A Columbus man wanted on outstanding warrants was arrested on drug charges after allegedly fleeing from city officers Friday.

Sgt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the police department, said that officers saw 24-year-old Eric J. Peetz in the 1000 block of Third Street on Friday afternoon and realized he was wanted on warrants. When he was approached by an officer, Peetz allegedly ran away. Peetz was caught about three blocks away, in the 1000 block of Sixth Street.

When searching him before his arrest, Peetz was allegedly found to be carrying a small bag in his coat pocket containing methamphetamine and and drug paraphernalia. In addition to the warrants, he was also arrested on preliminary charges of possession of a legend drug injection device, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia and resisting law enforcement.

The original Bartholomew County warrants were on charges of theft and resisting law enforcement and a probation violation on an original charge of conversion.

A program to keep electronic waste out of the Bartholomew County landfill is working, and compared to other communities it is still a bargain for local residents.

The county’s solid waste management district reached an agreement two years ago with Green Wave Computer Recycling in Greenwood to take all of the county’s e-waste at no cost. Ross Keller, education coordinator for the waste district, said landfills are mandated to keep the e-waste out of the dump. But in recent discussions with other landfills, local officials found that most facilities are being charged by their e-waste recovery companies.

Keller said that some districts are having to pay $40 per television to have them hauled away. He said the only e-waste that now costs the county to dispose of is old CRT computer monitors. The recycling center is working on plans to get rid of those, such as giving them away in the reuse center or sending customers back to retailers for disposal of those items.

He said retailers are required to take back the equivalent of 40 percent of the monitors they sell.

Keller gave the Bartholomew County Commissioners an update last week on the year-end achievements of the solid-waste district and the challenges ahead.

Columbus City Council will hold a special organizational meeting tonight to elect a new president of the council and make its appointments to board and commissions.

The council will also consider changes to the salary and job descriptions of the city engineer and community development director positions.

New Mayor Jim Lienhoop has said that he plans to expand both of those positions, putting returning City Engineer Dave Hayward in charge of the city public works department and making Mary Ferdon head of the city’s finance and administration as well as community development director.

The council will consider increasing the bottom of both pay scales by $5,863 for city engineer and $6,314 for the community development director and the top ends by around $8,500. The previous engineer pay scale topped out at $83,624, while the community development director topped out at $73,580. Under the new plan, the director of public works (formerly the city engineer) could be paid up to $92,000 a year, while the director of administration and community development could be paid up to $82,600.

City Council will meet at 6 p.m. tonight at Columbus City Hall.

New Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop has announced his appointments to board and commissions.

Animal Care Commission – Joellen Watanabe;

Aviation Board – Brad Davis, Doug Van Klompenburg, Mark Pillar;

Columbus Arts District Coalition – Sherry Stark, Chair.

Columbus Redevelopment Commission – Sarah Cannon, John Dorenbusch, Umar Farooq, Don Trapp;

Columbus Housing Authority – Eric Frey, Amy Kaiser;

Board of Public Works and Safety – Jim Lienhoop, Mary Ferdon, John Pickett, Jim Strietelmeier, Brenda Sullivan;

Columbus Plan Commission: Dave Fisher, Roger Lang;

Commons Board – Tracy Souza;

Insurance Review Committee – Rick Colglazier, Gene Hack, Vince Moore, Laurie Reed;

Joint District Plan Commission – Dave Fisher;

Mayor’s Advisory Council on Disability and Accessibility – Shane Burton, Kim Craig, Grace Kessler, Linda Newton-Harden, William Pumphrey, Deborah Seeley, George VanHorn, Brian Walsh;

Mayor’s Advisory Council for Safe, Available and Affordable Housing – Tonya Couch, Deborah Holt, Ben Jackson, Elizabeth Kessler, Mark Lindenlaub, Gary Myers, Larry Perkinson, Alan Sladek, Mark Stewart, Tracy Souza;

Otter Creek Golf Course – Tobi Herron, Spencer Thompson;

Parks and Recreation Board – Mark Levett;

Technology Advisory Board – Jim Hartsook, Jason Tracy

Utility Board – Nancy Ann Brown

Bartholomew County Convention, Recreation and Visitor Promotion Commission – Nick Sprague, Brenda Sullivan;

Longtime North Vernon Mayor Harold “Soup” Campbell has stepped down. Campbell was a fixture in both city and county government in Jennings County. The former Sheriff and city councilman explains that it was the city’s water issues that initially influenced him to run for Mayor…

Campbell said that infrastructure isn’t a popular issue…until something goes wrong with it…

Campbell added that the neglected infrastructure issues led to some difficult decisions in his early years as Mayor…

Campbell added that he was proud of all of the infrastructure improvements that were accomplished under his administration. However, he added that the work is not finished and that future city leaders need to make sure that they’re not tempted to forego maintenance for other, seemingly more popular, projects that will garner them more attention.

Columbus has a new Mayor with the swearing-in of Jim Lienhoop. Lienhoop says that minimizing turnover at City Hall, especially after the last few years, was important to him. One of the changes he did make was placing former Community Development Director Mary Ferdon back in that position. Ferdon talked what she hoped to accomplish in that capacity…

Ferdon talks about potential efforts to create low-income housing for some city residents…

Ferdon, who was part of former Mayor Kristen Brown’s original leadership team, talked what made her want to come back to City Hall…

Ferdon previously served as Community Development Director in the first year on former Mayor Kristen Brown’s Administration before resigning. She is also serving as Mayor Lienhoop’s Director of Administration.

Ferdon was a part of the few changes made, personnel wise, by Mayor Lienhoop. Other areas seeing leadership change include the City Attorney’s Office and Fire Chief.

A new year means a new Mayor for the city of Columbus.

One of the areas of contention between Mayor Jim Lienhoop and former Mayor Kristen Brown was the value of overseas trips to drum up business for the city. Lienhoop explains that people understand the importance of these trips…

The Mayor points out that foreign-owned companies in Columbus account for approximately 8,500 people…

Lienhoop says the investment made in these trips pay for themselves through the growth of Columbus’ economy…

Mayor Lienhoop added that it is important for him to not only seek out manufacturing jobs for Columbus, but other, high-tech options as well. He says that there are indications of a global economic “headwind” and that it is his goal to diversify the city’s job and economic base as much as possible.

A traffic stop in North Vernon led to the arrest of four people on drug charges Thursday night.

North Vernon Police say that officers stopped a vehicle being driven by Michael Wagaman, of North Vernon, for speeding in the area of South State Street at 11:30 p.m. Officials say that Wagaman, Dustin Decker, Kiesha Philpot and Joseph Dean were all arrested on charges of Possession of Methamphetamine. Officers add that Dean was also wanted on an outstanding warrant from another county.