County Getting $80K For Vaccine Clinic
January 19, 2021 at 10:40 p.m.
By David Slone-
Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver gave a brief update on the COVID testing site, which has been available since about mid-September. It is the result of CARES Act money offered to the Health Department through the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Indiana State Department of Health.
Kosciusko County Health Department applied for and received $200,000 to run the testing clinic through June.
“It’s been very successful. To date, as of last Friday, 12,687 tests have been run at the clinic,” Weaver said.
The testing began at the Bowen Center Health Clinic but moved to the fairgrounds due to the demand.
“It’s a very busy place, and we’re very proud of it. We’re happy to have this money to run this,” Weaver said.
Recently, with the vaccine becoming available, Weaver said, “they’ve added money to this grant for vaccination clinics. And we are eligible for $80,640 to run our vaccination clinic. And that’s through the month of June 2021.”
He said it wasn’t a new grant, but an addition to a grant that was already approved.
Commissioner Cary Groninger asked if the grant was a reimbursable one. Weaver said it was.
Groninger said the original $200,000 was to be split between two testing locations. He asked if that money was now being allowed for the one location because it’s being used so much.
“Yes, it’s a busy enough clinic that we’ve been offered the second $100,000 for use in the same clinic,” Weaver said.
Since the additional $80,640 was an extension of the current grant, County Auditor Michelle Puckett said no motion was necessary.
Next up, Sheriff Kyle Dukes said that currently there were 249 people incarcerated in the Kosciusko County Jail. The prison system is still slowly accepting inmates, with the county planning to take five more down there Friday.
As of Tuesday, 76 people are in the Work Release Center. The new director is Heather Desenberg.
“I’m excited about the new direction of Work Release and there’s some big things that are going to happen here. Some big things,” Dukes said. “... Work Release is definitely headed in the right direction.”
He announced there are zero positive cases of COVID in the jail, Work Release and sheriff’s office employees.
Dukes then talked about the 2020 commissary report. A jail commissary is a store from which inmates may purchase products and the revenue from the store is used at the sheriff’s discretion.
The first item he pointed out was money spent for uniforms and equipment.
“And I’m not talking new employees, I’m talking existing employees, and in 2020, it just fell into place – new uniforms, new pants, new shirts, new gun belt, everything that goes on a gun belt. And I’m talking for the jail, I’m talking for the patrol division. Work Release. When you talk about equipment, everything that goes in those patrol vehicles,” Dukes said. “So look at the last six months, the sheriff’s office has spent $28,595.67 just on uniforms and equipment.”
He said the training room is done and “beautiful” and it’s used every week. The invoices were due for the cabinets, countertops and shelves, as well as furniture.
Hardwood flooring was installed back in the jail. Rubber flooring was installed in the gym so it would be easy to mop. “That’s where a lot of the money was spent also,” Dukes said.
Items for the public information officer were stocked up, including shirts, hats, cups, ice scrapers, key chains, stickers and coloring books for the kids.
“We decided to, we were running low, so we decided to stock up so we purchased everything in late 2020 to cover 2021 so we should be good in the public information officer world,” Dukes said.
Signs for neighborhood watches also were purchased in 2020. In the past, it was up to lake associations to purchase the neighborhood watch signs. Reserve officers and PIO Sgt. Chris Francis installed all the signs.
“If every neighborhood doesn’t have one up, I’d be surprised,” Dukes said.
In 2020, the kitchen had two pieces of equipment go down so new ones had to be purchased. Dukes said that was close to $9,000.
As part of his presentation, Area Plan Assistant Director Matt Sandy reminded the Commissioners that in August the county signed a contract with Schneider Geospatial to start working on the county’s geopermitting, “which is opening the door to online permitting, forms, whatnot.”
He said the county has been working “pretty diligently” on it, including the planning, auditor’s, health and highway departments.
“We’ve got to the point that, we’re comfortable with releasing some of those applications online,” Sandy said.
He said the planning office has got to the point where it’s releasing its sign permits and several other items online, “which is making it easier for the public, and that’s what we had hoped for and saw the need for in the last year or so.”
The auditor’s office also has a number of forms available online for the public.
Puckett said her office has all of the deductions available online. Two of her employees worked very hard in creating those forms. Anyone who needs to file a homestead, mortgage, disabled veterans or 165 form are available electronically.
The forms will be available on the county’s website and through Beacon. Sandy said there’s still some testing to do as the county wants to make sure it’s as bug-free as possible.
In other business, County Administrator Marsha McSherry presented Core Mechanical’s proposal to replace the freezer condenser for the jail’s kitchen freezer. The cost will be $14,421, and the commissioners approved the expenditure.
