Commissioners greenlight monument to first female Marine
Also, board defends track record with county employees; countywide broadband project nearing completion
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The Howard County Courthouse likely soon will get another military monument to display; this one commemorating Opha Mae Johnson, the first female U.S. Marine, who happened to be from Kokomo. Jerry Paul, president of the Howard County Memorial Corp. and Veterans Memorial Park, approached the Howard County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 21 with a request to erect the monument on the courthouse lawn.
“We've dropped the ball on her,” said Paul. “This should have been done a long time ago.”
According to Paul, the Opha Mae Johnson monument will include three walls. The smallest, at seven feet tall, will feature a bronze cameo of Johnson. The second wall will be nine feet tall and will display a biography of Johnson in black granite. The third wall, at 11 feet tall, will display the globe-and-anchor logo of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Paul intends to use Benjamin Victor of Boise, Ida., as the sculptor. Victor was the sculptor responsible for the women’s monument and the Blue Star/Gold Star family memorial already in place on the courthouse lawn. He is a nationally renowned artist who currently has three works in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building and is in the process of sculpting a fourth. He has more than three dozen sculptures on display across the U.S.
The monument would occupy the northwest corner of the courthouse lawn, at the intersection of Buckeye and Walnut streets. But the commissioners would have to approve the installation.
“We know there are two hurdles we have to overcome,” said Paul. “Without your blessing, this is going to go nowhere. But even with your blessing, we have to get by the National Registry of Historical buildings, which we have. We've had a lot of delays, a lot of things that shouldn't have happened with people dying or not stepping up. There is still work that we need to get done.”
At the top of that to-do list is fundraising. Paul explained that the organization has a commitment from Patronicity, a matching grant program that previously assisted with funding the women’s memorial. It is offering up to a $50,000 match for funds raised over the next three months.
Paul hoped that the county and the City of Kokomo would donate $10,000 each to underwrite the monument, just as they did with the previous two monuments. He disclosed that an anonymous donor has pledged an additional $10,000 if the city and county agree to donate. The organization also has approached the Community Foundation of Howard County about grant funding.
Paul estimated that the total cost of the monument will be approximately $110,000. That pales in comparison to the $500,000 needed for the previous two monuments.
The memorial corporation will design and provide landscaping for the monument, turning over maintenance to the county. The corporation will continue to maintain the artistic integrity of the monument.
“I'm asking you guys to have faith; the same faith you've had in me from Day One,” said Paul. “I think by now I've got a track record of some sort. We have a beautiful courthouse that is the largest piece of artwork in Howard County. My dream is to turn the courthouse into an outdoor art gallery. I want you to save the southwest corner as well. Reserve it for me, and I guarantee you'll be blown away with what we have planned.”
Paul was joined at the meeting by a healthy contingent of Marines as well as Dale Truax, the Howard County Veterans Service Officer, who is also a Marine.
“I came here today in the hopes that you would approve this request by Jerry,” said Truax, who explained the importance of Opha Mae Johnson to the Marines. “I know some of you may not be well versed with Marine Corps history. Let me start with a story of a young high school kid who was born and raised in Miami County.
“In 1988, I joined the delayed enlistment program. And July 4, 1989, was my first day of Marine Corps boot camp. On Sept. 29, I earned the title of United States Marine. We learned things about the Marine Corps. On Nov. 10, 1775, the Marine Corps was founded. We learned about War of 1812, where Washington D.C. was burned to the ground with the exception of the 8th and 9th Marines barracks, because the British had so much respect for Marines they refused to burn them down.
“We learned about World War One where we were given the nickname ‘devil’ by the German soldiers We learned about World War Two, Guadalcanal, Saipan, Iwo Jima. We learned about Korea. We learned about Vietnam. Many are in here right now who served as Marines in Vietnam. Imagine my surprise when I heard about the first female marine who was from Kokomo.”
Truax explained that a building at the Marine Corps training academy in San Diego is named after Johnson, and there is a monument there in her honor.
