Starke County Council members gathered Friday for a meeting that had been rescheduled, but were unable to conduct any official business due to a lack of a quorum.
Council members were able to hold informal discussions on several topics, but no votes or actions were taken during the September 18th gathering. The county attorney clarified that without a quorum, the meeting could not officially be called to order and no official minutes would be taken.
Officials provided an explanation for the recent changes to the meeting schedule. It was stated that the meeting had originally been scheduled for Monday before being moved to Wednesday, and later rescheduled for Friday. Officials said the Friday date was selected in an effort to comply with the 48-hour meeting notice requirement. However, following discussions with the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, officials learned the budget adoption could not take place Friday because the required information had not been updated in Gateway (the state’s database) in time. The budget adoption was then rescheduled for this Friday, September 25th.
Council members informally discussed proposed salary increases included in the budget, with officials saying the current proposal includes three percent raises across the board.
Council members also continued discussions concerning the county’s agreement with the City of Knox for City Court. Officials discussed potentially extending the existing arrangement rather than creating another court, but no decision was made.
Other discussions included township Capital Improvement Plans and the Municipal Unit Strategic Taskforce process. Council members also briefly discussed possible township mergers, while noting that no merger determinations have been finalized.
Items that had been scheduled for action, including additional appropriations and transfers, were not considered due to the lack of a quorum. These items have been added to the agenda for the September 25th meeting.
