Wayne County’s commissioners canceled the annual deed sale of properties.
The commissioners reviewed 18 properties eligible for the sale during their April 2 meeting. The city of Richmond requested the county convey nine of those properties to the city.
Commissioners voted unanimously to fulfill the city’s request. The city has preliminarily been awarded Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative money for a program to put infill housing on vacant properties.
Commissioners also had concerns about putting four other properties into the sale, which would have left just five vacant lots for the sale. To put a property in the deed sale, commissioners must accept the deed, so if a property does not sell, commissioners are responsible for its maintenance.
To prevent them from maintaining properties, commissioners decided it was better to cancel the deed sale that was scheduled for April 17.
Last year, the commissioners conveyed properties for use by Building Together and Habitat for Humanity.
Chambers technology
Beginning July 1, the state mandates that government bodies livestream public meetings and store recordings for 90 days.
Craig Eason, the county’s information technology director, spoke with commissioners about the technology in the Wayne County Administration Building’s chambers. He is confident the county could meet the state requirements with the technology currently available. The meetings would be streamed as a webinar through Zoom, then the recordings uploaded to YouTube.
Commissioners are exploring additional options, however. River Systems technology company has supplied a proposal to provide equipment and software updates, livestream meetings and store recordings for $24,552 across three years. The county would need to use Zoom for Government that costs $360 a month. The county currently pays $192 a month.
Eason also plans to speak with Whitewater Community Television about their proposals to stream and record meetings.
Visiting Indy
Commissioner Brad Dwenger and Wayne County Council member Beth Leisure visited with Gov. Mike Braun at his residence during a reception for the state’s Republican leaders.
Leisure is chair of the Wayne County Republican Party, and Dwenger is vice chair.
A version of this article appeared in the April 9 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.