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Last updated on Tuesday, February 20, 2018
(BEDFORD) - The demolition of the old Huron School will begin in March.
Southern Indiana Development Commissioner Rex Knight presented two contracts for the Lawrence County Commissioners to sign Tuesday morning, thus finalizing the demolition.
The engineer for the project recommended Lawyer Excavation of Seymour to do the asbestos and hazardous material removal at a cost of $11,500 and Doer & Associates out of Michigan will raze the building for $94,600.
"The total cost will be $160,100; well below the estimated costs," says Rex Knight of Southern Indiana Development Commission said in an earlier meeting. The county will pay $27,500 of the total cost, which will be paid with riverboat funds.
A pre-construction meeting will be scheduled soon with the contractors, commissioners and engineers to finalize plans.
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Lawrence County Emergency Management Director Valerie Luchauer says residents should be alert to rising water in area rivers and creeks. She says those that live along area rivers and streams should closely monitor forecasts and conditions in the coming days and be prepared. Motorist and residents are asked to watch for flash flooding in the area.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for portions of the following rivers and creeks in central and southern Indiana: Big Walnut Creek, Deer Creek, Driftwood River, East Fork White River, Eel River, Mississinewa River, Muscatatuck River, Sugar Creek, Tippecanoe River, Wabash River, White River and Wildcat Creek.
Multiple rounds of rainfall are expected this week across Indiana. The rain will likely be heavy at times with embedded thunderstorms. Rainfall totals of 3 to 5 inches with some locally higher amounts appear possible at this time.
Flooding on some area creeks are in progress or will soon be. River flooding will likely develop by mid to late week. Flooding will affect numerous local and state roads, considerable agricultural land, and possibly some residential areas.
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Bridge crews continue to work on Bridge 78 on Pumphouse Road. Crews are also working on Bridge 67 on Lawrenceport Road. The now 96 foot bridge over Sugar Creek will be replaced with a 110 foot bridge at an estimated cost of half a million dollars.
Highway crews continue to prepare county roads for spring paving, are cutting brush and patching potholes.
Paving bids have also been sent out and must be returned by March 20th.
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Sheriff Mike Branham told the commissioners that the county is still facing overcrowding issues at the jail.
As of Tuesday morning, Sheriff Branham reported there were 175 inmates housed at the jail, of those 41 were females, 3 were Level 6 felons and there were no Department of Correction holds.
"Currently we have 12 Level 6 felons being held in Knox County," Sheriff Branham told the commissioners. "We are paying $3,000 a week for those inmates to be housed in Knox County. Counts are going down a bit, but we will have to see if it will stay that way. If it does we will bring some if not all of those six back. I don't want to be in a position of overcrowding with us under staffed."
The jail is also having a difficult time feeding all those inmates, because a stove is not working properly.
"The six-burner stove has only three burners working," Sheriff Branham added.
The department spent more than $6,900 on the stove in 2016. Since purchasing the stove the department had nothing but problems with it.
"The stove had a one year warranty, about a month before the warranty expired burners began going out," he added.
Since purchasing the stove the department has paid more than $1,190 on repairs and now the company is wanting another $3,011 to fix the three burners that are not working.
Sheriff Branham says the company is not wanting to stand behind its product.
"I have a call in to them, but its like running into a brick wall. Hopefully I will hear something back from them," he added.
"We were lucky and a local church sold us a commercial grade stove for $200," Sheriff Branham added. "We had to so some rewiring, but we have a stove."
The public is invited to have a donut and a hot cup of coffee with Lawrence County police officers, detectives and Sheriff Mike Branham on Saturday at the Huron Volunteer Fire Department. The event will begin at 8 a.m.
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Attorney Byron Steele requested the commissioners vacate a portion of a street in Terry Park Addition. However two other landowners, John Cummings and Ray Robinson, who also own property in the addition asked the commissioners not to vacate the street. The commissioners took the request under advisement.
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The commissioners approved BNL High School band Boosters to use of the parking lot on the southside of the courthouse to conduct a vendor market on May 19th. J Street will also be closed that day from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. for the event and for opening day of the Farmers Market
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The commissioner approved the renewal of the Lockbox agreement with Hoosier Hills Credit Union. The Lockbox is a service where the credit union opens mail from the treasurers office and scans it, saving the officer hours of work during tax time.
"It is an amazing service," says Treasurer Paula Stewart. "We really appreciate it and what they do for us. We are fortunate to have such amazing banks to deal with in this community."
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The commissioners gave Wayne Sparks and Kirk Lehman of RTC Communications to gather GIS data from 39 Degrees to identify homes in the area for a rural board band study.
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