Unknown Speaker
All right. Hello again and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren. This week we're in Terre Haute on zoom with Duke Bennett. Hello, Mayor, I appreciate you taking the time to join us today. I know you have a busy day today.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, well, they're all busy. You know how that is. But I just enjoy doing this show. I've been doing it for a long time now. Appreciate you. You guys continuing it. And I appreciate working with you personally. And so I always look forward to doing this.
Unknown Speaker
To August, Back to School Month, college students will be coming back to Terre Haute. There'll be some new faces. I don't did school start there in Vigo County.
Unknown Speaker
County schools start on Thursday of this week. So this week, and then yeah, college kids are starting to trickle back in. So you know, it really changes the face of our community when all the college students come back. But the summer went really quick. And now it's time for school and I it's an exciting time for me, I love to see
Unknown Speaker
if we've got maybe new parents and students that are moving to Terre Haute this coming month, they come across this podcast and want to hear about Terre Haute, what what's the message from the mayor?
Unknown Speaker
You know, I love the fact that they're coming here bringing their kids here and or visiting here. And we'll do that throughout the school year. You know, we just encourage people to spend a little time here. So when you come and visit your son or daughter or whatever, you know, spend a little time just kind of getting to know the community. I think that's important for parents to kind of know what you know, their kids are, you know, we're supposed to and what things are like here, there's a lot of great things to do. It's a safe place. You know, we're really excited about the projects we've been working on to make tear open, you know, be more on the map, if you will, and really have us stand out. So it's a good selling tool for us. These parents come you know, they bring their kids, they visit them throughout the school year. We want them to go back and say positive things about Taro. So we just like them to be engaged. You know, just it's not just about the university or the college. It's about the community. And we just really love the relationship and the collaborations we have and we hope the Ferris wheel will see a lot of that. And, you know and say lots of great things about our community to others.
Unknown Speaker
Don't forget you can submit your questions to news at Indiana public media.org or Twitter ask at Ask the mayor. Alright, let's move into news and things going on. I you know just how to get your reaction because Statehouse this past weekend at a special session Indiana's near total abortion ban takes effect September 15. I know this isn't a mayoral decision. But I know Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton took part of his show a couple of weeks ago to talk about what's happening at the Statehouse. Do you have any comment?
Unknown Speaker
Well, you know, I guess I didn't know what they were going to do. You know, I mean, I knew what a lot of them wanted to do. And that's kind of what it ended up being they backed off a tiny bit at the end. But it's such a controversial topic, you know, to people. And I get that. And as you mentioned, I'm kind of glad it's not something that I have to deal with. Because, you know, we've got lots of other issues we have to but you know, you, you want our state to be in a good position. And, you know, you're beginning to hear some businesses that are having some concerns about the new law that's been passed. You know, I hate to hear that. I just think at the end of the day, you know, we need to do what's right, and what's fair. And what they put forth. And what we're going to have to work with here is more restrictive than what a lot of people thought it was gonna be, I think, at the end of the day, and so a bit surprised that it stuck and held most of it. And you know what the future holds? I don't know, I guarantee you it's going to be revisited again and again, probably, we'll see what the feds do or don't do in the future. I just think it's, it's in the early stages of settling this from a permanent perspective. And so that's why I never tried to weigh in too much of any of these because you don't know where it's gonna go. I know where we are today. But I guarantee you it's gonna be talked about and dealt with in the future.
Unknown Speaker
The governor also signed the inflation relief bill, so $200 rebate payments from the state's surging budget surplus. Some say rebates could further fuel inflation. Just your thoughts on the inflation relief bill?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, Oh, you know, these are always tough because there are people out there that are struggling and they can use it. There's also a lot of people that don't need it. They just don't, you know, they're in a good financial position. And so when you kind of blanket that it may have an impact on inflation, there's no question. I mean, I, you know, I'm not an economist, but I understand how this stuff works enough to know that their mind. I'm glad they're done with it, and they decided to compromise on what they were going to do. And hopefully, it will help those folks that really need the help. That's where I want the funds to go, versus the people who don't really need it, you know? And I know, that's always a tough worst align, you know, went through this with all the COVID things, and there's no easy answer. Hope it helps those that need help. That's, that's my bottom line message.
