Staff Reports
Cummins Inc.’s decision to locate the new headquarters for its new Electrified Power business segment in Columbus, along with the celebration of the company’s 100th anniversary, were selected by The Republic staff as the 2019 local news story of the year.
The Fortune 160 company announced in May that the Columbus Engine Plant, also known as Plant One, at 500 Central Ave., will serve as the corporate hub and primary North American manufacturing center for Electrified Power.
The announcement came as the company celebrated its 100th anniversary with the theme “Challenge the Impossible.”
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The $33 million investment in the 1.6-million-square-foot facility includes $30 million worth of machinery and equipment, and will create 75 new jobs by 2021.
“Where it all began for diesel, it’s all going to begin for electric,” Cummins Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger said during the May 16 announcement event in the company’s pavilion at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway — during Cummins Day for its employees at the track.
Founded in 1919, Cummins has been known historically as a maker of diesel engines for various types of trucks. Over the last few decades, though, the company has diversified its product offerings, which now include generator sets, turbochargers and engines for trains. Its latest step in diversification was the formal launch of the Electrified Power business last year.
Cummins is receiving up to $950,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $100,000 in training grants from the Indiana Economic Development Corp., the IEDC said. The company also received a tax abatement from the City of Columbus on the new machinery and equipment.
2.
Answering the why of infant mortality
Local health officials efforts to answer why so many infants in Bartholomew County die before their first birthday and what can be done to prevent it was selected as the No. 2 story for 2019.
From 1999 to 2017, 165 infants who resided in Bartholomew County died before turning 1 year old, or slighter more than the seating capacity of a standard-sized yellow school bus, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
In 2017, six infants who resided here died, the lowest number since 2009. It also was the first time since 2008 and 2009 that six or fewer infants died in consecutive years.
The annual number of infant deaths widely varied from 1999 to 2017, ranging from 15 in 2015, 13 in 2011 and 12 in 2007 to as low as five in 2003 and 2009.
Not all of these deaths, however, occurred in the county, as the state health department records infant deaths by the county in which the infant resided at the time of death, which is not necessarily the county in which the infant died, according to Megan Wade-Taxter, Indiana State Department of Health spokeswoman.
Data from the Bartholomew County Health Department, which only tracks births and deaths occurring within the county, show that 46 infant deaths occurred in Bartholomew County from 2008 to 2018.
Last year, CRH started a Fetal Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) team, which reviews every case of infant death in Bartholomew County. The local review team is one of the first such teams in Indiana.
Additionally, CRH has several educational efforts, as well as its Nurse-Family Partnership Program, an evidence-based community health program that brings nurses into a one-on-one coaching relationship with new mothers in their first pregnancy.
The Columbus Police Department and the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office are increasing training and education on best practices in infant death investigations. The idea behind all these efforts, officials said, is to collect sufficient data so that more informed interventions and policies can be formed to prevent future deaths and provide public education.
3.
Proposing a referendum
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.’s proposed plan to seek a property tax increase to pay for raises for teachers and support staff through a referendum on the spring 2020 ballot was selected as the third most important story for 2019 by The Republic staff.
Superintendent Jim Roberts proposed an operating referendum to the BCSC school board on Dec. 16.
The proposed operating referendum would ask Bartholomew County residents to agree to a property tax increase to bring dollars into the school system and use them to run building operations, including raising salaries for BCSC teachers and support staff. The proposed operating referendum would increase BCSC’s property taxes by $0.195 per $100 of assessed value to around $1.05 starting in 2021.
The rate increase in the proposed referendum would apply to residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural properties in BCSC’s tax district, which includes all of Bartholomew County except Flat Rock and Hawcreek Townships.
Roberts said the school corporation needs the additional funds, in large part, because the level of state funding BCSC receives is not enough to be competitive when attempting to retain teachers and other staff.
A total of 81% of the increased property tax revenue would be spent on employee recruitment and retention efforts, including salaries and benefits, 13% for student safety and security, and 6% for supplies and maintenance costs. Roberts said no dollars from the referendum would be used to fund a raise for administrator salaries.
