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HOT JOBS IN EVANSVILLE
Responsive employerADOPT A PET
Sebastian is a gorgeous 7-year-old male! He’s pretty large, at 70 lbs., but is actually very gentle on a leash. A gentle giant if you will. Even though he’s naturally strong, he doesn’t tend to pull. He was transferred to VHS from an Arkansas shelter through a Best Friends Animal Society transport. He is also heartworm-positive, but VHS will provide his treatment at no additional cost to his adopters! Sebastian’s adoption fee is $150 and includes his neuter, microchip, vaccines, and more. Get details atwww.vhslifesaver.org/adopt!
HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATES STATEWIDE COVID-19 CASE COUNTS
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Senate Makes Big Changes To Bill That Would Fire County Officers Who Don’t Show Up For Work
By Hope Shrum
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS—Elected county officers may soon be removed for neglecting their duties, including not getting correct certification, moving out of the county they’re elected in, and “charging illegal fees.â€
Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, sponsored House Bill 1030 as it went through the Senate. The bill was amended on March 18 in the Senate Local Government Committee, which changed one of the biggest aspects of the bill. A motion to dissent, or not to accept the Senate amendment, has been filed in the House, meaning the bill could go to a conference committee to resolve the difference.
The amendment removed the reason the bill was originally written. During HB 1030’s third reading in the House on Feb. 9, Rep. Michael Aylesworth, R-Hebron, said he authored the bill when a county recorder failed to show up to work and do his job for 18 months. He said there needed to be a process for removing an elected county officer for not being present for their job.
Now the bill outlines the process for removing a county officer—auditor, treasurer, recorder, surveyor, and assessor—for neglecting their duties and “charging illegal fees†instead of not being physically present at the office.
While the bill no longer specifically states that a county officer can be removed from office for not showing up, Niemeyer said that situation would fall under “neglecting duties.â€
According to a Chicago Tribune article from December 2019, there have been three absentee elected officials in Lake County in recent years. Aside from the recorder who didn’t go into work for 18 months, there was also a councilwoman who missed almost a full year of meetings between 2014 and 2015 because of undisclosed health issues. The other absentee was a councilman who was sworn in for a second term while he was in jail for multiple felony charges.
Niemeyer also said “charging illegal fees†could mean a couple of different situations—for example, if a county officer is charging a fee that is legal but they are putting that money in the wrong fund or if they are actually taking in money in an illegal way.
According to the Chicago Tribune, former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for crimes including using money from his campaign fund and the food pantry for dozens of gambling trips to Michigan.
During its final reading in the Senate on March 23, Niemeyer said the bill does not affect the coroner and sheriff.
He also said the amended bill sets a procedure for the county council and executive body to create joint resolutions to bring charges for removal. Then each one of those resolutions will create a public hearing, one for the county council and another for the executive body.
“This bill does not disallow a citizen from bringing their own suit against someone they think should be removed from office, and they have to get an attorney and they can do that,†Niemeyer said. “Or it gives them another option to go to the county executive and county legislative body to see if they can start these procedures on behalf of the citizens of that county.â€
Niemeyer said the amendment clarifies that the resolutions have to be passed by a majority vote in each body, and they have to have “really good reasons†to want to remove an elected officer.
Since the county officer up for removal can petition for judicial review in a court, Niemeyer said if the officer wins the court case, the county has to pay for their legal fees.
Aylesworth declined an interview with TheStatehouseFile.com, saying he won’t talk about the bill until it is completely finished after it gets a final review in the House and is potentially signed into law by the governor.
Hope Shrum is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Commentary: Â Renewable Energy Offers Options To Landowners
 Renewable Energy Offers Options To Landowners
by Joe Wallace
Farmers and landowners across the Tri-State are excited this year at the prospect of having yet another year that becomes a bumper crop this coming fall at harvest time. Farmers and landowners are at the mercy of Mother Nature and the commodity markets and both of these drivers of prosperity or famine are not the most reliable or predictable things on earth. With prices for the principal crops in the region rising to short-term highs things are looking good. Today is a great time to look at just what one can do with an acre of land in Southwest Indiana, Southern Illinois, and Western Kentucky where prime farmland now fetches over $10,000 an acre.
Before delving into the modern world of land management, it is worth mentioning that land has been used for transportation and energy since the dawn of civilization. It takes approximately two acres of pasture land to support one horse with enough “fuel†to provide and sustain transportation for a year. When horses ceased to be used for transportation land was repurposed for modern agriculture thus making the land more valuable. After all, spending $20,000 for a place to fuel and sustain a horse seems a bit much.
