Pulaski County may chip in funding toward the cost of a new van for Pulaski County Human Services.
The county commissioners Monday agreed to support the organization’s request for $7,000 but left it up to the county council to figure out where that money would come from. Most of the cost would be paid for by state transportation grant funding distributed to the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission.
Human Services Executive Director Jacki Frain said the total local match is just over $10,000. “We have raised $3,000 toward it, which I promised we would try and raise,” she said. “People will donate specifically for the van, so we expect to get another $200, $300 because then, we have to pay to put a new radio in and all that, too.”
Frain said the new van will be a bit larger than the one purchased in 2017. She said it will replace a couple of vehicles that aren’t generally being used, due to various maintenance issues. “So it will reduce our fleet by one, but that’s okay,” Frain told the commissioners. “We actually had one we weren’t using, and we were kind of piecemealing it, though. We took the radio out of it, and we re-purpose as much as we can out of them. They usually go to auction. Sometimes, they’ll get $200. Sometimes we’ll get $800. I see a lot of the churches around here are driving my old vehicles.”
Commissioner Mike McClure recommended that the county provide the requested funding for the new van. “Well, they’re used a lot,” he said. “Being we don’t have any real taxi service, they’re kind of a necessity in our community, I think.”
However, Auditor Laura Wheeler said it would be the county council’s decision to determine where the money would come from. Frain said Human Services’ next van replacement isn’t scheduled to take place for at least another three years.
