$2M capital improvement loan plan on hold
County officials have hit the brakes on taking out a $2 million capital improvement loan this year because they weren’t able to advertise it in time.
Commissioner Diana Biddle said the county could look into taking out a loan in the spring. This would also give Sheriff Scott Southerland more time to figure out how much grant funding would be available through the Integrated Public Safety Commission to fund one of the projects that was envisioned for the loan money — an overhaul of the public safety radio system.
The second project would be replacing the bleachers at the Brown County 4-H Fairgrounds and making them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Wooden light poles that are in disrepair at Deer Run Park might also be replaced using loan money.
Council will support maintenance of skate/teen park
The Brown County Council has agreed to fund the maintenance of a skate/teen park if it is built, under the umbrella of Brown County Parks & Recreation.
Teen group Kids on Wheels has been doing fundraising for this project for months. No land has been bought and no location identified for where it will go.
Council President David Critser said he was giving the project his vote of confidence since no formal budget was available. “If you can raise and build what you’re looking at there, it would be stupid on the part of the county not to try and keep it up as long as we could,” he said.
The council was approached by Isaiah Smith and Colleen Smith, along with BETA Board President Clara Stanley. Isaiah Smith is working on the skate park as his senior project in hopes that others will add other elements that would make it more of a teen park.
“I know it’s scary at first to think about skateboarding. But we’re not making a bold statement by building this park. It’s something communities do all around us,” Isaiah Smith told the council. For instance, Monroe County is building its third skate park, he said.
“It sounds great; it’s just money,” council member Debbie Guffey said about possible maintenance costs.
In June, KOW members asked the Nashville Town Council to consider being the owner of the skate park if it was built in town and possibly bringing it under the town’s insurance policy. The town council did not agree to own a skate park, but members said the county’s parks and recreation department could buy land in Nashville.
KOW is also looking at building the skate/teen park at the county-owned Deer Run Park, but members prefer a location closer to town to avoid having young people walking or skating alongside Helmsburg Road to use the park, Isaiah Smith said.
Member Darren Byrd asked about funding the park privately. “It’s an option that keeps it completely autonomous on you. It keeps the government out of it,” Byrd said. “Nobody can shut down funding. If you can come up with good ideas for that, that is ultimately the best way to go.”
Byrd said the skate park is a good idea, just not out at Deer Run Park. He said KOW should look at funding the project privately because parks and recreation could decide not to fund the maintenance anymore if liability becomes an issue.
County finds money to buy ‘buddy packs’ for officers
The county will spend $3,580 to purchase “buddy packs” for all law enforcement officers.
The buddy packs are a project that Brown County Emergency Management Association Director Susan Armstrong was unable to get funded by grants distributed through the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
The packs include gauze, a tourniquet, a wrap, a powder pouch that can be used to clot blood and other emergency medical supplies.
Brown County Commissioner Dave Anderson, a former sheriff and conservation officer, spoke in favor of getting these because of the time it might take for emergency medical responders or backup officers to arrive.
County council approves budgets, looks at salary ordinance
The Brown County Council unanimously approved a county budget for 2018 that’s slightly over the recommended maximum tax levy.
The recommended maximum tax levy was $3,543,859, and the approved budget exceeded that by $10,774, said Jacque Clements of MAXIMUS, financial consultant to the county. Once the Department of Local Government Finance goes through the budget, the county will dip into its cash operating balance to make the budget work, Clements said.
Council members also discussed possible language for the salary ordinance regarding part-time wages that are not classified into a pay grade.
At the Nov. 20 council meeting, members will be expected to vote on making exceptions for part-time pay in the county. Under the language, part-time employees who have not been classified into a pay grade will receive $9 an hour.
The exceptions would be general maintenance employees receiving $10 an hour at parks and recreation. A supervisory maintenance worker at that department would receive $13 an hour. A program assistant at parks and recreation would earn $11.55 an hour. A part-time jail transporter/dispatcher would receive $14.62 under the new language.
Council Vice President Keith Baker said the reason for the pay increase for part-time maintenance employees at parks and recreation is to keep people coming back season after season. When the county’s funding for parks and rec runs out, the department pays those employees using fee collections, so they went from earning $9 to around $10.75 an hour, Baker said. “I think $10 is probably fair,” he said.
The council will also vote in November on the definition of “emergency situations” for call-out pay, which affects the county highway superintendent, assistant highway superintendent and other highway department staff, the director of emergency management, and the county maintenance department.
Commissioners approve contract for property reassessment
The Brown County Commissioners approved a contract with Nexus to complete property tax assessments in the county over the next four years.
Instead of inspecting and updating county parcels over a 20-month period, the state now allows counties to do assessments over four years.
The commissioners voted unanimously to accept the contract that had a $85,000 maximum annual fee for services related to assessments. There is a $340,000 maximum total cost for four years, commissioner Diana Biddle said.
