A sparse crowd attended the first Starke County Jail Committee informational meeting at the Knox Middle School Cafeteria last night.
Sheriff Oscar Cowen addressed the needs at the jail and County Attorney Martin Lucas spoke on the impact a class action lawsuit could have on the project as it works its way through the court system. Starke County Council President David Pearman talked about the five options the committee is discussing.
The Starke County Council approved $50,000 to fund jailers for the Starke County Jail. Initially, Sheriff Oscar Cowen was instructed by the commissioners to pull two road officers to cover the depleted jail staff, but they quickly corrected that request when Sheriff Cowen pointed out that the road officer’s pay and jailer’s pay did not match.
Starke County officials are being faced with a philosophical dilemma. They are being asked to either reduce the sheriff’s road officers or keep the jail understaffed.
“I’m here to let you know that I’ll do whatever the Commissioners and Council ask me to do, but I do want them to understand is that in order for me to eliminate two road officers, I would have to lay them off,” said Sheriff Cowen. “I can’t just place them down in the jail and subtract their pay to jailer’s pay. I can put them in the jail, but I would have to pay them officer’s pay.”
Starke County government officials endorsed a comprehensive jail review last night that will end with a decision on what to do about the 33-year-old facility.
Commissioner Kathy Norem presented to the county officials in attendance findings from a recent jail conference attended by a five person committee from Starke County. Norem said this is a thorough review of all of the options available.
Are the taxpayers in the mood to consider some expensive building programs in the near future? The Knox Community School Corporation has a committee put together to consider remodeling the Palmer Wing at the Elementary building, the Starke County Library Board wants to remodel a portion of the Henry F. Schricker Branch Library and the County Commissioners are still considering a new or remodeled county jail.
The Starke County Commissioners toured the LaGrange County Jail last week. Commissioner Kathy Norem, who is the contact official for the jail, said the LaGrange facility was older than the other three they have visited. Earlier they went to the Marshall, Jasper, and Fulton County jails.
One of the advances the LaGrange County Jail did not have was video conferencing.
Starke County Commissioner Kathy Norem will lead a delegation from the County to the National Institute of Corrections Conference in Colorado. The conference, transportation, and lodging is paid by the Institute.
Joining Norem on the trip will be Starke County Councilman David Pearman, Sheriff Oscar Cowen, Jail Commander Greg Hewitt, and Chief Deputy Bill Dulin.
Starke County Commissioner Kathy Norem described the jail tour made by the Commissioners last week as worthwhile. The Commissioners and Sheriff Oscar Cowen toured the Marshall and Miami County jails and although both used the same “footprint”, Marshall County rolled more equipment into their bond issue.
Norem wanted it known that the trip was not made because of the Jack Haut class action suit against the County, claiming deplorable conditions in the Starke County Jail.
Sheriff Oscar Cowen approached the Starke County Commissioners on Monday to look into the possibility of increasing fees for some of the services they provide. Currently, Starke County charges significantly less for services compared to other counties in the area, and Cowen feels that implementing new fees and raising current prices could help with budget problems they’ve been experiencing.
The pension fund for the Starke County Sheriff’s Department has received its necessary fund transfer, thanks to Sheriff Oscar Cowen and the County Council. At their joint meeting with the Commissioners, Cowen asked for $108,514.32 to be transferred to the Sheriff’s Pension Fund. This transfer has been requested annually for several years.
“We call it the riverboat money. It comes in, it goes into an account. The only way it can come out of that account is the sheriff has to ask for it. And if the sheriff doesn’t ask for it, it can’t be taken out,” said Commissioner Dan Bridegroom.
The national average of a gallon of regular gasoline is over the $4.00 mark and that hurts the pocketbook of all consumers in the United States. It also affects the fuel line item in County, City and Town budgets.
Starke County Sheriff, Oscar Cowen, told WKVI that the Sheriff’s Department staff is keeping an eye on the prices, but services to the citizens will not diminish because gas prices are high. He said that when we saw a spike in prices in 2008, the Sheriff’s Department made it through and hopes to come within the fuel budget this time around.
After not running in the 2010 Starke County Primary Election, Gordon Richie was drafted by the Starke County Republican party to be its candidate in the election. In August, Richie was disqualified after the Election Board voted 2-1 that he did not properly file his candidacy in a timely manner.
