The 22nd annual celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. will be held Monday morning at The Commons. Jamie Brinegar, Columbus’ director of finance, explains that events kick off at 7 a.m. with a breakfast and the formal program starting at 7:30 a.m. Featured speakers will be Mayor Jim Lienhoop, CBS 4 morning anchor Frank Mickens and BCSC Superintendent Jim Roberts.

Events are scheduled to wrap up at 9 a.m.

This event is free and you’re invited.

The area in and around the Hope Town Square would be spruced up, if the community gets approved for a grant from the state.

The Hope Town Council decided this week to allow Main Street of Hope to continue working toward the grant application, focused on replacing all the aging street lights in and around the square, new sidewalks, better looking benches and cigarette catchers along with new trash receptacles. The town is also looking at ways to make the paths inside the Town Square itself ADA compliant.

A major part of the grant application would focus on the streetlight replacements. Susan Thayer-Fye, head of Main Street, said that the town has more than 40 street lights around and inside the square. They were all originally installed by Duke Energy about 25 years ago, and not only do they not meet current energy saving goals, they also are so old that there are no parts for them. When a light was destroyed in a crash in front of the Yellow Trail Museum, it had to be replaced with a completely mismatched light pole from the rest in the town.

Thayer-Fye said that the Custer-Nugent Foundation recently made a $25,000 donation to the town toward the matching part of the grant. The town can apply for up to $600,000 in funds from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs by May. There is expected to be serious competition for the state grants.

Several area communities are receiving federal community development block grants through  the Indiana office of Community and Rural Affairs, the lieutenant governor’s office announced this morning.

Seymour is receiving more than half a million dollars for a streetscape project around One Chamber Square. The $590 thousand dollar grant will allow the city to improve sidewalks, curbs, lighting and electrical services. The community space will include seating and interactive features.

Decatur County was approved for about $442 thousand dollars to rehabilitate a building as a Children’s Advocacy Center that will be a kid-friendly place for child abuse investigations and victim support services.

The town of St.Paul on the Shelby/Decatur county line was awarded $600 thousand for wastewater system improvements.

The block grant program offers funds in five categories, including stormwater improvements. The Town of Hope had applied for one of those grants to work on a collapsing storm drain on the southside of the Town Square, but that application was not among those announced this morning.

The state announced $10 million in grants this morning.

Construction on the next phase of the State Street Revitalization Project in Columbus is expected to begin in the spring.

Redevelopment Director Heather Pope says the work on Phase 2B will continue the same trail design in developing the north side of Third Street from Central Avenue to California Street. From there, she says the work will go north on California Street to Fifth Street. The work include a 10-foot wide multi-use trail, pedestrian lighting, new curbs, gutters and ADA-compliant ramps. In addition, all overhead utilities will be relocated underground. Pope says this phase of the project covers approximately 1,572 feet.

The council on Tuesday voted 5-1 to approve a resolution to fund Phase 2B of the project, at a cost of $1,475,000. City Councilman Tom Dell was the lone “no” vote. Councilman Frank Miller was not in attendance.

This year’s primary and general elections in Columbus will see some changes. Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps says there will only be one satellite absentee voting center.

You’ll also be able to cast an early ballot at the Bartholomew County Courthouse.

Phelps says there will be eight vote centers open on Election Day.

As far as candidates, only six Republicans and zero Democrats have filed to run as of the close of business on Tuesday. They all filed on the first day.

Candidates have until noon on Feb. 8th to file. You can keep up to date on candidate filings at bartholomew.in.gov.

The Town of Hope continues on without a town manager or a decision on how or even if the town leaders want to fill that position.

Last month, the Town Council voted 3-2 not to renew the contract for former town manager J.T. Doane, saying that they might want to open the contract to bidding.

At last night’s Town Council meeting, the council members were slated to talk about the town manager position, but Council President Ohmer Miller said that some council members had suggested changing the town manager position into more of an administrative assistant in the Town Hall, or a clerk. Without a clear direction, the council agreed to have a future executive session to hash out what they wanted to have going forward.

Town Council members also discussed disbanding an economic development committee that used to be headed up by Doane, saying that they felt it was more appropriate for the council to be making overtures to new businesses, rather than unelected community members. No decision was made on that issue, with Councilman Ed Johnson agreeing to look into the committee and its work.

Grubby the Groundhog is coming back to the town of Hope to help predict the weather.

Main Street of Hope is announcing that they will again hold Groundhog Day festivities, this year on Saturday, February 2nd, starting at 8:30 a.m. in the morning on the Hope Town Square.

Grubby is a rescue groundhog who lives at Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators and he has taken part in the Hope Town Square festivities for the past few years.

A local automotive fastener company is looking to expand after the Columbus City Council gave approval for 10-year tax abatements.

OSR, Inc. currently has a facility at 7715 S. International Drive in the Walesboro industrial park. Company officials say they have plans to construct a new 82,000 square-foot facility near the existing campus. The new facility would see an investment of over $6.5 million. The expansion is slated to retain 29 jobs and add 12 more with an expected average wage of $20.17 per hour by the beginning of next year. The building site, expected to be in the 6800 block of S. International Drive, is in an Economic Revitalization Area.

Council approved the ten-year abatements unanimously. That move is expected to save OSR more than $600,000 in local taxes over the next decade.

It’s been one week since candidates could start filing to run for elected office in Columbus. The Bartholomew County Voter Registration Office says that there have been no filings since that first day.

Six Republican candidates, including five incumbents, filed on the first day. They are: Mayor Jim Lienhoop, Clerk-Treasurer Luann Welmer, District 1 Councilman Dascal Bunch, District 4 Councilman Frank Miller and District 5 Councilman Tim Shuffett. Newcomer Josh Burnett has filed to run for Council At-Large. There have been no candidate filings for seats on the council for District2 and District 3.

Candidates have until noon Feb. 8th to file. That is done at the Voter Registration Office in the Bartholomew County Courthouse. Candidates must be a resident for at least one year before November’s general election. They must also be registered to vote and have no felonies.

You can keep up with candidate filings through the county’s website, at bartholomew.in.gov.

North Vernon’s Director of Golf is on paid leave. The City Council voted Monday night to suspend Robin Brown immediately. Council President Brian Hatfield wouldn’t elaborate beyond saying it is for an undisclosed “violation of the employee handbook.” The vote was 4-1 with Jack Kelley voting “no.”

City Attorney Larry Greathouse explained that Brown’s suspension will last until the council is able to investigate and determine a finding of facts. In the meantime, operations at St. Anne’s Golf Course will be maintained by course staff.