CLARK COUNTY —
The Clark County Council on Monday night approved funding for a Crisis Intervention Team grant, which includes $42,500 for a salary ordinance. All of the funding, $59,000, is coming from a grant from the Burn Foundation through the Criminal Justice Institute of Indiana and will not cost the county any money.
The grant will go toward paying the salary of a manager of the program for one year — as well as office supplies — to implement the team. It will provide training for police officers and other first responders in dealing with individuals with mental health issues and developing a protocol.
Training will allow for officers to transport nonviolent or misdemeanor offenders to a hospital instead of placing them in jail if it is determined they are suffering from a mental health issue.
Clark County Circuit Court Judge Dan Moore has been working to introduce the program designed to help individuals with mental disorders to receive treatment for minor offenses committed, rather than being placed in county jail.
The program will provide training and cover the costs for the program, which is only scheduled to last one year.
LANDFILL EXPANSION
The council unanimously approved the appropriation ordinance — 4-2011 — for a $9.1 million bond that will pay for the expansion of the Clark-Floyd Counties Landfill.
The previous council approved the funding for the bond during its December meeting, but did not approve the appropriation ordinance at that time.
The funding will pay for an expansion at the landfill off Ind. 60 that is expected to add 5 million tons of capacity and includes adding a new perimeter wall. By allowing the expansion, which will be vertical in nature, the landfill would add 20 years to its capacity, according to project planners. With the passage of the ordinance, the county can seek the loan, but it will not likely be secured until summer or fall, said Greg Fifer, attorney for the Clark County Commissioners.
The expansion planned at the landfill is expected to be completed in two phases. The first stage would pay for $1.3 million of engineering and planning costs and with the second stage, construction is scheduled to begin in 2012. Estimated construction costs for the actual improvements are about $6.7 million.
There is a provision in the bond agreement a the landfill cannot cover its bond payments there is a taxpayer backup.
Bond payments are estimated to be $745,700 annually and officials with the landfill have said end-of-year balances over the last three years have ranged from $900,000 to $2.2 million.
Also, built into the bond agreement is a one-year payment that must be set aside in the event of a shortfall, so the landfill would have time devise a solution before the taxpayer backup would kick in.
IN OTHER BUSINESS
• Councilman Brian Lenfert introduced revising the county’s salary matrix. He presented to other council members, and received their allowance to continue pursuing, a plan to shift the county’s payment plan away from a longevity and seniority-based pay.
Instead, Lenfert said he would like to move the county to a performance-based raise and pay scale. The plan is in its beginning stages, but would allow the department heads greater flexibility in awarding pay for merit, he said.
• An additional appropriation out of Clark County Superior Court No. 3’s alcohol and drug services fund in the amount of $40,000 was unanimously approved by the council. The payment will go to the county’s information technology department to keep the courthouse computer programming operational.
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Clark County Council approves money for Crisis Intervention Team
It also allows an examination of the county’s salary matrix
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