Commissioners approve $19,500 for initial work on judicial center idea

With an initial study about 85% complete by the Elevatus architectural and design firm in Fort Wayne, the Adams County Commissioners voted 3-0 on May 30 to pay the company $19,000 for its work so far.

The concept, still in developmental stages, would create a county judicial center in one building, housing Adams Superior Court, the probation department, and the Community Corrections offices.

Commissioner Stan Stoppenhagen reported the 85% completion figure and said the plan is to have Elevatus finish its preliminary tasks by the end of June.

He also said there would be discussions and votes on this matter planned for June 13, a day that the commissioners and the county council meet back-toback.

Other matters:

• There was a unanimous vote to approve payment of $327,845.48 in benefits that were provided to the county government workforce as of the last pay period, although that total does not include actual pay.

• Another 3-0 vote came on paying Allied Benefit Systems $74,192.58 to cover health and pharmacy bills of county employees during the past month.

• The May report of the county animal shelter lists one cat and 11 dogs in custody, seven cats and five dogs adopted, and two cats and seven dogs disposed of.

• The May report by the county animal control officer lists three cats, six dogs, and five puppies caught during May and says the officer drove 343 miles on duty.

• A 3-0 decision was made to move the Human Resources department budget into the overall commissioners’ budget, starting next year.

• Paul Zerby, assistant highway superintendent, reported that the annual dust control spraying on gravel roads will start the week of June 5-9.

• Zerby also said he was able to buy a fouryear-old dirt loader from Mid-Atlantic Power Equipment in North Caroline for $170,000.

• County treasurer Ed Dyer reported that property tax payments “continue to roll along,” having reached 98.1% for the spring payment period, although a number of people pay the spring and fall amounts in the spring.

Dyer also said he will send information about financial planning to human resources coordinator Shannon Greene for the four banks in which the county has money deposited.

• A unanimous vote passed a resolution for a policy about granting leaves to county personnel while serving on military duty.

• Rick Burkhalter, the county’s superintendent of buildings and grounds, said rewiring of the power room in the Adams County Service Complex is underway, as is grinding down the room’s floor so it’s completely level.

• Burkhalter further said he’s received three price quotations for a backup generator to be placed in the service complex.

• A 3-0 vote approved a request for the Adams County 4-H Ambassadors to meet twice in the room at the service complex in Decatur that’s used for numerous meetings by county boards. The 4-H gatherings will be on June 29 and July 5 as planning gets going for the yearly Adams County 4-H Fair in Monroe.

Opioid Money

At the end of the meeting, Stoppenhagen said a committee involving about 10 people from various county departments dealing with the local effects of the national opioid misuse/ abuse crisis is continuing to meet to discuss how to spend two sums received from national settlement of a lawsuit against makers and distributors of opioid products.

The amounts are $116,847 in restricted-use funds and $49,820 in unrestricted-use funds.

County auditor Tony Mellencamp said the county will be receiving money from the national settlement for several years and Stoppenhagen indicated that the amounts will be less as time goes on.

There was also mention of a potential federal grant to the county health department to be used separately to help deal with opioid effects here.