Judicial Center Updates, Repair Approved

 

By David Fenker

david@nmpaper.com

 

WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – County Coordinator/HR Director Jim Dils normally doesn’t bring much before the county commissioners.

At the commissioners’ Dec. 18 meeting, however, Dils had four items regarding the Wabash County Judicial Center that needed action by the commissioners: Phase Two of the building’s WiFi update, a new workstation for the Superior Court, replacement of the south door and removal of large bookshelves from the room used for day reporting.

“We’d now like to implement Phase Two, which would service the second floor of the Judicial Center,” Dils said.

“The reason for the change being, namely, the location of day reporting on second floor, and also Judge Cornell is redesigning… some of the operation, in the use of technology, of the Superior Court, and has also requested it.”

He had a quote of $1,311.24 to install an access point on the second floor, which he said was about one-third of the previous WiFi cost, to install one on the third floor for Phase One.

The commissioners unanimously approved the request.

“The next item also involves a request from Superior Court,” Dils said.

“The Council approved the addition of a third person to their office, but they have no data line and no workstations budgeted.”

Dils requested a data line and phone for the new Superior Court employee, at a cost of $945.87 through Intrasect Technologies.

“So the other components of the workstation are not requested?” Commissioner Barry Eppley asked.

Dils responded that the worker has yet to be hired, and the remaining workstation materials are not yet a concern, but they are looking at current inventory to source items for the workstation.

The commissioners unanimously approved this request also, noting that it would come from the county’s phone line item in the budget.

Dils’s third request was to purchase a new south door for the Judicial Center from Urbana-based Specialty Entrance Technologies.

“That door is failing. It is continually having to be adjusted and pried back into place, and sometimes it’s binding, which makes it very difficult to open,” Dils said.

The new, painted steel door, utilizing existing hardware, will cost the county $1,042.59 from its repair line item.

This also was unanimously approved.

The fourth request regarding the Judicial Center also comes from the Probation Department and the day reporting program.

“Probation has requested that [a large shelving structure] be removed. It’s not practical; it doesn’t allow for supervision of the instructor in that room because it’s a big barrier,” Dils said.

“Everything that was on those middle shelves… was either moved to a higher level so the students could use the shelves basically as a mini-desk, or moved to the bookcase on the sides of the room.

“[The room] was designed when the building was built for the purpose of using it as a library. Most of those records and resources as available digitally.”

He requested permission to remove the shelves, formerly used as a bookcase, and guidance on how to go about the removal, noting that the shelves are tall, heavy, wooden ones.

This request brought up an issue recently addressed by the commissioners, that the Highway Department has been doing work for other county departments without explicit authorization on the record from the commissioners.

Eppley noted that they are “being more attentive to that authorization,” and the board unanimously voted to authorize the Highway Department to assist with the shelf relocation, relocation of file cabinets from the jail basement and shredding various documents, all upcoming projects.

The commissioners also signed a memorandum of understanding with United Way for the 2-1-1 service, at an under-budget cost of $1,094.31. County Auditor Marcie Shepherd said that Steve Downs, county attorney, approved the memorandum, and that United Way would send a service contract after receiving the signed memorandum.

Additionally, Sheriff Bob Land delivered the weekly jail report, saying that the Wabash County Jail housed 82 inmates, with an additional 41 being held in Miami County, one in Elkhart County and three in Blackford County, for a total of 127 as of Monday, Dec. 18. Of those, 19 were new book-ins.

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