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Static, muffled, choppy voices speaking barely intelligible codes is the current fire radio system in Owen County.
The fire radio system is analog, but new Owen County 911-Communications Director Cherie Anderson has plans to improve it by changing it to digital signals, a signal that makes the voices as clear as water.
A system the Owen County police departments already have.
First, Anderson asked the commissioners to approve the rescinding on the Ritter Strategic Services (RSS) contract, a contract originally signed in February. After starting in March, looking over it, she feels the work can be done without RSS, which could potentially save the county $55,000.
The attorney found no issue with the request, stating that since there was not a meeting of minds, a meeting where both parties are present and can discuss the terms and conditions of a contract, then the contract wasn't valid.
The commissioners approved rescinding the contract unanimously, 3-0.
Moving on, Anderson brought up the vendor request proposal for the radio tower project. Currently, there are no bids, but Anderson is working on creating a proposal to send to vendors. Once she receives bids, the due date being June 24, Anderson plans to have the 911 Advisory Board hear them in a public meeting June 26.
The commissioners approved the sending of the proposals.
"I'm kind of hitting the ground running with this, because I would like to see the entire system installed and in place by potentially late fall," Anderson said.
Though there is not an official cost for the project, the Owen County Council, in a previous meeting, estimated the project to be around $500,000.
To help fund the project, the county council proposed using the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund. The commissioners approved the council's proposal.
Gary Burton, president of the board of commissioners, said $350,000 from the ARPA fund would be an appropriate amount, with the balance being taken care of by the county council. The commissioners approved the amount from the fund.
When it comes to ARPA funds, both commissioners and county council members must approve the expenditure. Commissioners are tasked with the planning and proposal, while the council is responsible for the expenditure itself.
"This is important money to be spent for a very important project," Burton said.
While the radio project is still being planned and finalized, Anderson also brought up the state of the towers and discussed tower maintenance.
Anderson visited the four fire radio tower sites — Freedom, Hoosier Energy, Ponderosa Road and Patricksburg Community Volunteer Fire Department — along with the backup tower on Rocky Hill Road. She stated these sites "needed extensive construction work" on the buildings that house the radio equipment.
She described the Freedom site being a dilapidated building with gravel flooring as well as having a mouse problem. The Rocky Hill Road site was described as having water damage.
Burton said the roof of the Rocky Hill Road site had been repaired, and Anderson noted that though there was no standing water, the damage was still visible on the ceiling tiles and the floor was “spongy.”
"The problem with that is we have one maintenance guy. So he needs two or three other hands to get some of this stuff done, so we have to hire out," Burton said. "I agree with everything you're saying. Cherie (Anderson) this stuff needs to be dealt with and fixed immediately."
He recommended Anderson to send these issues to the maintenance department, as well as discussing with maintenance the possibility of hiring out to get the towers repaired.
Anderson asked if it would be possible to transfer the $55,000 that was saved from canceling the RSS contract to use on the towers before installing the new digital equipment.
Burton said it would be fine to transfer the ARPA funds towards maintenance, and Anderson said she would come back with quotes pertaining to the maintenance of the towers.
The discussion for the fire tower radio project continued during the June 10 county council meeting.
Anderson brought up the ending of the RSS Ritter contract, and proposed that moving forward she'd organize a committee for the project — made up of members who would use the frequency — to hear the vendor proposals and bids, while having a public meeting to hear the proposals.
"My recommendation is that we don't (select) the lowest bidder, that we hear the vendors out and hear each of their proposals," Anderson said.
County council member Anton Neff asked if Anderson would seek out more professional help, like how the Ritter contract was intended. He cited the last time a radio project was done, it was vendor-driven, and he wanted to make sure past mistakes weren't repeated.
County council president Polly Chesser said the previous project resulted in the vendor leaving the radios worse than what they were originally.
Anderson responded, saying that there will be assurances built in throughout the process. She said the vendor wouldn't be paid the full amount unless the system was at least 85-percent better than it was.
The council encouraged Anderson to form the Radio Fire Tower Project committee as soon as possible, but to review ideas and proposals before the public meeting idea. Neff also suggested opening the committee to be a bit broader and having law enforcement and emergency management agency voices included, instead of strictly those using the fire tower frequencies.
Anderson also brought forward the maintenance issues of the towers again. She said in the meeting she was working on bids for the cost to fix the existing structures or creating new structures.
The goal is to have temperature controlled, secure spaces for the radio equipment to be housed. She wants to protect the investment in the new fire frequency by upgrading the security of the equipment and potentially having more cameras and/or installing alarm systems.
