JASPER — Close to 300 people gathered at Jasper’s KlubHaus 61 Thursday for economic development agency Dubois Strong’s annual meeting, where they heard that it is still a good time to live, work, play and invest in Dubois County.
Dubois Strong Chairman Chris Tretter kicked off the 90-minute gathering with that remark — a callback to his 2017 introduction.
“As you drive around the county now, you’ll notice that if that has changed, it’s actually changed for the better,” he said.
Tretter and Dubois Strong President Ed Cole shared the economic successes Dubois County has experienced in the last year in speeches at the event that also addressed the challenges ahead. Guest speaker Joe McGuinness, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Transportation, also led a presentation on the state’s Next Level Roads initiative.
More than 50 active development projects are currently underway in Dubois County — such as the River Centre, Cultural Center, and Parklands in Jasper, and the Market Street Park and railroad overpass projects in Huntingburg. In the last 15 months, the City of Jasper issued 65 building permits for single-family homes — signaling tremendous residential growth, according to Tretter.
But, challenges do persist.
The need for a limited-access highway to support safe and cost-effective transportation to the area and the need to grow the county’s population were some of the issues mentioned by the speakers.
Earlier this week, members were proposed by the Dubois County Commissioners for a regional development authority that will actively work to make the Midstate Corridor — a bypass road that would ultimately connect Dubois County to I-69 — a reality. The Midstate Corridor group has been working to get a four-lane, limited-access highway for years that would run north from Owensboro, Kentucky, go around Huntingburg and Jasper and continue north to connect to I-69. That corridor would ease traffic on U.S. 231 between I-64 and I-69 through Dubois, Martin and Spencer counties, organizers have said.
Next up, Cole said the Jasper and Huntingburg city councils will need to approve the RDA — something he said he doesn’t believe will be a problem. Then, the RDA, McGuinness and Gov. Eric Holcomb will meet on May 14 to discuss the project.
The INDOT commissioner said in his speech Thursday that he is interested in meeting with the group next month and is looking forward to hearing what they have to say. He also spoke about Next Level Roads, a plan that dedicates more than $30 billion over the next 20 years to improving the conditions of existing state and local roads and bridges, finishing major projects, and building for the future.
To address necessary population and workforce growth in Dubois County, Cole shared that Dubois Strong will refine and expand its social media campaign this summer. It will target adults on Facebook between the ages of 25 and 30 who live in low employment areas in Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and in nearby counties.
The Facebook campaign the outfit ran last year trumpeted the hundreds of jobs available in Dubois County in a variety of career fields, Cole said. This year’s campaign will run from the beginning of May to the end of September and will emphasize the quality of place in the county.
“We are truly blessed by a vibrant and growing economy in Dubois County,” Cole said in his closing remarks.