JEFFERSONVILLE —  At the outset of the Clark County Commissioners meeting Thursday night, the commissioners hesitated to approve the county’s payroll because of payments being made out of the Alcohol and Drug Services fund.

Clark County Commissioner John Perkins balked at making the payment initially, but relented and agreed to approve the claims if Clark County Circuit Court No. 3 Judge Joseph Weber asks the Clark County Council for an additional appropriation out of the county’s general fund at their next meeting.

“This will be the last time I will vote to approve the payroll until those changes are made,” Perkins said.

An issue of payments being made out of the Clark County Alcohol and Drug Services fund was brought to light after a State Board of Accounts audit was released earlier this year. The state cited questionable payments made out of the fund dating back to 2008. It also said the revenue being collected in the fund should not remain in the county, but instead be sent to the state.

Weber arrived at the meeting after the commissioners approved the payroll for the county to offer an explanation of what payments are allowable out of the fund.

“Before you pull the plug and say, ‘you can’t pay any of this out of CCADS,’ according to the State Board of Accounts indeed we can pay some of it out of [the fund],” he said.

Weber explained that eight county employees’ salaries are partially paid out of the fund and he will attend the next county council meeting to provide them with the information.

“There’s actually $225,000 being paid out of that [fund]; $125,000 of those are allowable under the State Board of Accounts audit,” he said.

Weber agreed that some of the payments will come to an end, including payments to cover expenses for other county offices. The prosecutor’s office had already received money out of the Alcohol and Drug fund this year, before the State Board of Accounts had released its audit report, but he said those types of payments will not be made again.

“Some of this is no problem in the short run,” Weber said. “In the long-run the funds won’t be available anyhow, whether it’s allowable or not. As far as the new budget coming up, we’re not going to ask to do any of that.”



Permitting logging

A logging operation is underway in Clark State Forest to help clean up the damage done by the March 2 tornadoes.

However, the commissioners were concerned that the loggers did not have the required county permits to haul the timber out of the site and that damage could be done to the county’s roads.

Ray Moistner, with the Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen Association, and Michael Sedil, program manager of Hardwoods Development with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, attended the commissioners meeting to ask for a waiver of the county permit.

Permits are needed to haul up to 68,000 pounds in the county.

“The logger in this case was advised, with the way the security agreement is written, he’d be unwise to accept the type of liability he’s opening himself up to,” Moistner said.

He said in light of the emergency, and the speed in which the operation needs to be completed, that the county provide a special exemption.

“We’re asking you to do this one more time by allowing the timber salvage operation to occur without the signing of the security agreement as it is now worded,” Moistner said.

The county said there is no cost for the permits, but it would allow them to collect if there is damage to the roadway.

But the logging operation did not wait to receive the permits or work out a deal with the county, as Moistner and Sedil said they were already hauling logs out of the site.

“It does concern me that you’ve been doing this for two weeks without a permit,” Perkins said.

And the plan is to continue the operation while the county, state and the loggers work out a deal.

“So, do I understand you then that you’re going to continue to log for the next two weeks without a permit?” Perkins asked.

“That was our intention, yes,” Sedil said.

Commissioner Les Young said at the start of the operation he notified the company that a permit was required to haul the timber on county roads.

Sedil added that if a waiver is not granted, it could shut down the logging operation, of which the county is set to receive 15 percent of the revenue from the net sale of the timber collected.

“I guess for us on the state side of it is, if they say they can’t do this and they walk away from the job, we won’t get anybody else to do it,” he said.

The commissioners agreed to try and work out a deal with the state and the logging company.



In other business:

• The commissioners approved the sale of several properties remaining from the county’s tax sale. Among those sold were property at Pratt Street in Jeffersonville for $6,100, Level Street in Charlestown for $500, property at Sportsman Drive in Jeffersonville for $2,000 and on Ind. 62 for $2,000.

“There’s only two left that we didn’t get offers on,” said Commissioners Attorney Greg Fifer.