Since the county doesn't own the land the towers are built on, except for the one at the Particksburg Community VFD, but, instead, lease the land, the council told Anderson to look into the leases, which she'll provide more information about at the next meeting.
"The main reason for this, going all the way back to the main reason, is there are many scenes where there's zero communication with dispatch," county council member Steve Carrell said. Carrell is also a firefighter with the Cataract Volunteer Fire Department. "We just cannot talk to anyone. There is no communication. We're trying to get through, nothing happens. We literally have to send somebody either up a hill in a vehicle to call or we pick up our cell phone."
Anderson said the anticipated date to have the new digital radio system in place is by the end of fall to early December.
Two of the three Owen County Commissioners are new to their positions. Those new commissioners are former sheriff Sam Hobbs and David Risk.
In fact, the only commissioner who isn’t new to the position is Gary Burton, the board's former president.
At the beginning of the commissioners’ first meeting of 2025, held on Jan. 9, Hobbs was unanimously elected president of the board, and Risk was unanimously elected vice president.
Immediately following the reorganization, Hobbs gave a monologue about what can be expected from the board moving forward.
“It’s going to be kind of a lengthy meeting. We got a lot to go through. I’m not here to upset the apple cart with anybody, but I’m going to. It’s just the nature of the beast,” Hobbs began. “I base my faith off of God being in control because He is. We’re just here to do His will and try to make the best of a community that is falling apart.”
After sharing his long-standing attendance at these sorts of public meetings, Hobbs commented on a trend.
“The thing that I’ve seen in the last several years of coming to the meetings and stuff like that is the discord and dislike between the employees, whether you’re elected or appointed or whatever, has turned into a hatred. And it’s going to end. The reason I say that is we’re a team here together,” Hobbs said. “We were elected to serve the people and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. The people have a voice. You’re taxpayers. You’ll have a voice in every commissioners’ meeting. That’s only right. I expect your ideas, your vision, your goals and your solutions to some of the problems that we have.”
Hobbs then quoted Proverbs 23:19.
“This county is going to have a vision for everybody, not just for self-centered seeking thumb-sucking selfish people. I won’t tolerate it. I won’t tolerate rude behavior from nobody,” Hobbs said. “I’m in no way here to tell anybody to pack up and get going. If you’re not doing your job that’s required of you, there’s going to be a problem.”
Hobbs then said that employees are the county’s biggest liability and the county’s biggest asset.
“We’re going to work together as a team,” he said.
He then reiterated that the commissioners do not have any authority over other elected officials. He also said that commissioners should allow for autonomy and leadership from the county’s department heads saying they have a business to run.
Hobbs was clear that department heads could and should ask for guidance and help from the commissioners when needed and said the commissioners will not interfere unless asked or unless there is an issue.
“I’m new at this part [being a commissioner], but I’m not new at being around here. I’ve seen how some people have been treated and mistreated, and rest assured of one thing. That’s coming to an end, like real soon,” Hobbs said.
Then, instead of making the usual first meeting of the year liaison appointments, Hobbs announced that those appointments would not be made until February. He cited a “legal problem” but did not go into details.
“There’s some things facing this county that is going to be revealed in the next 30 to 60 days that could change the whole outlook on certain things,” he said.
One and only one liaison appointment was made, and that was for Risk to serve as the liaison for the highway department.
“Gary cannot do that because his wife works there,” Hobbs said.
Until appointments are made in February, Hobbs said that he would serve as the liaison for the auditor’s office and appointed department heads. He noted that elected officials can go to any of the commissioners that they want.
The commissioners then began with the routine business of approving the meeting minutes and claims.
In both this meeting and the Jan. 23 meeting, the commissioners addressed the extensive and inappropriate amount of out-of-cycle claims.
The board then went on to new business.
“This is where the rubber is going to meet the road for some of you,” Hobbs said, adding that it was unfortunate that not everything was going to be good news.
The first matter that was addressed was the contract with Dana Kerr for his services as county attorney.
“We’ve been through this for a couple of months. The current attorney is not here today. He is sick. We wish him the best in his recovery,” Hobbs began. “Dana is not here today, but we have to proceed with business. This has been discussed briefly in a couple commissioners meetings. The contract that the current attorney has is on a week-to-week basis at the moment.”
“Mr. Kerr’s last day will be Jan. 31. I’m not going to sit here and bad mouth him, run him down or anything like that. He did what he did and done what he’s done for what he thought was right. He’s an attorney. I do feel and I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mr. Kerr was led down a couple roads that he shouldn’t have had to go down. That’s my two cents worth. I think if Mr. Kerr had things to do over again, they would be done different. Again, this is my opinion.”
