Ivy Tech Community College has named Dr. Steven Combs, Ph.D., to serve as Chancellor of its Columbus campus as a part of the College’s organizational structure announcement. School officials say the new structure will “better align with community needs at the campus level and empower campuses to be responsive and nimble in meeting local needs.”

Prior to the change, multiple campuses reported to regional leadership, including the college’s Columbus and Southeast regions reporting to a single, shared chancellor. Columbus will now be a self-sustaining campus with Combs serving as the Chancellor. Combs previously served as the Columbus Campus President, a position that is being phased out as part of the organizational structure.

“I am humbly honored to serve as Chancellor of the Columbus campus and look forward to building on our strong relationships within our outstanding community,” Combs said. “Our partnerships within the community will continue to grow as we align our programs with the needs of our area’s workforce. The collaborative spirit of our community provides our dedicated faculty and staff with enriching opportunities to further help our students reach their educational and career goals.”

Combs began his Ivy Tech career in 1993 as a professor at the Evansville campus. In 2010, he was hired as dean and professor in the School of Applied Science and Engineering Technology at Ivy Tech’s Lafayette campus. He then came to Columbus in 2012 to serve as the region’s vice chancellor of Academic Affairs. Combs led the expansion of the iGrad program in Bartholomew County and to Jennings and Jackson counties.

Rep. Luke Messer, a Republican representing Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District, joined House Speaker Paul Ryan and a bipartisan group of 12 members of Congress Thursday for the inaugural hearing of the Task Force on Intergovernmental Affairs. This group is tasked with reducing the size of the federal government and helping return power to the states. Messer was appointed by Speaker Ryan to serve on the Task Force.

The Task Force will partner with state and local governments to help uncover federal abuses of power, and return control to state and local entities. The Task Force will also provide a forum for states, cities, and counties to showcase innovation and creativity in solving public policy problems.

A Columbus man was arrested early Wednesday morning on drug charges. Judy Jackson, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman, says that at about 1:13 a.m., Sgt. Kris Weisner noticed a vehicle parked at the Lowell Fishing site. Upon making contact with the occupants, Weisner reported smelling marijuana inside the vehicle. Jackson says that K9 Bolt also alerted to the odor of drugs in the vehicle.

Authorities say that the driver, 30-year-old Brandon James Ramos, of Chestnut Street, admitted to having marijuana in the vehicle. When Sgt. Weisner searched it, he reportedly found 11 baggies of suspected marijuana, a grinder and more than $350 in cash. Ramos allegedly confessed that the marijuana and paraphernalia belonged to him.

Ramos was arrested on preliminary charges of Dealing Marijuana, Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Paraphernalia. His bond was set at $13,500. Jackson says that a female passenger was released at the scene.

The Carmel Police Department is investigating the disappearance of an adult male from Carmel, IN. Carmel is located approximately 23 miles north of Indianapolis.

William “Bill” Steele is a 63 year old male, 6 feet 5 inches tall, 260 pounds, with gray/balding hair and blue eyes. Bill Steele was last seen Wednesday, June 21, 2017 at 9:43 a.m. in Indianapolis and is believed to be in danger.

Bill Steele was last seen wearing a turquoise polo shirt, khaki shorts, and dark colored boat shoes. He may be disoriented and require medical assistance. Bill Steele is believed to be driving a Gold 2009 Lexus with Indiana plate ULJ795.

If you have any information on Bill Steele, contact the Carmel Police Department at (317) 773-1282 or 911.

Work continues on coming up with a project for Columbus’ Riverfront District. Core Planning is helping the city in that endeavor. Karen Valiquette says that they applied for a pair of grants, totaling $350,000, through the Ohio River Foundation…

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Valiquette gave an update this week to the Columbus Redevelopment Commission. She also talked about the results of a public survey conducted by the Hitchcock Design Group to help determine what residents want in their riverfront.

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Valiquette talked more about Hitchcock’s work.

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Now that the public info has been gathered…

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During that same meeting, the redevelopment commission also approved a resolution to execute a contract with SJCA Engineers and Surveyors to conduct a 3-D model of the low-head dam in the East Fork of the White River at a cost of $7,150.

The Columbus City Council has given final approval to a large subdivision northwest of Columbus. Arbor Homes submitted a plan to annex approximately 154 acres for the subdivision to be called “Abbey Place,” in the area of Indianapolis Road and Interstate 65 near the Princeton Park subdivision.

The proposed development would max out at 312 homes, but Mike Campbell, Arbor Homes vice president, says that he expects construction to be gradual. He estimated that it would be six to seven years, at approximately 50 homes each year, before the development is complete.

Opposition to the development from neighboring residents was largely absent during Tuesday night’s city council meeting, especially compared to the first readings of the ordinances two weeks ago.