The commissioners also approved Wes Stouder’s reappointment to the county’s Economic Development Commission.
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Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver gave a brief update on the COVID testing site, which has been available since about mid-September. It is the result of CARES Act money offered to the Health Department through the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Indiana State Department of Health.
Kosciusko County Health Department applied for and received $200,000 to run the testing clinic through June.
“It’s been very successful. To date, as of last Friday, 12,687 tests have been run at the clinic,” Weaver said.
The testing began at the Bowen Center Health Clinic but moved to the fairgrounds due to the demand.
“It’s a very busy place, and we’re very proud of it. We’re happy to have this money to run this,” Weaver said.
Recently, with the vaccine becoming available, Weaver said, “they’ve added money to this grant for vaccination clinics. And we are eligible for $80,640 to run our vaccination clinic. And that’s through the month of June 2021.”
He said it wasn’t a new grant, but an addition to a grant that was already approved.
Commissioner Cary Groninger asked if the grant was a reimbursable one. Weaver said it was.
Groninger said the original $200,000 was to be split between two testing locations. He asked if that money was now being allowed for the one location because it’s being used so much.
“Yes, it’s a busy enough clinic that we’ve been offered the second $100,000 for use in the same clinic,” Weaver said.
Since the additional $80,640 was an extension of the current grant, County Auditor Michelle Puckett said no motion was necessary.
Next up, Sheriff Kyle Dukes said that currently there were 249 people incarcerated in the Kosciusko County Jail. The prison system is still slowly accepting inmates, with the county planning to take five more down there Friday.
As of Tuesday, 76 people are in the Work Release Center. The new director is Heather Desenberg.
“I’m excited about the new direction of Work Release and there’s some big things that are going to happen here. Some big things,” Dukes said. “... Work Release is definitely headed in the right direction.”
He announced there are zero positive cases of COVID in the jail, Work Release and sheriff’s office employees.
Dukes then talked about the 2020 commissary report. A jail commissary is a store from which inmates may purchase products and the revenue from the store is used at the sheriff’s discretion.
The first item he pointed out was money spent for uniforms and equipment.
“And I’m not talking new employees, I’m talking existing employees, and in 2020, it just fell into place – new uniforms, new pants, new shirts, new gun belt, everything that goes on a gun belt. And I’m talking for the jail, I’m talking for the patrol division. Work Release. When you talk about equipment, everything that goes in those patrol vehicles,” Dukes said. “So look at the last six months, the sheriff’s office has spent $28,595.67 just on uniforms and equipment.”
He said the training room is done and “beautiful” and it’s used every week. The invoices were due for the cabinets, countertops and shelves, as well as furniture.
Hardwood flooring was installed back in the jail. Rubber flooring was installed in the gym so it would be easy to mop. “That’s where a lot of the money was spent also,” Dukes said.
Items for the public information officer were stocked up, including shirts, hats, cups, ice scrapers, key chains, stickers and coloring books for the kids.
“We decided to, we were running low, so we decided to stock up so we purchased everything in late 2020 to cover 2021 so we should be good in the public information officer world,” Dukes said.
Signs for neighborhood watches also were purchased in 2020. In the past, it was up to lake associations to purchase the neighborhood watch signs. Reserve officers and PIO Sgt. Chris Francis installed all the signs.
“If every neighborhood doesn’t have one up, I’d be surprised,” Dukes said.
In 2020, the kitchen had two pieces of equipment go down so new ones had to be purchased. Dukes said that was close to $9,000.
As part of his presentation, Area Plan Assistant Director Matt Sandy reminded the Commissioners that in August the county signed a contract with Schneider Geospatial to start working on the county’s geopermitting, “which is opening the door to online permitting, forms, whatnot.”
He said the county has been working “pretty diligently” on it, including the planning, auditor’s, health and highway departments.
“We’ve got to the point that, we’re comfortable with releasing some of those applications online,” Sandy said.
He said the planning office has got to the point where it’s releasing its sign permits and several other items online, “which is making it easier for the public, and that’s what we had hoped for and saw the need for in the last year or so.”
The auditor’s office also has a number of forms available online for the public.
Puckett said her office has all of the deductions available online. Two of her employees worked very hard in creating those forms. Anyone who needs to file a homestead, mortgage, disabled veterans or 165 form are available electronically.
The forms will be available on the county’s website and through Beacon. Sandy said there’s still some testing to do as the county wants to make sure it’s as bug-free as possible.
In other business, County Administrator Marsha McSherry presented Core Mechanical’s proposal to replace the freezer condenser for the jail’s kitchen freezer. The cost will be $14,421, and the commissioners approved the expenditure.
The commissioners also approved Wes Stouder’s reappointment to the county’s Economic Development Commission.
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