Volume 1, Issue 1, Free Edition - February 27, 2026

Commissioners Approve EMA Notification System

Noelle Maxwell

Decatur County commissioners approved the Decatur County Emergency Management Agency’s request to switch from their current notification system, Code Red, to Motorola’s notification system at their February 16 meeting. Leigh Ann Dashiell with EMA discussed the agency’s interest in switching from the current system to Motorola and asked the commissioners for their support in ending the contract and switching to Motorola. EMA’s contract with Code Red ends next year and they want to find a replacement vendor and end the contract before their payment is due because parts of Code Red’s system aren’t functional and no longer meet the county’s needs.

The agency explored two systems, HipLink and Motorola. Both systems met their needs, however Motorola system was more affordable. The current system, CodeRed, has cost EMA $5,100 annually. HipLink’s system would have cost $17,000 annually and Motorola’s system will cost $4,160 annually. Commissioners Jeremy Pasel and Brian Wenning approved Dashiell’s request. Commissioner Gabriel Nobbe was absent.

APC Director Doug Westerfeld updated commissioners on the city-county comprehensive plan. “I feel like from the meetings we’ve had,” Westerfeld observed, the steering committee met earlier this month to review information gathered from focus groups and two open houses, “the common theme is – the current comprehensive plan is a good comprehensive plan. It has done us well, but there just need to be some adjustments. I feel like it’s going really well.”

The comprehensive plan’s online survey was set to end later on February 16. According to Westerfeld, as of February 13, the survey had 236 responses, up from approximately 180 responses January 31. The steering committee will review the online survey results at their March meeting.

Sean Durbin, Decatur County Health Department director, approached commissioners to discuss security at the health department offices, citing a missing Apple AirTag and charing cords. Durbin noted those specific missing items aren’t concerning, “somebody could’ve picked it up and not brought it back,” but that the department houses medical supplies, secure medical information and other high-security items with “virtually no security in that building.”

“I mostly just want to bring it to your attention,” said Durbin, “that I think we need to address security issues in the health department," noting he’s uncertain about the best solution. He took a moment to thank those who helped operate the warming center during recent snowstorms; while only three people used the center, the department had capacity for 20 should it have been needed.

Requests for proposals will be gathered for CR 200 West. The road will be striped and the county highway department has explored adding either angle or parallel parking as part of the project. No decision has been made regarding parking, though adding parking is currently estimated between $11,500 and $14,000.

Finally, the commissioners approved having complete exterior and interior CAD drawings done for the courthouse as part of the annex project. While the current project doesn’t include any interior work, the commissioners felt getting CAD drawings done as part of the annex project could be wise should there be any interior work done in the future. This would save the county money compared to doing an interior drawing separately later if one should be necessary.

County Council Approves EMA Grant Proposal

Noelle Maxwell

The Decatur County Council approved a Duke Energy Grant to Decatur County Emergency Management Agency at their February 17 meeting. This grant helps the EMA purchase items enhancing their response to winter events, such as salamander-style heaters. These heaters would enable the agency to heat a large vehicle, such as a trailer or school bus, more efficiently should it be necessary. The remaining grant money will go towards heavy-duty electrical cables and attachment connectors for the EMA’s generators, so the heaters work effectively with the generators the agency already has. Anything left after those purchases would be spent on items for the warming shelters the Decatur County Health Department and EMA run, such as blankets. EMA Director Michael Snyder told council he’d already filled out the paperwork for the grant, noting, “there’s no money required for us to put into that, no match required or anything.”

Tim Ortman, Highway Department director, discussed the need for budget reorganization related to an upcoming chip and seal project. Funding is restricted to certain areas and needs to be formally reallocated if changes need to be made to the budget – the project is still within budget, however funding needs to be moved around for compliance reasons.  “We will actually write our claim straight out of the restricted fund and pay straight from it for authorization of qualified purchases,” Ortman explained. “A lot of this,” he continued, “is just cleaning things up, moving things around, really becoming a lot more in compliance.” This was approved.

