County approves severance offer for workers

Jay County Country Living needs its employees to stay until the facility closes.

Jay County Commissioners have agreed to compensate them for sticking around and to provide an incentive to close sooner.

Commissioners on Tuesday recommended providing the equivalent of four months’ worth of additional pay to Jay County Country Living employees if the facility closes by Dec. 31. If Jay County Country Living’s doors remain open past the end of the year and close by June 30, employees will instead see the equivalent of two months’ worth of additional pay.

The decision will require a salary ordinance amendment from Jay County Council, which meets next in November.

Jay County Country Living director Stacey Johnson explained she shared incentive letters for county officials to consider. She said after a recent meeting, staff members met and discussed the situation before proposing the county offer them an incentive to stay.

Johnson proposed the equivalent of six months’ worth of additional pay if the facility closes by the end of the year, four months’ additional pay if it closes in February and three months’ additional pay if it closes in April. The department currently has eight part-time and three full-time employees.

“Basically I think it’s important to keep everybody moving fairly quickly in the right direction, because I’ve noticed that if we pull back at all, everybody starts getting confused, ‘Am I not moving? Am I moving?’” Johnson said. “And so those are daily questions still that are coming up.”

Commissioners voted in August to close the facility by the end of 2026. With Jay County Council approving its 2026 budget last week and slicing the facility’s funds in half next year, that deadline has been essentially moved up to June 30. (Council members could make additional appropriations to keep the facility running beyond that date.)

Commissioners also decided in September not to allow new residents at the facility. At that meeting, commissioner Duane Monroe talked about financially incentivizing employees amid the transition to close. He proposed at that time the equivalent of three months’ worth of additional pay for employees if the facility closes by the end of the year, with the amount to decrease to two months’ pay if closed by June 30 and one month’s pay if closed by Dec. 31, 2026.

“It is a pretty good severance package giving six months’ pay there, so, but then again we do need those people to stay,” commissioners president Chad Aker said.

Commissioner Doug Horn pointed out the county still saves money the sooner it closes the facility. Johnson agreed, mentioning utilities as one example. She pointed out her current plans are to have the facility closed by the end of the year. 

Commissioners discussed a lesser incentive, such as offering four months’ pay instead of six months’ pay. Johnson argued the county is dropping a large expense from its budget in coming years with the facility closing and pushed for the six months’ pay incentive. She also suggested discussing nondisclosure agreements.

Commissioners decided to offer the equivalent of four months’ worth of additional pay if the facility closes by Dec. 31 or two months’ additional pay if the facility closes by June 30.

In related news, Jay County Country Living Advisory Board president and Jay County Council member Cindy Bracy noted the county needs to consider how it will move forward with building maintenance. 

She also pointed out a delay in plans with The Journey Home of Winchester. The Department of Veterans Affairs hasn’t been able to tour the building because of the federal government shutdown, she explained.

The Journey Home, an organization aimed at ending veteran homelessness, has expressed interest in leaving the space it rents from Randolph County and moving its operations to the rural Portland site.

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For more news from the commissioners’ meeting, see Thursday’s newspaper.