Pulaski Council Finalizes Local Funding Match for Pulaski County Human Services Van Purchase

Pulaski County Human Services apparently will be getting its new van. The Pulaski County Council approved the local share of the funding Monday. It took them six months to do it.

During Monday’s meeting, council members voted to appropriate $6,894 from the County Economic Development Income Tax Fund. That, along with a $200 private donation, will cover the local match. Grant funds will pay the remaining 80 percent.

Council Vice President Mike Tiede explained that some confusion caused council members not to act on the additional appropriation request last month. “Last time, it never made a motion or nothing, and I don’t know,” he explained. “There’s kind of misunderstanding, and Lynette [Carpenter] got a hold of me. I tried to get Lynette to come up here, but she had her budget meeting the same day or same night, so I understood that. She’s from KIRPC, and the van’s sitting down there and they need to get rid of it.”

The request was first brought to council members back in April. Since then, it was approved by the council in June, discussed again and then tabled in August, and appeared to have been denied in September. At the time, Council President Jay Sullivan said that last month’s meeting was the council’s last chance to approve the funding, and no action was taken.

Meanwhile, the van had apparently been ordered and delivered to the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission. But the lack of local funding meant it couldn’t be delivered to Pulaski County, until council members finally approved the funding Monday.