Decatur County Skate Park Revamp Participates in State Creative Convergence Program

Edited Press Release

The Indiana Arts Commission announced February 26 that 10 communities are participating in the Creative Convergence program, including Greensburg. Greensburg’s project is the Decatur County Skate Park Revamp, which seeks to decorate the park by painting designs or murals on the equipment.

Participants attended a two-day workshop in November 2025. The workshop’s focus was embedding arts and creativity in the community, economic planning, working collaboratively across sectors and engaging effectively with their communities. Each community receives $5,000 in grant funds towards their project.  A survey is currently being conducted by the Decatur County Arts and Cultural Council to determine what color palettes and designs citizens would like to see at the skate park. That survey can be found online here.

Meet Library Director Brenda Campbell

Noelle Maxwell

“We never know exactly what direction libraries are going to take – since the beginning, libraries have always evolved to be whatever the community needs and we continue to evolve to meet the needs of the community, whatever that looks like,” said Greensburg Decatur County Public Library Director Brenda Campbell. Campbell was hired as director in late 2025 – she’s a Decatur County native who has previously worked as the Director of Educational Development and Marketing at the Jennings County library and as director of the Tyson Library.

As director, Campbell’s top priorities have been to continue building a library of things, exploring constructing an accessible swing set for children with disabilities and preparing for the projected impacts of Indiana Senate Bill 8 and 4 should those bills pass. “We’re really interested in seeing how this legislation session turns out,” Campbell said, “there’s a proposal to shift the entire way that libraries are funded and there’s language in there that could now allow for libraries to be defunded completely. We really have no idea what we’re looking at, we have no idea what our budgets, our guidelines, are going to be for 2027.” Libraries statewide are waiting to see what happens in the current legislative session before making plans.

“We have a history of being very fiscally responsible,” Campbell noted, “we do have some funds in reserve we can use if we have to, but we hope the legislators and the people see libraries as valuable enough to keep funding us so we can serve our communities.” Depending on the impact these bills have on the budget, Campbell noted GDPL may need to shift to doing more community partnerships with other local entities – the library has collaborated with Decatur County Memorial Hospital for the kids’ fair and has partnered with local independent bookstore Dog Eared Pages at times, for example.

The swing set will be funded by a $10,000 Carnegie Grant – the library has been taking community suggestions for how to use the grant and wanted to build something that serves the community and is sustainable. “We feel like” the swing set is “something that the community needs, that the community could use,” Campbell said, “and what better place to do that than at the library?”

Campbell’s third priority is to expand the library of things. A library of things is composed of items people may need but may not want to buy. Many libraries in Indiana have a library of things, including the Hagerstown library where Campbell worked immediately prior to becoming the director at GDPL. “We had a library of things there,” she said, “that was very, very popular.” Items one might find in a library of things can include everything from a power washer or a tool kit to a cornhole or pickleball set, cake pans and even medical assistance devices such as canes or wheelchairs. “Maybe,” Campbell provided an example of how a patron might use the library of things once cooking items are added, “you want to make a Barbie cake for your niece, but you don’t want to spend 15 bucks on a pan. We’ll have a lot of different cake pans and cookie cutters that you can borrow to use.” GDPL’s library of things currently has a power washer, sewing machine, toolkit, gardening kit, wheelbarrow, cornhole set, pickleball set, medical equipment including a rollator, wheelchair, crutches and canes. Campbell emphasized the library is always open to feedback about additional items that people might want or need from the library of things.

When asked what she’s learned about Decatur County since settling into the role, Campbell shared, “one of the things I’ve learned, or re-learned, is that Decatur County is full of very visionary [people] – it’s a friendly place and always has been. I was glad to come back to that, I’m glad to see that young people are in leadership positions and making changes to continue the growth of Decatur County.

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