Unknown Speaker
Is it hard to see the state with just so much money, so much budget surplus, but then Indiana towns and cities struggling?
Unknown Speaker
Yes, it is frustrating, and great to say, I mean, I love the fact that we're fiscally responsible, have a triple A bond rating, all that stuff is tremendous. I mean, I, I really love that kind of position that we're in as a state. But we're going to need to spend some of that money and what we need to spend it wisely not just more social programs or more things just to make people feel good, but impactful things. And, you know, I think mental health and addiction, you know, we're hearing more and more about that, I think they're going to next budget, we'll probably have some money in there for that. The ready grants are another example, community crossings, when you put money in those kinds of programs, it helps everybody in your community. And those are the kinds of things that I like to see. And we really have to do something on that mental health and addiction side, we have to do something different than what we've been doing. And not just Indiana but other states too. So I'm hopeful that in this next budget cycle, they'll be able to take some of that surplus, and put it back into the communities in a way that because we can't do anything more than what we're collecting in taxes and doing. We need some of that to flow down to our local communities, to put the programs in place that really will be have the impact on people where the real problems are at today.
Unknown Speaker
I'm sure if the state gave you a billion dollars, you'd find ways to spend it.
Unknown Speaker
Absolutely. No, when one of the things that pops up is like homelessness, I don't want a bunch of money from the state to deal with the homeless problem. We've got not for profits here. They're doing a lot. But those people that are homeless that have mental health issues and addictions issues, how do we help that part of it? You know what I mean? And so I think if we're real strategic about how to use those funds locally, we can impact what's going on in Terre Haute and Vigo County. And, you know, I'm all about local control, that we need some funds to be able to implement local programs that will really have an impact, not just doing something, feel good about it, but doing something where there's actual measurable results.
Unknown Speaker
And boy, we've talked so much with different mayors as well about the need for infrastructure. I know they're you're working on a plan now. Sure. Budgeting for your I believe it's called the long term control plant.
Unknown Speaker
So there's two parts to my infrastructure numbers, we've got about $300 million worth of work we have to do on that long term control plan, so stormwater, wastewater, etc, to be in compliance with the mandated federal rules, we don't get, you know, decide what we're going to do or not do they tell us what we're going to do. And so that's a big portion of it. But then I've got $200 million, and other infrastructure in place roads, and trail projects, all those kinds of things that we need to do to help us, you know, move this take care of what we have and move the community forward. When you look at those big numbers, people are like, wow, you know, what are we going to how are we going to pay for that? Well, there's a transportation bill that was approved earlier this year, yet none of that money has flowed back to the communities yet. I'm not sure where that's at between the federal government and the state of Indiana. I keep asking, not get any straight answers quite yet. But there's a ton of money coming in Indiana for infrastructure we use that is can I use some of that for a wastewater side that will keep our bills down in the future? Does it all need to go to streets and road improvements? Fine, but there is so much money out there right now more than we've ever seen. It just needs to get back to our local community so we can invest it into our infrastructure
Unknown Speaker
now is well it's always budget time but I know you're really starting to craft next year's budget. So where What are you looking for there right now?
Unknown Speaker
You know, really to hold our own from a sir Risk delivery perspective. But he began to increase some of those capital projects we want to do more parks related things, we want to invest in our parks. And so between the ARPA funds and the ready grant and the casino money that's coming in 24, we're trying to begin to ramp that up next year in 2023. Over the next two or three to five years, we're able to make some major investments in our parks, improve some very existing trails and festival trail connectors in the ring to three big sections connected together, I want to do a tremendous amount of paving with sidewalks and ADA compliant corners, you know, the curb cuts on the corners. We've got it all on our plan, it's just lining that up to find out which revenue source will help us get the biggest bang for the buck. And so in next year's budget will begin to move in that direction, and then in 24, will ramp up time. So there are things that are important for the quality of life here, the things that we just not been able to do because of lack of revenue, the property tax cash primarily, now that we've got these new revenue sources, we can begin to do some of these projects, we're going to need a couple of new buildings, we're going to need to remodel City Hall. I mean, so it's kind of an across the board. We're going to begin to see the first phases of that in next year's budget.
