Chesterton Tribune

 

 

County Council to work with Commissioners on Foundation and Animal Shelter

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By JEFF SCHULTZ

The Porter County Council has a full plate with projects ranging from establishing a Foundation for investing the principal from the sale of Porter Memorial Hospital, to building a new Animal Shelter, to finding solutions to the new pension plan for the Sheriff’s Police.

The Council said it will address all of these items at a series of joint meetings this summer with the Board of Commissioners, starting next month on Tuesday, June 3.

Council President Dan Whitten, D-at large, said he wants the Council to have its “feet on the ground and running hard” by July 1, when legislation takes effect giving counties like Porter with capital sale assets to have a variety of investment options.

No motions will be made at the June 3 meeting since not all of the Council and Commissioner board can attend, which is why Whitten thinks they should meet multiple times. To do anything with the $159 million in sale proceeds, unanimous votes are needed from both bodies.

As for the new Animal Shelter and its relocation to an area just northwest of the Expo Center, Council member Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, said that the three commissioners are “not all on the same page” and proposed the topic be discussed with the Council for its input.

Part of the discussion will include what the municipalities in the county would be willing to pay of the costs related to Animal Control. Council member Jim Biggs, R-1st, said the only one that has been making payments is the Town of Chesterton.

Council member Robert Poparad, D-at large, said the Council should ask if it wants to impose a fee on municipalities when it’s “a free service” to those living in the unincorporated areas. He compared it to the scenario of charging town police departments every time they bring in an inmate to the County Jail.

“When Chesterton Police bring in somebody, do we tell them to bring $100?” he said.

Biggs said the County is bound by law to provide Animal Control, while cities and towns are not. The Commissioners this week had originally considered creating a fund to collect fees but pulled it from the agenda for more consideration.

Meanwhile, Poparad and Biggs were given the task by their peers to research the Sheriff’s pension plan to learn if the funds there could be moved out of the County’s general fund.

Approvals

During the business portion of the meeting, the Council approved 7-0 a transfer of $46,400 for a new contract with CBM Managed Services to provide kitchen services at the jail with full time employees. The contract is for three years.

Sheriff Dave Reynolds said the employees are replacing those who were previously working in the kitchen, so these are not new positions.

Poparad questioned if the price for the contract would increase due to the use of food away from home consumer price index rather than the typical CPI formula.

The contract can be canceled with a notice of 60 days if costs do spike, Whitten said.

Other approvals included $9,500 in grant money the Juvenile Detention Center received from the state for its alternatives initiative program.

The Council ended up approving a request 7-0 for a transfer of $24,000 to process the Sheriff’s deferred compensation plan and a $1,617 transfer for an insurance provider invoice submitted by the Parks Department.

Both were tabled last meeting because they came in as requests for additional funds and the Council is now asking for all requests to be transfers.

The Commissioners’ request for $1,600 in additional funding to purchase uniforms for the maintenance department was shot down 7-0.

“We don’t have any money for additionals,” Council member Karen Conover, R-3rd, said.

Poll book request bumped to June

The Council was prepared to hear a request from the Election Board to transfer $40,000 from its Ballots and Coding budget line to Equipment in order to cover the first installment of the new electronic poll books.

Council administrative assistant Joy Blakely said the request was pulled right before the meeting Wednesday due to “an emergency” with one of the Election Board members.

“That’s probably not a bad idea considering the speech I had in store,” Whitten said in light of reported problems experienced with the equipment on Election Day.

The board made the request last month but it was shot down on a 6-1 vote with Council members pointing out they did not receive approval beforehand from the County Board of Commissioners. The Commissioners subsequently voted in favor of the contracts the week before the election.

Election Board President David Bengs told the Chesterton Tribune this morning that the request will be made again at the Council’s June meeting.

 

Posted 5/21/2015

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

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