Commissioners Approve Community Corrections To Seek Third Vehicle, Addition To County War Memorial
July 22, 2020 at 12:42 a.m.
Commissioners Approve Community Corrections To Seek Third Vehicle, Addition To County War Memorial
By David [email protected]
Community Corrections Director Barry Andrew said the Community Corrections Advisory Board met on July 13 and had a discussion about purchasing a third vehicle for the department. It has two vehicles now – a 2016 Charger and a 2017 Explorer.
“Now that we are fully staffed, we have a new on-call rotation. One vehicle will be used for that, and then we have a new field visit rotation that we’ll be doing, so both of those vehicles will be used as they were originally designed to be used,” Andrew said.
He said as he, the director, is on call 24/7, there are multiple needs for a third vehicle, “one of those being me being on call 24/7. If one of our other vehicles potentially goes down ... then we have the third vehicle to put into the rotation.”
The mileage on the other two vehicles will increase dramatically now that Community Corrections is implementing the new policies regarding on-call and field visits.
Andrew said the Advisory Board approved the purchase on July 13 out of the Community Corrections user fee account for an amount not to exceed $40,000, which would include the vehicle, the radio inside the vehicle and an external spotlight.
He said they didn’t have any vehicle in line at this time as the process to buy a vehicle is just in the beginning stages.
Commissioner Cary Groninger asked if the vehicles were take-home vehicles or left on the lot and used as needed.
“They stay in the county. The on-call officer – we have a weekly rotation – so that the on-call officer does take that vehicle home for a week in case we get called out,” Andrew said, with the second vehicle used for field visits on different schedules. The field visit vehicle does go home with the officer, depending on what rotation they are on.
Brad Jackson, commissioner, said $40,000 seemed pretty steep to him for a vehicle. Andrew said he didn’t plan to spend the whole amount. Jackson said Community Corrections was buying the vehicle with its own money out of its user fees, but a third vehicle down the road isn’t guaranteed, and Andrew said that was “perfectly understandable.”
The commissioners unanimously approved for Andrew to pursue the purchase of a third vehicle.
Commissioner Bob Conley said he was approached by Ken Locke, of the Honor & Remember Committee, to get the commissioners’ OK to put a Gold Star Families memorial on the back of the county’s existing war memorial at the corner of Lake and Center streets.
The wording would be: “Kosciusko County expresses eternal gratitude to Gold Star Families whose loved one paid the ultimate price defending the United States of America; their sacrifice will not be forgotten.”
Conley said the Committee wanted permission to move ahead with that project. It will be 100% paid for by the Committee, which has the funds to do that, he said.
“We’ll just have to set a date where we’ll commemorate that,” Conley said.
The commissioners unanimously approved the Committee’s request.
Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver presented a change to the list of county procedures should a county employee test positive for COVID-19. The county procedures were approved over a month ago.
“It’s on one piece of paper. It’s a complete procedural list, but short and to the point. It’s changing now and then, and I’m asking permission to change one item,” Weaver said, in regards to clarifying the definition of “close contact” to some of the new standards coming from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The commissioners unanimously approved the change.
After the meeting, Weaver said the definition of close contact is if a person “is within 6 feet of another person for 15 minutes or more and within the time frame of the person testing positive in the last two days or having symptoms in the last two days” of the coronavirus. The 15 minutes is not cumulative.
County Administrator Marsha McSherry reminded the commissioners that a couple of weeks ago, the county formed a Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security (CARES) Act committee to look at the COVID-19 expenditures.
The committee – which consists of County Auditor Michelle Puckett, Emergency Management Director Ed Rock, Weaver, Groninger and McSherry – compiled a list of those expenses that comes to $1.3 million at this point.
“I met with department heads and a lot of the things that were on here, many were, obviously, at that expense, there’s a lot of things on this list, but outside of payroll expenses, sanitizing, PPE, face masks, gloves, etc., the biggest request was for video conferencing and livestreaming,” McSherry said.
