By JESSICA BRICKER
A request from officials in Adams County to duplicate public transit services there have been put on hold for now.
The “bi-county transportation” request came before commissioners Mike Vanover, Blake Gerber and Jeff Stringer this week. County Attorney Colin Andrews said the adjacent county wants to start offering services similar to “Wells on Wheels” under Wells County’s umbrella and the local Council on Aging. The current services are funded through grants, and if approved, the grants that Wells receives could be increased to offer services in Adams County.
It would require the participation of the councils of aging in both counties, as well as both counties’ councils and boards of commissioners. An interlocal agreement is in the works and Adams County officials hadn’t voted on it yet, Andrews said.
“This will benefit Adams County,” Andrews said. “This is going to them.”
The need is there, Andrews added, noting Adams County Attorney Mark Burry had done a great job trying to put all the moving parts together and sending information to Andrews for review — but there has been no other direct communication about the request with the commissioners in Wells County.
Meanwhile, the deadline is prior to the next Wells County commissioners meeting.
Stringer said he was not in favor of supporting the request at this time. They haven’t heard from Adams County officials about it in months and the burden and risk are on Wells County to make it happen at this point, he said.
Gerber said he’s had some conversations about it and he wanted to see more paperwork before voting. He also noted that no one from Adams County was at Monday’s meeting in support of the request.
“Blindly, I’m hesitant,” Gerber said.
Vanover agreed with Gerber, noting he was uncomfortable acting without full information in hand.
The commissioners were told the request can be tabled until next year’s grant cycle and can be reconsidered then. There was discussion about the possibility of asking for an extension of the upcoming grant deadline with the Indiana Department of Transportation to make it happen yet this year.
“I’m still of the opinion that if it was important to them, they needed us for the anchor, they would have kept us in the loop, kept it moving. They haven’t,” Stringer said. “Now we’re at the 11th hour, trying to cram this through. It just doesn’t seem to me that there’s enough buy-in on their side to make it successful … I’d love to help them but they got to want to help themselves first.”
The commissioners did not act on the request.
jessica@news-banner.com
