Council discusses SRO

Jay County’s personnel committee would like to help financially with the hiring of a full-time school resource officer.

Whether the process to make the necessary ordinance changes and other logistical moves can be worked out by the start of the 2018-19 school year a different story.

Jay County Council discussed the issue Wednesday, approving a special exception to allow considering a job description change after the March deadline.

Council president Jeanne Houchins explained that the personnel committee — it includes council member Ted Champ, commissioner Chuck Huffman and Houchins — met recently with Jay School Corporation superintendent Jeremy Gulley and Sheriff Dwane Ford to discuss how the implementation of a full-time school resource officer might be handled.

Ford shared the agreement Wells County uses for providing school resource officers, and Gulley presented his proposed job description for a full-time SRO. The deputy would be an employee of the county but would work the majority of his or her hours for the school corporation. The two entities would share the cost of the employee, including salary, equipment, vehicle, etc., though it was unclear exactly how the funding would be divided.

“This is not something you can just figure out overnight,” said Houchins. “There’s a lot more to it.”

Among the considerations would be amending the county’s payroll ordinance and approving a new job description. Council OK’d a special exception to send the job description to consulting firm Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele & Associates for its review. The firm has assisted the county with its payroll ordinance and determining at what level new employees, or those with changed job descriptions, should be compensated.

Jay County Commissioners on Monday agreed to set aside $50,000 in economic development funds from Bluff Point Wind Energy Center for a full-time school resource officer.

Since the Valentine’s Day shooting that left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Gulley has made a push to improve safety in Jay Schools. The addition of a full-time school resource officer is one of the key parts of his nine-point plan.

Council members Bob Vance, Cindy Newton, Mike Rockwell, Faron Parr, Gary Theurer and Houchins, absent Ted Champ, also set their calendar for the 2019 budget process. Council will hold its budget review meeting with department heads at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 15. Its regular meeting for the month will be Sept. 12, followed by its public hearing and first reading of the budget Sept. 19. Second reading and adoption is planned for the Oct. 10 regular meeting.

On Wednesday, Vance also announced his resignation from council, effective July 31. Vance, who is in the final year of his second term and chose not to run for re-election, said because of a family health issue he will be moving out of the county and therefore will no longer be eligible to serve.

Responsibility for filling his seat for the final five months of the term would fall to a caucus of the county’s Republican precinct committeemen.

In other business, council:

•Approved the following additional appropriations: $25,000 to Jay County Regional Sewer District in the form of a loan from the infrastructure fund to cover costs until a rate increase goes into effect Aug. 1; $11,000 from the surveyor’s perpetuation fund for the location of cornerstones; $10,900 in local income tax economic development funds for assisting local communities with asset management plans to allow them to apply for state Community Crossings grant funding for road work; $10,000 in local income tax economic development funds to A Better Life – Brianna’s Hope to help the organization send those struggling with addiction to rehabilitation programs; $2,900 from the general fund for repairs to a gate and fence after they were damaged during a break-in attempt.

•Assigned council members to review tax abatements for five local businesses to check if they are in compliance.

•OK’d the transfer of $1,626.40 to court bailiff from deputy court reporter and $1,000 from wages (overtime) to wages (translator) in the general fund, both to cover employee costs for Jay Superior Court.

•Was presented with a copy of Indiana code regarding the timing of an appeal of the determination of whether an area is designated as an economic revitalization area by Jeff Birsfield, a vocal opponent of the proposed Bitter Ridge WInd Farm. It was unclear at the meeting whether that section of Indiana code is applicable to county council’s recent decision to not grant a tax abatement for the project.

•Moved its July meeting, which was scheduled for the week of the Jay County Fair, to 7 p.m. July 18.