A Warsaw fire station is handing out free cloth face masks while supplies last, and the county continues to look closely at countywide broadband internet, the public was informed during Wednesday’s weekly COVID-19 press briefing at city hall.

Wednesday’s press conference included Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, Kosciusko County Commissioner Bob Conley, Kosciusko Public Health Officer Dr. Bill Remington, United Way of Kosciusko County President Darren Bickel and Lutheran Health Physicians/Kosciusko Medical Group Vice President Megan Martin.

Free Masks

Thallemer announced cloth masks were available for the general public at the Center Street fire station, while supplies last.

“We’ve got fantastic groups of volunteers. Ann Sweet has led a group. I know there’s others that are involved that are helping with the fabrication of cloth masks. We will distribute those from the fire station on Center Street,” he said.

People should park off Cleveland Street as there’s parking on the west side of the fire station. There’s a small vestibule people can come into and get masks.

“We don’t have an unlimited supply, so I ask that you use what you will need,” Thallemer said of the cloth masks that can be gently washed and reused.

The masks will be distributed as supplies come in. Thallemer said if there’s any organizations or individuals that are making masks and want a place to drop those off, he said the fire station would welcome masks that community organizations or people are making and will distribute them.

“We can give you the masks. We can’t make you wear them,” he said.

Remington said he believes “masks are important.”

“When you enter any store, any commercial enterprise where there will be a number of patrons in the store, please have masks on. And it’s a strong voice to that clerk checking you out that you’re there for them. You’re thinking of them as you wear that mask. That’s a gracious thing to do,” Remington said.

Broadband Internet

As many people are staying home for long periods of time, they’re on their phones, surfing the web or using wifi to stream services like Hulu more than they might have before. Students, who have access to the internet, are doing their distance learning online.

Indiana Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jennifer McCormick has said eLearning may extend into the fall.

Unfortunately, not everyone in Kosciusko County has access to the internet or reliable internet. The county has been looking at countywide broadband internet for some time.

Conley said the issue of broadband internet is something that’s even been addressed at the national level on national news in the last few days.

“That broadband capability is out there and it’s coming. A lot of discussion about it, a lot of pros, a lot of cons,” he said. “The bigger issue, I think, is just good telephone service locally.”

He said as he was driving along Country Club Road Wednesday morning to call Thallemer, the phones went dead.

“Just a mile from the epicenter of the county, you can’t get service, but we’re looking at broadband at the county. We’re having that discussion. We have a board that we put together,” he said.

Board members include Middle District County Commissioner Cary Groninger, who has taken the lead on that; County Councilwoman Sue Ann Mitchell, who is looking at the financial side of the issue; County Administrator Marsha McSherry, who has been working with telephone companies and other entities who would benefit; and County Auditor Michelle Puckett, along with others, Conley said.

“We’re in the infant stages of that type of thing. But we’re in the vanguard locally to try to get all the resources we can, to get all the information we can, collect information on tower placement. Maximum information exchange through the location of those towers so we don’t leave any part of the county out,” Conley said.

Initially, he said the county was looking at placing three to four towers – one in the north, one in the middle and one in the south with a possible fourth in a dead spot.

“So all of that information is being gleaned. They’re having their meetings,” Conley said.

While he didn’t expect the towers would happen by this fall, he hoped by the end of this year or early next year they’d be up.

“It’s on the front burner and there’s people looking into it and deciding what’s the best course of action for the entire county,” Conley said.

Remington’s Update

If the COVID-19 pandemic was a nine-inning baseball game, Remington said it’s now the fifth inning, but it’s unclear if there will be extra innings.

As of Wednesday morning, he said there were 22 confirmed coronavirus positive cases among Kosciusko County residents, with still only one death. (That count was increased to 23 cases by Wednesday afternoon, with 11 recoveries).

“The number’s been fairly flat for the last several days. This is midpoint of the model 12-week surge for our county. If we were going to see an explosion of cases by that original modeling, it should be now. I am very happy to tell you that it seems quiet on the front. I say that with a very guarded tone,” Remington said.

“We remain a little bit on the edge of our seats due to a potential late-coming surge that’s out of sync with metropolitan areas such as Indianapolis, but as of the last several days, it’s been very quiet on the front, which is good.”