“She was the first female Marine,” said Truax. “She didn't join the Corps until she was 28. She served nearly 40 years in the Marine Corps. Why do we need this monument on the courthouse lawn? I want some little girl to look up at it as her parents are reading it and say, ‘I want to do that.’”
The commissioners were convinced. Commissioner Jeff Lipinski made the motion to give permission for the sculpture to be erected. The board will consider funding at a future meeting, but they expressed their intent to contribute.
Commissioners talk employee benefits
In other action, Commissioner Jack Dodd offered a response to the county employee survey which was presented to the board on Aug. 7. That survey showed high levels of dissatisfaction with compensation and communication from management. The survey was taken under advisement previously for review.
“Employee feedback is very important because they are our most important asset,” said Dodd. “I realize there were some negative responses, and a big one was about compensation. What wasn't reflected in (the survey) is the last two years the county has given employees five-percent raises. That's pretty much unheard of, especially back-to-back.
“Our health insurance, when I first started, the deductible was $4,500. Over the last two years we lowered it to $2,000. That's direct money in the employees’ pockets. Last year, there was no increase in our insurance premiums. That's pretty much unheard of. And last year, we put on one of the best Christmas parties that we’ve had. So, we've done some really good things.”
Dodd qualified those accomplishments by acknowledging that there is room to further improve compensation for county employees. To do that, he prefers hiring a consultant to study the county’s compensation structure.
“We hire a company to come in, and the first thing they do is look at your job descriptions,” said Dodd. “They completely redo them so they're appropriate. They can take those descriptions and do a compensation study. We're going to find we have some issues, but we can fix them. We can develop a pay plan, so that over a couple of years we can start fixing things. Yes, we've got a ways to go. We'll get there. But I appreciate the feedback.”
Commissioner Lipinski added that the county covers the three-percent employee contribution to their Public Employee Retirement Fund (PERF) through the state of Indiana. He also hinted that improvements to employee compensation may take place as early as next year.
“It’s kind of ironic the survey came out when it did,” said Lipinski. “We have actually been working on some changes for next year, and we’ll probably announce that when the county council talks about raises and things of that nature. We were in the works of making some additional changes to the benefits, and we feel like they're positive changes for the employees. Those are going to be coming down the pipe probably in the next 30 days.”
Countywide broadband ring nearly installed
Last year, Howard County utilized funding from the State of Indiana’s READI grant program to underwrite the installation of a countywide broadband internet network. The work on the initial ring of fiber optic cabling is nearly complete, and connections are being made.
According to Cory Childs, president of BerryComm, the contractor chosen for the work, the ring installation should be complete by Sept. 22. He gave an update to the board of commissioners on Aug. 21.
“Several months ago, we set out to build a ring throughout Howard County, and we're near completion,” said Childs. “We are now in the final stages of this. On Sept. 8, we'll have the entire section to the west complete. And then Sept. 22, we'll finish.
“There are multiple egresses that we've introduced into this ring, so as homes and businesses connect to this fiber network, they have multiple paths out to the internet to where they need to connect. It's a stout network with very high uptime.”
Childs explained that homes and businesses located within 1,000 feet of the ring will be able to connect initially. A second project aims to apply with the state’s Connections program for $20 million in grant money to further expand access to county residents.
“We will be working with the county to apply for all the addresses that have been deemed unserved in the county already,” said Childs. “It provides a great opportunity for us to extend beyond this ring much deeper into the county. The idea is to continue to push into all the edges. And then also inward. This project is focused to ultimately serve all the unserved.”
Childs explained that homes and businesses already are connecting to the completed portions of the network ring and that the new customers have been pleased with the service.
“In general, the reception has been tremendous,” said Childs. “The interest has been very high. And we're going to try to continue to create more awareness to push all the homes and businesses throughout the county to connect.”
The Indiana Connections program provides up to $1,400 per home to subsidize interconnectivity. BerryComm could utilize up to $25,000 in funding every 90 days to make those connections.