BROWNSTOWN — The Jackson County Commissioners met Tuesday morning for a regularly scheduled meeting at the Jackson County Courthouse.
One of the main topics of discussion during that meeting concerned the possibility of establishing a central dispatch center for police, fire and ambulance personnel in Jackson County. At this time, dispatch operations are located at the sheriff’s department in Brownstown and Seymour Police Department in Seymour.
Brady Riley, president of the Jackson County Council, told commissioners that members of the county council have been meeting with fire departments to explore the potential of a dispatch center feasibility study to be conducted by a third-party consultant.
“There’s a lot of delays that happen when calls are transferred from Seymour to the county and vice versa,” Riley said.
Commissioners President Drew Markel said the possibility of a central dispatch center has been discussed numerous times and the primary problem with the idea is there is no one to lead it.
“The responsibility of this can fall on the county regardless,” Markel said. “There’s some different things we want to put in place if we do get this moving forward on how we enter into agreements with the different municipalities so it does not all get shouldered on the county.”
Riley said Greg O’Brien, Seymour’s chief of police, and EMS are in full support of the idea.
“Brady, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a super idea,” Commissioner Matt Reedy said. “I thought it was a super idea the last six times I was on the committee for it. It all came down to two things: where will central dispatch be and who’s (leading it)?”
Riley said if the study shows a central dispatch center is feasible, the third party consultant would determine who the key players would be and what say they would have in the process of consolidation.
Commissioners also discussed county office operations on April 8, the day of the upcoming total solar eclipse.
“I know it’s going to be a busy day,” Markel said. “There’s going to be a lot of offices busy — the sheriff’s department and all kinds of different offices. If we officially close and we have to pay everyone, that’s another day in the books. My initial thought is we leave it up to officeholders.”
The board approved Markel’s suggestion to leave it to officeholders to decide if they want to have individuals do remote working sessions April 8.
The board then approved a resolution adopted by the Jackson County Redevelopment Commission and a written order issued by the Jackson County Plan Commission. This resolution was to name bp Archaea Energy as a designated taxpayer in the county TIF of Economic Development Area 2. Per statute, this resolution had to be approved by the plan commission and the Commissioners, and will go before the Redevelopment Commission on April 2.
Bp Archaea operates a renewable gas energy plant that captures natural gas from the Rumpke’s Medora Landfill and converts it into electricity, heat or renewable natural gas which leads to cleaner air, less and more sustainable energy, according to a news release from the company. The plant opened in the fall of this past year.