Unknown Speaker
Have you seen any impact on budget? From COVID? Now that we're about Rena, were a couple years later.
Unknown Speaker
No, you know, we had some first year impacts 2020. They recovered in 2021. And they've stayed just fine. Ever since then, with some of the COVID relief funds, some of the arco funds, were able to pay ourselves back and cover some of those costs we had. We hadn't planned on obviously, nobody did. And it made up for some of that loss of revenue. So we're hoping with all that, and revenues continue to go up. They're not going after this quite as much as the state's revenues have gone up. I mean, there's a that's a pretty dramatic thing that's going on at the state level. But locally, we're not seeing any, we will continue to have a slow rise in revenue.
Unknown Speaker
We did hear a little bit about COVID. Back in the news cases going back up a couple of weeks ago, I think we heard Bartholomew County was in a red status. Any update there in Vigo County, you know,
Unknown Speaker
a few weeks ago, it was starting to go up or there were some additional hops hospitalizations, but they quit sending reports out again. So that tells me we're back where we need to be I haven't seen anything this week. You know, and some of those people in the hospital are just people with other ailments, but they test positive for COVID. So they're the last I checked, we only had one in ICU a few weeks ago. And I've not heard anything different since then. So I think the numbers are pretty low. There's a lot of people that are given COVID, it seems to be all the ones that never, you know, didn't get it through the first few rounds, if you will, but they're getting an email, but they're not as sick. So that's very encouraging to me, I think we're just going to have to treat it like the flu, you hear that. And that's where I'm at. I think, you know, if you've got some underlying conditions, and you get COVID, you need to get to see the doctor, there's no doubt about it. Don't try to just wait it out at home. But if you're healthy, I think you're going to need to treat it like the flu, and you get a few days and you know, and come back to work. So I'm sensing that things are improving on that daily perspective here right now.
Unknown Speaker
You mentioned this earlier, any update on the casino is construction underway?
Unknown Speaker
Well, we're moving some dirt out there, but they're still working with utilities and getting some things finalized on them. So working with them on some traffic kind of early phase one initial things, and then later dealing with traffic flows out there. So we just continue to meet with them and everybody involved as construction will start soon. Just nothing. There's no building going up quite yet. But they're getting closer and closer every day.
Unknown Speaker
How is paving road projects coming along now?
Unknown Speaker
So we're done with pretty much all the big projects. We just recently did eight, the Ninth Street South of the downtown area. And we did something different on those two we they were narrow streets but they had two lanes of traffic and two parking lanes. And so over the years we've been trying to figure out what to do with them because there were places where cars one would have to stop and you couldn't be side by side because it was too narrow. So we decided to pay both of those streets all the way from downtown down the Holman Street and add a bike lane so they're both one way streets. Eighth Street is one way south Ninth Street is one way north and so lots of residential area is in that South Side didn't have any, you know, bicycle access to our downtown area. But we paved the streets and we've restriped them to have one nice wide lane of traffic and one bike lane and maintain the two parking lanes. And so the feedback has been very positive. So far, people love the fact that now they have a bike path to follow all the way from home into downtown and back. People liked the wider lane a little bit wider, we have one lane of traffic, you don't have to worry about people getting next to you. And so it's been a little confusing because it rained on us right after we paid the street. And we haven't been able to finish all the striping, but we're. But in the past, the feedbacks been even more positive than I thought it would be. It's kind of an experiment for us. Because we don't have any other major streets like that, that are set up that way, we've got a few spots where we have a bike path, but not where we're trying to add one where we never had a path. And so we're free and for many years. And so it's been encouraging. So we're wrapping up our paving project that was kind of our last big one, we got a few small ones to do. And then we'll be done for this year.
Unknown Speaker
I just haven't talked about this in a while. And I know it's a county project, but the new jail any updates on that and how that
Unknown Speaker
will be soon moving prisoners, they were supposed to start it in July, there's some issues with supply chain of some fire alarm related things sprinkler system, they have to have all that in and tested, you know, health safety staff before they can move prisoners. And so as soon as they get that done, they will begin to move, you know, prisoners into the new facility. So that's all he is just waiting on some. You know how this is it's just a constant battle to buy things and get them in the timeframes that we used to it's just a real challenge.
