By HOLLY GASKILL
While working with an $800,000 excess from the proposed budget, members of the Wells County Council did not shy away from a conservative approach on Tuesday.
The excess, Council President Seth Whicker explained, comes from favorable investment rates, and is not guaranteed in the future. With other prospective needs coming down the line, the council exercised the opportunity to fine-tune budgets and critically consider requests.
Multiple departments saw changes in line items that did not appear to have been used fully in previous years. At large, the council wanted to shift departments toward requesting additional appropriations rather than overbudgeting and transferring for purchases.
Notable updates to the budget are detailed below. The council does not plan to reconvene before a public hearing regarding the budget at 7 p.m. on Sept. 3.
County will add building
inspector, sanitarian
Several county departments came with requests for additional positions, including a request for a building inspector from the County Commissioners.
Commissioner Jeff Stringer explained that the commissioners foresee the position working in tandem with the city of Bluffton, although no agreement has been made regarding funding the position. Even so, he emphasized the need to enforce basic Indiana building codes within the county.
The position was budgeted at a $70,000 salary. Stringer said the building inspector will likely be in the Area Plan Commission office in the Carnegie Annex.
The council also approved an additional sanitarian for the Wells County Health Department, reinstating the position after it was eliminated in December 2023. The department had originally planned to absorb the workload in light of other wage increases — that said, Stringer stated the department is now dealing with new food safety and sewer needs, as well as the significant administrative work of Health First Indiana.
The position was approved 4-2; Council members Seth Whicker, Steve Huggins, Brian Lambert and Scott Elzey voted in favor, Vicki Andrews and Brandon Harnish voted against, and Todd Mahnensmith was not present at the time.
Sheriff’s camera request rejected
After some contention on the matter between council members and Sheriff Scott Holliday, the council rejected Holliday’s request for funding the continued use of license plate reading cameras.
In January, Holliday purchased Flock Safety cameras through the jail’s commissary fund, which he oversees. They are positioned to read incoming vehicles at the county line on State Roads 1, 124 and 224.
Holliday previously said he had done this to avoid using taxpayer dollars on equipment he was testing out, not to circumvent the County Council. Having found value in the cameras, Holliday included them in his budget for 2025.
“I think there’s some merit to having the Flock cameras and am not going to argue against the merits of that,” Huggins said. “However, I did not like how that was presented … He made a unilateral decision to do that.”
“I think the Sheriff did a real service to the taxpayer by funding these through commissary, and credit to him for that, and I wouldn’t want to take that away from him,” Harnish added. “We’ll let him continue to do that favor to the taxpayer.”
Holliday stated last week that he could continue to fund the software through the commissary fund, but the fund is not a guaranteed income.
The council also rejected Holliday’s request for two additional jail staff, citing that the jail has not maintained a full staff already and the jail population has remained lower.
County considers
downsizing
Community Corrections
Community Corrections had not made significant requests in their proposed budgets, and the council did not discuss the budget at length last week. On Tuesday, however, Harnish raised questions about the number of staff in the department and the county’s budget for these positions.
This sentiment was echoed by several other board members, who indicated that the department has double the capacity for the people they serve. Executive Director Blake Poindexter had previously stated there would be employees soon retiring — on Tuesday, Harnish stated these positions should not be replaced if the numbers don’t support them.
“I’ve arrived at the point where there should not be one penny of county money going to this,” Harnish said. “It should be funded entirely through project income.”
Whicker encouraged the council not to jump on a big change so quickly, saying, “Why don’t we spend some time next year getting to the bottom of what we need to do there? Because I don’t just want to gut the whole thing until we have a replacement of sort.”
Mahnensmith further noted that some aspects of the courts have changed over the years, and he didn’t want the council to act rashly when trends could change. Harnish serves on the board for Community Corrections but stated he was “very new” to it and that it would be worthwhile to revisit the matter next year.
Council compromises
with Prosecutor’s Office
Prosecutor Colin Andrews asked the county to increase its support of two paralegals in the civil division from half-salary to full salary. The positions have been supported through an Incentive Fund, but the fund will not be able to sustain both positions for more than several years in the future.
That said, the council was not ready to jump fully into supporting both positions. Instead, they agreed to support one position outright and the other at 50% and re-evaluate in the future. Andrews also requested to increase a $750 stipend for these positions to $2,500, which was rejected.
Meanwhile, the Probation Department requested a new vehicle with plans to give their old vehicle to the Prosecutor’s Office. The council supported the new vehicle purchase but said the old vehicle should be traded in. At large, the council expressed a desire to re-evaluate which departments needed vehicles and which could reimburse for mileage.
County employees get a 3% raise
The council voted 6-1 in favor of a 3% cost of living raise for all county employees, citing the same raise was being given by the Purdue Extension office and the state of Indiana. Furthermore, Whicker believed this was comparable to what the city of Bluffton intends to give employees.
This would also be in addition to the pay matrix, which gives a 0.5% raise for every year an employee works for the county until 20 years. Huggins clarified that this raise would not affect former health officer Dr. Kay Johnson’s compensation, as she continues what would have been her term as consultant to the county.
Harnish was the sole vote against the raise, referencing his concerns with the Community Corrections budget. He said would’ve been in favor of a 4% raise had it not been for Community Corrections.
The council also approved a 3% raise for their board pay 5-2; Whicker, Andrews, Lambert, Mahnensmith, Harnish and Elzey voted in favor, and Huggins voted against.
The council members largely agreed they weren’t personally wanting a raise, but felt that it was needed to attract future members since the council has not consistently taken a raise in previous years. Huggins and Elzey clarified that the compensation had to be accepted, but could be donated.
holly@news-banner.com
