The city is helping Sullivan in tornado recovery efforts, the city's sewer system is back to normal after an accidental chemical spill, and 1,800 people responded to the water park survey.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett addresses these issues and more on a Zoom interview. 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: Was Terre Haute hit by the severe weather that destroyed so many homes in Sullivan?
Bennett: No, I mean, there were a few small limbs down - it got a little windy, if you weren't here, you really wouldn't even know. it's amazing how quickly those things can happen. And just devastating for those in Sullivan. You know, I've talked to Mayor Lamb almost every day since it happened. Right now, we currently have street department employees down there, we'll be there all week trying to help them deal with a lot of the debris, we've had police officers down there providing security. I know everybody kind of jumped in to help them which is great. But to manage a chaotic scene, is very difficult for everybody. And I just really feel horrible for the folks that lost their homes.
Read more: McCormick's Creek State Park reopens after deadly tornado but access limited
I think they still need some volunteers, you know, that you check in down there at our Emergency Operations Center. I think funds are still going to be important. You know, there were people down there that didn't have insurance or adequate insurance on their homes and their cars. And I think this is going to be a long time to get people back to where they were. And so we're having a fundraiser this week locally, WTWO is doing something all day and so I think that will continue.
Hren: Could you give a quick update on the ammonia spill that was in the city sewer system. About a month ago, efforts were underway to return to normal. How's it going now?
Bennett: Yeah, we're there now. It really was beneficial that we upgraded our plant a few years ago and the way we that we did, we were able to isolate that spill into seven of our 18 tanks down there so we can then deal with that - treat it and be able to put it back into the river properly. Our wastewater treatment staff did a tremendous job. They worked a lot of overtime there for a few weeks.
We've been working with that company, they're discharging as normal again. And they've changed their internal procedures to ensure something like this hopefully never happens again. And we've been reimbursed for all of our expenses for that. And so we're in a good spot.
Hren: Last time we talked Terre Haute was in the running for what was called a $1 billion investment from a battery producing company Entek for the Vigo County Industrial Park. And you were pretty optimistic, I guess you had every right to be optimistic because they chose Terre Haute.
Bennett: Yeah, we felt pretty good about that one. But you never know until they make the final decision. Yet, it's going to be about a one and a half billion dollar investment is what it's looking like. The numbers keep changing from different media sources. And that's phase one, they bought about 400 acres down there on the property.
Read more: Battery parts producer plans $1.5B project in Terre Haute
It'll be roughly 640 employees making about $71,000 a year. They make the component of electronic batteries, it's kind of a separator piece between the positive and the negative in the battery. They control 85% of the market in the United States. So they're a very established company in this industry. This will be their first plant here, obviously in Indiana, and they're going to roll out pretty quickly.
They hope to be fully operational by the end of 2026. We're working with them in a variety of capacities on workforce development, and a variety of other things that can help them get the people that they need, it's a very exciting thing to have that kind of a significant economic hit for our community.
Hren: How does Terre Haute capitalize on this moving forward?
Bennett: We have to meet those demands of what they need. If the word gets out there, you know consultants and everybody else that well, you know, Terre Haute, they just can't get enough employees or there aren't enough houses or whatever it might be, you don't want that negative connotation to be floating around out there because it'll reduce your opportunities clearly.
So in order to meet that demand, we have to work pretty quickly. Government doesn't always work fast. You know how that is. But there's the private sector side of it, there's the government side of it, we have to just continue to work together to implement our community plan. But then when you get a big win like this, it really makes things accelerate. And so we want to be on that track to sell Terre Haute Vigo County to other potential opportunities.
Hren: It's been three years now since we were hit with COVID and the lock-down. Looking now, three years later, where are we now? Where's Terre Haute?
Bennett: I really feel like we're through that. Obviously, there are still people out there getting COVID. But I really believe that after this amount of time now, things are about normal. One fallout that I see though, there are still people that are not back in the workforce that we'd like to see. Because a lot of them gave up their daycare when the schools were out and they weren't having to deal with their children at home. And now they can't get back into daycare, or they can't afford daycare because the price has gone up.
We're still seeing some things very difficult to get the low end kind of jobs, the retail jobs you know, the fast food jobs, those are all those companies and organizations are struggling. I think it's gonna take more time for that part of it.
Hren: Any update on the feasibility study of the water park?
Bennett: So the water park and athletic facility we'll be making their presentation in May to the CIB. They're working on it - got a ton of community feedback, I think we had 1800 people responded to the survey, and about 1200 actually filled the whole thing out. It was a big survey. So we'll kind of see, that'll tell us whether we can support you know, a large water park, these athletic facilities, indoor outdoor, it'll kind of give us some guiding direction to what the next step is.
Hren: Road construction beginning soon?
Bennett: We're going to be doing a section of Locust, we'll be doing all of Walnut from 3rd to 19th. Some areas down around Terre Haute South and then the hospital kind of all around in there, Davis and some side streets. They're kind of scattered, but most of them are on major areas.
