The Starke County Commissioners will revisit whether to offer a long-term contract to Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler when they meet Dec. 1. Commissioner Kent Danford previously raised concerns about the precedent such an action would set. He says possibly offering Ritzler a contract is a “test case” and adds he will say no to anyone else who requests a long-term employment contract until he sees how this works. Continue reading
The Starke County Highway Department will be busy throughout the summer making improvements to 145 miles of county roads. Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler says the projects are based on the PASER, or Pavement, Surface, Evaluation and Rating, system and average daily traffic.
“All of the townships are well-represented on the list,” Ritzler told the county commissioners. “The San Pierre area now has the most roads. Most of the roads we added we’re adding in that area because they had the lowest PASER ratings and were a little under-represented on the previous list, and now we’ve put those on there. We’re probably going to chip-seal all of the roads in town and probably a couple of the roads out west of there.” Continue reading
Starke County Auditor Kay Chaffins has asked Starke County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Siddall for an accounting of all scrap metal items sold at the garage. She said her records showed there hasn’t been an accounting of these sales since 2008.
She passed out a December article from New Albany, Indiana at this week’s Starke County Commissioners meeting that stated the State Board of Accounts had released its investigation into the Floyd County Highway Department which concluded that over $11,000 in receipts were not accounted for from 2006 until the end of 2011. The report also concluded that more than $5,000 was deposited into a private account by the department’s head.
After only one meeting, Starke County Commissioner, Jennifer Davis, has resigned from the seat she was named to on the Starke County Health Board. It was determined that the position she was named to was not one that requires a Commission representative. That being the case, Davis was named to be the Commission’s liaison on the Health Board, but not a voting member.
The seat she was named to was the one held by Bob Howard until December 31st, 2010. It will now have to be reappointed by the Commissioners.
