Fayette County approves two part-time community corrections hires as director warns of 9% grant cut

Fayette County meeting — The board approved hiring two part-time community corrections employees and authorized an IT software renewal while hearing that statewide grant funding for community corrections will be reduced.

Steve Phils, representing Community Corrections, asked the board for permission to hire two part-time staff to handle GPS tracking, cross-training and some case-management duties. Phils said the hires are a response to reduced funding: “we got cut 9%,” he said, adding that the separate jail-treatment grant he had written — “that was a $60,000 grant” locally — was eliminated statewide. Phils told the board the Department of Corrections cut its community corrections budget “from 72,000,000 to 65 approximately,” a decline he described as a little over 7 percent overall.

The board voted to approve the community corrections hiring request. The motion to approve the two part-time positions for Michelle Colwell and Clara Judd was made by Tracy, seconded by Dale, and passed with three ayes.

Phils said the cuts are forcing his office to rely more on part-time staff for the near term; he described typical part-time schedules as varying week-to-week (examples given: 16 to 24 hours, with occasional use up to 40 hours, but not routinely scheduled at 30 hours so employees would not be reclassified as full time). He said some local grant-funded programs used far larger budgets in other counties — “some counties were using about 275,000 a year for [jail] treatment” — and that the statewide changes will require internal shuffling and conversations with staff nearing retirement to avoid layoffs.

IT director Michael King presented a separate item: a support and software-renewal invoice for digital court-recording (DCR) software for the circuit and superior courts. King cited line items of $525 and $475 for license/support services and said the total vendor charge for BIS Digital came to $2,000. The board moved to approve payment; the motion by Dale, seconded by Tracy, passed unanimously.

Other business included a roads report and administrative items. County road staff reported chip-and-seal work on about 20.5 miles last week and roughly 3,100 tons of gravel placed on county roads; crews will continue brushing and patch-paving as hot-mix supplies become available. The board tabled a surveyor request to seek an additional appropriation (cheapest quote cited at about $2,600) for new office furniture until staff check for available surplus furniture. The board also approved a replacement contract with the clerk’s postage-meter provider.

The meeting adjourned after routine business. The board did not take any action on veterans training funding described later in the meeting; a speaker warned that the Indianapolis war memorial is losing state funding and that required training may need new locations.

What’s next: The board will follow up on the furniture-appropriation request after staff check surplus inventory, and community corrections will proceed with hiring the approved part-time employees while adjusting operations to the reduced grant award.