She asked the commissioners for their approval to move forward with the items on the list once the committee can meet again and determine which ones are the most urgent at this time. The commissioners approved.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
• The Tippecanoe-Chapman Sewer District bylaws, as presented by county and sewer district attorney Chad Miner. The sewer district previously adopted the bylaws.
• County Prosecutor Dan Hampton’s request to apply for a Victims Of Crime Act (VOCA) grant for $72,035.50. He said, “We do the VOCA every year for the victim’s assistance. We’ve been doing it every year since 2003 or something like that.” He said it’s a two-year grant.
• Rock’s request to apply for a Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grant for $15,000 and a Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) for $50,000. Presenting on Rock’s behalf, McSherry said the HMEP grant is to “encourage and support emergency planning for responding to chemical accidents throughout the county.” The EMPG grant is for the annual reimbursement of salary of employees in Emergency Management.
• The appointment of Carolyn Zimmerman to the Milford Library Board for a second term and Annette Hughes to the Pierceton Public Library Board for a four-year term.
• A stop sign ordinance for stop signs in multiple locations, as requested by Highway Superintendent Steve Moriarty. “Some of these are for additions that have already been taken in by the county, but we’re just cleaning up some paperwork for the extensions of those additions. The stop signs are currently up, we’re just asking you sign this ordinance.”
• Moriarty’s request to apply for a 2021 railroad grant crossing at-grade. “What that means is, INDOT is putting out a matching fund of 100%. We’ve done it two years ago, just finished it up this year,” he said. It includes the painting of markings.
• The three vacations as presented by Area Plan Director Dan Richard. He said the Area Plan Commission unanimously recommended the vacations be approved.
The vacations included two alleyways in the town of Sevastopol, as requested by Randy and Connie Norman; a public way in the plat of Thompson’s River Lawn Second Addition, as requested by Alan Prater; and a public way in Turkey Creek Township as requested by Wawasee Marina Inc.
There were no remonstrators.
The next commissioners meeting is at 9 a.m. Aug. 4 in the old courtroom of the county courthouse.
Community Corrections Director Barry Andrew said the Community Corrections Advisory Board met on July 13 and had a discussion about purchasing a third vehicle for the department. It has two vehicles now – a 2016 Charger and a 2017 Explorer.
“Now that we are fully staffed, we have a new on-call rotation. One vehicle will be used for that, and then we have a new field visit rotation that we’ll be doing, so both of those vehicles will be used as they were originally designed to be used,” Andrew said.
He said as he, the director, is on call 24/7, there are multiple needs for a third vehicle, “one of those being me being on call 24/7. If one of our other vehicles potentially goes down ... then we have the third vehicle to put into the rotation.”
The mileage on the other two vehicles will increase dramatically now that Community Corrections is implementing the new policies regarding on-call and field visits.
Andrew said the Advisory Board approved the purchase on July 13 out of the Community Corrections user fee account for an amount not to exceed $40,000, which would include the vehicle, the radio inside the vehicle and an external spotlight.
He said they didn’t have any vehicle in line at this time as the process to buy a vehicle is just in the beginning stages.
Commissioner Cary Groninger asked if the vehicles were take-home vehicles or left on the lot and used as needed.
“They stay in the county. The on-call officer – we have a weekly rotation – so that the on-call officer does take that vehicle home for a week in case we get called out,” Andrew said, with the second vehicle used for field visits on different schedules. The field visit vehicle does go home with the officer, depending on what rotation they are on.
Brad Jackson, commissioner, said $40,000 seemed pretty steep to him for a vehicle. Andrew said he didn’t plan to spend the whole amount. Jackson said Community Corrections was buying the vehicle with its own money out of its user fees, but a third vehicle down the road isn’t guaranteed, and Andrew said that was “perfectly understandable.”
The commissioners unanimously approved for Andrew to pursue the purchase of a third vehicle.