Unknown Speaker
That just talked about so many times on this show. And no, it was a long time coming. So what's another month?
Unknown Speaker
Exactly. Be here saying unable to be able to move ahead?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. I know we're just down to a couple minutes left always like to leave the last minute to you. Any announcements, anything going on in city council that, you know, we should know about?
Unknown Speaker
No City Council has remained pretty quiet recently, we'll be taking up the budget in September. So that'll kind of be the big topic of conversation. You know, where I came from, etc. meeting this morning, our local Terre Haute Economic Development Corporation, a lot of leads for some really significant projects. And, you know, anytime you go through those meetings, there's always some that are hotter than others. Some of them are lukewarm. But we continue to see a lot of interest in Terre Haute. So that excites me excited about our parks plan that we're going to be rolling out here very soon updating our five year plan, not an official five year plan update, but several things that we're going to be getting done in the next 12 to 24 months that we'll be able to really hit on that plan very hard that we haven't been able to do. So that's very exciting to me. Kids coming back, because we talked about, you know, going back to school, and then coming back to college, that's always an exciting time, especially for our small businesses, they they really survive on that college business. So that's very helpful for all names, especially in the downtown area and elsewhere. Things are just going really well I'm, I'm happy where we're at. It's an exciting time of the year and August always is and so I feel myself looking forward to, you know, the just seeing so many more people walk in the streets and obviously drive to the streets and desecrate a lot more traffic. But it's exciting to see from that economic perspective. And it's, you know, it's been a long year so far from the perspective of things we've been working on, but it's going really fast. And I'm hoping we'll have a nice long follow up. It's my favorite time of the year personally, that I just love seeing everybody out over the festivals and football games. And that's very certainly upon us. So an exciting time of the year and Taro.
Unknown Speaker
All right. Well, again, thanks so much for your time and boy we'll see in September. Okay, Joe, thank you. Thank you
All right. Hello again and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren. This week we're in Terre Haute on zoom with Duke Bennett. Hello, Mayor, I appreciate you taking the time to join us today. I know you have a busy day today.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, well, they're all busy. You know how that is. But I just enjoy doing this show. I've been doing it for a long time now. Appreciate you. You guys continuing it. And I appreciate working with you personally. And so I always look forward to doing this.
Unknown Speaker
To August, Back to School Month, college students will be coming back to Terre Haute. There'll be some new faces. I don't did school start there in Vigo County.
Unknown Speaker
County schools start on Thursday of this week. So this week, and then yeah, college kids are starting to trickle back in. So you know, it really changes the face of our community when all the college students come back. But the summer went really quick. And now it's time for school and I it's an exciting time for me, I love to see
Unknown Speaker
if we've got maybe new parents and students that are moving to Terre Haute this coming month, they come across this podcast and want to hear about Terre Haute, what what's the message from the mayor?
Unknown Speaker
You know, I love the fact that they're coming here bringing their kids here and or visiting here. And we'll do that throughout the school year. You know, we just encourage people to spend a little time here. So when you come and visit your son or daughter or whatever, you know, spend a little time just kind of getting to know the community. I think that's important for parents to kind of know what you know, their kids are, you know, we're supposed to and what things are like here, there's a lot of great things to do. It's a safe place. You know, we're really excited about the projects we've been working on to make tear open, you know, be more on the map, if you will, and really have us stand out. So it's a good selling tool for us. These parents come you know, they bring their kids, they visit them throughout the school year. We want them to go back and say positive things about Taro. So we just like them to be engaged. You know, just it's not just about the university or the college. It's about the community. And we just really love the relationship and the collaborations we have and we hope the Ferris wheel will see a lot of that. And, you know and say lots of great things about our community to others.
Unknown Speaker
Don't forget you can submit your questions to news at Indiana public media.org or Twitter ask at Ask the mayor. Alright, let's move into news and things going on. I you know just how to get your reaction because Statehouse this past weekend at a special session Indiana's near total abortion ban takes effect September 15. I know this isn't a mayoral decision. But I know Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton took part of his show a couple of weeks ago to talk about what's happening at the Statehouse. Do you have any comment?
