Alex Porter - Reporter

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SKIP TO 27:00 IN the meeting video to watch the council’s discussion and vote:

The Harrison County Council has agreed to increase funding for Harrison County Animal Control by a 6-1 vote. This increase includes the creation of a new full-time position and increase in allotment for part-time pay.

The majority of the council was in favor of this increase with councilmember Kyle Nix making the initial motion. Holli Castetter was vehemently opposed to the increase, stating that

“at some point, you got to say this is enough…you’ve got to get some outside funding.”

YOU CAN ALSO HEAR THEIR DISCUSSION AND VOTE by Skipping to the 27:00 Mark in our audio recording:

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The county council is currently holding their budget sessions and on Wednesday night the council voted to increase wages across the board by four percent with a total impact of $903,102 on the 2022 budget. The increase was approved unanimously.

To hear the discussion on the increase, click here and skip to 1:39 in the meeting video

At Tuesday's Lanesville School Board Meeting, superintendent Steve Morris said that

"it's been an excellent start to the school year. Yes, we've had some covid cases, yes we will continue to have some covid cases."

To hear the superintendent's report, skip to the 13:00 mark in our recording:

3 South Harrison schools will move to virtual learning effective Friday, August 20th...

Details on this development at Corydon Central Junior High School, Corydon Intermediate School, and Heth-Washington Elementary:

RECORDING BY LEAH PORTER

Last night the Corydon Town Council heard from Main Street Corydon in regards to their budget and funding going forward. Jim Koerber presented a request from Main Street to the town council of $50,000. This request was passionately debated and no consensus was reached.

The town council is reluctant to provide the funding. Town council president Les Rhoades stated that

“Our revenue from the county is not very much...I don't see how we can give you the $50,000."

As of January 1, 2021, the Town of Corydon has $2.4million in its general fund and $1.3million in riverboat. The general fund saw an increase of $250,000 in the general fund over the course of 2020.

CLICk here for a full report of cash & investments for the town of Corydon

To listen to this discussion, start our part 2 recording at the beginning:

Masks will be required for all students and staff at Corydon Elementary School starting Wednesday, August 18th.

Here is the official statement from CES principal Nissa Ellett:

Here is official statement from CIS principal Wendy Carter:

Mask mandate starting August 16th for North Harrison Schools, grades K-8.

Please the following statement from superintendent Dr. Lance Richards:

Parents, Guardians, Students, and Staff:

At this point everyone knows what is presently happening in regards to the Delta variant and the increased caseloads that are being seen in our area. At the time that we established our return to school plan, our county and district were seeing relatively few positive Covid cases. It seemed that our state, county, and community had turned a corner on Covid.

As a result of our current caseload, on Monday, August 16th, we are requiring all students and adults in grades K – 8 to wear masks in our buildings during the school day regardless of vaccination status, unless a medical situation or ADA compliance dictates otherwise.

At this point it is a two week masking requirement. We will reassess at that time to determine our path forward.

This requirement does NOT impact the high school at this time. We will continue to monitor their status and adjust if necessary.

At the outset we promised to examine the data as it relates to our school community specifically. We continue to track the numbers in our specific schools. If you follow the NH Covid Dashboard on our website, you will note that our elementary schools have been particularly impacted. Our middle school has seen several cases as well. Interestingly, our high school data has been very good with zero cases reported thus far in our students.

This year our main goal has been to return to full in-person instruction. We want to keep our schools open and our students in the classroom with direct instruction from their teachers. Everyone in our corporation is committed to closing the gap on the learning loss that many students experienced last year. We know that our school community wants this as well. No parent or educator wants a repeat of last year.

A big concern for us is the number of students who have to miss school due to contact tracing. Each positive case can then impact 20 to 30 students. This effort will shrink our close contact radius to three feet rather than six. At the close of last year our number of students in quarantine had been cut by more than half. Simply put it keeps more kids in school and in person. (Please note that the guidance on how we conduct contact tracing is set by the Indiana Department of Health. This framework is not something that we get to determine.)

As a reminder, federal regulations for public transportation require face coverings on school buses for all students and staff. This policy will continue until the federal entities change it.

At present, there are no mask requirements for outdoor activities.

We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we move forward. We fully recognize the divergent opinions on masks and Covid in our community. I have spoken with many of you on this topic. We will continue to monitor our data and adjust accordingly.

Sincerely,

Dr. Lance Richards

Superintendent

North Harrison Community Schools

ASHley Black - Reporter

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CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE MEETING VIA NORTH HARRISON’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

The North Harrison Community School Board Meeting began at 7:00p with all school board members present. The first 8 minutes include the adoption of the agenda, approvals for the July 2021 meeting minutes, claims, payrolls and the bank reconciliation. There were no school presentations this month, but the floor was opened up for public participation at the school board meeting.

