Parking lot set for paving (03/19/08)

A parking lot created for employee and overflow parking for the Jay County Courthouse will have approximately 15 to 20 marked parking spaces when paved.

Jay County Engineer Dan Watson told Jay County Commissioners Monday that he has obtained a quote from Lica Construction Corp., Berne, to pave the lot on the north side of West Walnut Street at a cost of $14,117.96.

The county purchased a dilapidated building just west of the Ritz Theatre last year and paid to have the building torn down and filled with stone and dirt.

The lot has been unpaved since the building was razed.

Originally, the commissioners had hoped to create 25 or 30 parking spaces on the lot, but it is not wide enough by the east-west dimensions.

Entrance to the lot will be from Walnut Street, with angle parking on the east side of the lot, and parallel parking along the west side.

Watson also discussed an agreement he has reached with Jay Halstead regarding the boundary lines for a county-owned property at the southwest corner of Water and Ship streets in Portland.

The line between the county-owned land and property owned by Halstead currently runs to the south-southeast along a former railroad track.

The agreement will move the property line north-south, with the county adding a few feet on the south end of its parcel.

Jay Halstead owns a lot and storage units to the west of the county-owned lot.

The lot, which is the site of a farmer's market in the summer, is currently 40-feet-wide at Water Street by 119-feet from north to south.

An agreement in principle has also been reached to dedicate Honeysuckle and Dogwood lanes, and adjacent rights-of-way, to the city of Portland.

The streets in Beam Place Addition were never dedicated to the city, and the county ended up with possession after being up for tax sale two consecutive years.

Also Monday, representatives from two companies offering services for making credit/debit payments to the county made presentations to Commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer and Faron Parr.

The representatives were from Freedom Pay, and Point & Pay.

Both companies offered ways for the county to collect credit and/or debit payments online, over the phone, or in person. Both would add a convenience charge of 2.95 percent to the total bill.

During an afternoon discussion with Scott Tischler from Point & Pay, the commissioners, county treasurer Robin Alberson and county auditor Nancy Culy questioned whether Manitron, which "hosts" and maintains a large amount of county records, would share that information with service providers at no charge.

Several weeks ago, representatives from Manitron and E-Gov made a presentation to commissioners regarding a partnership between the two companies to allow acceptance of credit and debit payments.[[In-content Ad]]