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A decision made by the Kosciusko County commissioners Tuesday did not sit well with the local union representative.
A wage determination hearing previously was held for the Bridge 289 reconstruction project, east of Lake Wawasee on Cedar Point Drive. However, of the five-member board, one person was unable to attend and three wages were presented, so the wage committee was unable to come to a decision.
As Kosciusko County Highway Superintendent and Engineer Rob Ladson wants to open the project for bids Sept. 7, he asked the commissioners Aug. 10 to determine the wages as allowed by statute. However, county attorney Mike Miner said the common wage committee had until two weeks prior to the bid letting to come to a decision. If the wage committee couldn't come to a determination by the Aug. 24 commissioners meeting, the county commissioners then can decide.
Tuesday, Ladson told the commissioners the wage committee failed to act on the wages and presented the commissioners with all three sets of the wage information - one from the union, one from Workforce Development and the third from J.R. Gaylord, ABC, Kokomo, who sits on wage committee hearings as a representative of the county. Ladson also presented the commissioners with wage figures provided by Winona Lake that the town used for work on King's Highway. Ladson made no recommendation on the wages for the commissioners to accept.
The commissioners accepted the wages from Gaylord, which also were used on the last bridge project the county did in 2003.
Later in the meeting, Michael Compton, AFL-CIO representative for Kosciusko County, told the commissioners he was disappointed the commissioners did not take public comments for the Bridge 289 project wages. The wages determined for the project affect people's lives in Kosciusko County, he said.
The wage recommendations by Gaylord are wages used in other counties throughout Indiana. The spirit of the law is that the wages that should be accepted should be the wages that are the most current and common in Kosciusko County, not other counties. Compton said his concern is that the commissioners accepted wages adopted for a project in 2003. Those are not the most current wage rates in Kosciusko County.
"I am concerned when I come to these wage (hearings) the spirit of the law be followed," said Compton.
Ron Truex, middle district county commissioner, said it was unfortunate the wage committee couldn't come up with the wages. But the commissioners did review all the information presented and made their decision.
Compton said when he receives a letter regarding a common wage committee hearing, he can tell how it's going to go based on who's on the committee. He presents all the information he has but said he feels it's not really considered.
In other business, the county commissioners:
• Held a public hearing on The Bowen Center's federal grant application for $500,000. The commissioners are acting as the enabling organization for The Bowen Center for the grant since only a city, town or county can apply for federal money. No county money is involved.
Kosciusko Community Hospital plans to purchase The Bowen Center's current in-patient facilities. KCH wants to expand their emergency services. The Bowen Center plans to build a new facility near MedStat on property owned by the K21 Foundation.
The commissioners approved the resolution for the grant application on the condition that their attorney, Mike Miner, approves the application.
Bob Murphy, of R.P. Murphy and Associates, who is helping The Bowen Center with the grant process, said he still is waiting on paperwork from KCH, the state and the K21 Foundation. If he does not receive the paperwork by Sept. 3, Murphy said, he can't submit the application.
• Denied the petition by John L. and Norma A. Deeds to vacate a 20-foot road right of way on the north side of Diamond Lake, Seward Township, in the Jannie Warren North Shore subdivision.
• Approved an ordinance to enforce 176 stop signs in the county that the county highway department could not find enforcement ordinances on.
• Approved for the United Way to place a sign on the county courthouse lawn from Sept. 9 to Nov. 19.
Kosciusko County commissioners are Avis Gunter, southern district; Ron Truex, middle district; and Brad Jackson, northern district. They meet every other Tuesday in the county courthouse, Warsaw, at 9 a.m.
