Council denies full-time status (01/15/2009)

It was money, not merit, that led the Jay County Council to deny an assessor's office employee full-time status.

The council voted unanimously Wednesday night to deny full-time status to Angie Moeller, a deputy working in the personal property division of the Jay County Assessor's office.

Jay County Assessor Terry LeMaster sought to bump her status to full time to handle an increased load in the office since the state eliminated the duties of township assessors on July 1, 2008.

Moeller, as a part-time employee, has been putting in equal hours and doing equal work to the full-time staff since coming to the county office in July, a county assessor's office official said Wednesday.

She was a Wayne Township assessor working with personal property since 2003 prior to moving to the county office.

The promotion would include a pay raise and benefits.

"(Personal property) keeps you very busy, especially during those busy months from March to June," said first deputy Diane Stults, who appeared for LeMaster, who is out of town this week. "We're behind this year. I don't think the personal property is going to go away."

Although the council did not question Moeller's merit at her job or the need to keep ahead of the work, councilman Gerald Kirby was the first to voice his reservations about authorizing the promotion.

"You're not getting more time out of them," Kirby said, recognizing that Moeller is already working the same hours as a full time employee. Kirby said the full-time hire would cost the county more without adding additional manpower to the office.

"It's a huge expense for the county," he said. "The more prudent way would be to use more part-time help."

"It's something we should revisit after the busy time," said councilman Dan Orr, adding that the county will better understand the working conditions after an entire year has passed since the assessing changes.

The council voted to deny the request for full-time status but would revisit it in the future.

"(LeMaster) is going to have to sell it," Kirby said. "We will reconsider at budget time if it is requested."

The meeting was the first for council members Gary Theurer and Dan Orr. Theurer served as Jay County Commissioner for 12 years before winning a seat on the council. Orr, a former Jay County High School teacher, is serving for the first time as an elected official for the county.

In other business Wednesday, the council:

•Elected new officers: Gerald Kirby, president, and Marilyn Coleman, vice president.

•Approved an appropriation of $46,000 for the public defender's office to hire another defender. The new position will help the county to retain at least $60,000 in state funding by reducing each defender's workload under the state maximum.

•Tabled two additional appropriation requests for the Jay Superior Court and Community and Family Services since no representatives were on hand for either agency to explain why they needed the money.

•Approved an appropriation of $7,500 in Economic Development Income Tax funds to the Jay County Development Corporation. The money will be used for marketing efforts to attract new business to Jay County.

•Approved transfers of $3,283.44 and $1,441.56 within the Community Corrections budget to pay for health insurance costs.

•Approved a transfer of $468.42 within the Jay County Clerk's budget to cover pay for sick days used by clerk Ellen Coats in December prior to her taking office.

•Approved a transfer of $150,000 from highway paving to an annex building line item in the infrastructure fund. The money will be used to purchase the former First National Bank building on Meridian Street, which will become the new home of the Purdue Cooperative Extension office.

Commissioner Milo Miller Jr. said the purchase price for the building is $130,000, but additional money is needed to install a T1 cable, costing about $10,000, and for other repairs on the building.[[In-content Ad]]