The Decatur County Commissioners met on Monday. The board approved the claims.
Mark Mohr gave an update. Any application for federal funding was due last Friday. They submitted bridge 131 and the Park Road Project for federal funding and they have both been accepted. Dave O’Mara did some patch working to help save the stone through the winter. They continue to do patching and run the mowing tractor. They received a quote for the Westport covered bridge for $91,504.03. This would be for the damage to the lower part and to fix the rotted would as well as paint. $55,000 is in the covered bridge fund and the rest will be covered by the commissioners. This was approved.
Charles Ketchum requested to vacate an alley in Adams. All neighbors agree to this. Ordinance 2021-22 was approved.
Kenny Buening gave an update. There have been 65 building inspections, 17 new building permits, and 5 red tags. They did a follow up on a complaint property and the resident is in the process of cleaning up. There has been noticeable improvement.
Sheriff Durant came to the commissioners to discuss longevity pay. They sent an email to the commissioners that contained a jail study done by Bill Wilson, an expert in jail staffing in Indiana. The report noted that we are actually understaffed currently. The sheriff noted that the term “opening a can of worms” had been used a lot in previous discussions concerning longevity pay and wanted to point out that road deputies have received longevity pay for long since before he was sheriff and no department had had any complaints on that. They believe that those who stay deserve the $200 a year due to the conditions they are in daily and their dedication. This is in the sheriff’s budget and would be no additional cost to the county. The commissioners tabled this indefinitely, meaning that they will determine when this is discussed again.
There was a discussion on vote centers which was tabled last month. Chris Stephen said that vote centers are for data collection as well as financial savings. They will allow the county election board to know what vote centers are the highest trafficked. Stephen requested county approval so that the vote center plan may continue on. There was a concern about connectivity. There is connectivity at every polling station currently and vote centers would be in the same locations. The main concern of the commissioners was that they would be relinquishing all rights to vote centers and later down the road there may only be 1 vote center in Greensburg. The request for vote centers was approved.
The 2022 holiday schedule was approved. The meeting schedule was approved to be the same as last year.
The 911 and IT Department MOU was presented. They have had an inter local agreement since they consolidated in 2016. This separates IT and dispatch into 2 separate items. Both MOUs were approved.
There was a request of use of grounds for October 29, 2022 for the Trunk or Treat. This was approved.
There was a request to enter into an agreement with Data Pitstop. They provide services to help with excise tax as well as fixed assets. Residents will be able to go online and look at property tax. This would be $8,000 initially and $4,000 for each following year. This was approved.
Morgan Schofield
WTRE News
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