St Joseph County looks into buying motel for homeless shelter southbendtribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from southbendtribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Jef Rietsma
Roundup of news from the May 18 meeting of St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners:
Commissioners approved two exceptions to the county s hiring freeze. The board granted a request by undersheriff Jason Bingaman’s for a typist/clerk. The position pays about $57,000 per year, including benefits. Commissioners also OK d a freeze-exception for the position of deputy probate register position, which handles personal-protective orders for all four courts. The opening is the result of Amanda Himes moving to a position in district court.
The board approved the $8,900 purchase of a mobile/video recording system for animal control officer Greg Musser and his vehicle.
Itâs the sort of problem that anyone whoâs been paying attention to this communityâs lead poisoning problem among children might not have imagined.
The grant money to reduce contamination from lead-based paint in a number of South Bend households â funding that advocates have been fighting for â is there. But the families who need such help, arenât.
As reported in a recent Tribune story, $3 million in grant money is practically untouched, with just a small number of families enrolled in a program that officials hoped would help 100 households.
And the number of children tested for lead in their blood dropped by a third last year, with inspections performed by the health department decreasing by 40%.