Marshall County Superior Court No. 3 Judge Matthew Sarber appeared before the Marshall County Council Monday morning to discuss a certain request in the 2023 Salary Ordinance that was once approved, but later removed.
Judge Sarber explained that he put forth a $5,000 stipend in the budget process for an employee that works with the drug court. The stipend was requested through the Department of Corrections through the grant process for the tremendous work for that employee. It was approved after discussion with the council in October, but rescinded during the approval of the 2023 Salary Ordinance in November.
Judge Sarber requested that the stipend be reinstated.
He stressed that the drug court has had an extreme positive effect on the handful of participants the employee has assisted.
“Three of them would be dead or near death had they not gone through our program,” stated Sarber. “The reason I bring that up specifically is the person that arranged and the person that this stipend is going toward is solely responsible for getting them into the inpatient facility, getting my approval to do so, and working with those inpatient facilities over a month before they could get into the drug court. That saved their lives.”
He further commented that it is different than employees in the same classification in the Salary Ordinance, but people’s lives are at hand and it’s a unique position.
Councilman Heath Thornton said the stipend in question was not brought forward to the council until questions were raised by the council, and he feels it did not go through the proper process.
Judge Sarber noted that the money is not coming from the General Fund out of the budget, but from a grant through the Department of Corrections.
Thornton said that the employee is already being compensated for the extra time spent doing the work and does not feel that the employee should be paid the stipend just because the grant money was obtained. He said the process was not followed properly and should go before the Personnel Committee.
Judge Sarber reminded Thornton that the council approved the stipend during the budget process and it was decided at that point.
Councilman Jon VanVactor said they want all employees in the same classification in the Salary Ordinance to be paid the same. He believes that the employee in this situation is being fairly compensated.
Councilman Jesse Bohannon made a motion to approve Judge Sarber’s request with a second by Councilman Tim Harman. The motion failed by a vote of 2-5 with Bohannon and Harman in support of the motion, with Councilmen Heath Thornton, Jim Masterson, Mandy Campbell, Jon VanVactor and Steve Harper against the motion.
A motion was then made by VanVactor to reconsider the request which passed with a vote of 6-1 with Bohannon opposed. Following that, a motion was made by Councilman Harman to table the request until 2023 which was passed unanimously.
