Reviewing options

Does the county home — aka Jay County Retirement Center — make sense in the 21st century?

County commissioners pondered that question Monday and are likely to return to it again in the future.

“It’s looking more like a nursing home,” said commissioner Chuck Huffman, who has noted that the retirement center operates at a significant deficit. “I wonder if we shouldn’t be looking at other options to take care of these folks.”

“What are you going to do with them?” responded commissioner Mike Leonhard. “Put them out on the street? … I’d just hate like heck to close that down and have it just sit there and rot.”

Commissioner Chad Aker noted that of about 25 retirement center residents, only about half of them are from Jay County. But, he added, “I’m not saying, ‘Shut the place down.’”

Those out-of-county residents, Huffman said, are “not our responsibility.”

“I would just like for us to look at other options,” Huffman added. “We wouldn’t be doing our due diligence if we didn’t look at other options.”

With the other two commissioners’ blessing, Huffman said he’ll contact LifeStream and other social service agencies to investigate the issue further.

Meanwhile, a plan to drill a new well at the retirement center has been put on hold.

Arsenic levels in the current well water raised concerns with Indiana Department of Environmental Management, but Matt Corwin, who handles testing of the retirement center’s water for the county, said installing a new water softener is the best and most cost effective solution to the problem.

In fact, said Corwin, that’s what IDEM recommends.

With the well drilling on hold, Corwin will return to the commissioners with price quotes on a replacement water softener for the center.

“That’s an old property,” Huffman said later in the meeting. “There’s just going to be significant ongoing costs.”

Leonhard, however, cited continuing expenses at Jay County Jail as a larger concern.

“That’s your powderkeg, right over there,” he said.

The latest jail repair expenditures — approved unanimously Monday — include $18,359.20 to replace one of three compressors in the jail’s chiller and $9,500 for a new water softener.

The compressor work will be done by Havel, Fort Wayne, while the water softener low quote was from Aker-Taylor Plumbing, Portland.

Those expenses will pretty much erase the amount budgeted for jail repairs for the year and will eventually lead to an additional appropriation.

Expenses like those are what worry Jay County Auditor Anna Culy in the face of reduced property tax revenues in the years ahead due to changes in farmland assessment and the state’s “circuit breaker.”

“I am worried,” said Culy, referring to the county’s finances. “I know I am a ‘Debbie Downer,’ but I don’t want us to go backwards.”

Commissioners gave unanimous approval to the purchase of a Western Star tandem dump truck for the county highway department from Stoops at a price of $104,639. The Stoops bid was the only one that met specifications. Commissioners also approved having W.A. Jones assemble the dump body, underbody blade and plow hitch at a cost of $53,019. Jones submitted the lowest price quote.

Kenn-Feld Group of Coldwater, Ohio, will replace the engine on the highway department’s grader at a cost of $12,683.

Two new pick-up trucks for the county engineer and the highway superintendent were approved at a cost of $24,972 each from Fuqua Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Dunkirk, which submitted the lowest price quote. Both trucks were budgeted expenditures.

In other business, commissioners:

•Noted that the flood task force had met with representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers last week and was in the process of reviewing three possible routes for re-directing Millers Branch to the Salamonie River. “We’re trying to speak with landowners,” said Huffman. “There’s still a lot of heavy lifting to do.”

•Appointed Dr. Joseph Vormohr to a vacancy on Jay County Health Board.

•Heard a quarterly update on the Upper Salamonie River Commission from Tim Kroeker. “I am seeing changes in the watershed,” said Kroeker. “We’re getting there. We are making progress. It’s just slow.”

•Heard highway superintendent Donnie Corn say he was getting price quotes and insurance information in connection with a highway department Bobcat that caught fire April 24.

•Reviewed an ambulance replacement schedule developed for Jay Emergency Medical Service and agreed to go forward with getting quotes on re-mounting an ambulance “box” on a new chassis. JEMS usually gets anywhere between 110,000 and 170,000 miles out of a chassis and engine.

•Approved the purchase of four new computers for the highway garage at a cost of $4,308 from Progressive Office Products, Portland, which submitted the lowest quote.

•Took under advisement asphalt paving bids from Milestone Contractors and Brooks Construction for a series of Community Crossings paving projects, including Mt. Pleasant Road from county road 200 South to Como Road. Milestone’s bid was $1,403,220, while the Brooks bid was $1,476,261.

•Heard county engineer Dan Watson say he still has serious concerns about the proposed placement of transmission lines along road 500 South related to Bitter Ridge Wind Farm. Watson said Scout Clean Energy is still working on a contract to sell the power generated by the wind farm and hopes to have it finalized soon.

•Reaffirmed that county road 800 East will not be a no-truck route under the latest ordinance revision. “At this point, I don’t see the need to make that a no-truck road,” said Watson. “I have to look at the big picture, the whole county, and I don’t see the justification.”

•Approved the sale of a former JEMS ambulance for $3,501.51 to Larry Nuckols.

•Heard a request from Arts Place for $14,000 in support for Arts in the Parks in 2020.

•Agreed to purchase a new Dodge Charger for $24,625 from Fuqua Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Dunkirk, to replace one damaged by a fire caused by a radio installation firm. Fuqua had been the low bidder on the original police cruiser but was about $800 higher than Gaddis, Muncie, for the replacement. “I would like to go back through Fuqua because they’ve been awesome people to deal with,” said chief deputy Patrick Wells.

•Approved hiring an Indianapolis attorney to assist with a property tax assessment appeal that has been taken to the state level.

•Allotted $150,000 for consulting and branding related to the county’s Stellar Communities program, noting that the expense would be more than covered even if the county’s Stellar bid is not successful. “There really is no downside,” said Huffman. “We want to do everything we can to make this the best possible proposal.”

•Noted Allison Keen, 4-H educator, is now heading up the Jay County Extension Office, succeeding Cheri Brown.

•Urged county residents not to blow grass clippings onto the roadway, noting they pose a particular hazard to motorcyclists.