Council approves additional $9,000 for juvenile detention

A cost increase in housing arrested juveniles at the Muncie Juvenile Detention Center has Putnam County on the hook for more than $9,000 as the end of the year approached.

Juvenile Probation Officer Renee Marsteller discussed the issue with the Putnam County Council on Tuesday, saying the costs at Muncie went up from $99 per night to $119 per night at the beginning of 2013.

While county officials were aware of this change, the 2013 budget was not adjusted, leaving a shortfall of $9,108 as the end of the year approaches.

Juvenile detention is always a fluid cost for the county, as it there is neither a way to know how many juveniles will be arrested during a calendar year nor how many will have to be detained overnight or longer.

The Putnam County Jail is not an approved juvenile detention facility, so the job is outsourced to Muncie.

While the rate did go up since last year, Marsteller told the council that having a contract with the facility reduces the cost from around $150 per night to $119.

Additionally, a condition of the contract is that a representative from Muncie transports the juveniles to and from Delaware County, saving the Putnam County Sheriff's Department in fuel and manpower.

The council gave the request tentative approval until the appropriation can be advertised.

In a matter the body first visited in November, the councilmen changed course on a request by Auditor Lorie Hallett to award bonuses to her five deputies.

The auditor had requested last month that she be allowed to use money from the ineligible homestead fund to award one-time bonuses to all five of her deputies, excluding herself from the list.

Allowing that the auditor's office had worked hard and likely deserved the bonuses, the council denied the request by a count of 4-2 in November.

The main objection voiced at the time was that other offices did not have similar funds to do such things.

Evidence to the contrary was presented on Tuesday.

"There's a lot of other offices that already do it and they don't ask," Gene Beck, one of two councilmen to vote in favor last month, said Tuesday.

The five auditor deputies, all of whom were in attendance, showed that other offices such as the prosecutor's offices, both circuit and superior court, child support and probation draw payroll from users fees.

They also pointed out that this money only exists in the county's coffers through several years of pursuing homeowners who file more than one homestead exemption on their property taxes.

"They worked hard on this for four years," Hallett said, "above and beyond their normal work."

The new arguments changed several minds.

"That puts a little different spin on it for me," Councilman Keith Berry said.

Again brought up for a vote, the council approved the request 5-0, with Dave Fuhrman absent and President Darrel Thomas not voting.

In other business:

* The council approved the appropriation of $7,800 in users fees to pay the PIE Coalition coordinator for the year.

* Arthur Zickman was appointed to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

* Kara Magill was appointed to the Roachdale Library Board.

* Three transfers were approved for the Putnam County Highway Department: $50,000 for road resurfacing, $27,500 for a lease payment on a new excavator; and $11,000 for the purchase of a new Bobcat.

* The council also hired Trudy Selvia as its new attorney for 2014.

Elizabeth South had told the council prior to the November meeting that she would be stepping aside at year's end.

Selvia was one of several attorneys approached by the council about the vacancy. Thomas described her as being excited about the opportunity when he asked.