By HOLLY GASKILL
The Wells County Council will hold a special session later this month to address several financial and personnel matters in the Highway Department.
The first of these items follows upcoming Local Trax grant projects.
On Tuesday, the department requested two additional appropriations — $984,800 from the Local Trax fund and $1.1 million from the Rainy Day fund — for a grant project from Adams Street to Hoosier Highway. Adams County Engineer Nate Rumschlag, contracted to assist Wells County with ongoing projects, said Wells will be reimbursed all but $984,000 from a federal grant for the project.
Because Rumshlag was unsure how long reimbursement would take, the council was initially hesitant to approve the significant amount from the Rainy Day fund. However, Rumschlag said he had discussed the matter with Auditor Lisa McCormick, and they had agreed on the decision due to other upcoming Local Trax projects.
Rumschlag also stressed that the county has to make the payment within a window to secure the bid, which was lower than the engineer’s estimate.
The council ultimately approved a resolution on the matter, and can approve the additional appropriations at their special session at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 25.
Highway Supervisor Shawn Bonar also approached the council and County Commissioners with continued discussion regarding a lack of administrative support. With Rumschlag’s resignation, Bonar said he is inundated with ongoing county projects and administrative work in addition to transitioning into the new highway garage.
Bonar proposed the county reduce their contracted hours with Rumschlag and hire an additional bookkeeper. Currently, an interlocal agreement with Adams County supports Rumschlag’s services for one day weekly and “as needed” for $1,500. Bonar suggested the county reach an annual agreement with Adams County instead of their current 90-day agreement.
Bonar also requested a $27,000 stipend for his additional workload.
Explaining this proposed stipend, Bonar referenced the recent stipend approved for an Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator, a position previously held by Rumschlag. The council approved a $3,000 stipend for the role, which Rumschlag said accounted for 0.5% of his total job. Bonar also referenced neighboring counties’ structure and compensation for similar situations.
“Well, what surprised me was the last council meeting when I watched an ABA director get a $3,000 stipend,” Bonar said. “That kind of hurt right here. And I thought, I’m getting taken advantage of, and I need to stand up for myself because I think I’m doing great things for the county.”
While the council recognized additional compensation was appropriate, they hesitated with the proposed amount or the potential for another full-time permanent position.
According to Bonar’s calculations, the total adjustments would only lead to a $1,742.41 cost increase from the county’s current projects. Commissioner Jeff Stringer said there are no prospective candidates for county engineer, and outside consulting would cost significantly more than the current agreement with Adams County.
Rumschlag also endorsed this proposal. “The intent was by reducing my role, it frees up to allow you to do a bookkeeper position,” Rumschlag said. He also assured it would ultimately help the workload to have a full-time bookkeeper, noting it was previously discussed as a need.
“We’re very vulnerable as a department because we didn’t have the staff,” Rumschlag added. “And my leaving essentially exposed that.”
Stringer also stressed that the county needed to be working toward some solution, even if it was temporary, because they are not guaranteed to always have Rumschlag’s services.
“(Bonar’s) already working, to your point, he’s working 50% more now,” Stringer said. “(Rumschlag) leaves, that all falls on (Bonar). There is no light at the end of the tunnel, there are no sunny days — it’s in the trench all day long, digging what he’s doing. And you know, I don’t want to add cost, but when you do the math here, it’s a net savings to the county.”
Stringer added, “It’s a band-aid. It’s a stipend, not a salary.”
The council ultimately asked Bonar to return with a job description for an additional bookkeeper, and they could revisit the conversation on March 25.
“I feel like it’s great to have this conversation,” said council member Vicki Andrews. “I feel like we’re just a little premature and trying to make this kind of decision.”
“At a minimum, I do think that there has to be, with all the hours put in, I want to get the stipend taken care of,” council member Seth Whicker said. “The engineering with Adams County … either way, like it or not, we still need (Rumschlag) coming to help out. And if we want to wait on a job description, I’m OK saying that we could look at those two positions in our next meeting. But I do think that we owe it, in my view, to (Bonar) and to keep (Rumschlag) around, to get those two items squared.”
holly@news-banner.com
