The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Joy Swearingen Correspondent
Hancock County Sheriff's Office will begin providing police protection for the city of Warsaw starting Aug. 1.
The agreement between Hancock County and the City of Warsaw was approved by the county board at their regular meeting July 17.
Two additional county deputies will be hired for law enforcement within Warsaw. They will also cover the outlying rural areas in Wilcox, Wythe, Rocky Run, Walker and Montebello townships.
Currently, Warsaw has had one full time police chief, Wes Wolson, and part time officers. In the agreement, Warsaw will now pay for one and one-half deputies salaries with Hancock County paying for the other one-half officer's salary. Current salary and benefits for a trained county officer is about $65,000 per year.
The officers patrolling the Warsaw area will be under the supervision and direction of Hancock County Sheriff, Scott Bentzinger, in consultation with Warsaw Mayor Mike Heisler.
Heisler told the county board that Warsaw expects to have police coverage 75 percent of the time, with the new arrangement. Bentzinger said coverage would be at least five day shifts, with five or six night shifts weekly.
The savings for Warsaw would be $5,500 based on the cost of having had one and a half officers in their department.
Bentzinger said the county would be getting two more deputies for the cost of half of one officer. Those officers could provide law enforcement coverage outside of Warsaw city limits for the southwest part of the county, and would be available to the sheriff in emergency situations.
The estimated $32,000 cost for the county's share of the officers is not in the Sheriff's 2018 budget for deputies. Bentzinger said he believed there could be savings in other parts of the budget to cover the cost.
The four-year agreement runs from Aug. 1, 2018 to July 30, 2022. The Warsaw council will vote on the agreement at their meeting July 25.
Bentzinger and the Warsaw council have been discussing this idea since 2017. He has proposed it to several other Hancock County communities. Warsaw is the first to finalize an agreement.
In other business, Hancock County Economic Development Coordinator, Terry Pope, gave information to the board about a job fair planned Sept. 13 at the U of I Extension Center in Carthage from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
Job seekers should come with resumes, prepared to talk with companies looking to fill full-time and part-time positions. Before the job fair, the HCEDC and other work-related agencies will hold an employer workshop with updates on labor law and regulations.
Any businesses interested in taking part in the job fair and employer workshop should contact Pope at 217-440-8909.
The board learned that the Advanced Life Support ambulance has been relocated to Hamilton from Warsaw for a six-month trial period.
The board approved setting a 40 miles per hour speed limit on a portion of roads in Carthage and Prairie townships, leading past the entrance to Carthage Lake and winding down to Lake Hill Winery northwest of Carthage.
An engineering agreement with Fehr Graham Engineering and Environment of Springfield was approved, to plan a bridge deck replacement in St. Marys Township over the Lamoine River on the Bentley to Colmar blacktop near the McDonough County line.
The board canceled a certificate of purchase for Quality Fishery in Niota, after Theresa Marsden paid an amount equal to the unpaid taxes that had been due on the property. This allowed Marsden take ownership of the business, and the county received the balance of taxes due from 2015.
The board approved the appointment of Delbert Kreps as noxious weed administrator; Jack Curfman as flood plain ordinance zoning and permit administrator, and Ricky Johnson to the Farmland Review Committee.