Jeffersonville’s J.B. Ogle Animal Shelter payments in question

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July 10, 2012

Jeffersonville’s J.B. Ogle Animal Shelter payments in question

Clark County Sheriff looking to replace old police cars

By BRADEN LAMMERS braden.lammers@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Tue Jul 10, 2012, 06:18 AM EDT

JEFFERSONVILLE — Back-and-forth on who will foot the bill for various county costs continued between the Clark County Council and the Clark County Commissioners on Monday night.

The first expense brought to the council was money owed to Jeffersonville’s J.B. Ogle Animal Shelter, which had twice been requested of the commissioners. At the commissioners meeting June 21, the county executives told Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore they would pay the bill if the county council would appropriate the money. They said it was cut out of their budget by the county council.

Moore attended Monday’s meeting and asked the council to make the payment that has gone unpaid for three years. The annual payment totals $66,150.

Moore had previously agreed to absolve the county of one year’s payment if the other two years were paid, but on Monday said that deal is no longer available to the county.

“The deal’s off the table,” he said. “The county sat around an blew it and the puppies need to be fed.”

He said the animal shelter is owed a total of $198,450.

However, when presented with the request, the council said they could not approve it by submitting a claim, only that they can appropriate money to a fund.

County Councilman Brian Lenfert said that money was appropriated for this year.

“I think that payment has previously been paid out of contract services,” he said. “We did not cut the commissioners’ budget in the contract services line item.”

After searching through a stack of budget documents, Lenfert said the commissioners had submitted a request of $354,000 in the contract services budget and that was the same amount that was approved. He continued that a line-item for the animal shelter had been built into that fund.

“The city of Jeff[ersonville] animal shelter is on here for $66,150,” Lenfert said. “I’m not going to tell the commissioners what claims they approve, because that’s not our responsibility. There is a line item that they submitted that includes money for the animal shelter.”

He added that he was uncertain if the line item was included in the 2010 and 2011 budgets.

Another request made by the commissioners to pay $25,000 out of the county’s IT fund was denied by a vote of 2-5, with Councilmen Perry Smith and Kevin Vissing voting for the measure.

The bill is owed to Owen’s Communications, who installed two-way radios in all of the Highway Department vehicles in order to comply with a state mandate.

“Should that not be funded through the highway funds?” asked Council President Barbara Hollis.

The council members voting against the payment agreed and said the payment could be made out of the county’s highway fund or out of the commissioners’ cumulative capital fund.

In addition, a request of $48,514 out of the IT fund for contract services that had been tabled at the council’s June meeting failed for lack of a second.

Police expenses

Clark County Sheriff Danny Rodden was on-hand to ask the council for an additional appropriation and offer the county’s fiscal body some good news on savings.

Rodden said a company he hired to examine medical claims — Correctional Risk Services — for inmates, had saved the county $24,622 in the first six months of the year.

He also asked the council for money to replace aging police cars, all of which were purchased at least five years ago.

“Our vehicle situation at the county sheriff’s office is getting kind of serious,” Rodden said. “Last year we spent $100,000 on vehicle maintenance.”

He offered that he could purchase 16 Dodge Chargers for a total of about $400,000 at $8,000 per month, for five years.

“I haven’t addressed trying to get a better package for that ... but I’m willing to come up with $4,000 of that a month out of my commissary fund to pay for the vehicles,” Rodden said.

He asked the council if they could cover the remaining costs.

Rodden added that this was the initial step in looking to replace some aging vehicles and he would continue to suss out a better deal.

“I think we’re looking at dangerous situations with some of our vehicles out on the roadway,” he said. “And again, we’re just paying a lot of money for vehicle maintenance.”