The Press-Dispatch
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Date: ______________ CVN ________ CALL 812-354-8500 Local Subscribers' Price 475 or 476 zip codes and every week, it's the gift that keeps on giving. One-Year Subscriptions Local (475/476 Zip Code) ......... $35 State of Indiana ......................... $38 Elsewhere in USA ...................... $55 Online Only ................................. $35 One-Year Senior Rate Must be 65 or older. Write "senior" on form below. Senior Local Rate ...................... $32 Senior State Rate ...................... $35 Senior USA Rate ........................ $52 35 $ Longer subscriptions available. Call for details. A-6 Wednesday, December 8, 2021 The Press-Dispatch Nossett cited for OVWI By James Capozella A traffic accident at 204 E Main St. on Thursday eve- ning in Petersburg resulted in OV WI charges against Tif- fany Sue Nossett, 34, of 151 N. Nichols Ave., Petersburg. Pe- tersburg Officers Chad Mc- Clellan and Zach Loveless were dispatched to the acci- dent that involved a tri-axle truck driven by Mike Wood- land and a Ford Edge driven by Tiffany Nossett. Woodland was backing in- to his driveway when Nos- sett attempted to pass on the right, according to the report. The Ford Edge sustained se- vere damage to the rear driv- er's side, according to McClel- lan's report. Nossett said she was scared when it happened and drove home, but then re- turned to Casey's parking lot, where Woodland identi- fied her. Officer McClellan noticed a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on her breath, wa- tery eyes, slurring of words, very unsteady balance and poor manual dexterity. When asked how much she had to drink, she stated two shots of vodka after work. Nos- sett failed field sobriety tests and had a BAC of .298 on the portable breath test. A fter a 20 -minute observation period at the jail, the intox EC/IR-II test result was .286 BAC. Fol- lowing those results. Nossett was transported to Daviess County Hospital and medical- ly cleared for incarceration in the Pike County Jail. City proposes water rate increase to fund new water plant By Andy Heuring Petersburg City Council re- viewed a proposed water rate increase that will be needed to pay for a new water plant. They will be opening bids on December 13 on an extensive water improvement project, including building a new wa- ter plant, new water storage tank, a new water line down Main Street and Phase II of the sewer plant. Deen Rogers, of Baker Tilly, went over the rate study with the council during the Mon- day night meeting. Rogers said he had two alternatives for Petersburg to consider. "We like to give you options so we aren't making manage- ment decisions." Rogers said the study as- sumes Petersburg will have to borrow the full estimated cost of the water projects of $ 9.23 million. He said the typical in- terest rate is now below two percent and their study was base on 2.3 percent. He said the projections were a worst case scenario, adding that the rate study is based on project estimates from several years ago. Klipsch said the city started on the project back in 2015. Deen warned construc- tion costs may have taken some big increases since then. Klipsch said Petersburg was not able to get a grant for the water project because Pe- tersburg had such low water rates compared with other municipalities in the area. Rogers went over the typi- cal costs each year for Peters- burg and the revenues. Rogers said The River Birch Farms, which is a large volume water customer, wasn't in operation all of one of the two years they studied. He added they were a big enough customer to lower Pe- tersburg's water rate by eight or nine cents. The two options proposed by Baker Tilly were based on an average bill of 4,000 gal- lons a month. Option I would increase the bill by $10.32, while Option II would in- crease the bill by $10.76. The difference in the two options was how they set up their pay- ment in lieu of property tax- es. One option called for mak- ing a payment to themselves for $18,900 a year or $42,700 a year. The increase in water bills per month would be either 47 or 49 percent. Rogers said the minimum use water customer who now pays $15.68, after the proposed increase, would pay $23.05 with option I or $23.36 with option II. Once the project bids are opened next week, they will be able to finalize the rate study because only