Vanderburgh County council approves a string of personnel moves, backs prosecutor pay step and tables $50,000 Junior Achievement request

Vanderburgh County council and commissioners approved several personnel requests, budget transfers and appropriation items during their regular meeting, and voted to table a $50,000 request from Junior Achievement while officials and some council members questioned using unrestricted opioid funds for the grant.

The council unanimously approved a motion to allow the prosecutor’s office to hire a recommended deputy prosecutor and start the new hire at a higher pay step than entry level. The prosecutor told the council the candidate has seven years’ experience, including work at the Department of Child Services and trial experience, and that the office is facing a wave of retirements that would leave it short on trial-ready attorneys. “I’m actually, you know, pretty concerned with the fact that we have a large part of our staff that’s set to retire, in the next few years,” the prosecutor said during discussion.

The prosecutor asked the council to start the candidate at step 3 (instead of step 1). Council members debated stepping the hire to step 2 as a cost compromise; the prosecutor and several commissioners argued parity with existing staff and the immediate need to try complex child-abuse and felony cases made a higher step necessary. The motion to approve the request as presented carried on voice vote.

County officials also approved multiple routine personnel requests for county departments by voice vote, including personnel requests from the sheriff’s office (two personnel items labeled A1 and A2), the surveyor’s office to fill two openings, the assessor’s office to fill a vacancy, the public defender’s office, legal aid funding, and funding for local public health services items (WIC and community health worker lines). The council approved hiring Jeff Bird to fill a county highway/gara ge supervisory vacancy and accepted a request to fill an administrative case manager position in electronic home detention funded by program user fees.

The sheriff and jail drew specific attention for budget increases tied to overtime. The sheriff explained that a prolonged vendor delay on a major jail door- and camera-control modernization forced jail staff to operate on manual keys for an extended period, sharply increasing overtime. The sheriff said the vendor missed timetables, the vendor was replaced for the expansion work, and the county will ask the building authority attorney to review contracts for possible remedies. The council approved a county appropriation for sheriff overtime and a separate jail appropriation for shift-differential and overtime on voice votes.

The sheriff told council members the new jail expansion will add roughly 172 beds, including a mental-health unit and substance-abuse unit. County staff estimated operating the new facility would add roughly $1 million to $1.1 million annually (including employee health insurance) if the new jail were operated for a full year; the county said ramp-up hiring would begin after mid-2026 and likely the new facility would come online in late 2026 or early 2027.

On community funding, County Commissioners presented a one-time request to use unrestricted opioid settlement funds to contribute $50,000 toward a Junior Achievement capital campaign for a planned east-side JA Discovery Center that would serve multiple counties. Several council members expressed support for Junior Achievement’s education work but questioned the fit with opioid-settlement spending and the precedent of using the relatively small unrestricted opioid bucket for a capital campaign. A motion to table the request and invite JA to present details was approved; the item will return at a later meeting with a presentation requested by the council.

Other fiscal actions approved included: a roughly $166,148 contractual-services opioid-related appropriation (approved), transfers for the sheriff and jail and other departmental transfers approved together, and a $90,000 Cumberland/Clydes Road bridge (QBridge) transfer approved. The council also approved an ordinance (CO808-25-014) to suspend hiring in some cases with an exception for court intake-assessment officers; that ordinance passed on a unanimous roll-call vote (7–0).

Council and county staff repeatedly emphasized the tight budget outlook for 2026. County officials said some budgets were held flat or reduced where possible and that many contractual or payroll-driven increases will absorb most available new funds. The county controller and department directors told members they were identifying one-time savings and pushing nonessential hires to manage a looming roughly $3 million shortfall in 2026 projections.

Votes at a glance: the council approved minutes and multiple departmental personnel requests (sheriff A1 & A2, surveyor vacancy fills, assessor vacancy, public defender, legal aid, local public health service items F & G, county highway vacancy), approved prosecutor’s step-3 starting salary request as submitted, approved jail and sheriff overtime appropriations, approved the opioid contractual-services appropriation ($166,148), approved transfers including a $90,000 culvert/bridge item, and unanimously approved ordinance CO808-25-014 (hiring-suspension procedures with court exceptions). The Junior Achievement $50,000 request was tabled for a formal presentation to the council.

Council members asked for follow-up briefings on several items: legal review of the jail vendor contract and any potential remedies, a detailed cost and staffing timeline for operating the new jail, and a presentation by Junior Achievement explaining how a capital gift from unrestricted opioid funds would relate to opioid-prevention objectives. Officials said some of those briefings will be scheduled in coming meetings as the council begins formal 2026 budget hearings.