By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

With at least two school districts in Wabash County contemplating installing solar energy in their buildings, taking a look at what other school districts in the area are doing could prove beneficial.

Warsaw Community Schools’ Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert recently talked with The Paper of Wabash County about his schools’ decision to install solar fields at five of their campuses.

Warsaw’s $10 million project is expected to save the school district a little over $15 million in energy costs over the next 25 years.

“If you’re looking at the three drivers that we had, there was financial driver, there was definitely an educational driver because we’re excited to share green energy with our kids, for our students to understand how this works and what the impact is financially and for green energy here in our community,” Hoffert said. “And, the last driver is the environmentalism driver.”
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

According to new data released by the Veterans Administration, Wabash County continues to rise within the state of Indiana in terms of benefits received among its veteran population.

While Wabash County still ranks 50th out of 92 counties in size based on the number of veterans residing in each county, it has climbed to sixth overall from last year’s ninth-place finish for benefits received on a per veteran basis.

“This places Wabash County firmly among the top few counties in our state for receiving veteran-related assistance through the Veterans Administration,” Wabash County Veterans Service Officer Samuel Daugherty said. “The upward, progressive trend for Wabash County has continue to gain momentum under (myself) and Deputy Service Officer Jeff Ritter.”
 

By David Fenker
david@nmpaper.com

NORTH MANCHESTER -- In a brief public meeting Thursday, June 29, representatives from several local organizations discussed the potential restructuring of Manchester Main Street and the North Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

The two nonprofits began talking about joining forces several weeks ago, and announced two public meetings to share information. Thursday's meeting, attended by eight people, was the second of those.

MMS board president Matt Nettleton led the discussion in the Blocher Room of North Manchester Public Library.

Nettleton noted that Wabash-based lawyer Steve Downs is handling the legal side of the transition, and working with the transition board to explain what the new structure will look like.

“I think we'll still have the various committees within each organization that run FunFest and America In Bloom, Historic Preservation,” he said. “… it's a (c)6 with a foundation that's the (c)3.”
 

By David Fenker
david@nmpaper.com

WABASH – In the past five years, the Wabash County Historical Museum's average attendance more than tripled.
Mitch Figert, president and CEO of the museum, presented a review of the museum's recent work to the county commissioners Monday, July 9.

“When I started, we weren't in a great position financially or attendance-wise,” he said. “We would go days, if not weeks, without turning the lights on; we didn't have more than about 5,000 guests a year.

“That has changed.”

Figert said that the museum now welcomes around 5,000 students per year from six counties, free of charge to the schools thanks to donations and county funding.

“We don't just let those kids run loose,” he said. “Every kid gets an education activity that's geared to their grade standards.”
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

The Indiana Secured School Safety Board recently approved more than $14 million in matching grants to enhance school security by allowing local school corporations to add resource officers, equipment and conduct threat assessments.

During the board meeting, applications were approved for 388 schools, including all three Wabash County districts and St. Bernard Catholic School, that qualified for the Secured School Safety Grant program. Each school must produce a 50 percent match to qualify.

Wabash City Schools was approved for $30,000, as was Manchester Community Schools. Metropolitan School District of Wabash County was approved for $25,000, and St. Bernard was approved for $18,706.48.
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

Prior to the Tuesday, June 25, school board meeting, the members of the Metropolitan School District of Wabash County board heard a presentation from Performance Services, who gave the board a run down of what shape their elementary school buildings are in.

Some HVAC units are beyond their life expectancy, but there were no surprises in the report, Assistant Superintendent Chris Kuhn said.

“As with any building, things need to be done to keep them going,” Kuhn said. “Some of the items they talked about, especially from the mechanical side, we know that some of them are reaching their life expectancy. That doesn’t mean they need to be replaced right away, but we can get to a point where they break down on us and put you in a situation where you have to replace them when you weren’t necessarily prepared to replace them.”
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

A small room in the Wabash County Clerk’s office will serve as the new home for the county’s voting machines and electronic poll books.

The Wabash County Election Board approved a resolution moving the machines from the Wabash County Courthouse to the clerk’s office in the Judicial Center to comply with a new state statute. The designation had to be made by July 1.

Under the resolution, the equipment will be kept in a locked room with only four individuals – the clerk, the deputy clerk of voter registration and elections, the center’s security team and the head custodian – will have access to the room.

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

Wabash County Solid Waste was approved for an additional appropriation of $245,000 for capital outlay in an effort to cut down on the illegal dumping of contaminated waste that is not recyclable.

Solid Waste spends $77,000 annually on top of its flat rate getting rid of items which cannot be recycled.

“Over quite a few years, since we began the recycling programming, one thing we are faced with with drop site recycling, is contamination,” Executive Director Jen Rankin said. “I can’t be at all of them at all times of the night, and boy are they good at timing when (no one is around). Our vendor deals with a majority of it.

That costs Solid Waste roughly $6,400 in additional fees per month, because the vendor is responsible for removing the contaminated material, like diapers for example, and taking it to the landfill.

“Drop site contamination is about the same across the state,” Rankin said. “It runs between 15 and 18 to 20 percent in some of the more rural areas. We run at about 18 percent. If in fact we were to take in all this contamination and take it to the landfill, it would cost us to write a check to the landfill. But, (the vendor) increase the cost of our recycling program in order to accommodate for that contamination.”