The commission is holding its second official meeting in the modest basement multi-use area of the Stringtown library of the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library system.
A small audience of knowledgeable stakeholders is prepared with copies of the agenda and the proposed commission budget.
Linda Freeman is Vanderburgh County Surveyor, and chair of the commission. She’s opting for a relaxed and informal meeting structure.
“We'll kind of keep this informal so that, because this is brand new thing,” she said after starting the meeting. “I do want everybody that's here to understand what's going on. So if you do have questions, please bring those to my attention, and we'll discuss as needed.”
Indiana Code 14-30.5 allows for the creation of these watershed commissions. Prior to this there was no governmental body who could, for example, monitor the watershed for chemicals or clear a logjam, Freeman said.
“We had to wait until they got jammed up against a bridge with it, and then the county bridge fund could do something about it, because it was endangering a bridge.”
She cites flooding and property damage as reasons to have such an Indiana law, and a commission for this watershed.
“You've got erosion that happens along the creek.” she said. “You've got the flooding, and the folks that have property along there that maybe have developed it, it's a problem.”
The law allows access to the creek and watershed and the authority to levy an assessment to fund projects and pay for staff.
An annual $7 assessment on the residential parcels on the watershed is the plan — but those bills won’t be sent out until 2025.
Regulated Drains, drains near larger businesses or commercial developments, are not subject to fees.
The commission is so new they’re operating on a just-over $52,000 loan from the County Commission, also borrowing county surveyor staff to assist with commission needs.
Representative for the county, Cheryl Musgrave felt that paying for legal fees should be first priority.
“We've had the advantage of having a free attorney, but nothing's ever free,” she said. “He will be submitting a bill for his time, and then we do need to get the bonding done.”
Musgrave is referring to Vanderburgh County Attorney Craig Emig, who was also present.
The four-person commission includes Freeman, Musgrave, Karan Barnhill as city representative and Kristi Johnson representative for the Indiana DNR who comes from Indianapolis every meeting.
At the meeting they passed their first budget, discussed ways to fund projects prior to receiving assessments and when they could afford an executive director.
Right now the commission only includes Vanderburgh County members, but all surrounding counties can have a seat at the table also.
The whole watershed is known to the state as HUC-8, as in Hydrologic Unit Code. It includes parts of Gibson County to the North and Henderson County to the south and Posey and Gallatin to the West.
Aside from securing funding and eventually hiring staff, they’re also interested in projects like a Super Gage for the creek. This device gives real-time measurements on stats like flow-rate, phosphate contaminations and sediment content.
There’s been no such data since 1986.
It can also help lower insurance costs for residents. It would cost $22 thousand dollars to install, with an $11,000 rebate, and $14,000 annually for monitoring.
Meeting Dates for 2025
Meetings are open to the public. The dates are as follows, with all meetings to take place at Stringtown library at 10:30 am, unless otherwise noted:
January 9, 2025 at 1 pm
January 23, 2025
February 27, 2025
March 27, 2025
April 24, 2025
May 22, 2025
June 26, 2025
July 24, 2025
August 21, 2025
September 25, 2025
October 23, 2025
November 20, 2025
December 18, 2025