cil. Rick Reed, local represen- tative for Tenaska, said the company had worked with the council and commis- sioners. "It came out really good for the county," he said, adding that the company has a buy- er lined up for the electricity the project creates. In a meeting May 11 with the council, the coun- cil passed the version 10 of the agreement, in which the county receives an economic development payment upped from $1 million to $2 mil- lion over the first five years, during their 100 percent tax abatement, with an addition- al $2.1 million potential eco- nomic development payment that could happen in years six through 10, based on how low the tax rate is during those years — if the tax rate is lower, the payment by the company will be higher. The company has also agreed to provide $200,000 in solar work for any build- ing the county owns where the county would decide to install solar panels. Spindler said the company had been cooperative and he was satisfied with the docu- ments provided. What's in a name? YMCA naming stirs controversy By Janice Barniak Cecil "Bob" Allen asked commissioners in their reg- ular meeting June 15 why the new YMCA coming to Princeton would be named, according to him, the Toyo- ta YMCA. Toyota Motor Manufactur- ing of Indiana gave $1 million to the building of a local YM- CA, but the bulk of funds — $13 million — will come from the county's tax increment fi- nancing money, (TIF). The TIF money was col- lected from the Toyota TIF district, created when the company first came to the county. The TIF fund cap- tures a portion of the tax dollars Toyota pays and uses those dollars to help finance development in the area of the new venture, (common- ly streets, sewers and park- ing lots), as determined by the redevelopment board. When the TIF expires, as it will in 2025, the tax burden for Patoka and Union Town- ship citizens is expected to go down, barring an unfore- seen circumstance. "The citizens of Gibson County spent $13 million compared to their $1 mil- lion," said Allen. Commissioner Warren Fleetwood said he's had a few phone calls inquiring about the name. "I really don't have an an- swer for that. I wasn't includ- ed in that process," he said. "None of us were," said commissioner Kenneth Montgomery. "At the fairgrounds, Gib- son County citizens gave $4 million. But look who's name is on it," Allen said, in refer- ence to the Toyota Events Center. According to a YMCA rep- resentative, no one had antic- ipated the $13 million sup- port from the TIF funding, which was larger than they had hoped. It's lake front property — almost Gibson County's only county-owned park, Hop- kins Family Park in Fran- cisco, will have a lake af- ter the construction is fin- ished this summer and the lake has time to fill up. Other improvements fund- ed by a Dept. of Natural Resources grant include bathrooms, walking trails and more. The property was donated by the Hop- kins family as a match for the grant.