Commissioners set to finalize 2022 EDIT plan Wednesday

The Putnam County Commissioners are due to make their annual decision of how to utilize $1.17 million in Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) funds.

Having discussed the matter at their second January meeting, the Commissioners should make a final decision when they reconvene at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 9.

The first February meeting was delayed by two days after last week’s winter storm cost county offices two days of work.

Some obligations are a given when it comes to the annual plan, such as the ongoing payments for the 2013 Edgelea paving project and the county’s usual support of the Greencastle/Putnam County Economic Development Center, Putnam County Senior Center, Rural Transit, Beyond Homeless, the Putnam County Emergency Food Pantry and People Pathways.

However, the county also returned to the fold in 2021 with its financial support of Thrive West Central (formerly West Central Economic Development) and has also been setting aside extra funds for the Putnam County Highway Department and a new Putnam County Courthouse Annex in recent years.

Add to this the county’s much-needed technology upgrades, and Commissioners David Berry, Tom Helmer and Rick Woodall will have plenty to consider come Wednesday morning.

In their tentative talks last month, the three men appeared to be in favor of setting aside $40,000 for getting county-owned email set up for all employees as well as $10,000 for upgrades to the website.

“County-wide email is something we have to get,” Woodall said.

The matter of email was also a discussion when the Putnam County Council met in January, as the county needs to work on the security of its email to keep current with its cyber security insurance.

Woodall told the council at that time the initial outlay for email would come from EDIT funds, but would have to be put into department budget in future years.

While the costs of tech upgrades are relatively small amounts compared to the overall EDIT budget of $1,170,981 they are among a handful of new considerations for the EDIT funds that also include a $12,000 funding request from Mental Health America of Putnam County, a possible contract with a company to help the county with reassessment and perhaps setting money aside for a Putnam County bicentennial celebration later in 2022.

This and other business will be on the docket come Wednesday.

In other recent county business:

• The Commissioners considered changes to the monthly cell phone payment for employees as well as the meal per diem when employees attend conferences.

The current monthly reimbursement for county employees who use their personal cell phones is $30, a figure that some employees have questioned.

Auditor Kristina Berish, who said she uses her personal cell phone for county business said that perhaps it should go up to $50, but also emphasized that she still uses the phone for personal matters as well.

“I don’t think you should pay our whole personal phone bill,” Berish said.

While there seemed to be consensus that this was a good figure, the fact remains that it is not in the 2022 budget, with Councilmen Dave Fuhrman and Larry Parker, both in attendance, encouraging that a move not be made until the 2023 budget hearings.

While the cell phone matter was set aside, the meal per diem was another story.

The old allowance was for $35 a day, which all seemed to agree was a paltry sum for eating three meals a day in Indianapolis, where most conferences for county employees would take place.

A figure of $50 a day was settled upon, with both Berish and Fuhrman adding that these budgets usually have funds left at year’s end, so a mid-year change is no problem.

The change to a $50 per diem was approved unanimously.

• The Commissioners also made a pair of appointments, with Samantha Cooper appointed to the Thrive board of directors and Steven Wise appointed to the Putnam County Airport Authority Board.

• The County Council unanimously approved keeping Fuhrman as president and Stephanie Campbell as vice president in 2022.

• The Council also gave its blessing for Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges to change the salaries of his various employees. With the recent death of Debbie Hassler, it came to the forefront that there had not been a lot of cross-training in the office, as Hassler had been the office manager.

Bridges said that, fortunately, the Circuit Court staff as well as the state had been helping them through, but he did not want a repeat of such a problem.

As such, there will be no designated “office manager,” with the other employees instead sharing those duties and cross-trained.

“That way if, God forbid, this ever happens again, we’ll be more prepared,” Bridges said. “‘They’re all going to be, in essence, office managers.”

With no change in the overall payroll budget, the proposal was given unanimous approval.

• The Council also approved a new rate for part-time Putnam County EMS employees, with the new rates of $14.83 for EMTs and $18.95 for paramedics.

The rates were actually in the 2022 budget, but never formally adopted in the salary ordinance.

“We already budgeted for that but we forgot to come to the Commissioners and the Council to get those rates approved so that they could be effective Jan. 1,” Woodall said.