Traditional Crop Rotations
There are many crops that can be grown in the Tri-State but most large parcels are used for either corn or soybeans. A skilled farmer can expect to yield about 200 bushels of corn per acre that is selling today on the futures market for $5.50, which means an acre will generate about $1,100 of revenue for the farmer. For soybeans, the yield is more like 60 bushels per acre but soybeans command $14 per bushel and produce revenue of $840 per acre. Both of these prices are up from previous years leading to increased land prices and money in the pockets of both farmers and landowners. Â
Landowners who do not farm can expect to be able to rent large parcels of prime farmland for between $200 and $300 per acre depending on the quality of the soil and the ease of farming it. Last year was a good year for all and 2021 is expected to be as well.Â
Renewable Energy as a Crop
Farmers have been taking advantage of alternative fuels for years in the form of ethanol. The only purpose for selling a crop to manufacturers of ethanol is to see it used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. With the broad acceptance of renewable energy such as PV (photovoltaic) Solar or Wind Turbines, the output becomes electricity that can be sold at the grid level for significant revenue. Â
According to GreenCoast, a PV Solar installation can be expected to generate 357,000-kilowatt-hours per year of electricity. At a rate of 5 cents per KWhr, a PV Solar farm will generate electricity that will sell into the wholesale power markets for $17,850 per acre. At 15 cents per kWh the revenue increases to $53,550 per year. Crops do not approach this kind of revenue. To install a grid level Solar Farm rated at 1 MW requires about 5 acres according to the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). An equivalent Wind Farm according to the same NREL report requires more like 85 acres but wind farms do make multiple uses possible.
While it is true that when the sun goes down and the wind does not blow these devices produce nothing but the predictability and reliability of the output is favorable to crop farming. PV Solar is predictable to within less than 5% in most locations over time.Â
Renewable energy farms offer farmers and landowners an alternative to traditional farming and in many cases, the crop of electrons is more lucrative. People do need food and so do the animals we eat. Farming for food will always be something that is needed. With modern agricultural techniques, yields are higher than ever and soil does get depleted. Renewable energy is a real viable alternative to crop farming for landowners and it may just make the land value increase just like discarding the horse as the primary form of transportation did a century ago.
HOOSIERS AGE 16 AND OLDER ELIGIBLE FOR COVID-19 VACCINE
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Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office Conducting School Bus Safety Patrols this Spring
The Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office is ramping up enforcement this spring to protect students going to and from school. Over the next couple of months, officers will be positioned along with bus stops and routes, watching for stop-arm violations and unsafe driving behavior.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funds the overtime patrols through the state’s Stop Arm Violation Enforcement (SAVE) program, developed by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute in 2019.
“We take school zone safety, and the security of every child very seriously said Sheriff Wedding. “Disregarding a school bus stop arm and dangerous driving in school zones put precious lives at risk. We’re asking all motorists to drive cautiously near schools and around buses. In the coming months, our deputies will be patrolling all of our county school zones and watching for unsafe driving behavior.’
The Office joins more than 200 around the state for the spring enforcement campaign, which encourages motorists to stop for school buses. High-visibility patrols will be conducted in the morning and afternoon along routes identified by local bus drivers and school transportation officials.
While officers will be focusing on stop-arm violations, they will also be on the lookout for unsafe driving behavior such as speeding and distracted driving.
“We still have far too many people speeding and not paying attention to the road,†said Devon McDonald, ICJI Executive Director. “One glance at your phone is all it takes to cause a tragedy. Children are unpredictable, so it’s important to stay alert and be prepared to stop at all times.â€
In Indiana, it’s against the law for motorists to pass a bus that’s stopped and has its red lights flashing and stop-arm extended. This applies to all roads, with one exception. Motorists on a highway divided by a barrier, such as a cable barrier, concrete wall, or grassy median, are required to stop only if they are traveling in the same direction as the school bus.
To learn more about the Stop Arm Violation Enforcement (SAVE) program, please visit VanderburghSheriff.com or click here for a list of school bus safety tips.
INDIANA LIBRARY JOBS
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Registration is now open for the Indiana State Library’s 2021 Annual Public Library Budget Workshop.
The Indiana Center for the Book and the Indiana State Library have announced the next round of the interview series Toucan Tuesdays at 2:00! The interviews are presented in a series of videos in which the library’s chatty correspondent, Sammy the Interviewing Toucan, speaks with Indiana authors. Each interview will debut as a Facebook Premiere at 2 p.m. every Tuesday from April 6 through May 25.
The Indiana State Library is currently gauging interest in the formation of a Webmaster Roundtable group.
Use Your Voice To Improve Infection Prevention And Control in Indiana
Every frontline healthcare worker needs to fully understand infection control principles and protocols and feel they can confidently apply them to protect themselves, their facility, their family and their community. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new infection control training collaborative, Project Firstline, is designed to help every frontline healthcare worker gain that knowledge and confidence.
The Indiana Department of Health is working with the University of Indianapolis to build on these resources to create Indiana-specific infection control trainings to accommodate the needs of Hoosiers on the frontlines of health. To do this, we need your input!
In April, IDOH and UIndy will host a series of virtual town halls via Zoom to hear from you. We want to know what your priorities are for types of trainings and the formats that are the easiest to access. In a 90-minute town hall, UIndy wants to hear your input on the resources, topics and types of training of most interest to you. To accommodate as many people as possible, four town halls will be held. Each session will cover the same material; you choose the date that works best for you and your schedule. We want to hear from you, please use the link below to register for one of the four town halls.
- April 14, 2021 – Noon – 1:30 p.m. EDT
- April 15, 2021 – 10 – 11:30 a.m. EDT
- April 20, 2021 – 2 – 3:30 p.m. EDT
- April 27, 2021 – 6 – 7:30 p.m. EDT
If you have any questions about the Project Firstline Virtual Town Halls, please email allnelson@isdh.in.gov