Community members and parents of children in the school district, Ashley Black and Sara Beach, stepped to the podium to discuss implementing a mask mandate for grades K-6 due to climbing cases in the school district. As of 4:00pm on the date of the school board meeting, there were 17 confirmed student cases within the school system, 14 of which were at the elementary level.

Go to the 8:00 minute mark to see their comments.

The rest of the meeting included several resignations and new hire appointments, approval for a legal service retainer, and approval for the payment of the Teacher's Appreciation Grant. The meeting concluded with comments from each board member and a follow up from the superintendent, Dr. Lance Richards. Though each of them had different perspectives on the topic, every school board member expressed their support of a mask mandate policy that best represents what is needed for the school corporation.

Go to the 30:00 minute mark for each of their remarks.

Dr. Richards concluded the meeting by saying more information would be sent out Friday, August 13th, in regards to the topic. He also reiterated how important it was for students to stay home when they do not feel well, in order to help with transmission at school.

Nate adams - Reporter

Since they do not have their books, and won't until they make some preliminary decisions, the council has decided to cancel the Thursday Aug 12th meeting. This will enable the Auditor's office to compile the records requests the council has made regarding the salaries and wages of county employees.

The discussion at tonight's meeting proposed to raise all of the county employees to salary/wage levels at the median of counties surveyed for the 2020 salary report (based on 2019 data). Back-of-the-envelope calculations estimate this to cost around $305,000 plus PERF & FICA contributions. An across the board percentage increase will then be applied to all employees. The percentage increase will be decided at the next meeting on Wednesday, Aug 18th at 6pm.

TO HEAR THE DISCUSSION OF COUNTY EMPLOYEE WAGES AND SALARIES, SKIP TO 8:10 in our recording:

Additionally, councilmember Kyle Nix is quite concerned about oversight of Riverboat Funds. At his request, the council is requesting the budgets and expenditures of all township trustees offices and school districts. He is concerned that some recipients may be hoarding the funds "as they did in Elizabeth." Councilwoman Castetter expressed concerns that some trustees may have paid themselves or family members inappropriately or inappropriately charged expenses to the office.
(Reporters Note: Usually the oversight of a township trustee's office is handled by the township's Advisory Board.)

Also discussed was potentially bringing an end to the property tax debt reduction payments made to the schools. The council is concerned that they may need to raise property taxes in order to continue the payments in their current form and it may be more fair to all taxpayers if the payments were made to the taxpayers directly rather than to the schools on their behalf. Several members also expressed concern that the debt reduction payments have only encouraged the schools to accumulate more debt.

Fire districts were also discussed and the council is looking to provide them with $300,000 to be spent at the discretion of the chiefs. Several members expressed concern that the current method of payments just made a passthrough for individual volunteers to receive riverboat funds.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE MEETING VIDEO

Last night the council heard multiple presentations from government organizations regarding 2022 budget requests. Time markers in meeting video for the following departments:

April Breeden, Harrison County Animal Control - 37:00

Kevin Russel, Harrison County Highway Department - 38:30

Larry Shickles, Harrison County Parks Department - 41:00

Judge John Evans, Harrison County Circuit Court - 1:09:36

Kevin Russel, Harrison County Highway Department - 1:16:10

Harrison County resident Deborah Davenport also spoke to the council, advocating for increased funding for Harrison County Animal Control. Her presentation is a thorough description of the challenges this department is currently facing and the emotional strength of the HCAC employees.

She highlights how low HCAC salaries are in comparison to neighboring communities and has interviewed multiple HCAC employees about their experience.

If you are invested in this ongoing issue, we highly recommend watching her presentation:

To watch this exchange, click here and skip to 22:11 in the meeting video

At the Commissioners meeting Monday morning, county engineer Kevin Russel provided the latest updates from the Highway Department. Commissioner Jim Heitkemper shared thoughts about the recent $900,000 request that went to the Council in order "to pave these roads so we don't get behind the curve of keeping up the roads". He asked Mr. Russel to take out Doolittle HIll to reduce the overall cost before going back to the Council.

Heitkemper later relayed a comment he'd made at the "farm store" the other day saying:

"We need to move forward and start taking care of our roads... If nobody plays politics, we can get the job done by the end of the year."

Mr. Russel responded..."My best advice would be.... the way that's set up, council and commissioners have to work together to sort out what you're going to do.... your best bet is probably to reach out and talk to each one of those individually and see what you can do to make the case with them between now and next Monday."

Mr. Heitkemper responded, "I will do that, and I will continue to do that... sad thing is I only got 2 Council members that are really ready to go and call me back to talk to them..."

Today’s Harrison County Board of Health meeting included an update on the spread of COVID-19 in Harrison County and current vaccination status.

skip to 10:25 in THE recording to hear details from Carrie Herthel, director of the HC Health Department:

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After the first day of school for students, the South Harrison school board met to discuss industrial arts internships, covid-19 updates, and various policies.

