Pulaski County Commissioners Take Bids Under Advisement

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

Two bids for Pulaski County repair work were taken under advisement by the county commissioners this week in light of complications that had developed after awarding a contract for masonry work for the courthouse bell tower.

The commissioners had requested bids for concrete work to be performed at the county annex building as well as an upgrade to the air conditioning unit in the circuit court. Two sealed bids were presented by Maintenance Director Morry DeMarco for each project, including bids by Mau & Son for $4475 and DK & Sons for $18,469.25 for the concrete work at the annex building.

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Pulaski County Commissioners Receive Reimbursement From Insurance

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

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week received some good news from their insurance company in the form of a $124,000 reimbursement. Commissioner Ken Boswell explained this reimbursement came from savings through their insurance plan, and they’ve already put that money to good use.

“It means that through our renegotiation of our insurance benefits, we’ve been able to bring back $100,000+ savings over the last two years to our county, which in turn, pays for more than one premium of our monthly cost for insurance benefits,” said Boswell.

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Pulaski County Council Denies Additional Staffing For Auditor

Posted on Author WKVI

The Pulaski County Auditor’s Office isn’t getting any additional help any time soon, as the county council this week denied a request from Auditor Shelia Garling to hire an additional full-time employee.

Garling said her request was denied because the county council felt the office did not need any additional staffing, despite the auditor’s office being down one full-time employee. Fortunately, she said things should change at the start of the new year, when she expects to have three full-time employees and two part-time employees.

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Pulaski County Auditor’s Office Stressed To The Limits

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

Things may soon be a bit less stressful in the Pulaski County Auditor’s Office, thanks to a motion passed by the county commissioners to hire an additional full-time employee. Auditor Sheila Garling told the commissioners that she is dealing with the equivalent of a staffing nightmare as one full-time employee is on medical leave until January, another full-time employee is transferring offices at the beginning of the year, and another full-time employee resigned on Friday.

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Pulaski Commissioners Discuss Dilapidated Highway Garage Roof

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

The Pulaski County Commissioners are still dealing with the old highway garage roof woes, as Highway Superintendent Kenny Becker told the commissioners this week that they need to decide what to do with the dilapidated roof.

Commissioner Mike Tiede recommended sending it to the landfill and billing it to Maintenance Director Morry DeMarco’s budget, but Commissioner Ken Boswell said that he had intended to check with Building Inspector Dave Dare to see if he had the funds to cover it. Tiede, however, said that the funds in that budget are intended for unsafe buildings with violations.

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Pulaski Building Inspector In Need of Part-Time Help

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

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week approved a request from Building Inspector Dave Dare to hire an additional part-time employee in the Building Department.

Dare explained that the Board of Zoning Appeals had asked that Dare resubmit a request for a part-time staff member in the department to also serve as the secretary for the BZA and Plan Commission. Dare said that there are responsibilities coming up in 2013 and 2014 that involve a lot of work with the county’s comprehensive plan, and the current secretary would not be able to handle the extra workload.

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Pulaski County Commissioners Uneasy About Moving Assessor’s Office

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

The relocation of the Pulaski County Assessor’s Office is getting nowhere fast, as the county commissioners this week told Assessor Holly VanDerAa that they don’t feel comfortable with allowing a basement wall to be knocked out to allow her to expand her office. In light of the can of worms that the courthouse bell tower repair project opened up, Commissioner Ken Boswell said that the commissioners want to have an engineer or architect take a look at the wall that would be removed to ensure that it would not compromise the integrity of the historic courthouse.

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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 Hear CDC Update

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

Nathan Origer, executive director of the Pulaski County Community Development Commission, gave the county commissioners an update on his efforts to bring new business to Pulaski County.

Origer explained that he is currently speaking with an Illinois business that may be interested in moving to the area, but he said they are trying to find a suitable property. He said he is trying to get the county to become more aggressive and proactive with enticing businesses to move to the county, and it seems their efforts are paying off. The Francesville area, Origer explained, has at least two cabinet makers that have set up shop, and T&S Recycling is working on getting their own building up to shape.

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Pulaski Commissioners Explain Their Choice in Masonry Work Bid

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

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week explained their reasoning behind choosing a bid that was more than twice the cost of another bid for masonry repairs in the courthouse tower. David Zeltwanger, owner of DK and Sons, LLC, asked the commissioners to explain why they chose a $16,828.75 bid over his bid of just $7450.

