State standardizes veterans affairs officer training

Certification for county veterans affairs officers will take a step up beginning July 1.

Indiana’s General Assembly last year passed legislation requiring certification standards to conduct operational business. Joe DeVito of the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs spoke Feb. 11 to Wayne County’s commissioners about the changing standards.

The standardized training will ensure that all state veterans affairs officers can provide the same level of service and navigate the state’s claims management system. DeVito said it’s a step forward for a system that has had several accreditation paths.

Veterans affairs officers must take course work and annually pass exams to receive certification. They also must work 1,000 hours a year. DeVito said Wayne County’s officers should have no difficulty becoming certified.

Commissioner Brad Dwenger, who served in the Air Force, said the idea is that every veteran affairs officer in Indiana knows the same methods and provides the same services. He also was complimentary of Wayne County veterans affairs officer Michele Padgette, saying she does a phenomenal job assisting the county’s veterans.

Padgette told commissioners that additional money provided by the department’s emergency fund enabled the department to provide Christmas presents for 16 veterans at Brickyard Healthcare in Richmond.

Opioid money

Commissioner Aaron Roberts presented a request from Reid Health for $6,000 from the county’s opioid settlement money to provide a stipend for the manager of a partnership between Reid and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Wayne County.

The program was funded, except for the stipend, when the county dispersed opioid settlement money. The county receives a share of state money acquired through settlements with opioid manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers for their roles in opioid addiction.

Roberts said that upon review the stipend makes sense for the oversight duties, and commissioners unanimously agreed to provide the stipend.

Certificate sale

Commissioners finalized a list of about 30 properties that will be included in a certificate sale.

The properties did not sell during last fall’s tax sale. By selling the certificates, the county shifts the burden of acquiring property deeds to the buyer. Previously, the county would acquire the deeds and offer them at a deed sale, but the county risked being stuck with unsold properties.

Six properties were pulled from the sale. The county plans to provide 212 S. 13th St., 51 S. 15th St. and 441 S. 11th St. to Intend Indiana, which is overseeing a Vaile neighborhood housing project. The county also will hold 2116 E. Main St. and 2110 E. Main St. for Intend, if the company decides to accept them. Those are the former Crain Sanitarium building and its neighbor.

SRI, the county’s auction company, will sell the certificates at 10 a.m. April 16 in the commissioners chambers.

Other issues

• Craig Eason, the county’s IT director, said his department has been using voice-over internet protocol within the department. The department will roll VOIP out for the rest of the county slowly by department. New wiring was installed throughout county buildings to facilitate the switch from the current phone system to VOIP.
• Commissioners approved a $3,671.45 contract with Quality Control for treatment of two industrial park ponds.
• Interaction Insight Corp. was approved as the vendor for an Eventide audio recording system for the Emergency Communication Center. Cost is $45,621.80 from county council’s contingency fund.
• JH Consulting was selected to assist with a survey of hazardous materials passing through the county on roads and rails and stored within the county at business locations. Wayne County Emergency Management Agency received a $9,800 grant to pay for the survey.