The council also approved an appropriation to the Rainy Day Fund for housing inmates in the Pulaski County Jail when the Starke County Jail is filled to capacity. The last bill received for inmate housing was $63,000 for the months of September, October, November, and December, and Council President Dave Pearman said that bill took the fund to –$45,000. Pearman asked the council to appropriate $150,000 to the jail to cover the deficit and the future expense of housing inmates.
Drug and Tobacco Free Starke County was also approved for an appropriation of $1008 to fund a collaboration between Porter-Starke Services and HealthLinc to help encourage people to quit smoking. The money would cover the cost of implementing a quarterly monitoring system that would give physical evidence as to how quitting smoking has improved a patient’s health over time.
