Todd Fiscal Court unanimously voted Friday morning to create a natural gas utility that could provide service to unserved areas in the future and heard an update on efforts to be sure all citizens are counted in the 2020 census.
The utility would be called the Todd County Natural Gas District and could use the proposed Clarksville pipeline from north of Elkton to Montgomery County, if that project ever comes to fruition.
It stalled several years ago after federal regulators ruled Clarksville would have to allow Todd County access to tap into the pipeline that Clarksville wants to use for redundancy, but Judge-Executive Todd Mansfield says new leaders in that city have appeared more willing to work together.
Judge Mansfield noted that areas Elkton to South Todd Elementary School currently receive gas through Atmos and Guthrie through the City of Clarksville.
Meanwhile, former Trenton Mayor Jo Ann Holder spoke on behalf of the Todd County Complete Count Committee and told magistrates of their “Todd County Counts on You” initiative.
She says a main objective is getting to undercounted populations such as the Amish and Mennonite communities to make them aware of the census ahead of time.
Holder notes an accurate census is important for receiving federal and state funding and for economic growth. She says the committee will be at local events in the coming months handing out information on the census.
Dr. Eric Keeling is the new CEO of the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center and gave an overview of programming coming up the next school year, with a separate story coming on that in the next few days.
Todd County’s first ever ladder truck was parked in front of the courthouse and Emergency Management Director Daniel Smith says personnel from several fire departments will be training on it in the coming weeks.