At Tuesday’s meeting of the Daviess county commissioners, surveyor Darren Helms asked to have a 30 foot by 100 foot strip of property ceded to the First Mennonite church. Helms said that in the process of purchasing a tract of land it was discovered that the county had been given the strip of property in the year 1904 to provide access from the Osborn Cemetery from a county road that no longer exists. Helms said the road was moved to its current location sometime in the 1920s or 1930s. The Church agreed to provide a permanent 30 foot wide easement through its parking lot for access to the cemetery. The Commissioners agreed to the request and directed the County Attorney to draw up the necessary papers.
The Commissioners also approved a grant application to replace the aging windows on the north side of the Courthouse. The $50,000 grant would be through the Department of Natural Resources and require a $120,000 match. Because the Daviess County Courthouse is listed on the National Historic Register the new windows must emulate the current ones on the 90 year old building.
County Engineer Jason Heile presented a construction agreement with CSX Railroad for the 15th Street Bridge project. The agreement covers the cost of flagging the project, moving railroad communication lines, and administrative cost totaling $359,000. Heile told the Commissioners he hopes to advertise for bids on the project by the end of October, with the Commissioners receiving the bid in November. The work to replace the County’s worst rated bridge should begin in the spring.
County Highway Superintendent Phil Cornelius reported the the County has received a $467,367 Community Crossings Grant to upgrade County Road 350 E between U.S. 50 and County Road 200 N. The road will also be widened between the Highway and CR 100 N. However, Cornelius also reported that the grant request to upgrade County Road 200 N had been rejected and he was looking at other possible funding for that project.
The Commissioners also heard a request from Randy Niehaus who lives on CR 1200 E, to lower the speed limit on the road. The current speed limit is 55 mph. Niehaus said there have been several wrecks and two fatalities on the road in the past six years. Niehaus said that fast speeds, truck traffic, a growing number of residences, and buggy traffic created an unsafe situation. The Commissioners agreed to do a speed study in the area but explained that state regulations limit how much they can do with the speed limit.
In other business, Purdue Extension received recieved permission to paint a mural on the south wall of its NEP Teaching Kitchen at 204 S.E. Third, Maria Bedwell was appointed to the Community Corrections Advisory Board, and the Commissioners approved a contract with Combined Public Communication to provide inmates and family telephone access. Chief Deputy Gary Allison explained a phone would be located in each of the pods and would cost inmates approximately 20 cents a minute for use.