The school board will vote on the corporation’s recommended referendum at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 13 at Northside Middle School, 1400 27th St.
4.
Democrats flip control of Columbus City Council
Four Democrats won a majority in seven of the city council seats up for grabs in the municipal election in November — the most the party has held at one time since 1983.
Jerone Wood (District 1) and Grace Kestler (at-large) unseated Republican incumbents. Democrats Elaine Wagner (District 2) and Tom Dell (at-large) were re-elected to second terms.
David Bush (District 3), Frank Miller (District 4) and Tim Shuffett (District 5) were the Republicans who won. Miller and Shuffett won third consecutive terms.
5.
Columbus trends at double national rate for lung cancer
According to Indiana State Department of Health data, Bartholomew County’s smoking rate of 24% of adults is higher than the state (21%) and U.S. (17.1 percent) averages, and tops four of five neighboring counties.
Not surprisingly, Bartholomew County lung cancer deaths, 47.5 per 1,000 residents, rank above the U.S. average (41.8) — although slightly below the state average and below rates for four of five neighboring counties.
In 2017 and 2018, the lung cancer rate among county residents screened by Columbus Regional Hospital officials was about 2.9%, and the rate among all patients screened was 2.1%. The national study showed an overall lung cancer incidence rate of 1.13%.
6.
Thousands attend Red for Ed
Chants demanding more funding for Indiana public schools echoed throughout Indianapolis as about 16,000 teachers and public education supporters surrounded the Statehouse to speak to state lawmakers on the Indiana Legislature’s organization day.
Among the estimated 16,000 faces at Red for Ed Action Day were more than 200 educators from Bartholomew County, including teachers representing all schools in Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. and Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp.
The action day, organized by the Indiana State Teachers Association, took place on the one day lawmakers returned to the Statehouse to gear up for the 2020 legislative session.
More than 100 school districts across the state, including BCSC, closed to allow school employees and the community to attend the union-organized Statehouse rally to lobby for legislation.
7.
Sheriff trip bankrolled by FAIR
A local official who visited the White House along with dozens of other law enforcement officials was surprised to learn that the group that paid for his trip has been accused of having ties to white nationalists, pro-eugenics research and promoting bigotry toward immigrants.
The group, called the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, confirmed that it paid approximately $1,100 for Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers to attend a White House briefing on drugs and border security, said group spokesman Matthew Tragesser.
Myers was one of around 200 sheriffs from around the country who attended the briefing on Sept. 26, which included a photo-op with President Donald Trump and panel discussions with high-ranking Trump administration officials, including Kellyanne Conway, assistant to the president and senior counselor. FAIR paid for six sheriffs from Indiana to attend the event, Tragesser said.
Fair describes itself as a “non-profit and non-partisan organization” that seeks to eliminate illegal immigration and drastically reduce legal immigration to “allow America to more sensibly manage its growth, address its environmental needs and maintain a high quality of life,” according to the group’s website.
Myers said he did not believe that the state or national sheriff’s associations would associate with any type of “hate group.”
“I did not go to Washington with a political agenda. I did not attend this conference/briefing in an attempt to solve America’s immigration issues — I attended to discuss the issue of homeland security, to talk about drugs and their effect on Bartholomew County, Indiana. I did address the president’s panel and told them that the U.S. needed proper border and port security and shared with them the devastation of 40 drug-related deaths in our county,” Myers said in his statement.
“I do agree that there is a gridlock and that people who are coming into our country legally, need to be let in. I am not targeting any group and, until I hear otherwise, I cannot believe that the Indiana Sheriff’s Association and/or the National Sheriff’s Association are doing so either. Border security is a national issue. Drugs are not only an issue in Bartholomew County, Indiana — drugs are a national issue,” Myers wrote in his statement.
“I have never…I don’t…and I never will support any hate group. I have worked my entire adult life protecting and serving Columbus and Bartholomew County. I served many years on the board of directors for SuCasa and I have always been and will always be a proponent of equal rights for all. I remain committed to honorable performance of my duties with integrity, professionalism and trust and I stand against bigotry in all forms.”
