The Town of Nashville/Nashville Utilities has issued a Boil Order due to a water main break at East Main Street and Old School Way. The affected areas are:
– 145 E Gould St.;
– 85 Locust Ln.;
– 55 -79 N Van Buren St.;
– 1 – 191 S Van Buren St.;
– 157 & 169 Old School Way;
– 62 E Washington St.
Residents and businesses affected in these areas are asked to boil their drinking and cooking water until 4 p.m., Friday, November 16th.
Members of the Hope Town Council are looking for changes to their contract with the Hope Town Manager.
The contract is due for renewal and Town Council President Ohmer Miller, along with council members Ed Johnson and Nellie Meek said they want changes including making the contract for one year at a time with the ability to terminate at any time with a 30 day notice. They are also looking for performance reviews, more accountability for how the town manager spends his time and mandating more interaction with the town’s not-for-profit groups.
Town Attorney Scott Andrews said that some of the contract details are mandated under state law. For example, a town can either have a manager hired and fired at the will of the council, or have a contract with a set expiration date, but not both. And a list of duties for the town manager were taken from state statutes.
Several audience members said they were happy with the way Town Manager J.T. Doane is doing his job.
Andrews will work on changes suggested by the council and an executive session will be scheduled to go over those.
Bartholomew County officials have given approval to borrow up to $6 million dollars to build a new highway garage.
The county commissioners have proposed building a new highway facility on rural 25th Street on property currently owned by the county’s solid waste management district. The 11.25 acre property is next to the Clay Township Volunteer Fire Department station.
The current facility on State Street built in the 1950s is in poor condition, has maintenance facilities that are too small for modern vehicles and the property is not big enough to expand the current building. County Commissioners hope that a new garage could be built and ready to move into by the spring of 2020.
Tuesday night’s action by the council allows for the preparation of the bonds. The total cost for the proposal won’t be known until February. Then, the council must decide how much they want to bond. County officials say those funds would be repaid from existing income tax revenue, meaning no tax increases were necessary.
Our Hospice of South Central Indiana employees were recently recognized at the Columbus Regional Health All Workforce Event. Hospice staff and volunteers were recognized with award for Scholarship, Service Excellence, Quality and Safety Achievements, Growth and a special recognition for the Our Hospice Volunteer of the Year.
Robert Borczon Scholarship winner: Kim Napier, RN, Inpatient Facility Shift Supervisor
This scholarship is awarded in honor of Robert Borczon, former chief administrator at CRH from 1967-1985 for those seeing professional development in a health-related career through post-secondary education. Napier is working toward her certification as a Nurse Practitioner.
Marion Dietrich Service Excellence North Vernon Office
Sandy Downs, Patient Care Manager
Amanda Blackburn, Administrative Assistant
Cathy Betz, RN
Andrea Weiler, RN
Kristen Miller, RN
Jennifer Asche, RN
Jenny Asche, RN
Kelli Carter, RN
Kim Oliver, RN
Ray Vaughn, RN
Betty Owens, RN
Linda Garrity, Home Health Aide
Jeff Curry, Chaplain
David Caldie, MSW
Courtney Wagner, RN
Chris Hall, Administrative Assistant
The CAHPS-Hospice Experience of Care Survey is sent to primary caregivers after a patient passes away. Based on responses from caregivers, the North Vernon office received the best rating of care from nearly 91-percent of the respondents.
Quality and Safety Achievement Award – Our Hospice Care Coordination Project Team:
Christina Alvis, Administrative Assistant
Stacie Gilmore, Administrative Assistant
Amanda Blackburn, Administrative Assistant
Molly Jenkins, Clinical Documentation Analyst
Kelly Brinson, Administrative Assistant
Tammy Miller, Administrative Assistant
Katie Flinn, Administrative Assistant
The Quality and Safety award rewards best practices in achieving quality outcomes.
The Hospice team worked on a process to better coordinate care between nursing facilities and the Our Hospice team. The process is now guided by Our Hospice Administrative Assistants and scores have improved to above the 90th percentile.
Growth Achievement – Our Hospice Resource Development Department Ellen Brunner, Director of Major Gift Planning
Brigitte Halvorsen, Team Coordinator, Resource Development
Julie Davis, Event Specialist
Lissa Fischer, Prospect Research Analyst
Tabitha Saltzman, Administrative Assistant
The Growth award is given to a team that showcases best practice in achieving growth or innovation.
The Our Hospice Resource Development Department established and grew an annual fund direct mail appeal with results increasing by 75-percent year over year and implemented a major gift process increasing major gifts by over 65-percent year over year to increase the on-going support for Our Hospice of South Central Indiana.
