Community service may make a comeback as a condition of a misdemeanor sentence after recent discussions with Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin, Jail Warden Phil Cherry and Starke County Chief Probation Officer Shawn Mattraw.
Dulin told the county commissioners last week that the county could collect fees from those serving a community service sentence.
“What I thought we could do is get the lower level misdemeanors that are sentenced through Knox City Court to be sentenced to community service through the jail. We would take them out and pick up roadside trash, paint curbs, clean parks, and stuff like that. We would charge them $2.50 per hour of community service and it must be paid up front before we take them on.”
He hopes that it will offset costs to the county for that type of work.
Dulin said the fee would be deposited into the part-time jail fund which would help with the salary of the jail officer, lunch for the community service worker and fuel costs for transporting the offender to the location.
Commissioner Donnie Binkley also suggested working with Maintenance Director Jim Coad with work around the county buildings. A tentative schedule could be shared with the county officials to let them know where the workers are helping in the county.
