With school being out and the summer season beginning, it means that county 4-H fairs are rapidly approaching across the state of Indiana. Clay County is no exception as the 4-H fair will be taking place July 12-18 at the Clay County Fairgrounds.

At their regularly scheduled meeting Monday, the Clay County Commissioners heard from Clay County Purdue Extension Educator and Co-County Extension Director Natalie Korniak on current preparations for the upcoming fair.

“For our total program outreach across the state, we’ve seen a 27% percent increase from 2019-20 where we had right at 150,000 kids to now having 191,191 last year,” Korniak said. “Here in Clay County, we’ve seen our numbers go up from right around 500 kids to the 560 range.”

To find out more about the Clay County 4-H fair or any other programs you can visit the Extension office’s website at extension.purdue.edu/county/clay or give the office a call at 812-448-9041.

In rounding out what was a rather short meeting, the Commissioners did officially hear bids on the new Highway building that was discussed during their May meeting.

Also dating back to last month’s meeting, the commissioners approved Ordinance 2025-07 which allowed the closure of a vacant part of County Road 1000 South. At last month’s meeting Jim Deal brought the ordinance to the commissioners, but Paul Sinders recommended that the wording of the ordinance be changed to close everything except 335 feet of road to the west of State Road 157 as that would landlock a single property.

Rounding out the meeting, the commissioners approved three separate contracts with Gordon Flesch Company in regards to having copiers in Assessor’s Office and Clerk’s Office as well as the Health Department.

One last contract was also approved with Quality Correctional Care out of Carmel. The contract was in regards to the healthcare over at the Clay County Jail and Justice Center.

The next regularly scheduled meeting for the Clay County Commissioners will take place on Monday, July 7 at 9 a.m. at the Clay County Courthouse.