Adams County Council seeks applicants

The Adams County Council, which adjourned twice during a meeting that lasted about 40 minutes on Tuesday, is asking any local governmental or non-governmental groups or organizations that wants money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to contact the county auditor’s office by August 1, so the council can consider the requests.

The county is getting almost $7 million in ARPA money, which the federal government began providing last year to offset the many economic effects of the COVID pandemic. At Tuesday’s meeting, auditor Tony Mellencamp confirmed that a call he got on May 6 from the U.S. Treasury department told him the county will very soon receive its second allocation: $3.74 million. A similar sum was received last year.

The council voted 6-0 for the idea presented by member Cory Sprunger to have all the ARPA requests be received and then make decisions on each one. Councilwomen Yvette Weiland said such requests should show benefits to the county as a whole, not just to parts of it.

The ARPA spending matter arose when Michelle Lengerich, the director of the Adams County Council on Aging, which is leasing the former Northwest Elementary School building in Decatur that’s been renamed the MERIT Center, made a proposal to get $200,000 in ARPA money for renovations to the site.

That request was tabled on a 6-0 vote, with Weiland and councilwoman Cathy Mitchel expressing concerns that older residents of

Geneva were not making much use of the Decatur location.

The City of Decatur owns the MERIT Center and the aging center is leasing it on a two-year basis, but Lengerich said a longer-term lease is the eventual goal, with deputy county attorney Julie-Marie Brown adding that such a lease might run for many years.

Lengerich said her plan is to use the $200,000 to replace worn carpet in the former school library room and to spruce up an outdoor courtyard.

She said the building often has 70 to 80 older people in it doing various activities, games, etc., but she wants to use unutilized space.

The MERIT Center also has a pickleball court in the gym.

During the discussion, it was noted by Lengerich, Weiland, and Mitchel that Berne also has a senior center and that additional activities for older people are done in Geneva.

The tabling motion was offered by councilman John Summers, who wants to see if Decatur can provide more assistance to the site. His view was backed by councilman Fred Velez.

Council president Dennis Bluhm also mentioned that solar power projects should be considered for ARPA funding.

The council next approved two small amounts on a 6-0 vote: $1,000 from money received from the public by the recorder’s office, with that amount to be used for additional training within the office, and $2,500 to buy computers for the county assessor’s office.

At that point, with no other business on the agenda, the council adjourned.

However, county emergency management director John August, who was seated in the back of the room, suddenly realized the meeting was over and asked to be heard about three grants he planned to seek from the state.

With that, the members reconvened to hear August’s proposals, which they soon okayed unanimously.

August will apply for almost $30,000 from the Indiana Emergency Response Commission to be used these ways:

--$13,000.75 for a study to be done, starting within a month, to have people parked along highways in the county to look at the required safety placards on large trucks moving through here to see what kinds of hazardous materials are on board each vehicle.

The idea, said August, is to stay as aware as possible of potentially disastrous products, so training can be done locally and preparations made to act swiftly in case of a traffic accident, a spill, an explosion, a fire, etc.

In the 1970s, a study done by a teacher in Decatur who stayed up for 24 hours to count just the 18-wheel tractor-trailer rigs that came through the city on Monroe St. (the route of US 224) came up with a total of 2,500 per day, with truck traffic up markedly in the past 40 or more years.

August also said members of the Fort Wayne Fire Department’s hazardous materials team will come to the county to train and advise local firefighters on haz mat issues.

--$7,820 to help plan and carry out the county’s annual disaster-training exercise.

--$8,948.07 for additional training, with a person instructing police and fire first responders, chiefly those in middle management, in how to handle various situations