The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 23 untabled and approved a mileage travel reimbursement request from Purdue Extension, authorizing up to $14,000 to streamline employee travel reimbursements.

The chair described the request as "an administrative function" intended to remove an intermediary step in reimbursing employees for travel across the county. "It has a maximum, expenditure of $14,000," the chair said during the discussion.

The board first voted to untable the item and then voted to approve the mileage request. The motions were moved and seconded and recorded as carried following roll call; commissioners present who were referenced in the roll calls included Hazen, Dunton and Banksmeyer.

According to the discussion on the floor, the change is administrative rather than programmatic; the transcript does not include additional details such as the precise reimbursement rates, the period covered by the authorization or a detailed line-item budget. No dissent or amendments were recorded.

Next steps: county finance staff will implement the administrative change and process reimbursements under the approved authorization; specific procedures and effective dates were not provided during the meeting.