RICHMOND, Ind. — The city of Richmond and Wayne County government are collaborating to eliminate eyesore mobile homes from a U.S. 35 property.

Decaying mobile homes, including one that's totally collapsed, occupy the 3-acre plot on the southwest corner where Salisbury Road runs into U.S. 35 in Webster Township. Trash, tires and weeds also help make the property, which is north of Richmond Mobile Home Park, an eyesore.

Wayne County Council on Wednesday appropriated $16,000 to pay for half the estimated $32,000 cleanup cost. Richmond has agreed to split the expense, with a slim piece of the property in the city.

"We were very pleased with the city saying it would pay half," Commissioner Ken Paust told council. "We are at a point where I think government has to take responsibility to clean it up."

Palm Harbor Villages Inc. owns the property, according to the county's property records. It owes $1,800.89 in property taxes for the past two years. Paust said the absentee owner lives in Arizona and has been selling the property on contract to an individual currently in prison.

The property will likely end up in a commissioners deed sale, where, when cleaned up it could and with its U.S. 35 location, it could attract a buyer. A lien for the cleanup costs would be placed on the property's sale.

Council members questioned if VIN numbers could be used to track the abandoned mobile homes' owners to hold them accountable. Paust said that even if found those owners would likely refuse to do anything.

"This we feel is the best solution," Paust said. "You have two governments cooperating."

There then was a moment of levity: Paust added, "We strongly suggest you take our outstanding auditor and find $16,000."

Council President Beth Leisure responded: "She's outstanding, but she's not magic."

Auditor Kimberly Walton did then find a solution that council unanimously approved. A transfer of $11,000 will be taken from unused unemployment compensation funds and paired with the $5,000 already in the unsafe building fund to cover the county's share.

The $16,000 was just some of the money Paust requested from council during Wednesday night's workshop.

Commissioners spoke with Doug Pope of SBS Portals during their afternoon session about scanning and digitizing county clerk's records. An initial test project involving two rooms of stored records has been completed, and Pope was in Richmond working with the clerk's staff Wednesday.

Commissioners and Clerk Debbie Berry are pleased with the scanning process and the resulting online portal where records are accessed, so commissioners are ready to proceed with all the clerk's records. SBS Portals quoted $1,082,000 for the remaining records, and Pope said the project would take 24 months.

At council, commissioners and council members discussed using American Rescue Plan Act dollars to pay that tab. If SBS Portals begins in October, the county would owe approximately $135,250 for 2022's final three months. Council delayed action for commissioners to present a final plan for how much should be appropriated, possibly $150,000 to ensure having enough, and from what funds.

Council also appropriated $118,686.46 from the cumulative capital projects fund to replace the jail's uninterruptible power supply backup. The backup ensures key systems, such as door locks, operate seamlessly during the gap between a power outage and the jail's generator reaching full power. The UPS system has failed, and temporary fixes are currently in place.

Commissioners opened four bids Wednesday morning and, during the afternoon, awarded Bader Services the bid. The bids ranged from $74,250.82 to $126,628.54, but the lowest bid did not include installation. Bader also submitted the highest bid that included batteries that the jail already has on hand.

Paust also presented council with a $40,565.08 shortfall in the worker's compensation payout fund. The county received an August bill for $90,920.54 and had only $50,355.46 remaining in the fund.

Council will run the account into the red through the next three months and make a one-time transfer during December to cover the accumulated expenses. Beginning Jan. 1, the county enters into a fully insured worker's compensation program.

Sheriff Randy Retter also will return to council with a written proposal to hire part-time jail workers as a short-term solution to a jail staffing shortage.

Retter said the workers would come from other jails or prisons, and he would pay the workers from unused wages because of the open positions. He estimated needing $80,000 for the remainder of 2022.

"I feel like this is a win-win for everyone," Retter said.

The part-time shifts would ease the burden on his full-time employees, and it might result in part-time workers choosing to stay with the jail full time. The wages would also not be subject to required county retirement payments, saving some money.

Council member Max Smith provided good news about the 2023 budget, finding a way to cut about $120,000 from council's fuel estimate.

Council had doubled the fuel costs in the 2023 budget compared to 2022. The county contracts for fuel, so it's per-gallon cost is fixed throughout the year until reaching the contracted gallons. With that, the county expects a significant increase in its 2023 contract price compared to the 2022 contracted price.

Smith reworked the fuel figures based on an estimated contract price of $3.85 per gallon and using 3½ years' usage data.

"I don't think this is a risky number, but it's not an excessive number," Smith said.

The $120,000 would significantly narrow the $165,094 gap between council's working budget and the expected additional 2023 monies. The county has advertised a $53,291,133 budget and will have its public hearing at 6 p.m. Sept. 21.

Council also spent considerable time Wednesday discussing highway department employees.

It was considering a $2.17 wage boost for truck drivers and operators in addition to the across-the-board raise council implements for 2023. Council had also asked its consultant, Kent Irwin, for a recommendation about creating new job classifications for the highway department workers. The consultant recommended not doing that.

Neither the raise nor the new classifications received enough council support for implementation.

Council members opposed to the measures cited fairness for all county employees and departments as well as listening to the consultant, who is paid for the expertise. They said it would be a "slippery slope" and opening "a big can of worms" to treat the highway department differently from other departments.

Commissioners unanimously approved a $24,000 Economic Development Income Tax grant for Richmond Baking Company.

The company will add an additional shift to one of its oven lines and create 38 jobs. It also plans to invest $720,600 to improve its flour room and replace its elevator.

Valerie Shaffer, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County, presented the request Wednesday afternoon. The EDC board approved the grant during its Monday meeting.

Wayne County's 2022 bridge projects are winding down.

Brandon Sanders, the county engineer, told commissioners Wednesday morning that the new South Street bridge in Hagerstown would open Sept. 15, and crews would then begin the North West L Street bridge deck replacement. That's the final 2022 project.

Commissioners approved spending an additional $46,300 on design work for the future Brick Church Road bridge. The project is changing from a deck overlay to a complete deck replacement. The deck deterioration would have required full-depth patching over more than half the deck before an overlay was applied.

Wayne County Highway Department personnel have been clearing earth from atop the Wayne County Emergency Management Agency's bunker-style offices at the Wayne County Administration Building.

The EMA office has experienced leaking for years, and the work is geared toward locating and stopping the leaks.

Work is also expected to soon begin on the courthouse exterior. The contractor will stage at both ends of the courthouse to avoid interrupting court proceedings.

With limestone taking six months for delivery, the contractor will measure and order the appropriate limestone pieces this fall. The contractor expects to work until December then pick up again about March, with the entire project taking until late in 2023.