TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– The Vigo County Council’s first meeting of 2024 is officially in the books– and councilmembers took time during the short affair to outline goals for the next 12 months.
Todd Thacker was reelected to his position as council president to start the meeting. He said this year, one of his top priorities was figuring out how to deal with overcrowding at the county jail.
It’s an issue that has cost the county money for years– and he believes it’s going to take multiple departments to get things solved.
“It really takes everybody pulling in the same direction. The Sheriff’s Department, the prosecutor’s office, the public defenders, the judges. We’re looking to all try and work together on that,” he said.
Thacker singled out the health department, saying they were looking to assist in helping those with mental health or addiction disorder problems.
“They have some people working down at the jail to help with assist with making sure that if we can get people with mental health issues, and that have substance abuse issues, and help them get the right services, we can get them out of the jail. It will help us with overcrowding, it helps the population and it saves the county money,” he said.
Other councilmembers brought up potential changes to the process in giving out tax abatements to perspective business owners, something Thacker said he agreed with. He hopes to establish a partnership with the city where they have similar steps in giving out abatements.
He also hopes to finally allocate the last $4.2 million in federal funding related to the pandemic– money from the American Rescue Plan Act. He said the council has worked alongside county commissioners and hope to announce much of that spending next month.
“You’re going to see some ARPA money requests come up, we’ve been working with [county commissioner] Mark Clinkenbeard, [councilmembers] Travis Norris myself and Vicki Weger have been working together to have something to present for February.”
The next meeting for the council will be Thursday, Feb. 8th.
