By David Fenker
david@nmpaper.com
WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – After more than two years of searching, the county commissioners approved the purchase of a new home for the county coroner’s office.
Commissioner Barry Eppley announced the purchase near the end of the commissioner’s Monday, Aug. 27, meeting.
“Over the past several months, we’ve been working to establish a workspace for the coroner,” he said, “and at this time we need to make a purchase of a building for the workspace of the coroner.”
Eppley motioned to purchase 443 McCarty St. in Wabash for $73,000, requesting an additional $5,000 for purchase-related costs.
“We’ll present to county council this evening, just to inform them of what we’ve decided,” he said. “Next will be making arrangements to get the coroner’s equipment moved into the building. The building is 1,800 square feet – quite small, but a little larger than absolutely necessary for the coroner.”
The facility will include space for autopsies and body storage, as well as an office and records storage space.
“We’ve learned lately that we need to be more diligent in providing a space for the coroner to work through and make sure that there’s a place to do the business,” Eppley said, referencing a pending official misconduct charge against former coroner Carol (Whitesel) Nose, arrested in early August for allegedly failing to turn over official documents when she left office.
The purchase comes two months after the council council rejected a $1 million proposal to purchase a facility to house the coroner and the county health department, and possibly bringing in a drug rehabilitation program as well.
According to Commissioner Scott Givens, the commissioners brought the topic before the council due to council concerns about the project.
“That was a courtesy; we didn’t really have to ask them. We’re in charge of buying buildings, not them,” Givens said. “Since we were trying to a lot of different things there with the health department moving, a drug rehab situation – and we talked to council enough, we knew they had a problem with it.”
Since May, the county has reviewed a number of factors about the coroner’s situation, including whether other offices should be located in the same facility.
“We’re glad to have a specific location,” Eppley said, “but the delay was not all bad … I think we’re ending up with as good of a solution as what we brought in May.
“This is a coroner’s space only; it doesn’t address the other issues that we were attempting to solve with the other project, so we will still need to be working on the health department relocation, and the drug treatment will be set aside for the time being.”
Coroner Suzie Lewis will be able to move in as soon as the county closes on the property.
“We will have to do a little modification to the building,” Eppley said, “… but it’s essentially ready to go.
“She could actually move in once closing occurs in early to mid-September. The work won’t be done before then, but she’ll be able to start placing and planning in more detail almost immediately.”
Other news from the commissioners’ meeting included a proposal from County Treasurer LuAnn Layman to accept credit card payments, and the weekly jail report from Wabash County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Tyler Guenin.
Layman presented an agreement to receive credit card payments both in-office and online. She said that there will be a 2.75 percent fee associated with each transaction, but $3.95 per transaction for Visa debit cards.
“We would like to have it implemented this fall,” Layman said.
Givens noted that the flat fee for Visa debit cards seemed odd, and requested that Layman research that further.
“You need to double check that,” Givens said. “I don’t want to end up on the short end of the stick if someone comes in and pays $10,000 in property taxes …”
County Attorney Steve Downs also expressed concern about that part of the contract, and said that he would work with Layman to further review the contract.
Eppley said that the commissioners would consider approving the idea once the contract was ready.
Guenin said that Wabash County Jail had 93, with 44 in Miami County, three in Blackford County and six in Elkhart County.