Owen County Council talks Rural Transit funding, new county positions and riverfront restoration

The Owen County Council discussed new positions, Rural Transit funding, the jail project and a riverfront restoration project during its June 8 meeting. 

Owen County municipal adviser Jeff Peters took questions from the council about the county jail project, its funding and potential income tax changes in the next couple years. Peters is with Peters Franklin based in Indianapolis. 

For the county highway department, the council members talked about the position currently held by Bennita Woodward, the highway department secretary. 

County Highway Superintendent Chad Walker said Woodward does the work of about three positions, acting as administrative assistant and secretary and is set to work 35 hours per week. It would be “absolutely wrong” for her to not get a pay raise, he said. 

She helps manage payroll, the budget, the Community Crossings Matching Grant Program and insurance, among other duties. 

“It amazes me what you do, and you do it well,” Council President Polly Chesser said. “I know how hard you work.”

The council moved to take time to review and evaluate her position, hours and compensation with a consultant, with the July 13 council meeting as the next date to discuss. 

Amy Guerrettaz, Area 10 Agency executive director, urged the council to contribute $30,312 to complement what has already been raised and pledged for the Rural Transit public transportation service for 2027. 

Rural Transit provides door-to-door service to Lawrence, Monroe, Owen and Putnam Counties. Last year, Guerrettaz said, Owen County residents used the service for 7,962 rides to medical appointments, grocery stores and other services. 

She read testimonies from residents who depend on the support, including John K., who gave up driving in 2005 due to declining eyesight and regularly uses it for doctor appointments and other services. 

“We really need the service,” the testimony said. 

Owen County makes up 19.11 percent of the trips for all four counties, and operations within the county cannot be funded without local match support, Guerrettaz said. 

The total local match for 2027 is $100,059 and $69,747 has already been raised and pledged, leaving the $30,312 deficit Guerrettaz requested from the council members. 

Council member Anton Neff said the council has time to make a decision and encouraged Guerrettaz to come to the council’s 2027 budget workshops in August.

Additionally, the council considered a request for an Emergency Medical Service Mobile Integrated Health program. According to the state EMS website, the MIH program delivers care to patients’ homes or in a mobile environment. It includes telehealth platforms and in-person teams that can provide health screenings, vaccinations, treatments, follow-ups, social work, substance abuse resources, mental health resources and chronic disease management, among other services. 

Owen County EMS Director Cris Lunsford is applying for the grant through Indiana Rural Health and received approval from the commissioners to proceed at their May 7 meeting. The request also includes adding a paramedic position, Neff said. 

The position is different from the typical paramedic that makes runs and works 24 hour shifts and is a bit more administrative, he said. The program would limit people from using the hospital as their primary care physician and do preventative work to reduce repeat calls, Lunsford said at the May meeting.  

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Chesser said. “Something like this would be really nice to kind of alleviate those.”

The county would receive $200,000 for the first year of the program. The council unanimously approved the request. 

The council also discussed the need for a new position within the courthouse to handle human resources and administrative duties. County Commissioner Normal Warner explained the value of the position for the commissioners, saying it would make them more easily accessible to the public. 

“It’s supposed to do two things for us,” Warner said. “It’s supposed to alleviate the human resource function from the auditor’s office, and it’s also supposed to man an office for the commissioners to be our person in the office on a day-to-day basis.”

An official proposal was not created yet, but Warner and Auditor Sheila Reeves gave updates and explanations for the need for the position. It would create a point person to take calls, answer vendor questions and relay information from residents to the commissioners, as well as ease the load of the auditor’s office by handling HR duties.

The council, commissioners and auditor’s office will continue to decide what tasks the role would take on, pay and hours. 

“It’s a work in progress,” Warner said.

Tammy Bingham, executive director of the Owen County Soil and Water Conservation District, asked the council to consider helping fund the next steps for a riverfront restoration project partly funded through the Department of Natural Resources and Lake and River Enhancement (LARE). 

The LARE program gives assistance for projects that “reduce non-point sediment and nutrient pollution of surface waters to a level that meets or surpasses state water quality standards,” according to the DNR. 

The SWCD previously completed a LARE Restoration/Construction project in December 2025. 

Bingham said she identified four additional critical sites that need to be stabilized and reinforced to preserve the White River bank’s integrity near Cooper Commons and the MYPath Riverfront Trail. 

Bingham recently secured a $44,000 LARE Design/Engineering Grant with a match of $11,000, bringing total costs for the project to $55,000. Bingham said she has obtained $4,000 in in-kind match and friends of MYPath pledged $500. She plans to reach out to other entities and apply for another LARE grant. Her hope from the council is that they would pledge $5,000 to help with the project. 

“I think that would look good for you,” Bingham said. “I think it would look good for the county, for the community. This is for future generations to come.”

MYPath and the SWCD recently acquired property to extend the Riverfront Trail closer to McCormick’s Creek, Bingham said. Preserving the riverbank is something that will draw people to the county to use the MYPath trail, she added.

Bingham said the county needs to decide by the fall and asked that her request be put on the agenda for the next meeting. The council approved the postponement to July. 

All council members were present for the meeting. They approved additional appropriations for the probation fund and county commissioners: $45,000 for care of patients was approved unanimously and $150,000 for other services were approved by all members except Neff, who abstained. 

The Owen County Council will meet again at 6 p.m. July 13 at the courthouse.