No mask mandates in effect, the county is rated 'orange' in the state metric for COVID cases, water utility needs millions of dollars in repairs, and budget hearings are scheduled this week.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Nashville's Municipal Consultant Dax Norton addresses these issues and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: How about we start with a COVID-19 update, despite vaccinations, it feels like we're back where we started. We're seeing January numbers in hospitalizations and cases. What's the reality there in Nashville right now?
Norton: caution? I think that we've gone back up and, I think it's visible. And now it's back on the front page. And the commissioners have released a statement here in Brown County - they're not necessarily going to do any mandates or anything. You know, they would suggest common sense. Council kind of followed suit. With the commissioner statement, the council is also still backing and going to back any business owner that chooses to require masking at their facility. And if they don't, they can be removed for trespass. So that will still be there.
Abundance of caution, I've seen a lot of masks come back in the county in town, seen some masks come back in town meetings. So there is that rumble now, doing things as the caution level goes up, just like we were a year ago.
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Hren: Brown Co. is at a 15% positivity rate, dashboard is at the orange metric level. And you mentioned the commissioner's no mask mandate, is that sending a good message from leadership to a place that draws so many tourists?
Norton: This is kind of the same way last year, there weren't any mandates. Throughout the pandemic, people did a very good job of being cautious and kind of coming together to make sure that everyone was safe. So a lot of those people are going to go visit these retail establishments that are the bread and butter of Nashville, and so as long as we stand behind the business owners and what they individually decide to do, I think that we'll be safe. If measures need to be taken that enhance the role of the governmental structure, we'll certainly be paying attention to see what needs to happen.
Hren: Any updates on the American Rescue Act money? The town of Nashville was allocated $230,000. Any update on where that money is going to be best spent for the town of Nashville?
Norton: No, I think the council's definitely leaning towards water, wastewater projects. At this point, I think that's wise of them. There has not been an official spending plan adopted. No need to do that quite yet, but have had discussions with the utility service board. Let's say the biggest challenge facing the town at this point is the funding of utility upgrades to ensure that the water is safe, and that we efficiently take it away and treat it, put it back into the environment.
Millions and millions and millions of dollars to be spent just to bring the system up to 2021 standards. What I mean by that is an eye on the leaks, eliminating water loss, ensuring there's no combined sewer overflow issues. And on the sewer side, make sure we're not treating rainwater. Those are big issues. And we haven't planned very well across the state and country for those issues.
Hren: We've talked about this a few times, the aging infrastructure - and the alarming statistic about how much water was leaking from the system.
Norton: We have a 55% water loss. And that doesn't necessarily mean leaks, there's a lot of things that go into water loss, adjustments to bills, is the meter not reading properly, is a meter antiquated, is the right meter for the amount of usage, a number of things are going to loss. I think the good thing is this utility staff utility service board has done a great job of seeing that number and finding solutions to fix it.
Now. A lot of the solutions are going to be digging up 1947 pipes and replacing them and that's going to be costly. And I'll be probably debt. We'll try to get as many grants as we possibly can, especially in this environment for the federal and state governments handing out money.
And I completely understand having followed them and work for them for so many years, it's hard for them to have to put that burden on ratepayer. But the burden is high and the cost is as high as new.
Hren: I know Bloomington is having budget hearings all week. How close are you to Nashville's budget hearings?
Norton: I've been working most of this day on budget items. So there's a budget hearing on the 25th. There's a budget hearing on the 26th. I think there's a couple next week, and then it'll be placed on Gateway again, like it's required to be. This year is a little more intense, it seems the council is really looking at each line. And, you have to budget two ways with utility, it's based on how much it costs to run it. Well, you don't have that luxury on the on the tax side. The taxes, levy is Levy, we can't go out and raise tax rates. You're kind of stuck with what you have. And so I can tell the council, you need to find your priorities. I think that every member of the council is trying to find out what those priorities are.
READ MORE: Census Shows Many Rural Indiana Counties Lost Population
Hren: Correct me if I'm wrong, I think from the U.S. Census numbers that came out, if anything, Nashville's population decreased a little?
Norton: I think it increased a touch. 1098 is what I saw. An increase from 2010, just a little bit. There was some annexation which kicked in, and that kind of causes what I call non-organic growth, then there was a little bit of organic growth, but it's not happening because there's nowhere to move. There's no housing stock. So it's impeding that growth a little bit.
