Crews with the Marshall County Highway Department are hoping to do more paving this year. Highway Supervisor Jason Peters was before the county council on Monday with a request for support of an additional appropriation for $300,000.
The additional appropriation has not been published yet so the council could not act on the request.
The Marshall County Council members worked to cut $444,420 from the budget when they met Monday morning.
The total budget to be advertised is just over $25 million for all funds. The General Fund totals $12,798,016. The assessor’s office will have a $12,000 reduction as the members thought the pay increase budgeted was over the three percent recommendation, and a full-time position in the prosecutor’s office was omitted as the request was not before the council. That money was transferred to a part-time line item.
The Marshall County Council will meet this morning with a full agenda. The council members will discuss all of the line items in the 2018 budget in a hearing after their regular business meeting.
James Bend and James Pheibush will have a funding request for care of inmate patients while Sheriff Matt Hassel and Annette Osborn from WIC will request a waiver for a 90-day probationary pay. EMA Director Clyde Avery will present an additional request for a mitigation plan update with the EMA Performance Grant and the personnel committee members will discuss updates to several positions. Continue reading
The Marshall County Highway Department will be asking the county council for some additional funds and money transfers in order to pave more county roads this season.
Highway Supervisor Jason Peters told the county commissioners that he’ll be requesting $550,000 to $600,000 in an additional appropriation before the county council on Monday, Sept. 11. Continue reading
The Marshall County Council discussed adding full-time position for a health educator/emergency preparedness coordinator when they met this week.
Health Administrator Christine Stinson explained that the person in the department would assist in her department and with Emergency Management Agency Director Clyde Avery. She said a local health maintenance fund grant along with the emergency preparedness grant will help fund this position with the rest coming from the health department’s budget.
Two requests to waive probationary pay for employees were discussed by the Marshall County Council this week.
Community Corrections Director Ward Byers requested waiver for a new case manager who comes to the department with a wealth of experience from Ohio. In addition, the case manager’s pay is based on a federal grant.
The Marshall County Council members held a discussion on an additional appropriation request for continued maintenance at the Shady Rest Home.
The Shady Rest Home returned to the county’s care on Aug. 1 after The Bowen Center vacated the property.
Marshall County Coroner John Grolich approached the Marshall County Council Monday morning with additional appropriation requests totaling $28,000 for his department.
Grolich explained that there has been an increase in autopsies performed this year than what is normally budgeted. He added that it’s difficult to predict how many will be done in a year in order to properly budget money. He said many young people have perished in a number of different circumstances and autopsies are commonly ordered in most cases to determine manner and cause of death. Continue reading
The Marshall County Council considered an additional appropriation request in the amount of $50,000 to take care of LED lighting upgrade and other repairs at the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department.
According to Gary Masterson from the county maintenance department, all of the lighting has been updated outside of the jail in the parking lot, and more lights are being switched out inside the facility as soon as one goes bad. Additional money is requested in case more issues arise at the jail.
The Marshall County Council members will meet today with several items on the agenda.
EMA Director Clyde Avery will present two grant requests while Sheriff Matt Hassel will have a commissary report. The personnel committee members have several changes to different county positions to bring before the council. Marshall County Prosecutor Nelson Chipman and a representative from the community corrections department will separately request waivers for probationary pay for an employee in their offices. The council is also expected to discuss a salary ordinance amendment for the chief probation officer and a position within community corrections.
Marshall County Commissioner Kurt Garner updated the county council on the formation of the Shady Rest Committee. Nine members will serve on the committee that will help decide what uses the building can support
The Marshall County Council members received copies of their budget for 2018 with more in-depth discussions set for later in August.
Auditor Julie Fox incorporated a three-percent increase in her figures as the council approved that amount in June. She asked the council to review it and put in numbers that coincide with council expenditures.
Culver Town Council President Ginny Bess Munroe and Culver Town Manager Jonathan Leist went before the Marshall County Council to ask for a letter of support to include in their application for the Stellar Communities Designation Program grant.
Munroe mentioned that the town is attempting to show that the town is working with the county and that the county can benefit from the projects that are proposed in the Stellar Communities plan. The commissioners have already approved an in-kind donation of the installation of one mile of the walking/biking trail through the Culver Town Park and around Lake Maxinkuckee. The township is also putting forth support of the Cavalier Sports Center for upgrades and additions to the facilities at the Culver Community School Corporation. Several local and county organizations have offered grant match money for the various projects in the plan as well as in-kind donations and volunteer efforts.
The recent storm activity has left crews in Bremen cleaning up debris.
Bremen Director of Operations Trend Weldy said the street and utility crews have been picking up tree limbs and brush since Monday morning’s storm brought fierce winds. Thirty trees fell during the storms and work is being done to rid the area of the mess after that impact.
The Marshall County Council received the proposed list of roads to be submitted for consideration for a $1 million Community Crossings grant during their meeting Monday morning.
Commissioner Kurt Garner noted that one project was omitted from the plan.
Marshall County Commissioner Kurt Garner will appear before the Marshall County Council members to offer the county’s road plan for the Community Crossings grant.
The commissioners approved the list last week and intend to have the input of the council and MACOG before submitting the final list to the state for consideration. The match is 75/25 this year and will be more competitive as smaller communities will be able to put in their project proposals as the local match is lower than in past years.
The Marshall County Commissioners and Highway Supervisor Jason Peters have been working on prioritizing projects to submit for INDOT’s Community Crossings Grant. Continue reading
The Marshall County Council approved an ordinance to change the job description of the full-time Pre-Trial Diversion Officer, as recommended by the personnel committee.
Prosecutor Nelson Chipman requested the position in May. The state approved a grant for the county to pay for the position. The position will be available July 1.
The Marshall County Council will be entering into budget negotiations soon and discussed the potential for full-time employee salary increases.
Historically, the council has always recommended a three percent raise each year. Councilwoman Penny Lukenbill said it’s not known where the county will sit at the time the budget discussion begins and the three percent increase may not be met.
Marshall County Health Administrator Christine Stinson will be applying for an emergency preparedness grant.
She told the Marshall County Council members this week that the grant would be in the amount of $19,070. She said part of the funding could be used to purchase and update Automated External Difibrillators.
