Saturday, April 6, 2024
BETTER TOGETHER
Shelbyville Middle School and Shelbyville High School students in the mentor-mentee program participate in an end-of-year field trip and activities yesterday.
Mayor Provides State of the City Address
Three months into office, Mayor Scott Furgeson delivered his first State of the City address of this term yesterday at the Knights of Columbus building. He was joined by State Rep. Jenny Meltzer (R-73) and Clerk-Treasurer Scott Asher, who offered legislative and financial updates, respectively. Thanks to sponsors, lunch was provided to the attending public. Below are key points and quotes from the event.
The overlay project on West Mechanic and N. Miller is “finally” complete, Furgeson said. An overlay on McKay Road, from South Miller Street to Berwick Drive, is up next, beginning after school is out. “It’s going to be a hassle this summer,” the mayor conceded, but said a new process of putting an overlay of asphalt on top of concrete will result in a quality road.
Thanks to a partnership with Gigabit Now, fiber optic networks, and hence security cameras and wifi for patrons, will be installed at park locations, beginning with the Carl McNeely Civic Center, Clearwick Park and Sunrise Park this spring.
Two incoming roundabouts and pedestrian trails and sidewalks are in the works for North Riley Highway. “We’re planning on keeping the traffic patterns at two lanes going the whole time,” Furgeson said.
Thanks to a state-of-the-art wastewaster recovery facility, the city has not flushed raw sewage into the river in the past decade. “Some may think that’s awful that we did that, but most every community around us has combined sewers, so most communities around us (flush raw sewage into rivers) every day,” Furgeson said.
Highlighted downtown redevelopment in recent years and noted a need to rehabilitate some Public Square buildings. Furgeson said he recently met with the owner of one such building, but redeveloping the building “does not make sense from a cash flow perspective,” he said.
Furgeson has emphasized departments’ responsiveness to the public, eliminating phone trees and setting expectations for 24-hour turnaround of calls. “People, especially if they’re frustrated, get to the point where the frustration builds if they don’t hear back (from the city),” he said.
With 10 police officers Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) certified, the goal is to have one available on every shift to help with mental health crises.
The city is part of discussion to develop a Non-profit Center, which is part of the READI 2.0 funding request. “It would be in a centralized location for people in need of services to get the services, and we’re striving to get that up and running,” Furgeson said.
Commended the strong city-county partnership over the past dozen years, and Furgeson said he intends to maintain that. He noted there will be turnover of two of the three county commissioners this year.
Equipment maintenance has been a challenge for the fire department this year. “On social media, someone said they saw a fire truck on fire on North State Road 9 one day. That wasn’t actually the case; the turbo just went out on it.”
Over 300 apartments and 800 single-family homes are currently on the docket to be built in Shelbyville. “Kudos to the last administration on getting these efforts going,” Furgeson said, adding that he and city officials are also in negotiations on several commercial and real estate projects.
Police are getting body cameras and new tasers this year.
Furgeson said his administration was focusing on the west side of town and economic development. “I’ve told (Shelby County Development Corporation officials), ‘I don’t want any jobs unless they pay at least $25 an hour.’”
Is focusing on instilling pride in the community, which goes beyond the mayor’s office. “It’s a team effort on everything,” he said.
Extensive planning has been underway for months for Monday’s eclipse. Furgeson said he expects the biggest issue might be at the interstate exchanges following the event. He also promoted city events this weekend. “Come on out and enjoy (Mainstreet Shelbyville’s Sun, Moon, & Music Eclipse Fest) on Saturday night, then on Monday, just stay home,” the mayor said to laughs.
Asher said the city was in a sound financial position, with cash balances and reserves growing. “The interest rates being as high as they were in 2023, we brought in $1.1 million in interest,” he said, adding that the city’s tax rate was lower than the state average.
Early voting starts next week, Tuesday, April 9, in the lobby of the courthouse. “If you ever won a race by 19 votes, you know every vote counts,” Furgeson said.
