Wayne County Council selected C.L. Coonrod & Company to serve as its financial advisor amid the changing state financial landscape.
Four companies had pitched their services to council, and during the joint council and commissioners workshop July 22, council unanimously voted to engage the Indianapolis-based Coonrod. The full proposal could cost $24,500 this year and $72,500 in 2027; however, council will further discuss which of Coonrod’s services it requires to reach a final cost.
Council member Barry Ritter said Coonrod provides more than projections, promising to sit and work through issues created by state legislation. Council member Cathy Williams said the company’s relationships with the State Board of Accounts and the Department of Local Government Finance will be an asset. Others noted that Coonrod has adequate staffing to ensure availability for Wayne County.
Council President Max Smith said current state legislation puts council in an unfamiliar position. Council must enact new local income tax rates during 2028 that will go into effect Jan. 1, 2029, but council’s actions will also impact townships and towns. Smith said council needs good advice through the next three or four years.
The other companies council considered were Policy Analytics, Peters Franklin and Reedy Financial Group.
Health building
More than $100,000 was approved to ready the former Well Care site at 203 E. Main St. for occupation by the county health department.
The health department was located there until early 2020 when it and the clinic split. Well Care occupied the building until moving this year to 2200 W. Main St. when the county opted not to renew its lease.
Steve Higinbotham, the county administrator, requested $90,000 from council’s one-time project fund to make repairs and ready the building. Council approved the expenditure.
Higinbotham said the county would try to recover more than half that total from Well Care. The county interprets the lease to mean that Well Care was responsible for general repairs costing less than $5,000. Well Care did not make repairs such as roof fans and lighting, Higinbotham said, so the county will seek reimbursement.
Commissioners also approved a $25,000 contract with Cummins Electric Inc. of Richmond to upgrade the building’s wiring with 196 drops. That will be paid from the IT budget.
ARPA money
Commissioner Jeff Plasterer provided an update on the county’s American Rescue Plan Act spending.
The county received $12,797,195 in ARPA funds and has balances remaining on six projects. The money must be spent by the end of the year.
Richmond has completed its Whitewater Gorge Park project to which the county committed $1.4 million and will soon be paid. The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office awaits delivery of an ordered BearCat armored vehicle.
There also are remaining balances for the courthouse entrance and plaza project, the annex generator project, the emergency radio towers and upgrades, and the Main Street rehabilitation project. Plasterer is confident the projects will advance enough that all money will be spent by the deadline. The county committed $172,834.17 more than its ARPA allotment to ensure it could spend every penny.
The county paid back the general fund for regular expenses that qualified for ARPA money. That put $1,052,000 in an account council and commissioners use for projects when both bodies agree.
“We accomplished a huge amount of things with that, and I think we’ve built some much stronger relationships with the small towns that we worked with,” said Plasterer, adding, “It’s been a blessing.”
During the workshop, line item adjustments were approved prior to submitting the required quarterly report due to the Treasury Department at the end of the month.
Other actions
- Commissioners approved filing a petition with the county’s advisory plan commission to subdivide unused Gateway Industrial Park land into plots of 41 acres, 22 acres and 13 acres. The idea is to make the plots more marketable individually.
- Council granted Superior Court 2 permission to post and hire a legal assistant and scheduling clerk. The job was determined to be critical for the court’s case load.
- Council approved a transfer and appropriation of $350,000 from the local option highway user tax revenue fund to the bridge and structure materials fund for use in bridge projects.
- Council authorized spending $4,945 from the Wayne County Fairgrounds’ naming rights fund to repair an aluminum light pole damaged by an impaired driver who has no insurance.
A version of this article appeared in the July 29 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
