BEDFORD – The Lawrence County Council approved multiple appropriations and transfers during their meeting Tuesday night.
Holly Edwards from the Lawrence County Health Department presented the budget from the trust account and the Local Health Maintenance account to the Council. The trust account was $34,880.39 and the Maintenance account was at $56,149. The Council approved the budget for the Health Department.
Edwards also requested two additional tranfers from the health fund set at $10,000 each. One was from a septic bond that was cashed and will be distributed to any affected parties. Installers are required to apply for bonds to work in the state of Indiana. The bond is for any potential problematic issues with the work, the money will be cashed and used to help pay for any repairs needed due to damage.
The othere additional $10,000 is to help clean up the negative balance of the Health Insurance fund. With prices rising every year, the set amount may not be able to fulfil the total used. Both additionals were approved by the council.
Superior Court II Judge Robert Cline requested four transfers to pay down and keep his expenditures down to stay on top of them in case of any lump sums left over. He requested a transfer of $2,500 from Postage, $100 from travel expenses, $1,685.31 from Meals and $200 from Law books for a total of $4,485.31 to be transferred out. The council approved the transfers.
Sheriff Mike Branham then spoke to the council in regards to the 2022 Edward Burnham Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program to address training concerns and mandates from House Enrolled act 1006. This program requires officers to train de-escalation and intervening techniques without the use of force. Sheriff Branham asked for the approval to use the grant to acquire an updated policy manual for the jail, as the last update was in 2013. This was approved by the council.
Sheriff Branham also asked to take one full-time Corps Security position, and make it into two part-time positions at an $18/hour position. This process called to amend the ordinance, and will await passage in December.
Sheriff Branham had additional appropriations of $5690 for meals, $1,436 for damage to a building by an inmate, and $1,007 from advanced medical from co-pays for inmates who needed medical services. These were also approved by the council.
Lawrence County Highway Superintendent David Holmes requested MBA Restricted transfers of $15,000 for truck driver wages, $5,000 for operator wages, $5,000 for retirement and $25,000 for insurance services. Holmes also requested an additional appropriation of $60,000 for Bridge 150 on Mill Creek Road. The transfers and appropriation were approved.
Nedra Brock-Fleetwood from Probation asked for the approval of the Justice Service Grant from the Indiana office court services for the pre-trial release program. The grant is typically a two year grant, but has been extended as pre-trials are required for all cases now. The total of the grant was $60,000 and was approved by the Council.
Public Defender Bruce Andis asked for a transfer of $30,000 from the full-time public defender payroll to contract services due to special fees from a previous case. The council approved the transfer.
Finally, Chad Shew from Community Corrections requested the approval of a grant from the state of $10,000. This grant is awarded yearly to corrections and had $2,344 left over from the previous year. Shew asked the council to approve the grant total of $12,344 as the new total for the next year. The council approved the request.
