Public invited to review finances

To the editor:

There has been extensive discussion over the last few years amongst the Jay County Commissioners, Jay County Council and Jay County Development Corporation (JCDC) about JCDC’s funding, our mission and goals, representation on our board of directors and the contractual obligations for all sides. 

If you are a regular consumer of local news, you likely have heard, read about or watched some of these conversations. If not, we encourage you to review previous news articles, watch some of the livestreamed meetings on the county’s website or stop by the office to have a conversation with our executive director.

The JCDC board of directors, including one county commissioner and three county council members, get monthly financial reports. These reports contain our monthly and year-to-date income/expenses, special projects balances, certificate of deposit balance and annual budget information. JCDC also reported our checking account, certificate of deposit and special project account balances on our 2024 application for county funds. It is also important to note that our annual budget has been unanimously approved by the board of directors, including the county representatives, for the last several years.

For 2024, Jay County Council has allocated $140,000 for JCDC’s operational budget. The Jay County Commissioners are unsure how much of that funding they will release to us. As of Dec. 6, they are asking for detailed financial information from JCDC, including: “bank statements, CD balances, monthly claims and balances of all checking and savings accounts to show full transparency and to make an educated decision on funding”.

While we believe we have answered every question and provided adequate information, JCDC wants to continue being a good partner. To fully satisfy this request, ensure that there are no lingering questions and continue demonstrating true transparency, JCDC invites the entire community to attend our upcoming board meeting where we will be reviewing detailed financial information from the last 10 years. We will look at budgets, income, expenses, account balances and annual independent audit reports.

If you have an interest in JCDC’s finances, please join us at 4 p.m. Jan. 2 at the Community Resource Center (118 S. Meridian St., Portland,).

Respectfully submitted on behalf of Jay County Development Corporation,

Travis Richards

Executive director