Sheriff’s office, PCH to partner on hospital resource officer

NOTE: The original version of this story contained inaccurate information regarding the funding of the hospital resource officer, which will be funded by Putnam County Hospital. More details are available below.

A community partnership could soon provide increased security at Putnam County Hospital.

In an agreement signed recently by the Putnam County Commissioners, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office will begin providing a hospital resource officer for 24 hours each week, which will cover the overnight hours on Friday through Sunday.

The agreement follows months of discussions between Sheriff Jerrod Baugh, Chief Deputy Tom Sutherlin and hospital administration to arrive at an agreement on hours, funding and other matters.

The 24 weekly hours of the new position, which will be a deputized member of the Sheriff's Office, will be funded fully by the hospital through a monthly payment of $5,200. Of this amount, 75 percent will go toward compensation of the officer, while the remaining 25 percent will go toward covering any equipment or other costs associated with the position.

This also covers an additional five floater hours a week that Baugh built into the budget should additional duties at the hospital be required, such as an emergency detainment order.

Baugh told the commissioners he believes this position is a way of supporting PCH, which is an independently-owned resource that not all small communities have anymore.

“To me, it’s still a resource,” Baugh said. “We have a Putnam County Hospital that is still privately owned. They asked for some help, and we’d like to provide that.”

Baugh also said the contract lays the groundwork should South Putnam Schools ever want to add a school resource officer. Currently, North Putnam and Cloverdale have SROs provided by local municipal police departments, while Greencastle Schools has no assigned SRO, but still has coverage from Greencastle Police Department.

The hospital resource officer will be a newly-created, part-time position that will not be staffed by a deputy or jail officer.

In other business:

• The commissioners addressed letters written separately by the two owners of 3 Fat Labs wedding venue in Madison Township, Bill and Tanya Mentgen.

For more than a year, access to 3 Fat Labs was restricted by an ongoing and oft-delayed project to replace Bridge 276 across CSX Railroad. 3 Fat Labs is on land adjacent to the railroad, with its driveway immediately south of the bridge in question.

While access to the business remained, it was via Creek Road, which is a gravel road and less direct than County Road 400 West (Saddleclub Road).

The Mentgens said this limited access affected their business to the point that they could not pay their spring property taxes on time.

In Bill Mentgen’s letter, he requested that any penalties and interest not be charged. However, Commissioner Rick Woodall said that his reading of Tanya Mentgen’s letter seemed to indicate she wanted the property taxes suspended entirely.

County Attorney Jim Ensley said his research on the subject indicated that penalties and interest could be suspended, but not the taxes themselves.

It wasn’t clear, though, if the commissioners were in favor of this, and no decision was made.

“I have received about five emails and 52 texts asking if we had made a decision,” Woodall said. “And I will let them know that we have not made a decision.”

The matter will also be presented to the Putnam County Council during its Tuesday, June 20 meeting.

• The commissioners tentatively approved an office switch between the Building and Planning Office and the Surveyor’s Office.

While County Planner Lisa Zeiner made the request, Surveyor Greg Williams also approved of the switch that would put his one-person department in the smaller office while the three people plus one part-timer in the Building and Planning Office would have more space.

Williams even said he would be glad to leave behind a number of unused filing cabinets from his current space.

Sheriff Baugh said that his work crew could help with the move. The good news is both are fourth-floor courthouse offices, so it is not a long move.

The main questions that remain are the costs of switching phone and internet connections, which is why the approval is only tentative until costs are worked out.

• County Engineer Jim Peck reported on a tractor and batwing mower that were stolen from their location parked along Meridian Line Road in southern Putnam County on Sunday, May 4.

They were located the following morning, a short distance north, at the residence of the suspect later identified as 58-year-old Zachary Hayman.

Highway Director Clint Maddox told the commissioners that the keys had not been left in the tractor and also that it was not believed to be damaged in the incident.

Hayman was booked in the Putnam County Jail and charged with theft.