Dubois County Roadways and 911 Call Center Improvements Underway

The Highway Department advised the board that the Dubois dumpster site planning project is underway, with black top overlays completed and crews currently working on some chip seals. Highway Superintendent Steve Berg estimates completion by the beginning of next week. Berg additionally provided a report on the status of several in-house paving projects. A new project 2402 at 700 North and 200 West was begun on Monday morning, and 2403 at 600 West was begun this past Thursday, which is estimated to be finished by Wednesday. An additional project 2404 at 15 th Street was completed this past Tuesday. 

A temporary road closure was granted for the annual Irish road bowling event that is part of Ireland’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration festivities. The closure will be on Saturday, September 14 th from 1-6. It will begin at 5196 North on 700 West and continue south to the intersection at 500 North, turning east to continue to the intersection of 500 West. The Highway Department presented the board with a citizen concern regarding semi-truck traffic at 36 th street and 500 West. 

This week, the department followed up on a resident’s report of increased semi-truck traffic at the location, and noted that residents reported the traffic early in the morning and late in the evening. Ordinance 200206 restricts the through traffic of trucks, semi-trucks, and trailers over 10,000 pounds, with the exclusion of local traffic and deliveries. The intention of the ordinance is to prevent the road being used as a bypass, while making it available to residents including local farmers who utilize the roadway. The department will be upgrading signage and made the board aware that the ordinance needs to be enforced. 

In other business, the board was presented with the Soil Conservation budget for 2025. Most of the Dubois County Soil and Water Conservation District’s income is funded through grant applications. 

In addition, an update was provided on the Memorandum of Understanding for 911 call routing and dispatch. The advisory board met last Monday to review the memorandum and discuss potential revisions to make in the future regarding emergency calls received from cellular numbers. The board and the City of Jasper agreed to some changes that will be made. Currently, 911 calls that are rolled over from our area, such as calls that are unanswered due to increased call traffic during a large-scale emergency like a major weather event, are sent to Pike County. Dubois County Communications Center Director Stuart Wilson said that plans are being made to send those calls to another center in Dubois County to improve emergency response by sending calls to a center that is more familiar with the area and better able to provide help to the caller. Wilson said that the expected standard is that 90 percent of calls should be answered within 10 seconds during the busiest call times, which is far exceeded with a current response time of under 3 seconds. He said that Commissioner Blessinger recently summarized the MOU as “polishing perfection,” improving on an already very efficient 911 center in the City of Jasper to provide even better services to the public.