With that, Hobbs moved to relieve Kerr of his duties as county attorney as of Jan. 31. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
“This is not the end of this story,” Hobbs said.
After allowing him to introduce himself, the commissioners hired Tony Overholt from Frost Brown Todd Attorneys in Indianapolis. Overholt has served as the attorney for the county council. The commissioners hired Overholt, who has been an attorney for 30 years, for six months. Overholt has experience representing local government.
Overholt will be paid between $350 and $375 per hour.
There is $160,000 budgeted for the county attorney. Under Kerr’s extended 2022 contract that served from week to week until the end of January, approximately $13,000 would have been spent from the $160,000 budgeted for county legal expenses.
The council separately has budgeted approximately $40,000 for their legal expenses, as Kerr did not represent the council.
At the high end of Overholt’s rate, the county commissioners would have a total of 392 hours before exceeding the appropriation. This translates to a weekly average of roughly 7.5 hours per week without going to the county council for an additional appropriation.
During the approximately four-hour first meeting, the commissioners also:
The commissioners also held a joint meeting with the Owen County Council on Jan. 23. A story on that meeting will be made available soon on The Owen News website, theowennews.org. The commissioners met again yesterday, Feb. 6, and they will meet again at 6 p.m. on Feb. 20 in the second-floor Commissioners Room of the Owen County Courthouse, 60 S. Main St., Spencer.
In celebration of its 31st anniversary, the Owen County Community Foundation (OCCF) is thrilled to announce the return of the $1 for $1 Anniversary Match Campaign, building on the incredible success of last year’s 30th anniversary event.
In 2024, nearly $200,000 was raised to support local nonprofits serving Owen County. This year, OCCF invites donors and nonprofits to make an even greater impact.
Running from Feb. 1 through Feb. 28, this match campaign offers a $1 for $1 match for donations made to Agency and Designated funds established at OCCF. These funds specifically support the work of nonprofits serving Owen County, providing them with both immediate resources and long-term sustainability.
“Spencer Main Street, Inc., took a big step forward in 2024 by establishing an agency fund with ‘our’ Owen County Community Foundation,” Julie Coffin, President of Spencer Main Street, Inc. said. “I think we don’t even realize yet how this strengthens our organization in terms of keeping us sustainable and giving us longevity. And those are vital qualities to have because we intend to keep working to make sure that Historic Downtown Spencer continues to be the heart and center of our community for another 205 years. The first word of our mission statement is ‘collaboration,’ and we are so grateful for OCCF’s support and collaboration as we all go forward!”
How the Match Works
For every dollar donated to an eligible fund, OCCF will provide a matching gift, which is designed to strengthen nonprofits in two ways:
This model allows nonprofits to meet immediate needs while building a stable financial foundation for the future.Participating Funds
Only Agency and Designated funds are eligible for the match. These funds support a wide range of causes, including youth development, historic preservation, animal welfare, community health, and more. A full list of participating funds is available on the OCCF website or by contacting the OCCF office directly. As of Feb. 5, the following funds were included in the matching campaign:
How to Donate
Organizations can accept donations in the following ways:
Join Us in Building a Brighter Future“The success of last year’s 30th Anniversary Match Campaign was a testament to the generosity and commitment of our community,” Karah Bobeck, OCCF’s Programs and Communications Director said. “We’re excited to offer this opportunity again and look forward to seeing the incredible impact it will have for Owen County nonprofits.”Nonprofits interested in participating in this campaign and establishing a fund at the OCCF, should contact the OCCF’s office at 812-829-1725.
A Gosport home was destroyed by a fast-moving fire that broke out around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
The first wave of firefighters and emergency personnel arrived on the scene a short time later to find heavy smoke billowing from the roof and flames engulfing the front porch of the home at 246 E. South St.
Homeowner Bryan Rogers was at home when the fire broke out and was reportedly unharmed, declining medical treatment at the scene from the Owen County Emergency Medical Service.
The American Red Cross was later contacted to help meet Rogers’ immediate emergency needs.
According to the Gosport Volunteer Fire Department, a cause for the fire was undetermined.
Firefighters estimated around 30,000 gallons of water was used to battle the morning blaze.
The Gosport VFD received mutual aid from the Owen Valley Fire Territory, Bean Blossom Township-Stinesville VFD, Owen County Sheriff’s Department and the Owen County EMS.
Fire personnel were called back to the scene around 12:30 p.m. where they were able to quickly squelch the rekindled debris at the home, located on the southwest corner of East South and South Second streets.
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