County highway will get new position

Jay County Highway Department is getting a new position.

Jay County Council agreed to create a position for assistant superintendent for the department during its meeting Wednesday.

Discussion about establishing the new role came about in relation to new job duties administrative assistant Stephanie Klarer has taken on for the highway department in recent months.

Council vice president Cindy Bracy explained the job duties needed for Klarer’s position have changed, with Klarer now filling out grants for the department and working with Indiana Department of Transportation, among other roles.

According to the job description, the assistant superintendent’s duties will include:

•Assisting with supervising and directing personnel, budgeting processes and inventory

•Sharing road closing information with county officials, area schools and the public as needed

•Performing duties of employee of responsible charge, including ensuring federal aid is submitted and necessary inspections are completed

•Communicating via radio with work crews and personnel

•Serving as safety coordinator for the department, ensuring employees are compliant with safety regulations and ordering safety equipment

•Maintaining records and bookkeeping duties, including payroll and bills

•Coordinating dust control efforts

•Preparing insurance and accident reports

•Answering the office phone, greeting office visitors and providing information or assistance

•Performing clerical tasks, such as data entry, reviewing mail, maintaining files, scheduling appointments for department personnel, ordering office supplies and preparing documents, correspondence and reports

Jay County Personnel Committee recently recommended creating the position. It also suggested keeping the administrative assistant job on the roster in case it is needed in the future but not funding it.

Council member Jeanne Houchins questioned if council should incorporate back pay for Klarer, who said she has been filling in additional duties for several months. Houchins noted similar situations with other county employees in the past, including former highway superintendent Donnie Corn.

“I don’t think we’ve done it in the past consistently, that’s where it gets a little dicey,” said Bracy, voicing hesitancy to giving back pay. 

“We need to make sure we’re doing it fairly across the board.”

Council agreed to create the position and set its pay at $52,757.16, which is the average rate compared to assistant superintendent salaries in other Indiana counties.

In related news, council forwarded a request to Jay County Personnel Committee in relation to bumping Jay County Country Living’s director to full-time and adjusting the job description. Bracy said Jay County Country Living’s advisory board is working on the new job description. 

Jay County Personnel Committee meets at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 24.

Council also reviewed a draft of the 2025 budget. Next year’s proposed budget sits at $23.8 million, which is roughly $2 million more than the current year’s budget. 

It includes 3% raises across the board for county employees. Other notable changes with the proposed budget relate to Jay County Sheriff’s Office, including adding three new correction officer positions at Jay County Jail, entering into a new meal contract for jail inmates and purchasing new vehicles. (Sheriff Ray Newton has requested 10% raises for jail staff, including correction officers, jail commander, jail sergeants and the jail matron.)

Jay County Auditor’s Office also requested shifting a part-time employee to full-time status starting next year.

County auditor Emily Franks pointed out further discussion relating to the budget can continue in August, noting she wanted to get drafts to council members for review.

Also Wednesday, council agreed to move forward with adjusting the local income tax economic development rate in 2025 from 0.25% up to 0.5%. (Franks noted the decision isn’t binding and will require a public hearing. She pointed out council has until October to make a final decision on the matter.) Council decided to move forward with the process in the event that more funding is needed to pay for upcoming projects.

“I can see a lot of potential positive having this as a tool in the tool box after we have some of the American Rescue Plan (dollars) discussions,” said council president Matt Minnich. “I think it’s something to consider.”

In other business, council members Harold Towell, Faron Parr, Dave Haines, Randy May, Houchins, Bracy and Minnich:

•OK’d a $16,015.14 additional appropriation for the drug free communities grant from state funds. Organizations receiving funding this year include: Jay County Sheriff’s Office for its illegal drug prevention program, $4,003.79; Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition, $4,003.77; Peer Addiction Support Team (PAST) Recovery Services for staff and participant expenses, $3,153.79; A Better Life — Brianna’s Hope for Hope Fest, $1,500; Youth Service Bureau for its Keeping At-Risk Students in School program, $1,253.79; IU Health Jay Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinic for recovery resources, $850; Jay School Corporation for conscious discipline, $750; and Jay Community Center for its youth programing scholarship for families battling addiction, $500. 

•Approved the following: compliance forms with Reier Pullets, Minnich Poultry, Scout Clean Energy and NextEra Energy for tax abatements and an ordinance increasing meal reimbursement for employees attending training or conferences in-state from $15 to $20 for breakfast and lunch and $25 to $30 for dinner, effective retroactive to July 1.

•Made the following other additional appropriations: $11,000 for the 2024 Launch Jay! pitch competition through Jay County Development Corporation; $11,000 (Towell opposed) to Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition for a feasibility study on the potential location of a new recovery home in Portland; $11,000 (Towell and Bracy opposed) to Rundell Ernstberger Associates’ design planning on the county owned 68 acres on the western edge of Portland; $10,000 for equipment at Bryant Area Park; $5,000 for training at Jay County Sheriff’s Office; and $1,260 for pauper counsel in Jay courts.

•Transferred $10,000 in the sheriff department’s budget from full-time deputies’ salary fund to part-time deputies’ salary fund, $2,121 in the local income tax budget from salaries to vehicles and $515 in the sheriff department’s budget from training supplies to travel and mileage.