Commissioner Ken Boswell explained that the winning bidder, Kuiper Masonry, was chosen partly because Jim Kuiper, its president, attended the commissioners meeting on Feb. 20 and toured the tower with the commissioners, explaining the work that would be done. Boswell said they appreciate the time it took out of the vendor’s day to explain the process step-by-step.

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Pulaski County Commissioners Accept Office Supply Bid

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

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week accepted a bid for office supplies for county offices. They were presented with a breakdown of each company’s prices for the products most needed by the county, and the commissioners added up the totals to determine which company would offer the county the best prices on their most-purchased items.

A motion was made to award the bid to DeGroot Technology Services in Winamac, whose products came in at a total of $351.73 – the lowest of the bids presented.

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Pulaski County Commissioners Give OK To Demolish Winamac Home

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

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week upheld an order to demolish a Winamac home at the request of Building Inspector Dave Dare.

Dare told the commissioners that a building at 419 W. Jefferson St. in Winamac had become dilapidated after a tree had fallen into the home and destroyed the west wall. He said he had spoken to the homeowner, Ryan Galbreath, and informed him that he needed to repair the home or it would be demolished. Dare said Galbreath chose not to repair the home.

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Pulaski Commissioners Approve Designating Employee Reps for Drug Testing

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

A few changes have been made to the drug testing policy currently in place for Pulaski County employees. Cathy Fritz Consulting is the business authorized by the county to conduct drug testing for employees who operate county vehicles.

Cathy Fritz told the commissioners that she wanted to clear up a few things in an effort to make the drug testing process smoother, which she said includes designating county department heads as “designated employee representatives.” Fritz said these representatives are responsible for sending the employees that have been chosen at random to undergo a drug screen.

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Pulaski Commissioners Approve $1500 For New Circuit Court Phones

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn

A few technological upgrades may be in store for the Pulaski Circuit Court, as the county commissioners this week approved $1500 toward installing new phones in the courtroom, judge’s office, and his court administrator’s office.

Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn told the commissioners that he has no working line in his office as a result of the switch to digital phones, and he has no way to tell his administrator to pick up the phone besides yelling down the hall. Shurn said this is not the ideal way for a phone system to operate, so he requested permission and funding to purchase two phones and a digital phone card to be installed.

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Pulaski County Assessor’s Office May Soon Expand

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

The Pulaski County Assessor’s office may soon undergo some modifications as Assessor Holly VanDerAa told the commissioners this week that Maintenance Director Morry DeMarco has offered to make adjustments to the boiler room, enlarging it, to allow her office to expand into that room. DeMarco explained he would have to enlarge a doorway, removing a section of wall, but the commissioners were uncomfortable with allowing that to happen without first having an engineer check the integrity of the building.

DeMarco explained that this would be the most cost-effective plan because the assessor would not have to move her office, but would rather enlarge it. Fire safety exits and other safety requirements will be unaffected, and he estimated that the overall cost would be less than $1000.

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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 Commissioners Discuss Maintenance Items

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

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week discussed a number of maintenance items for the county with Maintenance Director Morry Demarco. According to Demarco, the old county highway garage is in need of being cleaned out and boarded up, but a number of gas heaters remain in the building. He asked the commissioners if they would like the heaters to be moved to other county buildings where they could be used.

Commissioner Michael Tiede told Demarco to ask the new county garage if they have any need for the heaters, and if not, he told Demarco to try to sell the heaters.

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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 Commissioners Discuss Closure of Gravel Road

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

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week spoke with resident Jerry Locke regarding a gravel road that he feels should be closed.

According to Locke, he has spoken with several people in the area and he’s not alone in wanting the road closed. He says no one would be affected by its closure as it is a road the he says “goes nowhere,” and he owns the property on both sides of the road. The county doesn’t perform any maintenance on the road, which is across from 500 North in Pulaski County, and Locke feels it would be safer to close the road permanently.

The commissioners spoke with Highway Superintendent Kenny Becker, who confirmed that the county does not perform maintenance on the road, and says Locke will have to make an agreement with nearby property owners to ensure they approve the closure of the road.

Pulaski County Commissioners Discuss Restoration Of Bridge 268

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

Efforts to restore bridges in Pulaski County continue as the commissioners this week discussed the possibility of yet another bridge to work on. Jeff Larrison of United Consulting told the commissioners that he had put together an engineer’s report for Bridge 268, which is in dire need of a new deck. This project, he says, will be a lot cheaper and a bit easier than the complete replacement of Bridge 291 in Monterey.

Larrison says the bridge would be restored rather than completely replaced, and no land acquisition is necessary.

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