then will they know the costs. Petersburg received a $4.23 million grant from the Eco- nomic Development Agency for the water project. He said he hoped that would help off- set the increased construction costs as well. Klipsch said the other thing they have going for them is the American Rescue Funds of $174,000 can also be used for water and sewer projects. Klipsch and Rogers both pointed out that even after the proposed increase at ei- ther proposed amount, Pe- tersburg would still have one of the cheapest water rate. It would be $ 32.28 or $ 32.72. Rogers' chart showed Wash- ington with a rate of $ 33.90, Jasper $ 39.20, Spurgeon at $42.90, Oakland City at $44.45 and Winslow at $57.80. This was based on 4,000 gallons a month with a 5/8 -inch meter for all the communities. How- ever, Clerk-Treasurer Tammy Selby said Petersburg did not have a 5/8 -inch meter rate. Rogers said before they could enact the rate, they would have to have a public hearing. He said the first pay- ment on the public debt for the water payment would be De- cember 2023. Klipsch and Clerk-Treasur- er Selby said it takes at least 90 days after the city would adopt the new rates for them to be billed at that rate. "I sure hope we don't have to rebid this," said Klipsch. He said if they do, it probably wouldn't happen until Janu- ary 2022. Petersburg also passed a resolution to pay a premium bonus to workers who were working in the office or out in the field during COVID. The resolution states, "The City of Petersburg has a plan for the City to spend approxi- mately $ 32,000 to $40,000 for premium pay to eligible em- ployees, with the remainder available for water and sewer projects." "We need to do this. We have some of the best and most dedicated employees. I'm glad we got the opportu- nity to give them some extra pay," said Councilman Gary Leavitt. Councilman John Melhiser agreed with Leavitt. "They deserve every pen- ny," said Council member Jody Hoover. In other business, Mayor Klipsch told the council their Community Crossroads pav- ing work that was scheduled for this fall was going to be delayed to the spring. He said the contractor was too busy to get to Petersburg before the cool weather set in. City Services Manager Ross Elmore said the High- way 61 project may be fin- ished as early as Thursday. He said it would depend on if the weather was warm enough to put down the thermal plas- tic road stripes. Elmore also said Phase I of the equaliza- tion and head works for the sewer plant was going to be delayed by about a month. The next Petersburg City Council meeting is set for 6 p.m. Monday, December 13, when they will open bids on the water and sewer projects. By Andy Heuring Pike County's COVID num- bers are continuing upward. "Cases are going up," said Pike County Health Nurse Amy Gladish. "We expected to see this around the holi- days. People are getting to- gether and it is colder so peo- ple are staying inside more," said Gladish. She said the number of ac- tive cases in Pike County was at 75 on Monday. "We see it go- ing up each week and we have the new variant looming." said Gladish. A month ago there were on- ly 10 active cases. Some good news about the new variant omicron was re- leased on Monday by the World Heath Organization. As of Monday there had been no deaths worldwide reported from the omicron variant. There were 75 new cases of COVID reported in Pike County over the last seven days. That is up from 53 the previous seven days in Pike County. There have been no new deaths in Pike County since Oct. 24, 2021. Pike County's number of new cases is trending much like the state's. Pike's peak- ed at 18 new cases on Dec. 1 and then dropped to two new cases on Dec. 5 but then bounced back up to 10 on Mon- day, Dec. 6 Indiana's new cases hit 6,113 on Nov. 30 then stayed at near 5,600 through Dec. 3 before falling to 3,052 on De- cember 5 and then jumping to 4,237 on Dec. 6. Hospitalizations in Indiana have steadily climbed over the last six weeks. It went up every day from the 2,244 on Nov. 30 to 2,642 on Dec. 6. The 2,642 hospitalizations are sim- ilar to the peak in September and the first week of January of this year. Pike County's 7-day all test positivity rate was at 13.6 on Tuesday. State-wide that num- ber is 14.7. COVID-positive cases trending upward, 75 active cases in county We're not afraid to shed some light on the truth. 812-354-8500 SUBSCRIBE TODAY!