Board votes to terminate contract

Jay County Solid Waste Management District is looking for a new employee.
The district board decided during a special meeting Thursday to give director Ronyelle Edwards 30 days written notice that her contract will be terminated.
The decision came after the board learned at its meeting last week that Edwards had accepted another part-time job that requires her to work three days a week. That would make her unable to staff the solid waste management district office during its regular 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday hours.
Edwards had offered to continue staffing the office on Mondays and Wednesdays while finding someone else to be there on Tuesdays.
The board discussed that option, but members Jeanne Houchins, Doug Inman, Jim Zimmerman and Faron Parr, absent Randy Geesaman, Bill Gibson and Tom Johnson, instead voted to give Edwards the termination notice. They noted her inability to fulfill the terms of her contract.
“You’ve done a great job Ronyelle, but … my recommendation would be to give you 30 days …” said Zimmerman, who also suggested the possibility of revamping the position in the future and making it hourly rather than contracted.
“I think you’ve done a great job too,” agreed Inman. “I personally wish you would have come to us before you accepted the other position.
“We hired you to be here. We didn’t hire you to find someone else to be here one of those three days.”
Edwards will continue to staff the office on Mondays and Wednesdays through September and will be responsible for finding someone else to tend to the office on Tuesdays.
There was some contention as to whether Edwards should pay for the additional worker out of her salary or if that responsibility should fall to the district in addition to Edwards’ salary.
Edwards pointed out that when she has needed someone to fill in for her in the past, the district paid for that additional help. Zimmerman said that was an error, noting that by contract Edwards should have been paying for part-time help when she was not available to fulfill office hours.
Inman suggested that the board pay for the additional help for the four Tuesdays in September in an effort to put the situation behind them, and his fellow board members in attendance agreed.
Edwards has been the district director for just over a year, having been hired in late July 2015 after her predecessor, Freda Corwin, resigned the position in order to devote more time to her business. Edwards’ contract would have expired Dec. 31.
The board’s executive committee discussed the situation during a meeting last week, and the members in attendance did so again during an executive session prior to Monday’s special meeting.
R&R Employment offered its services to help the district find a new director. The board decided to first advertise for the position on its own.