Greene County Commissioners hear county COVID update

At their bi-monthly public meeting, held in the Commissioner’s Room of the Greene County Courthouse on April 19, the commissioners heard from Dr. Pete Powers, who provided them with a COVID update.

“COVID has decreased dramatically,” Powers said. “I haven’t admitted a patient to the hospital with COVID in six to eight weeks at least. We haven’t done near as many testing or vaccines either.”

Powers noted there were 27 vaccinations the week prior, 42 were scheduled for the next week and they were averaging 28 tests per month.

“It has dropped off dramatically,” he said. “Since we started giving vaccines about two years ago, we have given 37,000 vaccines in Greene County.”

Commissioner Rick Graves commented on how the county only has 33,000 residents, and Powers stated some people were getting more than one vaccine.

Commissioner Nate Abrams said he knows COVID has put a strain on the health department, and he expressed his appreciation for Powers and his staff and the efforts the health department has put in.

In other business:

• The commissioners approved the minutes from their previous meeting, held April 5, before approving the claims and payroll.

Greene County Assessor Dawn Abrams spoke with the commissioners regarding bids for the reassessment cycle which will run from May of this year until 2026.

She explained she has received one bid, which comes from Tyler Technologies for $960,000. A motion was made and passed to follow through with the contract.

• Karen Holz with the Bloomfield-Eastern Greene County Public Library updated the commissioners on the library’s status, noting the statistics had gone up over the last two months but finances had gone down.

Holz explained the library was still on budget, and noted that the county would have to start looking into financing her position better so that they can get a “decent director” in after her retirement.

She went on to say she has several on staff who have a masters of library science (MLS), and said she is working to get at least one of her younger staff to go to school to receive their MLS. According to Holz, she cannot afford to hire anyone else with an MLS at this time despite wanting to.

She ended her report by reminding the commissioners of the work the library had done to replace the building’s roof, and noted the air conditioner and elevator will need work.

• The commissioners passed ordinance 2022-01 which will establish a fund for the Greene County Event Center.

• Tom Edmonson was approved for another term with the Jasonville Library Board.

• In regards to the EMS building project in Linton, the commissioners opened bids at the last meeting. Commissioner Abrams explained the lowest bid turned out to be ineligible. Graves made a recommendation that all bids be rejected so the commissioners could reevaluate.

After making the recommendation a motion, the motion was seconded by Ed Michael and was passed 3-0.

The next meeting of the Greene County Commissioners will be May 4 at 9:30 a.m.. This will take place in the Commissioner’s Room at the courthouse.