Planning and zoning changes coming, but not yet official

A change in organization at the Putnam County Planning and Zoning Department was again discussed this week, but any official changes were again tabled by the Putnam County Commissioners for two more weeks.

The plan, originally discussed earlier this month, is the reduce the department's expenses by going from two full-time employees and a contractual inspector to just two full-time employees.

This would mean that County Planner Brett Wagner and administrative assistant Jessica Jones would remain in place, while building inspector Art Kenworthy would be without a position.

In his place, the commissioners plan to get Wagner further training and increase his salary to compensate for the new duties.

Some issues still need to be worked out, such as taking an updated salary ordinance before the Putnam County Council and checking on bonding issues for the county planner.

The issue will be back on the agenda for the commissioners' meeting on Monday, May 2.

In other business, county officials are upset with an order not being fulfilled on time by the Terre Haute Truck Center.

In October, County Highway Supervisor Mike Ricketts and the commissioners discussed the purchase of two tandem dump trucks with state-of-the-art dump beds.

The $344,000 order was to be completed by February or early March, but as of mid-April, the company had yet to start working on the trucks.

A pair of representatives from Terre Haute Truck Center were in attendance to apologize and try to explain the delay, but said work on the trucks was unlikely to start before late April or early May.