Commissioners OK gun buy for sheriff’s office

County officers may be getting new weapons.

Jay County Commissioners approved a $15,015.66 trade-in purchase for guns from Kiesler Police Supply of Jeffersonville during their meeting Monday.

The decision moves next to Jay County Council, which meets for a public hearing on the county’s budget Wednesday and has its next regular meeting Oct. 11.

Ben Schwartz, chief deputy at Jay County Sheriff’s Office, explained officers currently utilize .40-caliber Glock 22 guns purchased while former sheriff Dwane Ford was in office. Schwartz said Sheriff Ray Newton would like to shift back to 9 millimeter guns, which were used previously.

“The ammunition is way more readily available for 9 (millimeter); .40-caliber is kind of a dying breed, unfortunately,” said Schwartz. “It’s harder to find .40-caliber than it is for us to find 9 (millimeter ammunition).”

The department will trade in 41 of the current Glock 22 guns for about 50 of the Glock 17 pistols. According to its website, the semi-automatic Glock service pistol was created in the early 1980s to fit the Austrian military’s needs. More than 65% of federal, state and local United States agencies issue Glock pistols.

Answering a question from commissioner Brian McGalliard, Schwartz noted the weapons they currently use are about seven or eight years old.

Commissioners OK’d purchasing the guns from Kiesler Police Supply. The cost will come out of the sheriff’s budget.

Also Monday, McGalliard noted the county’s capital improvement plan will be ready to approve at the next commissioner’s meeting Oct. 9. 

Commissioners rescinded their former plan Sept. 11 and re-approved it as a capital improvement project list. There are currently seven projects on the “wish list,” which in total comes to more $5.3 million.

Plans are to create a more in-depth plan similar to Jay County Development Corporation’s five-year economic development income tax (EDIT) capital improvement plan, which commissioners rescinded in February. It would include up-to-date dollar amounts based on recent state estimates, state code, specific projects and copies of separate capital improvement plans created by Jay County municipalities. (Updates to those plans would be subject to each respective municipality.)

Commissioners also noted they should consider approving the county’s agreement with Jay County Humane Society on Oct. 9. County attorney Wes Schemenaur said he would connect with Jay County Humane Society to work out a few details in the contract before commissioners approve it. The organization has requested $66,325 to provide animal control services to the county in 2024. 

Jay County Humane Society has been renovating the former Fastenal building along Indiana 67 on the west side of Portland. Construction should be finished sometime next month.