St. Joseph County Administrator Teresa Doehring said the bargaining unit representing the county’s largest group of clerical employees has rejected a proposed agreement under which employees would work a reduced, 35-hour workweek for the remainder of the year. The hours reduction was a measure to attempt to mitigate ongoing revenue losses in the county. The measure was previously approved by the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners, which held its regular meeting Tuesday evening.

Doehring did not say what issues prevented the local unit of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) from approving the measure. However, she said, “we’ll be working through other scenarios in regard to that through the budget process.”

The county’s fiscal year ends on December 31, and the Board of Commissioners has scheduled its first budget planning session for October 28. Other decisions regarding pay scale for elected county officials and exceptions to an ongoing hiring freeze were previously deferred to budget talks at an Executive Committee meeting of commission members last week.

In other County Commission business:

• Commissioners approved a Special Assessment District for Sand Lake and Lake Templene to cover the cost of upgrades to the dam that holds the two lakes back. Commissioners previously approved and budgeted the work, which has already been completed at a cost of $48,916. The work keeps the dam in compliance with state requirements for maintaining lake water levels.
• Commissioners also passed an apportionment measure that permits townships around the county to levy their tax millages against properties and approves an exhaustive schedule of such millages.
• The St. Joseph County Commission on Aging’s Annual Report was approved, as was the estimated $8,000 purchase of a new server for the agency. The server replaces a previous one that has reached the end of its useful life.
• Commissioners appointed a Remonumentation Peer Review Group, which is responsible for maintaining the integrity of established corner points used in land surveying. The group will include David Mostrom, Ryan Miller, David Gariepy, Dale Kesler, Douglas Mostrom, and Terry Woldring.
• Finance Director Angie Steinman said it appears likely that a large, Federal pandemic relief grant will be able to be used to offset the county’s public safety payroll by reimbursement to the requisite county funds. She is working with Grant Administrator James Hissong to balance the funds with other grants the agency may be eligible for. Steinman said other expenses also may be eligible, but the Public Safety payroll is the easiest one to process.
• Commissioner Daniel Czajkowski said St. Joseph County Animal Control has done an “outstanding job” finding homes for a large influx of domestic cats it took in after two hoarding situations resulted in the seizure of a large quantity of animals over the summer. He said that except for some euthanizations of extremely sick animals, the agency has also successfully rehomed the majority of another 20-30 cats after a resident who had been caring for them passed away recently.

Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.