High grass is soon to be a thing of the past for the Pulaski County Recycling Center. The County Commissioners will be reviewing two bids for zero-turn radius mowers, one from Gilsinger’s and one from Bill’s Circle Mowers in Francesville. The Commissioners will decide which mower is best for the center, and a decision is expected to be made before their next meeting.
Pulaski County Recorder Lynn Wilder received approval from the Commissioners to get quotes on a new recording system for her office because of issues with the current software. Wilder explained that a server crash completely disabled their main server, which provides service to many of the county offices. A temporary server has been in use since the crash, but this server is newer than the software on the computers accessing it, causing the recorder’s office to experience various issues in the service.
Ed Clark of the Pulaski County Recycling Center approached the county commissioners yesterday, seeking approval of a $20,000 grant for the recycling center. The grant, which is actually the second installment of a $40,000 grant that is received each year, can be transferred to the recycling center at the discretion of the commissioners and the recycling center manager. The other half goes to fuel, tire repairs and other expenses. Clark said that there are several problems that the recycling center needs to fix, and the $20,000 would go to repairing these issues.
Several citizens of Pulaski County approached the Commissioners with a slide presentation detailing many issues and potentially false figures with the proposed airport expansion project. The presentation also argued the reasoning behind the proposal.
One of the reasons that was given for the airport expansion project was that increasing the length of the Arens Field runway to 5,005 feet would decrease insurance premiums for corporate aircraft. In the presentation, insurance premiums are “based on pilot age and experience, history of claims, expected hours of operations.” Also, the Airport Layout Plan states that the proposed action would have no effect on business or economic activity in the project area or local public service demands.
Terri Hansen of the Pulaski County Health Department informed the Commissioners this week that she has received a letter from the entire health board requesting permission to hire the current part-time nurse as full-time, which would help tremendously with the amount of work they are now required to do. Last week, the Health Department began charging an administrative fee for vaccinations and other shots, and this has been generating roughly $200 per day. With this new income, hiring the employee full-time should not be a problem, especially since the additional cost of the employee would be covered by the Master Tobacco grant money, and the only cost to the county would be to cover her benefits.
A new ambulance may be en route to the Pulaski County EMS. Jason Rogers of the EMS told the Commissioners that they’ve been having a large amount of ambulance problems: One of their trucks has broken down and needs a new fuel injection system for the third time, another truck also needs repaired, and a third truck is unable to be used because the state no longer commissions it.
A new fee schedule for the Pulaski County Health Department was approved by the County Commissioners on Monday.
“We came to the Commissioners to ask for them to approve a new fee schedule; we are going to now start charging for childhood vaccines an administrative fee of $8 per shot. For people who are on Medicaid, they will not need to pay that at time of services, we will be filing that with Medicaid because we are soon becoming a Medicaid provider,” said Terri Hansen of the Pulaski County Health Department.
Part of the necessity of this fee comes from the Departments’ desire to change one of their part-time nurses to a full-time nurse. Due to new guidelines and programs implemented by the state, a larger portion of the nurse’s time is dedicated to these programs, which means less time to perform other duties.
Hansen hopes that the change in the fee schedule will bring more money into the fund and make it easier to convince the Council and the Commissioners to approve the full-time position. The cost for the full-time nurse would be $37,000. The county already pays $22,000, and a grant would cover the remaining amount. The only money the county would need to come up with would be the money to cover the employee’s benefits, but with the new fee schedule, Hansen feels that shouldn’t be a problem.
The Pulaski County Commissioners met yesterday evening and were approached by taxpayer Tim Hoffa regarding the airport expansion project. Hoffa explained to the board that there is one vital benefit to be gained from expanding the runway, and that is the ability to save lives.
Hoffa is currently in the process of being evaluated for a double-lung transplant, and one of the qualifications for such a procedure is a nearby airport with a runway of at least 5000 feet. Hoffa said he was ecstatic when he heard about the proposed expansion, because it shortened his trip to the airport in the event of a donor match. Hoffa explained that he would have a limited amount of time to get to the Fulton County airport, which is the closet airport that meets these requirements. He stressed that hundreds of lives could be saved with this expansion, and that the Commissioners should approve and expand the runway because saving lives is more important than any other potential issues with the project.
Nearly 20 citizens of Pulaski County packed into the Commissioners’ meeting room to dispute the expansion of the county airport. The Pulaski County Airport Association Board has been looking into expanding their runway by 800 feet, which would allow larger corporate aircraft to land at their airport without jeopardizing their insurance, but the expansion requires the closure of road 100 West, as well as the acquisition of land from citizens. Everyone, from farmers to pilots, had something to say regarding the issue.
Residents of the Pleasant View Rest Home in Pulaski County may soon be enjoying the benefits of a roof without leaks, thanks to the “Friends of Pleasant View,” an organization dedicated to supporting the home. The roof has gone into disrepair, and a number of leaks have sprung causing further damage. The county previously wanted to close it, but the Friends of Pleasant View has been doing some fundraising to, hopefully, get this problem taken care of and put the rest home back in comfortable condition.
Inmates of the Pulaski County Jail might not have so much free time in the near future, according to Sheriff Mike Gayer who approached the Commissioners with a plan to put the inmates to work. The inmates have been used quite a bit in previous years, but because of a recent concern with injuries that practice has almost come to a halt.
The Pulaski County Airport Association Board approached the Commissioners Monday to inform them of their need to extend their runway an additional 800 ft. The runway, which is currently 4200 ft long, is required to be at least 5000 ft in order for corporate aircraft to land without jeopardizing their insurance. This is a huge issue for corporations, such as the Braun Corporation, because they are forced to lower the amount of weight on their aircraft in order to land on a shorter runway. This adds up to a substantial amount of difference in cost of operation, because the fewer trips an aircraft has to make, the better; Each time an aircraft has to shut off and then start up again, cycling the fuel through the system, it costs about $2000!
There was some heated discussion regarding the recycling center’s purchase of aluminum and other recyclables at the last Pulaski County Commissioners meeting. Ed Clark, of the Pulaski County Recycling Center, approached the commissioners and mentioned his interest in allowing the recycling center to once again purchase aluminum from county residents and businesses.
Settling disputes regarding county employee policies in Pulaski County is going to become a lot simpler, thanks to the development of a new personnel policy manual for the county. Paula Reimers of Wagner, Irwin & Sheely appeared before the commissioners to discuss revising the county’s policy handbook. The current handbook, which has not been modified since 1997, may contain current policies that are not compliant with federal standards. The commissioners signed a contract to begin the construction of a new county handbook and policies.
