Talk of the Town - Whitley County

(Talk of the Town photo by Jennifer Zartman Romano) County commissioners, from left, Tom Rethlake, Mike Schrader and Don Amber listened to a variety of requests Tuesday afternoon. 

By Jennifer Zartman Romano

Whitley County Sheriff Mark Hodges appeared before the county commissioners Tuesday in hopes of securing approval to buy three new vehicles for the department this year.

“There will not be any new additions to the fleet – just replacing the old with the new,” Hodges said. Regarding the three oldest and high mileage vehicles, Hodges said, “They’re about the highest mileage we like to put out there.”

Hodges’ plan is to take three of the highest mile vehicles out of daily use and move those into use by reserve deputies. From there, three of the very oldest or in once case, less needed vehicles, would then potentially be sold at the county auction or could be allocated to other uses by the county.

The “less needed” vehicle is a 1990 Dodge van formerly used by the Whitley County Drug Task force. Once outfitted with the latest technology, the vehicle is now outdated and Hodges feels the cost of updated it would not be a good use of county funds. “There is no reason right now to have a vehicle like that,” Hodges said.

Hodges hopes to use the $80,000 to purchase a Crown Victoria, an additional Ford Explorer for crime scene investigation and possibly a Dodge. Each of the vehicles, he said, would be fully-equipped.

Commissioners Tom Rethlake and Don Amber both asked whether local car dealerships were involved in the bid process to sell vehicles to the Sheriff’s Department.

“I appreciate trying to stay at home as much as you can on this,” said Amber. “I think it should be right that everyone in our area, especially in our county, should get to bid.”

The commissioners agreed to recommend the purchase to the Whitley County Council.

In other matters:

Dan Weigold brought forth a request to find $7,500 worth of funds to pay for the services of an attorney to address drainage concerns. According to Weigold, $15,000 worth of fees were exhausted in 2008, depleting budgeted funds to cover such expenses.

“We have some drainage issues coming up where an attorney is extremely necessary, Weigold said.

The request will be forwarded to Whitley County Council.

County coordinator Amy Crickmore recommended that Lifeworks counseling service be added as another option for county employees seeking counseling services. Crickmore asked that they continue to keep Family Care Center on the list of providers as well.

“At least this gives employees a couple of options,” said commissioner Mike Schrader.

Commissioners then signed a one-year contract with Lifeworks counseling service.

Commissioners briefly discussed the purchase of backup batteries for county-owned computers. The estimated cost was $69 per battery and $80 for installation.

The commissioners were unsure how to proceed and were unsure how many computers would be in need of backup batteries.

“Does every computer need one if we have backup on the server somewhere,” Amber asked, requesting that the number of batteries be determined before considering the matter further.

Commissioners also approved use of the Whitley County Courthouse square for the annual Junior Achievement Car Show on August 1.