Commissioners mull future of Rescue 19

County officials are considering whether it may be time to end a local volunteer emergency service.

Jay County Commissioners discussed the viability of Rescue 19 during their meeting Monday.

They also asked Jay County Development Corporation executive director Travis Richards to share more details of his organization’s financial records, with Richards noting he would need to seek board approval for the matter.

Commissioners president Chad Aker brought up Rescue 19 during a briefing on upcoming emergency service trainings with Jay County Emergency Management Agency director Samantha Rhodehamel.

In recent years, explained Rhodehamel, there have been difficulties with getting volunteers to do regular training courses. Currently, the service has 10 members on the roster, about half of whom are active.

Timing is another issue. Rescue 19 vehicles are kept at the annex building near Jay County Sheriff’s Office, meaning if volunteer responders live outside of Portland, they must travel into the city before responding to a call with a Rescue 19 truck.

“The biggest issue we have is during the daytime,” said Rhodehamel. “We do have people responding, but they’re in their personal vehicles, and it doesn’t necessarily do a lot of good when they get there if they don’t have a truck with tools to do anything.”

Often, Rescue 19 responders will help with traffic control, she added. 

Aker pointed out that without regular training, volunteers can become a liability for the county. The same goes for tools that haven’t been used in months. A firefighter at Portland Fire Department, Aker noted in the past Rescue 19 has been helpful to other fire departments across Jay County.

“But here lately, I know at Portland we’re manned 24/7, and there’s been multiple times that, you know, we’re responding,” he said.

“They’ll get paged once, they’ll get paged a second time, we get no response, and we go.”

Likewise, the equipment Rescue 19 specialized in, such as tools to extricate individuals from vehicles, are now more readily available.

“All the departments now have the equipment. I think we’re almost to the point, I hate to say this, but (Rescue) 19 may not be needed at this point,” said Aker.

According to Jim Bruner, a now-retired founding member of the volunteer service, Rescue 19 has been in action since 1965.

Rhodehamel noted she doesn’t want to lose all the volunteers, pointing out they are helpful to her department for weather emergencies and other events. She added that she worries about potential liabilities with Rescue 19.

Commissioners took no action on the matter Monday.

Also, commissioners asked for a more detailed look into all Jay County Development Corporation’s financial information, such as a day-by-day list of checks sent out.

Aker explained on behalf of commissioners he asked for a compilation of bank statements, CD balances, monthly claims, the balance of all checking and saving accounts and other information. In response, he noted, JCDC asked him to attend its meeting last week.

“I reluctantly attended the meeting, and as I expected, it was pretty much 31-1,” he said, pointing to his concerns with financial oversight and balances not lining up with those posted on the state website. “I was then told by a lot of the JCDC board members that you need to stop micromanaging, you need to concentrate on commissioner business, and JCDC is not-for-profit organization, and they don’t have to disclose the info.”

He expressed concern with the board not looking more closely at claims and other financial information, and he pointed out JCDC is funded largely by the county through economic development income tax (EDIT) dollars.

Richards said he’s sent the commissioners balances and a presentation document, asking if there’s more beyond bank statements they would like to see. Aker asked for a list of claims, such as information provided to commissioners monthly from Jay County Solid Waste District. He asked for information dating back at six months or a full year.

Commissioner Rex Journay also voiced his desire to see the information, noting he would show Richards the document Jay County Solid Waste District provides monthly.

“It’s going to be a board decision whether or not we all look at every individual bill and check because that will take a significant amount of time for the staff to prepare all that,” said Richards. “That is not something that I can stand here and tell you, ‘Yep, I’m going to do it,’ or ‘Nope, I’m not.’”

He also pointed to differences between public agencies and nonprofit organizations, while acknowledging that JCDC is significantly funded via EDIT dollars.

Richards and Jay County Chamber of Commerce director Tabby Sprunger asked commissioners to provide cost estimates or other figures for the county’s development of its 68 acres, which commissioners marked as the county’s priority for the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) 2.0 program. McGalliard noted the county should be receiving details from engineering firm RQAW this week.

Commissioners also OK’d Jay County highway superintendent Eric Butcher to propose two options for the next round of Community Crossings grants offered through Indiana Department of Transportation, which are due before the end of the month. 

Butcher proposed replacing Seventh Street bridge over the Salamonie River between Blaine Pike and Meridian Street, but he explained an adjoining property owner has refused granting right-of-way access for the project. He suggested looking into a “plan B,” such as reconstructing about five miles of road along portions of county roads 100 South, 150 South and Knox Road. West of Indiana 1, the roads are regularly used by drivers during flood events on the highway, noted Aker.

In other business, commissioners Rex Journay, Chad Aker and McGalliard:

•Heard from consultant Mike Kleinpeter about the owner-occupied rehabilitation program, a $1 million project aimed at helping low-income local residents make essential repairs to their homes. Jay County is contributing $90,000 in American Rescue Plan Act dollars to the program, which is mainly funded through Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. During a public hearing for the project Monday, Kleinpeter noted plans to submit the county’s final application to OCRA on Jan. 19, with expectations to hear back by the end of February. The program could get started by early March or early April.

•Approved changes to the personnel policy, which include adding in a workplace relationship disclosure. It states “consensual romantic relationships” between employees must be disclosed to supervisors or the Jay County auditor “as soon as the relationship begins” and gives the county the right to transfer or reassign employees involved in such a relationship “to avoid direct or indirect supervision of one involved employee over the other.” Other changes include adjusting Jay County Highway Department’s work hours — commissioners OK’d the department to close Fridays, instead working 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. or 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays depending on the season — and compensating all Jay County Sheriff’s Office and Jay County Jail employees for eight hours of holiday pay at their standard hourly rate on holidays. For the latter, if employees are required to work on the designated holiday, they will be compensated at a rate 1.5 times their standard rate for all hours worked.

•Tabled a decision on an economic development agreement with Hodson Energy, which is planning a solar farm on approximately 220 acres in Richland Township, including the area around The Andersons grain elevator. Jay County Council recently approved a 10-year abatement with the company in exchange for Hodson Energy to provide $2.156 million in economic development funds to the county over four years after construction on the project has been completed.

•OK’d spending $3,387 to purchase hard drive upgrades to Jay County Courthouse’s video security system. Security officer Monte Shrack noted plans to increase one digital video recorder’s hard drive to 31 terabytes and another digital video recorder’s hard drive to 32 terabytes. Commissioners also gave Shrack approval to look into installing another camera in the auditorium for security purposes.

•Approved an update to the fair housing ordinance, which now includes language stating it’s unlawful “to discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling … because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.”

•Elected Aker as president and McGalliard as vice president of commissioners and appointed Todd Skirvin to replace Adam Westgerdes on Jay County Plan Commission.

•Learned from treasurer Paula Miller the county earned $629,492.87 in interest on investments in 2023.

•OK’d Kristie Delaney — she is taking care of administration responsibilities for Jay County Country Living since former director Melissa Blankley’s formal resignation last month — to get a bigger dumpster for the facility. The dumpster is shared with Jay County Highway Department. They also approved Delaney access to use the county’s credit card to make purchases for Jay County Country Living and accepted $3,675.60 in donations to Jay County Country Living.

•Paid a December claim for $1,023.60 in administration fees through Indiana Bond Bank for its fuel budget program.