Henry County OKs use of food and beverage funds for Ivy Tech and Memorial Park

Ivy Tech was awarded $400,000 in food and beverage funds by the Henry County Council to help pay for the planned expansion. Bolser said the effort was also supported by a $250,000 donation from the Henry County Hospital Foundation and a $250,000 donation from the Henry County Community Foundation. Ivy Tech is covering the balance of $400,000.

Bolser said the Henry County campus is a bright spot for the nation’s largest community college with nearly 300 students attending classes there last year and another 600 Henry County high school students benefiting from the dual credit classes available as a result of a partnership between Ivy Tech and the five local school systems. The local campus offers an associate’s degree in respiratory therapy and a wide range of general study classes that are transferable to other post secondary education facilities.

Bolser said the expansion will add a science lab to the local campus as well as needed classroom and office space. Once the science lab is built, the local campus will also offer a complete associate’s degree in nursing, which Bolser said will be a huge plus.

“This project will address needs based upon demand,” he said. “We cannot produce enough medical assisting folks and we cannot produce enough nurses to fill the needs in east-central Indiana.”

Commissioner Kim Cronk said Ivy Tech has been a positive addition to the Henry County community.

“An important aspect of all of this is that Ivy Tech allows us to keep our citizens and the citizens in the counties surrounding our community here. It also improves economic development and the quality of life in our community,” Cronk said. “I hope we can continue to build on that.”

Cronk made a motion to allow the pledged food and beverage funds to be used to help pay for the proposed expansion. That motion passed 3 to 0.

Lis McDonnell, representing the Memorial Park Board, also recently appeared before the county commissioners with a request to use pledged food and beverage funds for planned or recent park improvement projects.

She said five quotes were received for repairs to the roof of the W.G. Smith Building, which has been leaking for some time. McDonnell said the lowest bid that met requested specifications was from Neal’s Custom Exteriors of New Castle at a cost of $23,880.

The second matter McDonnell asked the commissioners about involved repair or replacement of one of the large air-conditioning units at the Smith Building. She said two quotes were received and Perdue Home Services of New Castle was the lower of the two at a cost of $1,880.

McDonnell also presented a final invoice from SteelCore, the company the park board originally hired to assist with renovations to the Smith Building that were planned at the time. The company did several soil borings and also investigated possible remedies for ongoing water problems on the lower level of the building. Their bill was for $9,850.

The commissioners approved all of the requests for funding presented, which will allow the projects to move forward as soon as possible.