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Commissioners to employees: Park elsewhere
The Putnam County Commissioners are asking that some employees walk just a little bit farther each morning on the way to work.
Citing a concern for downtown Greencastle merchants, the Commissioners are prohibiting employees of Putnam County Courthouse offices from using any of the two-hour downtown parking.
“The downtown merchants do not have enough parking for their patrons and some plan to leave the area due to lack of parking,” a letter to employees, signed by Commissioners Rick Woodall, Tom Helmer and David Berry, stated. “Therefore, local parking rules will be enforced.”
Those rules are that there is a two-hour limit on parking during business hours on weekdays. The two-hour rule not only applies to the square itself, but to parallel spaces within one block of the square on Jackson, Washington, Indiana and Franklin streets.
While the Greencastle Police Department should already be enforcing the two-hour rule in most of these spaces, the biggest problem the Commissioners have seen is on the inner part of the square, immediately adjacent to the Courthouse property.
While those spaces are technically owned by the county, the city and county worked out an interlocal agreement several years ago allowing the city to enforce the two-hour limit there as well.
Woodall announced that county and city officials will be meeting soon to discuss a path to enforcing the parking rules.
While the letter was formally approved during Monday’s Commissioners’ meeting, it had been discussed during the second May meeting as well.
“Do you see at Walmart or McDonald’s where every employee parks in front of the door? Absolutely not,” Woodall said at that time.
He also noted that addressing the problem basically comes down to the elected and appointed department heads telling their employees where not to park.
“The prosecutor basically tells his employees, ‘You do not park here. You park in the designated parking areas,’” Woodall said.
Those designated areas, as outlined in Monday’s letter, include free city lots on Market Street, Columbia and Jackson streets, as well as north of the Banner Graphic building, each of which is located a block off the square.
“Persons may also park along streets outside the two-hour parking zone,” the letter notes.
Ultimately, the Commissioners want to keep the square friendly to business owners who choose to ply their trades on the square, whether they be restaurants, retail or professional services.
One such owner, attorney Jeff Boggess, spoke during the May 17 meeting.
“I’m one of the landlords whose tenant has threatened to leave for no other reason than the parking situation,” Boggess said. “If my tenant leaves, it’s a five-figure loss to me.
That’s all money that stays here (in the community). We live here. The business is here. The clients are here.
“That would be a real loss to all of us.”
Boggess went on to outline how he’s had employees in wheelchairs get soaked because they had to be pushed around the square in the rain to get to his office.
On that note, though, the Commissioners also noted in their letter that employees who need handicapped spots may still use them, as may those who already have special parking arrangements, such as the spot for the courthouse deputy.
Overall, the Commissioners expressed their belief that it comes down to being a good neighbor.
“The county should be a good neighbor and all employees and elected officials should comply,” the letter noted.
In other business, the Commissioners:
• Discussed plans for two special meetings in the coming weeks.
The first, set for 11 a.m. this Friday, June 11, is to discuss how to approach health insurance for county employees in the coming year.
Due to some rather sizable claims over the last year, the county’s insurance premiums will be increasing for the first time in three years.
The increase is substantial — from $167,800 per month to around $207,000.
How to pay for such an increase will be the subject of Friday’s meeting.
One possibility is to increase the employee deductible from $3,000 to $6,000, which would reduce the county’s premiums.
However, none of the Commissioners expressed much interest in this route.
Another possibility is to use the county’s health insurance trust. While this would address the problem for the coming year, using only the trust would not work beyond that time due to lack of funds.
There is also the possibility of increasing the amount that employees have to contribute to their insurance coverage, a move the county has not made in several years.
A decision will be made on Friday so that open enrollment meetings may start later this month.
The Commissioners will also meet in a special joint session with the Putnam County Council to discuss use of the county’s $7 million in American Rescue Plan funds.
Woodall is proposing a five-member advisory panel to be appointed by the Commissioners and Council that can consider proposals and decide on a route forward.
The final decision would still fall to the Putnam County Commissioners.
“I feel like we need to have two or three meetings for the public to come in and discuss how they would like to spend that money,” Woodall said.
No date has been set for the joint meeting.
• Discussed the possibility of a county noise ordinance.
Nothing is set in stone at this time, but the Commissioners may look into what other counties have and consider the possibility.
• Addressed a request by a Heritage Lake resident for resurfacing of his cul-de-sac.
Unfortunately, both Woodall and Highway Supervisor Mike Ricketts told the man, the money is simply not available to fix every county road. Woodall said the best way to address such problems would be for Heritage Lake to incorporate as a community.
“We understand your frustration but right now there’s not a whole lot we can do,” Woodall said. “To me, the best route is incorporation.”
• Unanimously appointed Helmer to sit on the board for WorkOne Western Indiana.
Former Commissioner Don Walton had been a member of the board before his retirement, but the appointment had not been filled.
• Renewed the county’s agreement for Guardian Firearms Academy to use the county gun range.
Jerrod Baugh of Guardian was present at the meeting, providing the company’s insurance information.
Guardian’s use of the range is not to exceed 12 dates in the calendar year.
• Turned over ownership of the county’s old microfilm to the Indiana State Archives.
The microfilm is already being stored at the archives, but the change in ownership gives the state permission to destroy the film should space ever become an issue.
The county retains digital copies of all the stored microfilm.
NOTE: Story was updated to reflect the interlocal agreement between the city and county regarding parking on the inner part of the square.