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County receives help with HELP projects

Two Wayne County groups will take over management of Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program projects after Oct. 4 decisions by the county’s commissioners, including one described as “irresponsible governing.” The three commissioners unanimously agreed that the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County would organize and operate blight elimination within Wayne County. The EDC’s Sarah Mitchell previously […]

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Residents provide feedback on I-70 plan

The Indiana Department of Transportation has included 5-foot-wide sidewalks along U.S. 40 at the Interstate 70 interchange in its reconstruction plans. Barry Cramer, an avid bicyclist, doesn’t think that’s enough, however; he advocated for wider multiuse lanes rather than the sidewalks during a Revive I-70 public hearing Oct. 4 at Ivy Tech Community College Richmond. […]

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County council plans 2024 employee raises

Wayne County Council plans to again improve employee salaries during 2024. Consultant Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele and Associates of Muncie is comparing county salaries with comparable positions in other counties and the private sector. It then provides a midpoint for each position. During its Oct. 4 meeting, council addressed employee raises for 2024. Council members propose […]

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River flows freely as Weir Dam demolished

About two years after Richmond received funding, demolition began on Weir Dam. The Whitewater River already flowed Sept. 27 through a gap in the 10-foot-tall, low-head dam as three excavators, two with breaker hammers, broke apart the concrete. The noisy hammers sometimes harmonized as they cut into the dam, creating pieces moved by an excavator’s […]

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READI funding offer highlights economic development priorities

Wayne County’s regional partnership is developing its vision to apply for READI 2.0 state money. The East Central Indiana Regional Partnership received $15 million in December 2021 from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s original Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative. With the application due during February, the nine counties could receive up to $75 million […]

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Sheriff proposes uses for opioid settlement funds

Wayne County Jail inmates frequently struggle with opioid addiction. Treatment programs help those inmates for the days, weeks or months they are incarcerated, but Sheriff Randy Retter would like to increase those programs’ impact. He addressed Wayne County’s commissioners Sept. 13 about receiving some of the county’s 2023 opioid settlement disbursement. “What my goal is, […]