NOTEBOOK:
NATIONAL NEWS: A 2021 infrastructure law put up $7.5 billion for charging infrastructure, and an unexpected taker has emerged: the gas station business. Gasoline stations, long a natural adversary of electric vehicles, has come around on charging infrastructure and now constitutes a main recipient of the federally-funded highway EV chargers. Gas stations and convenience stores accounted for 29 percent of charging stalls through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, followed by travel centers and truck stops with 25 percent of the stalls. To date, $265 million has been awarded by the program, and $92.1 million of that has gone to truck stops and gas station chains. (E&E News/Numlock)
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This Day in Shelby County History
2014: Following multiple acts of vandalism in City Cemetery, city officials met to discuss the challenges of maintaining the old stones and to discuss a recent study about how tombstones were being damaged due to lawn mowers and chemicals.
2004: A clean of Little Blue River was planned for Earth Day. “Over the years, metal debris, old fencing and litter have accumulated along the riverbank, as well as tires and scrap appliances,” Noell Krughoff, director of the Shelby County Solid Waste Management District, wrote. Once the trash was removed, the Parks Department planned to stabilize the banks against erosion, introduce native plant species and build trails.
1994: After traffic had been blocked by a train for an hour and 10 minutes on East Broadway, police attempted to locate the Conrail crew. After the crew couldn’t be found, Police dispather Robert Brinkman Jr. reached Conrail officials in Indianapolis, but they said they couldn’t contact the crew either. A search began, and the conductor and crew were eventually located. They had stopped the train to eat at Millie and Larry’s Fish Fry on Jackson Street. The conductor said the crossing arms were not down when the crew left to eat. Shelby County Deputy Prosecutor James B. Landwerlen and Officer Mark Weidner served the conductor a summons for obstruction of traffic.
1984: Shelby County Spell Bowl winners who advanced to state were Shannon Jester, Laura Rife, Trisha Mohr and Nathan Feuerstine.
1974: The Shelbyville Central Schools board abruptly dismissed superintendent Harold Bell, who had been in the position nine years. The board said Bell could hold another position within the district. Although the board did not share the reasoning, Bell told The Shelbyville News, “This whole thing caught me completely off balance.” One source told the News that the board had previously told Bell to dismiss two principals.
The Shelby County Red Cross chapter’s disaster relief center remained open in Fountaintown for cases of tornado relief to be processed. Nineteen families in the Fountaintown area had been affectted by property damage.
1964: City Council rezoned two tracts of land for apartment buildings. One petition was for a single family unit to be divided into three units on the north side of W. Pennsylvania St. at Conrey St. The other was for rezoning part of the old Gordon Children’s Home property to build a proposed eight-unit, one-story brick apartment building.
1954: Nearly 150 students were vaccinated at the school administration building by Dr. Tindall, Dr. Whitcomb and Dr. Dalton.
The temperature reached 80 degrees, although rain and cooler weather was in the forecast.
1944: The fourth son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Spurlin, 24 East Locust St., joined the service. Pvt. Delva Spurlin joined his brothers, Lt. Russell Spurlin, who was in New Guinea; Lt. Quentin Spurlin, in Italy after fighting in three major battles; and Pvt. Harold Spurlin, stationed in Florida.
Local residents who had planted victory gardens on donated county land were given extra gas rations to tend their gardens twice a week.
1934: The Great States Corporation produced a record 965 lawn mowers in one day. Eighty men were employed at the plant. The plant could operate until July 1 on current orders, Harry Custer, secretary-treasurer of the organization, said.
1924: The Shelbyville Fire Department purchased three new ladders. They were 50 feet, 20 feet and 16 feet long.
The Shelbyville Republican noted that a U.S. Supreme Court justice had said that a man could not divorce his wife if she chose to start smoking cigarettes. He also said a woman smoking was “not a badge of disgrace or an improper thing to do by women of culture and refinement.”
1914: After federal officials announced a federal building would be constructed in the region, City Council passed a resolution offering to donate the center of Public Square for the cause. Several members of the public opposed the proposal. Some said Public Square actually belonged to the county. Others noted the traction company would have to move their tracks. There was also an argument that it would obstruct streets, but it was pointed out that the courthouse had stood on the square for many years.
OBITUARIES
None today