Unknown Speaker
Well, you know, I guess I didn't know what they were going to do. You know, I mean, I knew what a lot of them wanted to do. And that's kind of what it ended up being they backed off a tiny bit at the end. But it's such a controversial topic, you know, to people. And I get that. And as you mentioned, I'm kind of glad it's not something that I have to deal with. Because, you know, we've got lots of other issues we have to but you know, you, you want our state to be in a good position. And, you know, you're beginning to hear some businesses that are having some concerns about the new law that's been passed. You know, I hate to hear that. I just think at the end of the day, you know, we need to do what's right, and what's fair. And what they put forth. And what we're going to have to work with here is more restrictive than what a lot of people thought it was gonna be, I think, at the end of the day, and so a bit surprised that it stuck and held most of it. And you know what the future holds? I don't know, I guarantee you it's going to be revisited again and again, probably, we'll see what the feds do or don't do in the future. I just think it's, it's in the early stages of settling this from a permanent perspective. And so that's why I never tried to weigh in too much of any of these because you don't know where it's gonna go. I know where we are today. But I guarantee you it's gonna be talked about and dealt with in the future.
Unknown Speaker
The governor also signed the inflation relief bill, so $200 rebate payments from the state's surging budget surplus. Some say rebates could further fuel inflation. Just your thoughts on the inflation relief bill?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, Oh, you know, these are always tough because there are people out there that are struggling and they can use it. There's also a lot of people that don't need it. They just don't, you know, they're in a good financial position. And so when you kind of blanket that it may have an impact on inflation, there's no question. I mean, I, you know, I'm not an economist, but I understand how this stuff works enough to know that their mind. I'm glad they're done with it, and they decided to compromise on what they were going to do. And hopefully, it will help those folks that really need the help. That's where I want the funds to go, versus the people who don't really need it, you know? And I know, that's always a tough worst align, you know, went through this with all the COVID things, and there's no easy answer. Hope it helps those that need help. That's, that's my bottom line message.
Unknown Speaker
Is it hard to see the state with just so much money, so much budget surplus, but then Indiana towns and cities struggling?
Unknown Speaker
Yes, it is frustrating, and great to say, I mean, I love the fact that we're fiscally responsible, have a triple A bond rating, all that stuff is tremendous. I mean, I, I really love that kind of position that we're in as a state. But we're going to need to spend some of that money and what we need to spend it wisely not just more social programs or more things just to make people feel good, but impactful things. And, you know, I think mental health and addiction, you know, we're hearing more and more about that, I think they're going to next budget, we'll probably have some money in there for that. The ready grants are another example, community crossings, when you put money in those kinds of programs, it helps everybody in your community. And those are the kinds of things that I like to see. And we really have to do something on that mental health and addiction side, we have to do something different than what we've been doing. And not just Indiana but other states too. So I'm hopeful that in this next budget cycle, they'll be able to take some of that surplus, and put it back into the communities in a way that because we can't do anything more than what we're collecting in taxes and doing. We need some of that to flow down to our local communities, to put the programs in place that really will be have the impact on people where the real problems are at today.
Unknown Speaker
I'm sure if the state gave you a billion dollars, you'd find ways to spend it.
Unknown Speaker
Absolutely. No, when one of the things that pops up is like homelessness, I don't want a bunch of money from the state to deal with the homeless problem. We've got not for profits here. They're doing a lot. But those people that are homeless that have mental health issues and addictions issues, how do we help that part of it? You know what I mean? And so I think if we're real strategic about how to use those funds locally, we can impact what's going on in Terre Haute and Vigo County. And, you know, I'm all about local control, that we need some funds to be able to implement local programs that will really have an impact, not just doing something, feel good about it, but doing something where there's actual measurable results.
Unknown Speaker
And boy, we've talked so much with different mayors as well about the need for infrastructure. I know they're you're working on a plan now. Sure. Budgeting for your I believe it's called the long term control plant.