Arbor officials agreed to a number of commitments for the development, including some that were requested by concerned neighbors. They include improvements to and a roundabout for County Road 200 West, additional right-of-way at the intersection of CR 200W and Lowell Road, at least 13 acres of open space on the east side of CR 200W and a promise that all lots bordering the Princeton Parks subdivision will meet the standards of the “R2” zoning. The rest of the development would be under “R3” zoning standards. Another aspect agreed to by both parties was the establishment of a “knock-down barrier” on a proposed north/south street east of CR 200W. In addition, the council is “strongly recommending” that the Columbus Plan Commission consider the closure of vehicular traffic of potential street connections between the new development and the Princeton Park subdivision.

The council’s votes for annexation and rezoning were unanimous.

North Vernon Police made a drug arrest Tuesday morning after stopping a man driving a golf cart. Authorities say they stopped the cart, driven by 26-year-old Gregory Miller, of North Vernon, after observing a moving violation at 10:43 a.m. During the stop, K9 Heros alerted officers to the presence of drugs. Police say a subsequent search led to the discovery of meth.

Miller was arrested on a preliminary felony charge of Possession of Methamphetamine. Police say that he is being held on $3,055 cash bond.

The Columbus City Council gave final approval to an increase in the Cumulative Capital Fund Rate. Jamie Brinegar, the city’s director of finance, explained that the increase is being recommended by the state’s Department of Local Government Finance. The increase would see the rate increase from .0316 cents per 100-dollars of assessed value to five-cents, beginning next year.

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Brinegar talked about how the increase could affect home owners.

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Brinegar says that additional money brought in from this rate increase would be earmarked for public safety.

A few residents spoke out against the increase, citing concerns that it would result in a tax increase for those who could least afford it. Brinegar again stressed that this fund rate is only one of seven factors that figure into the city’s overall tax rate. As during the first reading of the ordinance, he pledged to try to make adjustments to the other six to negate any potential increase. Brinegar pointed to the fact that the city’s tax-rate fell in the first year of the current administration.

Brinegar went on to say that this adjustment is being made simply to have a steady, adequate stream for finances dedicated to public safety. Councilman Dascal Bunch echoed Brinegar’s sentiment, saying that not enough has been done in previous years to “shore-up” the city’s police and fire departments. Bunch says the council now has to “play catch-up” to get both departments to where they need to be to adequately provide service for city residents.

The council approved the ordinance on final reading on a vote of 5-2. Frank Miller and Laurie Booher voted against it.

Columbus will be the focus of a PBS program Thursday night. Sarah Curtiss is the producer of “The Weekly Special.” She talks about the aim of the program.

Curtiss says that they will have six stories about locations in Columbus, including a piece on Zwanzigz Pizza & Brewing…

Another piece will focus on Musillami’s Drive-In. Curtiss and her crew visited the drive-in on Jonesville Road last Friday afternoon to talk to Mike Musillami, the son of the original owners. Musillami talked about his family and the business, which is celebrating 60 years.

Thursday night’s program airs locally on WTIU at 8 p.m.

Columbus City officials say that they acted quickly to get the word out during last week’s E. coli situation with the city water system, moving within minutes of test results that confirmed E. coli in a city well.

Mary Ferdon, the city’s director of administration, said that they believe the public was never in any danger. She laid out the timeline in detail explaining that the city’s first test result indicating e-coli in the well and in the city distribution system came back Thursday from tests performed Wednesday.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management required second samples be done on Thursday to ensure that it was not a false positive. Those results came back Friday afternoon showing the contamination in the well, but not in the city distribution system. After receiving the confirmation, the city had 24 hours to alert the public to boil its water, but instead sent out that warning to media outlets within minutes. That went out about 4:15 p.m. Friday afternoon. The city also alerted the hospital and public health department of the results at that time.

During Tuesday night’s city council meeting, Keith Reeves, director of Columbus City Utilities, gave a report on what happened. He echoed Ferdon’s statement that utility customers were never in danger of getting sick from contaminated water. Reeves noted a report from Columbus Regional Health and state health department officials that showed their were no reported cases of patients with E. coli.

Reeves went on to tell council members that the reason no action was initially taken to inform the public about the positive test result was the frequencies of “false-positives” in water tests such as these. He says that the utility usually gets two or three false positives each year and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management discourages the possibility for alarming communities until accurate information is known.

With that, Reeves stressed that the well in question was taken out of service immediately after the discovery of the first positive test. At no time, he says, did the city’s water distribution system test positive for E. coli. Reeves noted that the utility doesn’t yet know what led to the contamination, but an investigation is ongoing. Until that is resolved, he says the well in question will remain off-line.

Ferdon said that one thing they would do differently going ahead, would be to ask the county emergency operations center sooner to send out alerts over its Everbridge system. She said that city officials did not consider alerting the public in that way until too late in the process, and those alerts, which are sent by phone, text and e-mail, did not go out until about 8 p.m. Friday.