Hancock County Board of Commissioners: 3/31/26
MEETING: Hancock Co. Comm
Date: 3/31/26
Recorder: Terry Bynum
BACKGROUND:
Provide relevant links and/or context for the meeting.
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT AGENDA ITEMS AND KEY POINTS
Normal business meeting, with a number of small items dealt with in excruciating detail!
There’s a small problem brewing in Sugar Creek Twp. Mt. Comfort Cemetery, which is owned by the County (deeded a LONG time ago) has had a trust fund for maintenance. The trust fund is running out of money. Twp Trustee asked how maintenance will be paid for in the future. She can’t use Twp money to pay for maintenance on a county property. All other cemeteries in her twp are deeded to the Twp. County attorney and auditor are going to look at the statutes as to who is responsible.
Gary Pool reminded the commission that the contract for Hancock Co. Senior Svcs. expires at the end of the year, and if the commission/council wants to renew, they have to start the process. Currently, city and county pay a portion, and state reimburses, but the state money is coming up short. Greenfield will probably be coming up with more, since more than 60% of the runs are in the city.
County received a grant from the state of $476K for renovations at the new 9 Star Park.
Pool also wanted commission approval to approach Lisa Lee about adding some parcels to the Northern Tiff district.
Commission moved money around and paid bills for facilities–change orders etc. for prosecutor’s office, and moving some IT equipment at the Purdue Ag Extension building.
They received an annual report for the County Planning Commission. Residential and commercial development in the county is booming. New home permits were up 11% in 2025 over 2024, and commercial development doubled.
The Hancock Ag Association reported on the upgrades and improvements made to the County Fairgrounds using $979 thousand of a 1.5 million forgivable loan from the commission. They will be asking for an additional $1.72 million for phase 2. McDaniel was not optimistic–even though the commission already approved the amount, they have packed a lot of other things into the proposed G. O Bond, and he acted like they might have to cut back. The Assoc. still has $524K from the original amount available.
John Jakontas made a presentation about Crosswalk Health. It’s a nurse line that supplements the E911 Center. Using specific protocol, 911 can refer some callers to a nurse line rather than having to dispatch an ambulance. There is no cost for the service. The commission will examine further before deciding.
A Terre Haute based company made a pitch to be the economic development consultant for the county–RJL Associates.
Only one item on agenda for Regional Water & Sewer board. The board gave approval for the county to apply for a Clean Water State Revolving fund loan for Wastewater Infrastructure.
