The Columbus City Council approved a request from the city’s redevelopment commission to amend a contract with consultant Hitchcock Design Group. That is for an additional $54,500 to take care of additional design work on the Riverfront Project.

Heather Pope is the city’s director of redevelopment. She explained the request during last month’s redevelopment commission meeting.

DNR expressed concerns about in-water installations once the low-head dam is removed between the Second and Third Street bridges. State officials insisted on changes to the plan, resulting in cost overruns and slowing down progress.

Pope adds that this request takes the overall cost of this portion of the project over the $500,000 spending limit placed on the redevelopment commission, thus requiring city council approval.

Council voted 6-0 to approve the request at its meeting Tuesday night.

The Seymour Fire Department has installed a Safe Haven Baby Box at Station #3, at 605 Meadowbrook Drive. The Safe Haven Baby Box will be made available to the public starting on Friday, June 14th.

The Safe Haven Law allows people to anonymously surrender their healthy newborn without fear of prosecution. Safe Haven Baby Box Inc . is a non-profit organization dedicated to installing these boxes in as many safe places as possible. Organizers say this in the ninth installation, statewide. They add that two babies have been surrendered inside Safe Haven Baby Boxes since the first was installed in 2016. Two other babies have been surrendered at fire stations with the boxes.

A blessing and dedication of the Seymour Safe Haven Baby Box is set for Friday, June 14th at 10:30 a.m. Congressman Greg Pence is scheduled to be among the officials in attendance.

Cummins has been approved for tax breaks on building improvements and equipment it will be buying for its new electrification business headquarters in Columbus.

Cummins requested, and received, a tax abatement on $3.3 million in building improvements and $29.7 million in new equipment at the plant on Central Avenue. Company officials say the move is expected to retain 67 jobs and create 75 new ones with an average wage of over $30 per hour.

Mayor Jim Lienhoop says that Columbus is fortunate to be home to Cummins.

According to calculations by the city, Cummins would save just over $2 million dollars in future property taxes with the proposed 10-year-abatement, but the community would still net about $3.5 million in new property taxes from the expansion over the same period.

City council voted 6-0 to approve the request at its meeting Tuesday night.

A program aimed at helping the vulnerable has received a boost locally.

Project Lifesaver is described as “a program of proactive involvement and specialized operations that respond to incidents of victims of Alzheimer’s, Autism, Down Syndrome, and related disorders who have wandered from a safe location and cannot find their way back to safety.”

TRIAD, a branch of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, and Sgt. Jim Stevens applied for and used a grant from the Custer Nugent Foundation to get the Project Lifesaver program up and running.

The sheriff’s department says that 50 transmitters were purchased and will be assigned to clients. A total of six receivers, used pinpoint the location of the transmitters, were also purchased. Three of the receivers will be kept at the Sheriff’s Office and three will be assigned to the Columbus Fire Department.

Authorities say that, so far, 10 clients have signed up for Project Lifesaver and have been fitted for transmitters.

If you would like to learn more about the program or inquire about transmitter fittings, contact triad@bartholomew.in.gov.

Duke Energy customers in and around Hope can expect disruptions to their service.

The utility says it is making upgrades and improvements on the main
transmission power line that serves that area. They explain that the town is served by a single feed out of the substation with the same name on East County Road 600 North in Bartholomew County. Duke says that once finished, this improvement work will reduce the future risk of longer unplanned outages.

In order for crews to safely complete the upgrade, Duke must de-energize the power line. This will result in two separate seven-hour outages affecting these customers.

The first outage is planned from 11 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11th until 6 a.m. on Wednesday, June 12th. The second outage is planned from 11 p.m. on Tuesday, July 2nd until 6 a.m. on Wednesday, July 3rd.

Duke Energy customers in the Hope area will receive an automated reminder phone call a few days prior to the outages.

Customers who have questions about this outage can call (800) 820-9362.

Police in North Vernon arrested a Madison woman after a disturbance early Monday morning. At approximately 1:13 a.m., officers responded to a reported battery in the 300 block of South Gum Street.

After police arrived, they investigated and arrested 20-year-old Mary Boldery on preliminary charges of Possession of Methamphetamine, Battery with a Deadly Weapon and False Informing.

The Bartholomew County Council will be asked to consider adding 13 new employees to the county’s payroll over the coming year-and-a-half. Bartholomew County Auditor Pia O’Connor gave a brief presentation on the requests during Monday evening’s council work session.