He said people should stay home as much as they can, and believes the governor and state had it right to extend the stay-at-home order until May.

“We need just a few more days of more information gathering across the state to have a good feel for what those epidemiological curves look like,” Remington said.

In regards to testing on a case-by-case basis, he said the Kosciusko County Health Department is doing a survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VYQHQQ7 regarding issues like COVID-19 symptoms and testing. The survey also can be found through KCHD’s Facebook page.

“It’ll be of interest to us to see the replies on that and to correlate that. We will probably use that survey platform again and again in the weeks ahead to ask new questions,” Remington said.

City/County Update

Thallemer reminded everyone that the city has extended its stay home leave policy until May 1, following Gov. Eric Holcomb’s orders and going two weeks at a time. The state’s stay-at-home order is through May 2, so Thallemer said that Friday is when the city will learn what its next move might be.

City hall is still doing business with a skeleton staff, though the building is closed to the public. “We’re still providing all the required services and necessary services to our citizens,” Thallemer said.

“Beyond next Friday and Saturday, the governor has indicated that early May could start showing a transitioning, lifting some of these social restrictions. Do I know what that looks like? Absolutely not. I’m not sure anybody does,” Thallemer said. “I will say I think our governor has been very purposeful with what he’s doing. I know he’s consulting five other governors in the region. I know they’re looking to the federal government, CDC guidelines and trying to make a decision that’s going to impact us in a very positive way and not jump the gun if you will and not open too quickly.”

Conley said the county offices are still open, but the buildings are closed.

“If you have business that you feel is pertinent that you need to take care of, we ask that you call the courthouse and (be directed) to the office that you need to do your business with,” Conley said.

He said the county wants to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem.

The first week after the governor opens up county business, Conley said the county employees will return to work but the buildings will continue to be closed. Everything will be cleaned, sanitized and prepared for the public to come back on the second week.

Small Business Loans

Thallemer mentioned that on Monday night the city council funded $100,000 from the city’s Economic Development Income Tax fund to Kosciusko Economic Development Corp.’s Small Business Relief Fund. He expected that KEDCo would send out a news release Wednesday about how small businesses could access funds.

The city’s $100,000 pledge will be loaned out to small businesses within the city limits impacted negatively by COVID-19 restrictions in increments of $10,000 max.

KEDCo is administering the loans. The city’s loans will be interest-free, with no payments due for six months and then the borrower has 24 months to pay the full loan amount back.

Thallemer acknowledged that the county sponsored an application to the Office of Community and Rural Affairs for $250,000 to assist county businesses with employee retention.

KEDCo’s Small Business Relief Fund also can accept donations to help small businesses in the community, he said.

While the city and county are looking to help local businesses now, the government entities could see their own financial issues over the next coming years. In the last couple of weeks, Thallemer said they could see a 15-20% impact on their Local Option Income Tax (LOIT).

“I do believe we will take a hit from our local option income tax. I don’t think there’s any question about it,” Thallemer said.

He was in on a webinar Friday with the governor’s office and the Office of Management Budget. They talked about how distributions for LOIT are “actually two years behind.” So what the city and county are receiving now are based on 2018 revenues from the state.

“So if you follow that logic, we may not be impacted until 2022 on the Local Option Income Tax side,” Thallemer said, though Ball State’s Dr. Michael Hicks suggested the hit will come in 2021.

“So I guess, to be determined. Yeah, we are going to have to consider that when we budget. Discussions are going to be a little bit different than the way we were running,” Thallemer said.

Conley, who is president of the county’s financial committee, said he recently talked with County Treasurer Rhonda Helser.

“They sent out all their tax forms for spring property tax payments. They’re coming in as expected. We thought, initially, people would not pay those the way they have in the past, not knowing where their finances are going down the road. But she’s assured me that income is coming in as usual,” Conley said.

But as for LOIT, he acknowledged, “We don’t really know.” If employers have a tough time, Conley said that will have an impact on the city’s and county’s finances.

“It’s like hitting a telephone pole with your car. Something’s going to happen, and that’s kind of what we’ve done here. We hit a telephone pole with this virus thing, and we know there’s an impact, we don’t know how critical, and we don’t know what it’s going to do to triage this whole thing,” Conley said.

“It’s to be determined,” Thallemer said.