Commissioners consider lobbyist

Jay County must decide whether it wants an advocate in Washington, D.C., having been given the opportunity to join a regional effort to bring federal funds back to East Central Indiana.  
During a presentation Monday, representatives from East Central Indiana Regional Planning District requested the county contribute $15,000 annually over the next two years to help hire Washington lobbying firm Keller McIntyre.
The effort to retain the firm is headed up by the planning district, which hopes Keller McIntyre can lure federal funds back to the region. The goal is to partner with multiple government units in the region to cover the costs of hiring the firm, which Brad Bookout said will run about $90,000 annually.
“As you can imagine, hiring a Washington lobbyist is not cheap and it exceeds the amount any municipalities in our region can afford to do,” Bookout, a project manager with the planning district, told commissioners Faron Parr, Jim Zimmerman and Doug Inman.
The lobbying firm’s main focus is to work with appropriations committees within Congress as well as the presidential administration to craft legislation and get projects funded, he explained.
The regional group has secured $55,000 of its $90,000 goal to hire the firm, having already been pledged $15,000 each from the cities of Portland and Winchester as well as $25,000 from Delaware County. If the planning district is not able to get contributions of enough funding to hire Keller McIntyre, cities and counties will be released from their commitments.
East Central Indiana Regional Planning District is asking communities to pledge funds over two years. That’s because it takes the first year to get projects submitted and get meetings scheduled on them, Bookout explained. In year two, those projects would hopefully come to fruition, he added.  
During Monday’s presentation, Parr asked what the county could get out of the partnership.
Bookout told commissioners joining in on the lobbying effort would likely mean the county prioritizing one to three projects, with the hope that at least one receives federal funding.
He noted that if the county were able to receive funds on one project, that it’d be a “successful effort.”
Bookout highlighted at Monday’s meeting that Keller McIntyre has had success in luring large amounts of federal funds back to the Hoosier state, having helped Indiana Wesleyan University previously receive $1.3 million for water infrastructure improvements and nearly $900,000 for its nursing program.
On hand at Monday’s presentation was Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman, who spoke highly of the opportunity for the county to join the partnership.
“So I go back to what we talked about in the beginning … they’re promoting regionalism and you have a lot more luck as a region than Jay County or City of Portland trying to tackle these funding agencies on our own,” he said.  
Commissioners will make their decision at 9:30 a.m. during their Oct. 10 meeting when they will meet again with Bookout and Pam Price, executive director of the planning district.
Commissioners indicated Monday that the $30,000 would likely come out of the county’s economic development fund, if they go ahead with the lobbying effort.
In other business, commissioners:
•Received a presentation and quote from David Cox of G6 Communications, an IT company based out of Bluffton. The company’s quote totaled around $75,000 annually, which is well above what the county has previously spent on IT. Auditor Anna Culy said the county spent around $30,000 last year.
•Heard from Price that she has secured a 25 percent matching grant from Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority to install an elevator at Jay County Retirement Center. Price explained that the entire center would have to be up to code for the county to execute the grant.
•Approved courthouse superintendent Roger McBride to hire L. VanSkyock and Sons to complete maintenance work at Jay County Health Department. The company’s quote came in at $2,475, significantly cheaper than McBride originally estimated for the cost of work needed.
•Decided to contact Loy Real Estate & Auction to coordinate selling off items currently stored in the courthouse’s basement.
•Met with Mitch Hansel of engineering firm Fleis and VanderBrink regarding requirements for the county’s Americans with Disabilities Act transition plan and Title VI implementation plan. The firm was hired in June to help develop the plans. During Monday’s meeting, commissioners appointed Inman as the county’s ADA coordinator and Culy as its Title VI coordinator. They also approved establishing a budget for work on ADA upgrades and for appropriating $2,000 this year from the infrastructure fund for it.
•Were delivered a letter by Jay/Building and Planning director John Hemmelgarn that he received from Mike and Mary Braner, who issued concerns regarding a proposed confined feeding operation slated to be built across from their property at 8745 N. 950 West. Hemmelgarn said the proposed operation meets all requirements.
•Tabled a decision on awarding a bid for paving work on the retirement center parking lot, requesting that highway superintendent Ken Wellman seek some revisions on the bids to allow for a better comparison between the two he presented Monday.