County to return to Friday p.m. hours

Van Wert independent

It’s no joke: the furlough program for Van Wert County offices will end on April Fools’ Day. That’s good news for people who want to record a deed or obtain a vehicle title on a Friday afternoon.

It’s also good news for county employees, who will get an automatic 10-percent increase in their pay on April 1 when the furlough program ends, although the extra money is definitely not a raise, but merely the removal of a 10-percent decrease in pay resulting from the furlough program. The program called for cutting a day out of each 10-day pay period (a half-day per week) while the furlough lasted. County employees haven’t had a raise in several years because of decreases in county revenues.

The decision to end the furlough was announced Thursday morning during a meeting of county department heads and elected officials.

Reasons for ending the furlough included County Treasurer Bev Fuerst’s announcement that permissive tax revenues were up more than $119,000 over last year in just two months, while the county’s projected revenue “hit” from state cuts in local revenue funds has been estimated to be no more than 12-15 percent of the total of $640,000 – approximately $90,000 for the year.

“We had a good elected officials meeting this morning,” said Commissioner Gary Adams, in announcing the end of the volunteer furlough program. He did add, though, that county employees who want to voluntarily continue the furlough program could still do so.

Department heads also discussed the fact that new wind farms are planned for the southern portion of the county, which would bring in more revenues to the county, during the meeting Thursday morning.

Also on Thursday, the commissioners approved IV-D program contracts with the Van Wert County Department of Job and Family Services. The contracts are for legal services that have been provided by local attorney and Assistant County Prosecutor Eva Yarger for a number of years.

The commissioners also discussed the hospital property transfer agreement with Bruce Bennett, who is representing the county on that issue. Adams, who said Bennett would have a recommendation for the commissioners next week, said he feels the issue should have been resolved a long time ago.

“This thing has gone on way too long,” the commission chairman added.

If the hospital property is not formally transferred to the Van Wert County Hospital Association soon, hospital officials have considered filing a lawsuit to compel the transfer.

After a months-long process by the County Hospital Commission over whether to allow the transfer, commission members voted 4-3 to approve the transfer – although County Prosecutor Charles F. Kennedy III, the hospital commission’s legal counsel, said he didn’t think the vote was legally binding.

After Bennett and the attorneys representing the hospital stated their opinion that the vote was binding, the county commissioners unanimously voted to approve the transfer agreement.

At Thursday’s department heads meeting, Kennedy, who has been the prime mover in the campaign opposing the lease agreement, floated a new solution to the pending agreement: sell the hospital to the highest bidder.

Whether the proposal will receive much support remains to be seen — especially since it would likely lead to the loss of local control of the hospital.