Another Good Day in the Southern Indiana

First, let me make a small correction to my last blog. After talking with Kim in Santa Claus again, I found that the decision to expand the water system was driven by the fact that the town is growing fast with an increased demand on water and other services. They are looking for a more reliable source of water and one that they have more control over.

While my colleagues at IACT were fighting the good fight at the Statehouse this week, I took the opportunity to visit the city of Rockport, the soon-to-become town of Richland and the city of Boonville.

At Rockport I visited with Mayor Nedra Groves and we discussed a Brownfield project they are working on and the ongoing Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) problem in the city. The mayor expressed interest in a program that I am working on with IDEM that allows CSO communities to sit down with IDEM and discuss exactly where they are at in the process of eliminating the CSOs.

We were unable to visit the almost completed Riverbank Stabilization Project, a joint venture between Rockport and the US Corps of Engineers. Did I mention that Rockport is on the Ohio River? The Ohio is very high again and causing problems for communities along the river.

On my way to Boonville, I drove through the unincorporated area of Richland, which is hoping to become a town later this year. I noticed several areas that were being cleaned up, with old buildings being torn down and trees and underbrush being removed. What really caught my eye however was a neat sign on these lots that were being cleaned up; the sign read: Friends of Richland, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, One Lot at a Time. With that kind of start I can't help but believe they will succeed as a town.

My final stop of the day was in Boonville, where I found Mayor Pam Hendrickson completing her registration for the Indianapolis 500 Mayors Breakfast and Day at the Speedway. The mayor and I discussed the CSO issue in Boonville and she was pleased to tell me that INDOT is working on a bi-pass around the city that is much needed to remove heavy-truck traffic from downtown.
During my visits around the state the same question always comes up: "What is going to happen with HB 1001?" Boonville is one of the smaller Hoosier cities and will really get hit hard by the proposed changes in the property tax structure. As I told the mayor, we will probably know that answer by the time you read this, so all we can do is hope for the best.

All in all, it was another good day in Southern Indiana.
- Bill Goffinet