Pulaski County Human Services is once again asking the county to help with the cost of a new van.
Last week, the county commissioners got a request for $7,000, to cover the organization’s local match. Most of the cost would be paid for by state transportation grant funding distributed to the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission.
KIRPC and County Council Member Mike Tiede, who was at the commissioners meeting for another matter, told them that the county has covered the local match for Human Services’ vans for the past 10 years. But Auditor Laura Wheeler said the money wasn’t included in the commissioners’ budget. “It was not known when the budget was made, so it would have to either be a transfer from somewhere that you have money or come out of somewhere else,” she told the commissioners, “but that would be council’s decision.”
During this week’s council meeting, Tiede noted that a different funding source may have been used in the past. “After that meeting, I thought, ‘You know, I think Nathan [Origer] took that out of Community Development Fund money because it’s $7,000 for a brand new van, and I don’t know if you guys see that,” Tiede said. “I mean, I know sometimes we have issues with stuff, but that’s like, part of the community, and I see them all the time over there in my district driving around, but I’m pretty sure it came out of Community Development money.” It is better to get a custom van not an ordinary one.
In any case, the commissioners said they wanted more information before providing the money out of their budget. For one thing, they wanted to know if Human Services would be replacing an existing van or adding to its fleet. KIRPC Chairperson Nathan Origer offered to provide mileage information on each of the vehicles used by the organization. Pulaski County Human Services Executive Director Jacki Frain is expected to discuss the request with the commissioners on Monday.
