Pulaski County Commissioners Hire New Maintenance Supervisor

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Larry Brady, Vice President Terry Young, and President Tracey Shorter
Pulaski County Commissioners Larry Brady, Vice President Terry Young, and President Tracey Shorter

Pulaski County has a new maintenance supervisor. The commissioners voted unanimously last night to hire Winamac native Jeff Johnston, contingent on his passing a pre-employment drug screening. He will oversee maintenance and upkeep of all of the county’s buildings. Commissioner Larry Brady noted that a number of qualified individuals applied for the job and says their resumes will remain on file with the county. Johnston replaces longtime maintenance supervisor Morry DeMarco, who was fired last month by the commissioners.

Pulaski County Commissioners Ratify Terminations

Posted on Author WKVI

Pulaski County Commissioners plan to interview candidates for the vacant highway superintendent and maintenance supervisor positions Friday. They ratified the terminations of highway manager Kenny Becker and maintenance supervisor Morry DeMarco during a tense public meeting last night. Both were fired during an executive session a week ago. That action has raised questions about whether open meetings law violations occurred. Formal complaints filed by outraged citizens are still pending before Indiana Public Access Counselor Joe Hoage. Additionally, Becker has filed a $500,000 notice of tort claim against the commissioners, county attorney and auditor. They were all served copies of the proceeding prior to the start of last night’s meeting and now have 90 days to respond. Stay tuned to WKVI throughout the day for more on this story, and watch for updates on our website at www.wkvi.com.

Pulaski County Commissioners to Ratify Terminations

Posted on Author WKVI

Pulaski County Commissioners Larry Brady, Vice President Terry Young, and President Tracey Shorter
Pulaski County Commissioners Larry Brady, Vice President Terry Young, and President Tracey Shorter
Pulaski County Commissioners plan to ratify the terminations of two employees during their meeting tonight. Questions have been raised about whether they committed a violation of the open meetings law last Monday when they terminated highway department manager Kenny Becker and maintenance supervisor Morry DeMarco during an executive session.

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Pulaski Commissioners Accept Bid for Electrical Work at Courthouse

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Larry Brady, Vice President Terry Young, and President Tracey Shorter

The days of outdated electrical wiring in the Pulaski County Courthouse will soon come to an end, as the commissioners this week approved a motion to accept a bid for the second stage of electrical upgrades to the courthouse. Maintenance Director Morry DeMarco presented to the commissioners last night four bids for the electrical work to be reviewed, and after a discussion, the commissioners accepted a bid from Roger’s Electric Company of Medaryville.

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Pulaski Commissioners Discuss Dilapidated County Building

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Larry Brady, Vice President Terry Young, and President Tracey Shorter

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week tabled a discussion regarding an old, run-down county building shrouded in confusion. Maintenance Director Morry DeMarco told the commissioners that the Fletchers building owned by the county has been out of sight and out of mind for many, many years, but it was recently brought to his attention and he noticed the building has gotten to be in horrible condition.

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Pulaski Commissioners Green-light Halted Bell Tower Repairs

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

A very frustrated Jim Kuiper, president of Kuiper Masonry, Inc., vehemently assured the county commissioners last night that he is using the correct mix of mortar to repair the crumbling bell tower according to specifications for historic buildings.

County Maintenance Director Morry DeMarco had put a halt on the work being performed by Kuiper because of what he called a number of “red flags.” DeMarco said the first indicator that something was amiss with the repairs when he noticed Kuiper hauling mortar up to the tower, and when DeMarco asked for a sample of the mortar, DeMarco said Kuiper told him that the mix was not ready and he would bring DeMarco an appropriate sample. Further, DeMarco said he was uneasy with the repairs because Kuiper refused to grind out old mortar from several sections of wall in the bell tower that DeMarco felt needed to be replaced.

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Pulaski County Commissioners Accept Bid to Re-Wire Courthouse

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

The Pulaski County Commissioners last night approved a bid to perform an electrical upgrade to the courthouse. According to Maintenance Director Morry DeMarco, one contractor backed out of the bidding process because the scope of work was too extensive for their company.

Complete Electric presented a bid of $74,910 for the upgrade, and Rogers Electric came in at $49,750. A third bidder, Kennedy Electric, quoted $18,870 for the work.

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Pulaski County Justice Center Basement Needs A Cleaning

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

Pulaski County Maintenance Director Morry Demarco told the commissioners this week that he is in the process of clearing out the basement of the justice center. He says he’s moving the dryers from upstairs to the basement, and had to cut a 10-inch hole in the floor for the ductwork.

Demarco says he’s moving the dryers because a fire had developed from the equipment not too long ago, and to prevent that from happening again, he has installed dryer boxes and filters. He says this is a lot more efficient with less headaches, and the way it was set up previously was “doomed to fail.”

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Pulaski County Maintenance Director To Seek More Bids For Courthouse Repair

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

Pulaski County Maintenance Director Morry Demarco approached the commissioners this week with two bids on necessary repairs for the courthouse clock tower. Demarco says he has used Alpha Omega Company before for work on the justice center and other buildings, and both companies that submitted bids have experience in this type of repair.

He says it’s very important that the work be done right. Because of the age of the structure, the mortar must be replaced with a similar mix to prevent any damage to the delicate bricks. According to Demarco, the tower is in need of being re-tuckpointed to reapply mortar between the bricks with an estimated repair time of up to four weeks.

The commissioners requested that Demarco contact other companies capable of doing the work to see if he can get more than two bids for the repair, and he can make his recommendation, hopefully, at the next meeting.