County department heads are asking for the following:

IT Dept. – IT Suppert Technician (1)
Parks – Facilities Coordinator/Support (1)
Assessor – Field Technician (1)
Sheriff – Detective (1)
Jail – Addiction Treatment Counselor (1)
E-911 – Dispatchers (6)
Health Dept. – Part-time nurse to full-time
Corrections – Residential Officer/Recovery Specialist (1)

If all of these new positions were filled, total expenses for salaries and benefits are expected to exceed over one-million dollars. Due to grants and partnerships with the city of Columbus, the county’s portion would be just over $660,000 per year.

Council members stressed that the requests for all of these new hires won’t neccessarily be approved. Councilman Mark Gorbett, a former Sheriff, reminded his fellow members about the tight finances faced by the county over the years due to inadequate planning. He was adadmant that money raised to deal with public safety issues be used for that purpose and not for covering shortfalls elsewhere. “In the past, We’ve robbed Peter to pay Paul,” said Gorbett. “We can’t do that again.”

The council will consider adding three of these new employees, an addiction treatment counselor and two new dispatchers, at its regular meeting next week. The remaining requests will be considered later this summer as the council prepares its 2020 budget.

Council meets next on Tuesday, June 11th at 6 p.m. at the County Government Building.

Correction: An earlier version of this story did not include the complete tax abatement request being made by Cummins Inc. 

Cummins will be asking the city of Columbus tonight for tax breaks on building improvements and equipment it will be buying for its new electrification business headquarters here.

Cummins will be requesting a tax abatement on $3.3 million in building improvements and $29.7 million in new equipment at the plant on Central Ave. According to paperwork filed with the city, the move is expected to retain 67 jobs and create 75 new ones with an average wage of over $30 per hour.

According to calculations by the city, Cummins would save just over $2 million dollars in future property taxes with the proposed 10-year-abatement, but the community would still net about $3.5 million in new property taxes from the expansion over the same period.

Columbus City Council meets at 6 p.m. tonight at city hall.

The traffic signals at the intersection of Rocky Ford and Middle Road will be out of service part of the day Tuesday. The Columbus Engineering Department says that the signals will be out from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Temporary four-way stops will be installed while repairs are made to the signal cabinet, which was damaged in an accident.

City officials ask you to use caution in this area. You should expect delays. Take another route if possible.

A child molestation case in Jackson County may be over after an Indiana Supreme Court ruling regarding Miranda warnings.

Ernesto B. Ruiz was accused of Child Molesting for allegedly touching the nine-year-old friend of his daughter, who was staying overnight at Ruiz’s home in October of 2015. A few days later, Seymour Police detectives asked Ruiz to come to the station to be questioned about the incident. When he arrived at the Seymour Police Department, Ruiz was taken into a windowless room and questioned by one detective who informed Ruiz that he could leave at any time. Minutes later, a second detective joined the interrogation. During questioning, prosecutors say Ruiz made statements that could result in his conviction.

Ruiz was formally charges with Level 4 Child Molesting a few weeks later. Two days before the start of the December 2017 trial in Jackson Circuit Court, the defense team filed a motion to suppress Ruiz’s statement to police. After the jury was seated, Judge Richard Poynter heard the defense argument and agreed that Ruiz’s statement was inadmissible.

The Indiana Supreme Court ruled Monday that Ruiz, who was not born in the U.S., should have been read his Miranda rights. They say a communication barrier could have been an issue, as Ruiz may have felt compelled to answer police questions. The court specifically takes Seymour Police to task for having the second detective, who was in plain clothes, aggressively question Ruiz without indicating that the first detective’s statement that Ruiz could leave at any time was still in effect. In fact, Ruiz was told multiple times by detectives during the interview to “sit tight.” The court also pointed to detectives lying about the alleged victim having passed a lie-detector test. They add that questions were asked in an accusatory fashion, not exploratory. All of these factors, says the court, would reasonably allow someone to believe they are being held in police custody. In these cases, suspects must be made aware of their Miranda rights.

In a filing with the Indiana State Supreme Court, prosecutors noted that without the suppressed evidence, they could not proceed on the charge against Ruiz.

The Indiana Supreme Court voted to uphold the lower court’s decision to throw out Ruiz’s statement.