I.U. Health LaPorte is the lessee of the local facility, and according to David Hiatt, who explained the offer to local officials in October, five to seven million dollars in capital needs are required at the hospital.
“We have significant needs that must be addressed now before we start planning for the long-term facility, or what is going to happen long-term,” said Hiatt.
The Starke County Council approved $50,000 to fund jailers for the Starke County Jail. Initially, Sheriff Oscar Cowen was instructed by the commissioners to pull two road officers to cover the depleted jail staff, but they quickly corrected that request when Sheriff Cowen pointed out that the road officer’s pay and jailer’s pay did not match.
A capital spending request presented by officials from IU Health Starke Hospital to the Starke County Council was approved Monday night, but it didn’t exactly turn out the way the hospital administrators present wanted it to. The administrators wanted a straight approval on the $2,001,776 request, but the council put a restriction on the $250,000 contingency part of the petition.
The Starke County Council has given permission to Prosecutor Nicholas Bourff to hire a part-time intern. Autumn Ferch is being considered for the position. She is currently a law school graduate waiting to pass the bar exam.
When hired, Autumn Ferch will be assigned to meet with defendants, prepare files, do preliminary case work, and work closely with the child support office.
Starke County officials are being faced with a philosophical dilemma. They are being asked to either reduce the sheriff’s road officers or keep the jail understaffed.
“I’m here to let you know that I’ll do whatever the Commissioners and Council ask me to do, but I do want them to understand is that in order for me to eliminate two road officers, I would have to lay them off,” said Sheriff Cowen. “I can’t just place them down in the jail and subtract their pay to jailer’s pay. I can put them in the jail, but I would have to pay them officer’s pay.”
Officials from IU Health Starke Hospital appeared before the Starke County Board of Commissioners and County Council last night to request permission for IU Health LaPorte Hospital to purchase the facility, equipment and property here in Knox.
Starke County government officials endorsed a comprehensive jail review last night that will end with a decision on what to do about the 33-year-old facility.
Commissioner Kathy Norem presented to the county officials in attendance findings from a recent jail conference attended by a five person committee from Starke County. Norem said this is a thorough review of all of the options available.
Sixth District State Senator, Jim Arnold, paid a visit to the Starke County Council and Commissioners this week. Arnold, who was assigned parts of Starke County in a new district, paid a courtesy call on both governing bodies, saying that the members can call him if they need help in any way. If elected in the 2012 election, Arnold’s new district will take in Davis, Oregon, Washington, Center, and Jackson Townships. Senator Ed Charbonneau will be left with only Railroad, Wayne, California, and North Bend townships.
Members of the council mentioned two topics they will be interested in during the 2012 legislative session. Those topics are the 9-1-1 and Police Pension Fund financing.
The Starke County Council approved a proposal by the Starke County Library Board to finance an expansion-renovation project. A representative from Umbaugh and Associates told the council members that the bonds would not exceed $1,785,000 and would cost the taxpayers 17 cents per $1,000 in assessed valuation.
After a great amount of discussion, the Starke County Council approved the remodeling project proposed by the Starke County Library Board on a 4-2 vote.
The request had been stalled for several months as the council members gained information. As it stands, the Library Board will be able to solicit bids to bond for a less than $2 million remodeling project at the Henry F. Schricker Library in Knox.
Even though the Starke County Council kept the 2012 county budget the same as the one in place for 2011, one department got an increase. The Emergency Medical Service received an increase as they move toward attaining Advanced Life Support status.
The Starke County Council worked on the 2012 budget all day Wednesday.
“This year, what we felt was a prudent thing to do, is to freeze the budget at the 2011 level,” said Starke County Council President, Mark Smith.
Smith said no raises were given county employees for 2012.
“I always hate it when it comes down to this because folks will say, ‘Don’t you know that those people deserve a raise?’ I absolutely believe that they deserve a raise. However, if we ‘froze’ the budget but allowed a raise, what I’m telling the taxpayers is ‘You’re going to get just a little less services but we’ve decided to give a raise anyway’. At some point, there’s got to be a little bit of a leveling out there, a little bit of fiscal responsibility, to look at the big picture.”
The Starke County Council members heard from Starke County Sheriff’s Matron, Chris Smith, at their meeting this week. In her report, Smith said the 9-1-1 fund should be solvent for the remainder of the year. She quoted a figure of $57,826 in the fund.
The bad news is that long term, the fund may go into the “red”. One problem is that the 9-1-1 fund is financed primarily by land line telephone customers. With so many people switching to cell phone service and abandoning land line service in their home, the same fee is not being received. As a matter of fact, no one seems to know how much the cell phone companies should be paying.
For the second time, the Starke County Council has refused to approve an addition-renovation bond issue plan proposed by the Starke County Library Board. The bond issue would be for $2 million and would follow the pay-off of bonds on the Henry F. Schricker Library in Knox. Because of the payoff of that bond, there would be no increase in the levy. Councilman David Pearman talked about the Council’s hesitancy to approve the request.
Starke County Commissioner Kathy Norem brought the Starke County Council up to speed on the work of the Advanced Life Support Committee at the Council’s recent meeting. Norem said that the ALS Committee hopes to have a paramedic chase vehicle in operation by the first of the year. She reviewed the time line of codes that have to be approved by the State before they can start. One is that I.U. Health Starke Hospital will agree to be the sponsoring hospital.
The Starke County Library Board asked the Starke County Council this week for permission to enter into a bond issue for $2 million to renovate and expand the Henry F. Schricker Library in Knox.
“We’ve had several focus groups and at each one of the meetings, the two main things that came up were more room for the children and meeting rooms,” said Library Director, Ellen Dodge. “Those are our two key points.”
Starke County Commissioner, Kathy Norem, was questioned by the County Council Monday on funding the defense in a Class Action Lawsuit filed against the County by Starke County Jail inmate, Jack Haut.
The Council asked Norem if she had any idea what range of funding would be needed for this lawsuit.
The Starke County Council last night approved the Starke County Commissioners’ request to transfer $100,000 into the Legal Fund from the Health Fund to defend the County in the Jack Haut Class Action Lawsuit. Haut, as previously reported, is suing the County claiming the jail does not meet humane conditions because of overcrowding.
The pension fund for the Starke County Sheriff’s Department has received its necessary fund transfer, thanks to Sheriff Oscar Cowen and the County Council. At their joint meeting with the Commissioners, Cowen asked for $108,514.32 to be transferred to the Sheriff’s Pension Fund. This transfer has been requested annually for several years.
“We call it the riverboat money. It comes in, it goes into an account. The only way it can come out of that account is the sheriff has to ask for it. And if the sheriff doesn’t ask for it, it can’t be taken out,” said Commissioner Dan Bridegroom.
Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall came before the Starke County Council last night to request a transfer of funds to help cover the cost of hiring court-appointed attorneys for defendants who cannot afford a lawyer. Because of the increasing number of criminal cases, particularly those dealing with methamphetamine, the costs for appointing these public defenders are becoming staggering. Hall mentioned that the percentage of defendants who cannot afford an attorney and request to have one appointed has also gone up; 75-80% of defendants now need a public defender.
