The Pulaski County Commissioners are tweaking their meeting schedule slightly in 2019. They’ll continue to meet the first and third Mondays of each month at the courthouse, but the meeting on the third Monday will now start at 8:30 a.m., instead of 8:00.
Pulaski County’s 123-year-old courthouse would be torn down and replaced by a parking lot and memorial park, under the county’s latest facilities proposal. During Monday’s joint county council and commissioners meeting, Maintenance Director Jeff Johnston publicly unveiled a four-phase plan designed to address security, ADA compliance, and a number of other concerns with the county’s government buildings.
More details about proposed renovations to Pulaski County’s government offices are expected to be revealed during tonight’s joint county council and commissioners meeting. Back in October, Maintenance Director Jeff Johnston unveiled a plan to improve the accessibility, security, efficiency, and usability of the county’s buildings, all within a three-year period. He said the plan would include a security checkpoint at the courthouse, full ADA compliance, and a 50-to-75-percent reduction in utility costs.
Hundreds of veterans, students, and community members are expected to converge on Downtown Winamac this morning to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Winamac High School is teaming up with the Town of Winamac, the Pulaski County Public Library, and several other groups for the Veterans Day Celebration.
Tomorrow is Election Day! Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time tomorrow.
The Pulaski County Commissioners will meet tonight in the County Highway Garage. They had planned to move back to the courthouse, but an unexpected delay in the elevator project has led to a change in location.
The Pulaski County Commissioners won’t be moving back to the courthouse Monday, after all. Monday’s meeting will once again be held at the County Highway Garage, according to Auditor Laura Wheeler.
Pulaski County officials are hopeful that the courthouse’s new elevator will be ready in time for Monday’s county commissioners meeting, in spite of a last-minute hiccup. Maintenance Director Jeff Johnston says a fire alarm issue means the elevator probably won’t be in service by tomorrow, as previously announced. But the contractor says it should still be ready for Monday, according to Johnston. He adds that crews are working diligently to get it done.
Pulaski County candidates who filed their financial reports after the deadline will have a chance to appeal their fine next month.
State statute stipulates that candidates had to have their campaign finance reports turned into the county clerk’s office by noon on October 19th. Candidates who filed late are charged $50 a day starting at 12:01 p.m. They can be charged a maximum of $1,000. Continue reading
Improvements will soon be coming to Pulaski County’s government offices. During Monday’s county council meeting, Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston announced a plan to improve accessibility, security, efficiency, and usability. “The plan itself is only in the infant stages of development, and there’s a lot of work to do before the completed plan can be presented in its entirety,” he said. Continue reading
The Pulaski County Courthouse elevator will be ready for use by the end of the month. “The construction will be absolutely complete by the 15th and then two weeks for the inspection,” Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston told the county commissioners Monday. That means that starting in November, the county council and commissioners meetings will be back in the courthouse.
If Pulaski County doesn’t take action to secure its court system, the state may decide to step in. That’s what Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn told the county council Monday. “The Supreme Court promulgates what we call administrative rules,” he explained. “Security’s always been in the administrative rules. And they had a committee that suggested ‘should’ in some of the stuff. And the board which controls all of the judges sent to the Supreme Court the rule I gave you, which was created by the committee, again, with revisions, and it said ‘It shall,’ not ‘should.’”
The replacement of the Pulaski County Courthouse elevator is on track to be complete by its October construction deadline. The problem is that the original legal agreement called for it to be installed by the end of September. The project is part of a larger effort to make the courthouse compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit over a lack of accessibility.
The Pulaski County Election Board has set early voting hours, ahead of November’s General Election. The early voting period runs from October 10 through November 5. During that time, in-person absentee voting will take place Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. EDT at the Pulaski County Justice Center in Winamac.
Work continues on the Pulaski County Courthouse’s new elevator. “The car and the cylinders and all that’s now on-site,” Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston told the county commissioners Monday. “They delivered that at the end of last week. They’ll begin installing that this week.”
The replacement of the Pulaski County Courthouse elevator is on track to be complete by its October deadline. Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston told the county commissioners Monday the work had been running far ahead of schedule but then hit a couple snags. “We had to cut part of the brick away from one of the columns, and we had to wait for the structural engineer to get with us to tell us exactly how that had to be done,” Johnston explained. Continue reading
A potential ban on wind turbines will be considered by the Pulaski County Commissioners tonight. The county’s advisory plan commission recently recommended banning wind energy convergence systems, over concerns about the safety and welfare of the community, flicker issues, and local fire departments’ ability to provide fire protection to the structures.
The Pulaski County Courthouse’s new elevator may be done ahead of schedule. That’s what Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston told the county council Monday. “If you guys remember, it had a deadline of October, to be complete by the beginning of October,” he explained, “but we’re looking at the middle/end of August to the beginning of September, and we’ll be done. So really good progress there.” Johnston said all the block has been delivered to start building the new shaft.
The Pulaski County Commissioners have approved a budget transfer to try to keep the courthouse elevator replacement project on track. They agreed Monday to use nearly $28,000 out of their budget to cover a construction bill, until the county council can finalize an additional appropriation.
The Pulaski County Courthouse elevator replacement project could be in jeopardy because the county council failed to make funding arrangements ahead of time. That was the fear that Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston shared during Monday’s council meeting.