Commissioner Bob Conley said he was approached by Ken Locke, of the Honor & Remember Committee, to get the commissioners’ OK to put a Gold Star Families memorial on the back of the county’s existing war memorial at the corner of Lake and Center streets.
The wording would be: “Kosciusko County expresses eternal gratitude to Gold Star Families whose loved one paid the ultimate price defending the United States of America; their sacrifice will not be forgotten.”
Conley said the Committee wanted permission to move ahead with that project. It will be 100% paid for by the Committee, which has the funds to do that, he said.
“We’ll just have to set a date where we’ll commemorate that,” Conley said.
The commissioners unanimously approved the Committee’s request.
Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver presented a change to the list of county procedures should a county employee test positive for COVID-19. The county procedures were approved over a month ago.
“It’s on one piece of paper. It’s a complete procedural list, but short and to the point. It’s changing now and then, and I’m asking permission to change one item,” Weaver said, in regards to clarifying the definition of “close contact” to some of the new standards coming from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The commissioners unanimously approved the change.
After the meeting, Weaver said the definition of close contact is if a person “is within 6 feet of another person for 15 minutes or more and within the time frame of the person testing positive in the last two days or having symptoms in the last two days” of the coronavirus. The 15 minutes is not cumulative.
County Administrator Marsha McSherry reminded the commissioners that a couple of weeks ago, the county formed a Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security (CARES) Act committee to look at the COVID-19 expenditures.
The committee – which consists of County Auditor Michelle Puckett, Emergency Management Director Ed Rock, Weaver, Groninger and McSherry – compiled a list of those expenses that comes to $1.3 million at this point.
“I met with department heads and a lot of the things that were on here, many were, obviously, at that expense, there’s a lot of things on this list, but outside of payroll expenses, sanitizing, PPE, face masks, gloves, etc., the biggest request was for video conferencing and livestreaming,” McSherry said.
She asked the commissioners for their approval to move forward with the items on the list once the committee can meet again and determine which ones are the most urgent at this time. The commissioners approved.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
• The Tippecanoe-Chapman Sewer District bylaws, as presented by county and sewer district attorney Chad Miner. The sewer district previously adopted the bylaws.
• County Prosecutor Dan Hampton’s request to apply for a Victims Of Crime Act (VOCA) grant for $72,035.50. He said, “We do the VOCA every year for the victim’s assistance. We’ve been doing it every year since 2003 or something like that.” He said it’s a two-year grant.
• Rock’s request to apply for a Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grant for $15,000 and a Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) for $50,000. Presenting on Rock’s behalf, McSherry said the HMEP grant is to “encourage and support emergency planning for responding to chemical accidents throughout the county.” The EMPG grant is for the annual reimbursement of salary of employees in Emergency Management.
• The appointment of Carolyn Zimmerman to the Milford Library Board for a second term and Annette Hughes to the Pierceton Public Library Board for a four-year term.
• A stop sign ordinance for stop signs in multiple locations, as requested by Highway Superintendent Steve Moriarty. “Some of these are for additions that have already been taken in by the county, but we’re just cleaning up some paperwork for the extensions of those additions. The stop signs are currently up, we’re just asking you sign this ordinance.”
• Moriarty’s request to apply for a 2021 railroad grant crossing at-grade. “What that means is, INDOT is putting out a matching fund of 100%. We’ve done it two years ago, just finished it up this year,” he said. It includes the painting of markings.
• The three vacations as presented by Area Plan Director Dan Richard. He said the Area Plan Commission unanimously recommended the vacations be approved.
The vacations included two alleyways in the town of Sevastopol, as requested by Randy and Connie Norman; a public way in the plat of Thompson’s River Lawn Second Addition, as requested by Alan Prater; and a public way in Turkey Creek Township as requested by Wawasee Marina Inc.
There were no remonstrators.
The next commissioners meeting is at 9 a.m. Aug. 4 in the old courtroom of the county courthouse.
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