Decatur County commissioners approve revitalization board ordinance, health plan and range of service agreements; several zoning petitions and facility actions也

The Decatur County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 6 adopted an ordinance to establish a Decatur County Revitalization Project Board, approved the county health department's 2026 health plan, released withheld community mental-health levy payments for 2022 and 2023, and approved a number of other service agreements, grants and facility motions.

The board voted to adopt a second-reading ordinance delegating authority for the Decatur County Revitalization Project to the Decatur County Area Planning Commission and establishing the Decatur County Revitalization Project Board under that commission's guidance. Doug Westerfeld of the Area Plan Office read the ordinance in full, citing Indiana Code chapter 36-1-3 as the enabling statute. The ordinance lists membership for the new board and states it takes effect immediately on passage. Commissioners approved the second reading by voice vote; the motion carried.

The county health department presented a statutorily required county health plan. John Durbin outlined four priority areas chosen from state health indicators: cigarette smoking during pregnancy, infant mortality, opioid overdose rate and adult obesity. Durbin described the plan as a multi-year, incremental effort emphasizing low-cost interventions and community partnerships (safe-sleep education, car-seat certification and infant-mortality review teams were among the measures described). The commissioners voted to approve the health plan as presented.

County attorney Chad Smith and commissioners discussed long-running reporting disputes with Centerstone, the state-designated community mental health provider for Decatur County. Smith told the board that state counsel (FSSA) supplied missing reporting components for 2022 and 2023; commissioners then approved releasing the withheld 2022 and 2023 invoices. At the meeting Smith read two invoice amounts into the record: $2,266,755 for 2022 and $237,779.04 for 2023; commissioners voted to pay the provider…