After over an hour of public comments and discussion among members last night, the Brown County Council postponed a vote on an ordinance approving a $3 million capital loan until next month.

Paying for updates to the county 911 system, leasing a coroner’s office, paying for two different ambulance contracts, and the possible purchase of the Career Resource Building are all expenses the Brown County Commissioners plan to cover with the $3 million capital improvement loan.

A draft plan released to the newspaper outlines how the loan will be spent, including an estimated $94,000 in fees for securing the loan.

The Brown County Council approved a resolution for the loan at the June 21 meeting. The council was expected to vote on an ordinance approving the loan at their July 19 meeting after receiving public comments, but questions about what projects the loan would pay for and how COVID-19 relief funding will be used on top of the loan resulted in the vote being postponed until a special meeting on Aug. 2. More about last night’s meeting is being written for the July 28 issue of the paper.

County commissioner Diana Biddle presented the initial resolution to the council in June. The county has been borrowing $2 million every two or three years for capital improvement projects. The last such loan they took out in 2018 is set to be paid off within the next month. The interest rate is not to exceed 3 percent.

“With the rate being so low, it’s a pretty good bet that the tax impact will be tax neutral. This one should just pop in right as our other one is going off,” Biddle said in June.

Biddle said borrowing $3 million instead of $2 million is being suggested since interest rates are “exceptionally low” and some of it could be used for bridge projects and road improvements.

In the draft of the 2021-2023 capital improvement loan plan, the biggest expense is an estimated $500,000 that will be spent on the purchase of the CRC building if the Brown County Schools Board of Trustees decides to sell the property once a new superintendent takes over next month. The CRC would then be home to the prosecutor’s office, and another $100,000 was estimated in the loan plan to cover the cost of tearing down the current prosecutor’s office.

The second-largest expense will be $400,000 to update the county’s 911 system, including new antennas and 911 consoles. That also would cover new highway radios that come with GPS tracking to better monitor what roads are being mowed or plowed in real time.

Initial discussions on the loan included paying $250,000 to finish the stormwater project in Helmsburg, but recent changes with the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) COVID-19 relief funding coming to the county allows for it to be spent on matching grant projects involving federal money, like with the Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The $250,000 that was to be allocated for the stormwater project has been moved to replace the air conditioning at the Brown County Law Enforcement Center.

Paying for ambulance contracts with Columbus Regional Health and Indiana University Health Lifeline are also outlined in the plan. The county will pay CRH an estimated $281,000 out of the loan for the remaining 2020-2021 contract, then an additional $360,000 to IU for the cost of service from April through December this year.

There is also $60,000 budgeted for technology updates and $20,000 for security improvements. Another $35,000 is estimated for replacing the siding and roof at the Sycamore Valley Senior Center.

Rounding out the rest of the money is $50,000 for leasing a coroner’s office. The approximate remaining $850,000 will go to the Brown County Highway Department for paving and bridge projects.

All costs are subject to change as plans are finalized and materials are ordered.

Biddle said she was also going to approach the county’s financial adviser, Baker Tilly, about doing a comprehensive capital improvement plan, and if not, trying to find another consulting company.

“I’ve gone back over the last five years on what we’ve already done and looking forward to what we need to do,” Biddle said.

The plan would include a road and bridge inventory showing which ones would need repaired in the future.

“We’re not committed to anything, just doing our homework to see what it would cost us and if it is worth it,” she said.

A comprehensive capital improvement plan would help keep track of expensive repairs, like the air conditioning at the law enforcement, which has reached its 15-year lifespan.

ARPA?

At the July 7 meeting, Biddle also announced that the county had received part of its ARPA money, totaling around $1.4 million.

Nearly $3 million in relief funding is coming to Brown County, but the money is being split into two payments.

Local governments can use the money for a number of expenses, including revenue shortfalls; responding to negative impacts on housing, nonprofits and small businesses due to the pandemic; paying salaries of essential workers; or paying for necessary investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure.

Biddle said earlier this month that the commissioners need to come up with a mission statement for how they want the money to be spent.

“Then we’ll add our criteria for what our goals as commissioners, council and county leadership is for those funds. … It allows us to say what is important then create a rubric or matrix to grade the projects presented to us as to how they meet those objectives.”

Commissioners President Jerry Pittman agreed with that approach. “That is a good approach rather than pick and choose off a list. That can be subjective,” Pittman said.

“It highlights our priorities,” Biddle added, saying she will continue drafting a mission statement.

“We have to have that done before listening to requests that will not meet objectives. We want to spell that out first. It’s a good place to start.”

Biddle said the commissioners will set aside a time after the mission statement and goals are finished to hear requests from different entities for ARPA funding. That meeting will be some time in August. A date could be finalized at the next commissioners meeting on Wednesday, July 21.

The Brown County Water Utility had already submitted a request for ARPA funding to the county for a project they are working on. The Brown County Regional Sewer District also put in a request for funding for sewer projects they are trying to accomplish.

“I am hoping very much we can be looking at this ARPA funding in terms of dealing with some of our infrastructure, broadband, wastewater and certainly the drinking water,” Biddle said.