HC Commissioners reorganize for ’22
Kaitlyn Clay, Staff Writer, [email protected]
The Harrison County commissioners took time at their first meeting of 2022, on Monday morning, to appoint board members to numerous committees and organizations that help run Harrison County.
To start, Commissioner Nelson Stepro nominated Charlie Crawford to serve as chair of the commissioners for the upcoming year, which was approved unanimously. Commissioner Jim Heitkemper was also selected as vice president.
Those appointments for board positions included: Joe Shireman, Alcoholic Beverage board; Heitkemper, Alternative Education Center; Dwight Clunie, Blue River Regional Water board; Maynard Crawford, board of zoning appeals; Stepro, Chamber of Commerce of Harrison County; Charlie Crawford, Harrison County Community Services board; Darrell Voelker, conservation committee; Charlie Crawford and Daniel Shireman, Harrison County Economic Development Corp. board; Jim Heitkemper, family and children board; Chris Byrd, county health board; Rebecca Reed and Bill Smythe IV, Heth-Washington Fire District; Jennie Capelle, Harrison County Lifelong Learning board; Stepro and Charlie Crawford, organization of disability; Kim Frederick, Palmyra Fire District; Charlie Crawford, Phil Williams and Gary Reed, county plan commission; Steve Anderson, property tax board of appeals; Jim Heitkemper, Region 10 workforce board; Tom Tucker, Harrison County Regional Sewer District board; Jim Heitkemper, River Hills board; Charlie Crawford, Stepro and Heitkemper, county solid waste board; Michael Wiseman and Scott Fluhr, county tourism board; Melissa McPhillips, Webster Township Fire District; and Matt Kitterman, Harrison Township Fire District.
Numerous seats still remain to be appointed as the commissioners are waiting to hear from board leaders before making appointments.
In other business, Bruce Cunningham, manager of South Harrison Water Co., came before the board to make a request he had previously made in 2021. He asked for $500,000, of which he hoped could be taken from the American Rescue Plan dollars that the county received in order to put down new water lines in certain areas.
When Cunningham approached the governing body in 2021, he was advised by the commissioners to make this request at the beginning of 2022 when the council was expecting to look more closely at what to do with the funds.
However, Stepro told Cunningham on Monday that the county has decided to turn in a small amount of requests to make sure they are following the process correctly in order to receive the ARP funds.
Heitkemper said that if the commissioners were to move forward with this request, council members would be frustrated if they weren’t consulted first. Because of that, the issue was tabled.
Kevin Russel, county engineer, approached the commissioners to request they approve to allow signatory authorization for upcoming bridge inspection contracts and to allow him to use a digital signature platform to sign on the commissioners’ behalf outside of the meeting.
Both motions to do so passed unanimously.
The commissioners also made a motion to sign a financial commitment letter for an upcoming Community Crossings grant application for which Russel is applying. Russel noted the council is also on board with the potential funding being used for more road paving.
The application period closes at the end of the month.
The commissioners will continue to meet the first Monday of each month at 8:30 a.m. and the third Monday at 7 p.m. at the government center in Corydon. However, their next meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. due to Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Jan. 17.
