County officials on Monday approved a proposal to purchase a couple of HVAC units for what will be a new county storage facility at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds.

Bartholomew County Commissioners approved a proposal from the maintenance department to buy two five ton, Tempstar HVAC units from locally-based South Central Company for $14,580.43. All three commissioners voted to approve the purcahse of the HVAC units.

The maintenance department received two other quotes from HVACDirect and United Refrigeration Inc. at $14,936 and $26,040 respectively.

The commissioners earlier this month awarded a project to build a 16,200-square-foot storage building on the northeast corner of the county fairgrounds to Larry Mohr Construction of Flat Rock.

The new storage facility is needed because of the large amount of government documents and other items previously stored on county properties that have either recently changed hands, are being renovated or are just out-of-space.

The building was expected to cost just under $1 million, but Larry Mohr will be doing it for $740,350.

Some of the documents have to be stored for 50 years by law, others are required to be kept in environmentally-controlled conditions, according to county officials.

There were a large number of documents being held in the old Elk’s Club at 507 Third St. that had served as the former court services building. When the city took ownership of that property and the block surrounded by Second, Franklin, Third and Lafayette streets in November 2022 as part of plans for what was going to be a future hotel and conference center, some of those documents were transferred to the former county highway garage at 2452 State St.

Now that the county has sold the former county highway garage to the Columbus Redevelopment Commission, commissioners said they need a secure, environmentally-controlled storage facility relatively close to downtown to store the material. The county has documents stored in various building including the Bartholomew County Courthouse, Purdue Extension Building, Bartholomew County Health Department and the Bartholomew County Youth Services Center.

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced Monday that eligible Hoosiers can start taking steps to receive their share of a $700 million national settlement with Google over alleged anticompetitive conduct.

The announcement comes after a bipartisan group of 53 attorneys general sued Google in 2021, alleging that it unlawfully monopolized the markets for Android app distribution and in-app payment processing.

The states alleged in court filings that Google signed anticompetitive contracts to prevent other app stores from being preloaded on Android devices, induced key app developers who might have launched rival app stores and created technological barriers to deter consumers from directly downloading apps to their devices.

Google has already paid $630 million into a settlement fund. Indiana consumers have collectively been allotted an estimated $10.5 million in restitution of the total $700 million national settlemen, Rokita said.

“This is a big win for all Hoosiers and consumers nationwide,” Rokita said in a statement. “For too long, big tech corporations have leveraged their monopoly power to extract profits at the expense of hardworking Americans. This final settlement, if approved, will put money back in the pockets of those it rightfully belongs to.”

People eligible for restitution do not have to submit a claim. In most cases, they will receive automatic payments through PayPal or Venmo, or they can elect to receive a check or ACH transfer.

Rokita advised Hoosiers who have or previously had a Google Play account to visit the settlement website and enter their contact information to “ensure that applicable consumers are notified once the final settlement has been approved by the court and funds start dispersing.”

The settlement website is www.googleplaystateagantitrustlitigation.com.

Beyond the $10.5 million in restitution paid to individual Hoosiers, the State of Indiana will also receive an anticipated $1.4 million in penalties paid by Google. Updated calculations will produce more precise monetary figures in the weeks to come.

Once the settlement has been approved by the court, consumers will receive an email from PayPal or a text from Venmo notifying them of their incoming payment at the email address or mobile phone number associated with their Google Play account, Rokita said.

If that email address or phone number is also associated with a PayPal or Venmo account, then the payment will be made directly to that account.

If that email address or phone number does not match an email address or phone number associated with a PayPal or Venmo account, then consumers have the option to create a new account or direct the payment to a PayPal or Venmo account at another email address or phone number.

If consumers would like to be notified by email when the supplemental claims process starts, they may submit their name, email address and mobile phone number on the settlement website, Rokita said.

Consumers who do not want to receive payment from the settlement fund and want to bring their own case against Google must submit a request to be excluded online or in writing by Feb. 19.

Consumers who want to object to the settlement can file a written objection by Feb. 19.

The court will hold a hearing on April 30 to consider approving the settlement agreement.