WCIEDD rep looks to improve communication with Putnam County

Steps are being taken to repair what has apparently become a distant relationship between the Putnam County Commissioners and the six-county economic development alliance to which Putnam County belongs.

During a June meeting, the commissioners discussed an increase of more than $4,000 in the county’s annual payment to West Central Indiana Economic Development District.

The commissioners ultimately refused to pay the increased bill, instead sticking to the budgeted amount of $10,700.

At issue for the commissioners seemed not to be so much the money as the lack of communication from West Central. While the invoice listed traffic counts as the reason for the increase, the commissioners still seemed to be looking for answers.

What purpose did these counts serve? When would they receive the results, if at all? Why weren’t they notified sooner, particularly prior to their annual approval of the County Economic Development Income Tax budget?

Even Commissioner Don Walton, the board member of the West Central board, had no answers.

Into that void stepped Hans Eilbracht during the latest commissioners meeting on Monday. As the new director of operations for WCIEDD Eilbracht is hoping to improve the lines of communication between Greencastle and Terre Haute.

“We didn’t do the traffic counts last year, so we submitted them this year,” Eilbracht explained. “That’s the reason for the increase. Otherwise, it’s the same services.”

Simply showing up at a meeting and giving that simple of an explanation seemed to be a good first step to Commissioner Rick Woodall.

“I’ve been on this board for four years now and this is the first time someone has come to explain what West Central does,” Woodall said.

WCIEDD is composed of Vermillion, Parke, Vigo, Sullivan, Clay and Putnam counties. Governed by a board drawn from the member counties, the district’s goal is to advance community and economic development projects throughout the district.

On the job for only about a month, Eilbracht said he didn’t have all the answers, but hoped to at least get the ball rolling.

Asked if the commissioners get results of the traffic counts, which involve two-day counts in 94 different locations, Eilbracht could only say that he assumed they would.

When the Area 7 Agency on Aging, another organization under the West Central umbrella, was mentioned, Commissioner David Berry had similar questions.

“We’ve never seen any results on any of this stuff,” Berry said. “I’ve never seen any of the results on the senior stuff.”

After some assurance from Eilbracht, Berry emphasized that he was simply looking out for the county and its investment in West Central.

“I’m not questioning whether you do it or not,” Berry said, “but I’d like to see the results of the people in Putnam County who are receiving your services.”

Greencastle-Putnam County Economic Development Center Director Kristin Clary also questioned Eilbracht-West on a number of issues. While he didn’t have a lot of answers on Monday, he promised increased communication and more information in the future.

“Hopefully this will be the start of some good communication,” Eilbracht said. “We want to be partners with you.”

Woodall expressed a similar attitude.

“It’s not that we’re against you. We’d just like to know,” Woodall said. “That’s a lot of money, $16,000 a year.”

Putnam County has five representatives on the 31-member WCIEDD board of directors. Aside from Walton, Darrel Thomas represents the Putnam County Council on the board, while Jinsie Bingham serves as the representative of Greencastle Mayor Bill Dory.

Ken Eitel serves as Putnam County’s private sector representative, while local resident Beau Baird serves as the governor’s appointee to the board.