Unknown Speaker
So there's two parts to my infrastructure numbers, we've got about $300 million worth of work we have to do on that long term control plan, so stormwater, wastewater, etc, to be in compliance with the mandated federal rules, we don't get, you know, decide what we're going to do or not do they tell us what we're going to do. And so that's a big portion of it. But then I've got $200 million, and other infrastructure in place roads, and trail projects, all those kinds of things that we need to do to help us, you know, move this take care of what we have and move the community forward. When you look at those big numbers, people are like, wow, you know, what are we going to how are we going to pay for that? Well, there's a transportation bill that was approved earlier this year, yet none of that money has flowed back to the communities yet. I'm not sure where that's at between the federal government and the state of Indiana. I keep asking, not get any straight answers quite yet. But there's a ton of money coming in Indiana for infrastructure we use that is can I use some of that for a wastewater side that will keep our bills down in the future? Does it all need to go to streets and road improvements? Fine, but there is so much money out there right now more than we've ever seen. It just needs to get back to our local community so we can invest it into our infrastructure
Unknown Speaker
now is well it's always budget time but I know you're really starting to craft next year's budget. So where What are you looking for there right now?
Unknown Speaker
You know, really to hold our own from a sir Risk delivery perspective. But he began to increase some of those capital projects we want to do more parks related things, we want to invest in our parks. And so between the ARPA funds and the ready grant and the casino money that's coming in 24, we're trying to begin to ramp that up next year in 2023. Over the next two or three to five years, we're able to make some major investments in our parks, improve some very existing trails and festival trail connectors in the ring to three big sections connected together, I want to do a tremendous amount of paving with sidewalks and ADA compliant corners, you know, the curb cuts on the corners. We've got it all on our plan, it's just lining that up to find out which revenue source will help us get the biggest bang for the buck. And so in next year's budget will begin to move in that direction, and then in 24, will ramp up time. So there are things that are important for the quality of life here, the things that we just not been able to do because of lack of revenue, the property tax cash primarily, now that we've got these new revenue sources, we can begin to do some of these projects, we're going to need a couple of new buildings, we're going to need to remodel City Hall. I mean, so it's kind of an across the board. We're going to begin to see the first phases of that in next year's budget.
Unknown Speaker
Have you seen any impact on budget? From COVID? Now that we're about Rena, were a couple years later.
Unknown Speaker
No, you know, we had some first year impacts 2020. They recovered in 2021. And they've stayed just fine. Ever since then, with some of the COVID relief funds, some of the arco funds, were able to pay ourselves back and cover some of those costs we had. We hadn't planned on obviously, nobody did. And it made up for some of that loss of revenue. So we're hoping with all that, and revenues continue to go up. They're not going after this quite as much as the state's revenues have gone up. I mean, there's a that's a pretty dramatic thing that's going on at the state level. But locally, we're not seeing any, we will continue to have a slow rise in revenue.
Unknown Speaker
We did hear a little bit about COVID. Back in the news cases going back up a couple of weeks ago, I think we heard Bartholomew County was in a red status. Any update there in Vigo County, you know,
Unknown Speaker
a few weeks ago, it was starting to go up or there were some additional hops hospitalizations, but they quit sending reports out again. So that tells me we're back where we need to be I haven't seen anything this week. You know, and some of those people in the hospital are just people with other ailments, but they test positive for COVID. So they're the last I checked, we only had one in ICU a few weeks ago. And I've not heard anything different since then. So I think the numbers are pretty low. There's a lot of people that are given COVID, it seems to be all the ones that never, you know, didn't get it through the first few rounds, if you will, but they're getting an email, but they're not as sick. So that's very encouraging to me, I think we're just going to have to treat it like the flu, you hear that. And that's where I'm at. I think, you know, if you've got some underlying conditions, and you get COVID, you need to get to see the doctor, there's no doubt about it. Don't try to just wait it out at home. But if you're healthy, I think you're going to need to treat it like the flu, and you get a few days and you know, and come back to work. So I'm sensing that things are improving on that daily perspective here right now.
Unknown Speaker
You mentioned this earlier, any update on the casino is construction underway?