Myers wrote the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department does not seek out those who are in the U.S. without proper documentation. “However, it is our duty to notify ICE when those who are here without proper documentation commit a criminal offense,” Myers wrote.
Myers later said he would pay back the money that FAIR provided for the trip.
8.
ASAP Hub opens as a resource
The Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress transformed a bland, cubicle-filled office space in the Doug Otto Center into a spacious, welcoming Hub where local residents can find help to recover from drug addiction. The facility opened in September.
In just over six months, a combined group of Mission Columbus volunteers, contractors, suppliers and others transformed the 2,000-square foot space into a homelike respite space.
The new Hub is located in the former United Way of Bartholomew County office space in the center at 1531 13th St., space that became available when United Way moved across the street to a renovated fire station. The new Hub is a physical location where people seeking addiction treatment find help with referrals and assistance for recovery.
The value of the donated materials and work done in the design, deconstruction and construction of the ASAP Hub is estimated at $200,000, including the value of more than 185 volunteers donating more than 1,560 hours and toward the project, said Matthew Neville, ASAP operations and communications manager.
9.
Cummins prepares for cyclical downturn
Cummins outlined plans late in the year for how it was preparing to weather an expected downturn in business in 2020 — including measures to reduce structural costs by $250 million to $300 million while maintaining investments to position the company for future growth.
During a presentation at the New York Stock Exchange, Cummins officials told market analysts that they are prepared for weakening truck markets in North America and India in 2020, as well as other markets that they believe have peaked, declined or may weaken in 2020, including the North America oil and gas market and the China construction market.
“Most of the markets in which we participate have either peaked or are on their way down.” said Tony Satterthwaite, Cummins President and COO, during the presentation.
Satterthwaite said the Fortune 200 company has “already initiated a number of actions” that he characterized as a “comprehensive company-wide approach” to reduce structural costs by $250 million to $300 million in 2020 and “improve the overall health of the company and prepare us better for when volumes come back.”
“We have adjusted for reduction to demand at our manufacturing facilities, cutting contingent labor, flexing down overall, reducing shifts, reducing overtime,” Satterthwaite said during the presentation. “We’re flexing all discretionary costs down pretty broadly.”
10.
Railroad overpass construction begins
City, state and railroad officials broke ground for an estimated $35 million railroad overpass on Columbus’ west side in November.
“We wanted to be able to have unimpeded ingress and egress through the city of Columbus,” Mayor Jim Lienhoop said. “When we started this project, Dave (Hayward, executive director of public works/city engineer) explained to me that even without a train event, this was still a poorly performing intersection, particularly at peak volume times.”
Currently, 40,000 motorists cross the railroad tracks at the State Road 46 and State Road 11 intersection each day, according to city estimates.
Construction is currently underway at the site on Columbus’ west side.
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The top 10 local stories for 2019 were selected by The Republic staff.
1. In a year of celebration for its 100th anniversary, Cummins announces its electrical business headquarters will be in Columbus.
2. Local health officials are stepping up efforts to answer two urgent questions — why do so many infants in Bartholomew County die before their first birthday — and what can be done about it?
3. Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. proposes a plan to seek a property tax increase to pay for raises for teachers and support staff through a referendum on the spring 2020 ballot.
4. Democrats win control of the Columbus City Council for the first time in decades.
5. Health officials say that Columbus is trending at double the rate for cases of lung cancer.
6. Thousands of teachers and supporters from around the state, including hundreds from Bartholomew County, participate in a Red for Ed action rally asking legislators to take a more serious look at teacher compensation, to hold them blameless from the results of a new test in which students did poorly on in 2019 and to address the ongoing issues with school funding.
7. Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers travels to Washington on a trip funded by FAIR.
8. The ASAP Hub opens at the Doug Otto Center.
9. Cummins prepares for a cyclical downturn in 2020.
10. Construction begins on the long-awaited railroad overpass over the State Road 46 – State Road 11 intersection.
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The Top 10 stories in sports for 2019
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