To hear the superintendent’s report, skip to 18:00 in our audio recording:

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Parks superintendent Larry Shickles provided the Parks Board with an update on pickleball courts. After much discussion, the board voted to move forward with repairs to the existing courts at Rhoads Pool. These repairs will be funded via a grant from the Harrison County Community Foundation.

In addition to repairing the courts at Rhoads, the board voted to move forward with putting courts at the bottom of Hayswood Hill. This project is obviously in the very begininng stages and the first step is to create conceptual renderings and designs, which will cost an estimated $2500 and serve as phase one of the project.

Skip to 33:25 in our audio to recording to hear the discussion.

Skip to 53:30 to hear Shickles provide a possible timeline for courts at Hayswood.

Graylin Porter - Reporter

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CLICK HERE AND SKIP TO 1:46:55 to watch Voelker’s presentation and the council’s vote

Last night the Harrison County Council voted 7-0 to provide the Harrison County Economic Development Corporation (HCEDC) with a refundable deposit of over one million dollars . To watch Darrell Voelker’s original presentation for this request, click here.

This money will fund an extension of a natural gas pipeline from Grange Hall Rd to the business park at the Lanesville interchange. An unknown developer and company is interested in building a 250,000 sq ft distribution center at the Lanesville Business Park, but will not consider it unless natural gas is available. Indiana Utilities Corporation will have up to six years to repay the deposit to the HCEDC, with no guarantee it will be paid in full.

At this time Voelker is unable to provide the council or the public with more information on the developer or the company. He states that they have promised 300 jobs and over $20 million in investment. However, there is no specific timeline for either of those promises at this time.

Notably the only question asked by the council was when the money would be required. The council did not ask any questions about the gas line project, specifics about the company and its business, or return/risk tradeoffs for the investment.

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Friday’s South Harrison school board meeting featured presentations from prinicipals at each school. To hear from the secondary administrators on the status of their school and plans for the upcoming school year, listen to our audio recording.

Speakers with time markers:

Dr. Mark Black at South Central speaks first, starting just 15 seconds in. Keith Marshall at CCHS starts speaking at the 15:50 mark, followed by CCJHS prinicpal Jason Toler at the 33:19 mark:

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Graylin Porter - Reporter

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South Harrison Community School Corporation has amended their originally approved covid guidelines for the 2021-2022 school year.

The full meeting recording is up now on the site, skip to the 5:50 mark to hear the full discussion on the updated covid guidelines:

The major amendment to guidelines is that quarantines for unvaccinated staff and students will be required after close contact and/or exposure. Unvaccinated educators and staff are no longer considered essential and there are no extensions of federal days off. Skip to the 12:00 mark in our audio recording of today's meeting to hear Carolyn Wallace explain this.

As of right now, masks remain optional, but superintendent Mark Eastridge said that "could change."

Board members Karen Lopp and Diana Sailor vocalized their concerns. Lopp says she is "angry at the government, cause they are darn determined that everyone is going to get that vaccination." Sailor expressed her concerns about the safety of the vaccine for children and that "it's not fair to the kids."

This meeting also included reports from elementary administrators.

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Over one hundred people attended tonight's Lanesville School Board meeting and many parents voiced their thoughts on a presentation on the legal status of transgender students by the corporation's attorney, Sunnye Bush- Sawtelle.

Sawtelle outlined the details of recent case law regarding the legal status of transgender students.

Skip to the 27:40 mark in our audio recording of the meeting to hear her presentation and the subsequent comments by community members

To hear details on Lanesville’s covid re-opening protocol and procedures, skip to the 18:00 mark.

NATE ADAMS - Reporter

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If you are interested in learning more about the Harrison County Sherrif’s Department, we recommend listening to our recording of last night’s merit board meeting.

The meeting was quite brief. They adopted the previous minutes, reported their finances.
The Sheriff also updated the board on the radio communications project that they've been working on for over four years. It will be going to bid before the end of the year. Currently there are a number of dead spots in the county where their communications don't work. They are trying to get as close to 100% as possible. At the Sheriff's request they accepted both candidates for hire whom they had interviewed in executive session.

The next public meeting will be August 11th at 7:30pm with an executive session prior.

Graylin Porter - Reporter

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To watch Darrell Voelker’s presentation in full, CLICK HERE & skip to 45 minutes into the meeting video

At July 12th's county council meeting Darrell Voelker, executive director of Harrison County Economic Development Corporation, requested a refundable deposit of $1,012,000 from the county to extend a natural gas pipeline at the Lanesville interchange/business park.

At this point in time, Voelker is unable to provide the name of the company or developer. The company is in distribution and promises at least 300 jobs and over 20 million dollars in investment. The money provided by the county would be on a six year contract with no guarantees it will be refunded in full.

We highly recommend watching Voelker’s presentation to fully understand this request.