Unknown Speaker
Well, we're moving some dirt out there, but they're still working with utilities and getting some things finalized on them. So working with them on some traffic kind of early phase one initial things, and then later dealing with traffic flows out there. So we just continue to meet with them and everybody involved as construction will start soon. Just nothing. There's no building going up quite yet. But they're getting closer and closer every day.
Unknown Speaker
How is paving road projects coming along now?
Unknown Speaker
So we're done with pretty much all the big projects. We just recently did eight, the Ninth Street South of the downtown area. And we did something different on those two we they were narrow streets but they had two lanes of traffic and two parking lanes. And so over the years we've been trying to figure out what to do with them because there were places where cars one would have to stop and you couldn't be side by side because it was too narrow. So we decided to pay both of those streets all the way from downtown down the Holman Street and add a bike lane so they're both one way streets. Eighth Street is one way south Ninth Street is one way north and so lots of residential area is in that South Side didn't have any, you know, bicycle access to our downtown area. But we paved the streets and we've restriped them to have one nice wide lane of traffic and one bike lane and maintain the two parking lanes. And so the feedback has been very positive. So far, people love the fact that now they have a bike path to follow all the way from home into downtown and back. People liked the wider lane a little bit wider, we have one lane of traffic, you don't have to worry about people getting next to you. And so it's been a little confusing because it rained on us right after we paid the street. And we haven't been able to finish all the striping, but we're. But in the past, the feedbacks been even more positive than I thought it would be. It's kind of an experiment for us. Because we don't have any other major streets like that, that are set up that way, we've got a few spots where we have a bike path, but not where we're trying to add one where we never had a path. And so we're free and for many years. And so it's been encouraging. So we're wrapping up our paving project that was kind of our last big one, we got a few small ones to do. And then we'll be done for this year.
Unknown Speaker
I just haven't talked about this in a while. And I know it's a county project, but the new jail any updates on that and how that
Unknown Speaker
will be soon moving prisoners, they were supposed to start it in July, there's some issues with supply chain of some fire alarm related things sprinkler system, they have to have all that in and tested, you know, health safety staff before they can move prisoners. And so as soon as they get that done, they will begin to move, you know, prisoners into the new facility. So that's all he is just waiting on some. You know how this is it's just a constant battle to buy things and get them in the timeframes that we used to it's just a real challenge.
Unknown Speaker
That just talked about so many times on this show. And no, it was a long time coming. So what's another month?
Unknown Speaker
Exactly. Be here saying unable to be able to move ahead?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. I know we're just down to a couple minutes left always like to leave the last minute to you. Any announcements, anything going on in city council that, you know, we should know about?
Unknown Speaker
No City Council has remained pretty quiet recently, we'll be taking up the budget in September. So that'll kind of be the big topic of conversation. You know, where I came from, etc. meeting this morning, our local Terre Haute Economic Development Corporation, a lot of leads for some really significant projects. And, you know, anytime you go through those meetings, there's always some that are hotter than others. Some of them are lukewarm. But we continue to see a lot of interest in Terre Haute. So that excites me excited about our parks plan that we're going to be rolling out here very soon updating our five year plan, not an official five year plan update, but several things that we're going to be getting done in the next 12 to 24 months that we'll be able to really hit on that plan very hard that we haven't been able to do. So that's very exciting to me. Kids coming back, because we talked about, you know, going back to school, and then coming back to college, that's always an exciting time, especially for our small businesses, they they really survive on that college business. So that's very helpful for all names, especially in the downtown area and elsewhere. Things are just going really well I'm, I'm happy where we're at. It's an exciting time of the year and August always is and so I feel myself looking forward to, you know, the just seeing so many more people walk in the streets and obviously drive to the streets and desecrate a lot more traffic. But it's exciting to see from that economic perspective. And it's, you know, it's been a long year so far from the perspective of things we've been working on, but it's going really fast. And I'm hoping we'll have a nice long follow up. It's my favorite time of the year personally, that I just love seeing everybody out over the festivals and football games. And that's very certainly upon us. So an exciting time of the year and Taro.
Unknown Speaker
All right. Well, again, thanks so much for your time and boy we'll see in September. Okay, Joe, thank you. Thank you