Our Hospice Volunteer of the Year – Don Meyer for 25 years of service
This award is given to a volunteer who does an outstanding job representing the mission and goals of Our Hospice.
“We are proud of all our staff who work daily to make every moment count for our patients and families,” said Laura Leonard, President. She continued, “Don Meyer has been a volunteer with Our Hospice for 25 years. His caring spirit and compassion to help others has brought peace and comfort to many patients and families over the year, we celebrate with him as the Volunteer of the Year.”
Wednesday is National Scam Awareness Day and Duke Energy is urging you to make sure you don’t fall for utilities-related scam attempts.
The power company says that you should never purchase a prepaid debit card or gift card to avoid having your utilities disconnected. Legitimate utility companies do not specify how you should make a bill payment, and they always offer a variety of ways to pay a bill, including accepting payments online, by phone, automatic bank draft, mail, or in person.
If someone calls, texts, appears, or emails saying you have to pay your bill immediately to avoid disconnection, you should tell them you want to verify that they are a legitimate utility company representative. You can do that by calling a verified number for the utility company found on the company’s website or on your monthly bill.
You can visit www.utilitiesunited.org for more information and tips about how to avoid utility scams.
Bartholomew County communities will be receiving more than $1.7 million dollars from the state for local road projects.
Gov. Eric Holcomb and INDOT announced last week that the city of Columbus would received $1 million from the Community Crossings Initiative to make improvements next year on County Road 400N, 13th Street, a portion of Central Avenue, Cessna Drive, Interlake and Inwood drives, in addition to Cunningham Drive.
Bartholomew County received almost $590,000 from the grant fund and plans overlay projects next year, including work at Southern Crossing on County Roads 400S and 450S.
Hope will receive almost $184,000 for road work there.
Local community college students are looking for help cleaning up Columbus rivers on Saturday. The Science Club on the Ivy Tech Community College Columbus campus is holding the cleanup event in downtown Columbus from noon to 3 on Saturday.
The work will start on the west bank of the East Fork White River, across the river from the Upland Pump House restaurant. If you want to help, you can park along the People Trail, just west of the Third Street bridge. Snacks will be provided and the first 20 participants will receive a free T-shirt.
Bartholomew County will be considering borrowing up to $6 million dollars tonight to build a new highway garage.
The county commissioners have proposed building a new highway department facility on rural 25th Street on property currently owned by the county’s solid waste management district. The 11.25 acre property is next to the Clay Township Volunteer Fire Department station. During previous discussions the County Council has suggested bonding between $5 and $6 million for the project. That money would be repaid from income tax revenue.
The current facility on State Street built in the 1950s is in poor condition, has maintenance facilities that are too small for modern vehicles and the property is not big enough to expand the current building. County Commissioners hope that a new garage could be built and ready to move into by the spring of 2020.
The highway garage is where the county houses and maintains its road equipment, stores supplies like road salt and has offices for officials such as the county highway engineer and administrative staff.
The council is set to consider the ordinance that would allow for the bond sale at its meeting tonight. The County Council meets at 6 at the Governmental Office Building on Third Street.
A new Bartholomew County Historian has been appointed. The Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana Historical Bureau have announced the appointment Dr. Tamara Stone Iorio.
The County Historian Program was established in 1981 in an effort to improve the historical communication network across the state. In this role, Iorio acts as a liaison between statewide agencies and local organizations. She also answers questions from the public about local and family history.
Dr. Iorio is a pediatrician and published author who has written three books on Columbus history. Iorio has been involved with the Bartholomew County Historical Society since 2005, serving six years on the executive board and two years as board president.
As the new Bartholomew County historian, Dr. Iorio follows in the footsteps of the late Harry McCawley, who served in the volunteer position for 25 years until his passing in September 2017.
More information about the County Historian Program, as well as a directory of local county historians, is available online at indianahistory.org or by calling IHS at (317) 232-1882.
A local man was arrested after he allegedly stole a truck with the owner’s dog inside. Columbus Police say it happened Sunday morning while the truck was parked in front of a home in the 300 block of Center Street. At approximately 10:30 a.m., the truck’s owner told officers that he left his truck running in front a friend’s home while he was carrying groceries to the house when an unknown person stole the vehicle. The owner also stated that his dog was inside the truck at the time it was stolen.
Officers from the Columbus Police Department and Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department spotted the stolen truck a short time later and tried to stop it. The truck crashed through two locked gates at a business on South Gladstone Avenue where the truck came to a stop. The suspect, 43-year-old Richard L. Gahwiller, of Columbus, was taken into custody. The dog was unharmed and both it, and the truck, were returned. Gahwiller is facing preliminary charges of Auto Theft, Theft and Leaving the Scene of an Accident.