Council talks about facility’s future

What’s the future of Jay County Retirement Center?

Jay County Council discussed the facility Wednesday, wondering about its financial viability in the future and emphasizing that rent must be collected from those who stay there.

Council members Jeanne Houchins, Ted Champ, Gary Theurer, Amy Runyon Barrett, Mike Rockwell, Cindy Newton and Faron Parr also talked about planned courthouse security upgrades and learned about a quirk in payroll that will need attention before the end of the year.

Discussion about the retirement center stemmed from council’s conversation about revising job descriptions and a desire expressed by Jay County Commissioners to review a requested increase in the pay rate for financial consultant Melodi Haley.

That sparked questions from Champ:

•How many residents are staying at the retirement center?

•Where did they live prior to coming to the county-run facility?

Champ noted that the county’s personnel committee — it is made up of himself, Houchins and commissioner Chuck Huffman — had discussed the retirement center and whether it makes sense for taxpayer dollars to be spent to keep it in operation.

He added that there have been issues with residents not paying rent, noting that two former residents racked up unpaid bills that totaled thousands of dollars. It was unclear why that was allowed to happen.

“We’re responsible for Jay County taxpayers’ dollars,” said Champ. “We’re one of the few counties left in the state that still has a retirement center that we fund by Jay County tax dollars. So we’re taking money to help fund that while people are living there for free and not paying rent. …

“Somebody needs to be held accountable.”

Houchins said it comes down to making sure the facility, which currently has about 15 residents, is managed well. (The issue with lack of payment predates current retirement center director Hope Confer, who took over the role this summer.)

County attorney Bill Hinkle noted that Haley was placed in her role in part to keep an eye out for such financial issues and has helped to save the county money in other areas as well.

While commissioners make executive decisions such as whether the county should continue to have a retirement center, council controls financial support for the facility through the budget process.

Also Wednesday, Newton asked about the status of making security upgrades at Jay County Courthouse. (Security was a topic of discussion at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, with Sheriff Dwane Ford saying he does not believe upgrades will be in place by Jan. 1.)

Barrett said that at a committee meeting later Tuesday the sheriff said the implementation date may have to shift to Feb. 1.

Initial plans call for the south (Main Street) door to the courthouse to be used as the public entrance with a metal detector and security personnel inside. Employees would be issued key fobs to allow them access to the building through the other doors.

Newton questioned how secure that truly makes the courthouse, as others could get in when employees are coming and going through the doors that aren’t monitored by security personnel.

“You can’t make it secure enough,” added Theurer. “If somebody wants to get in there bad enough, they will.

Auditor Anna Culy also brought a payroll issue to the attention of the council. Jan. 1 would normally be a payday for the county, but it falls on a holiday.

In such situations, the county would typically pay employees a day early, which in this case would move the expenditure from the 2020 budget to 2019.

Council will need to encumber funds in order to cover that change. (Council members also could have chosen to delay payroll until Jan. 4, the first business day after the holiday, but decided against that option.)

In other business, council:

•Set April 1 as the deadline for department heads to request changes to employee job descriptions.

•Approved the following additional appropriations: A total of 126,691.04 from the general fund for the sheriff’s office, including $65,000 to cover employee compensation and $45,000 for prisoner meals for the remainder of the year; $15,000 from the supplemental public defender fund for pauper council; $15,000 from the surveyor perpetuation fund for the location of cornerstones; $278,168.88 in local option income tax funds for paving as matching funds for the most recent round of Community Crossings grants; a total of $7,500 from donations to the retirement center for equipment and activities; a total of $55,982.50 in economic development funds from Bluff Point Wind Energy Center for various projects; $20,000 from a state grant related to the Jay! Region’s Stellar Communities application; and $731,000 in Community Crossings grant funds for paving.

•OK’d transfers in the county general, Jay Emergency Medical Service, local income tax public safety and reassessment funds to ensure positive year-end balances in various line items.

•Agreed that $63,064.01 leftover from a previous Community Crossings grant for road paving should be transferred into the new Community Crossings grant line item.

•Were updated that minor adjustments — totaling less than $40 annually — will be made to some employee hourly rates to simplify the payroll process.

The changes will need to be approved by council via the payroll ordinance.