News Progress

Grant money held up so far

•August 5, 2015•

by Mike Brothers

The real life of recovery is something clients at Moultrie Counseling Center deal with every day, but the state’s budget stalemate is forcing the center to face its own real life dilemma.

How to continue providing needed mental treatment when funding sources are threatened is the problem.

Running without a state budget means the Sullivan based community mental health provider has not received $37,076 of its total state grant of $49,075 for contract services.

David Cole, center executive director, explained that is the money needed for psychiatric services. Funding from state Division of Mental Health is essential for paying doctors, who are required to evaluate clients.

“The psychiatrist is the centerpiece to successful mental health intervention,” Cole explained, noting that a third of Moultrie Counseling Center clients are required to have a doctor review medications periodically before prescriptions may be renewed.  Read More

Decision comes after lengthy hearings on wildlife park

•July 29, 2015•

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Earlier this month the county board unanimously approved an appreciation stipend or bonus for the zoning board of appeals for the time spent deliberating and attending lengthy meetings regarding the Aikman Wildlife Park.

The $100 bonus was given to four of the five board of appeals’ members, with Howard Sanders excluded since he did not attend the June meetings due to a conflict of interest. Those receiving the bonus include Tyson Grooms, Neil Hinkle, Paul Roney, and Mike Sheehan.

“They spent a lot of time and patience at all the hearings so I think it’s well deserved,” said vice-county chairman Ron White.

“They don’t get any stipend at all. They get paid mileage, [but] they spent a day-and-a-half at one hearing and then half a day at the other hearing,” said board chairman Dave McCabe at the budget and finance committee meeting July 6. “If we’re going to get volunteers to serve on these kinds of things, we need to show we appreciate their efforts when its above and beyond their normal call of duty.”

In particular, the four board members were rewarded for their time spent across two meetings held on June 5 and 17, which together spanned a little more than seven hours. The meeting on the 17th, however, began at 9 a.m. and then broke for lunch before then resuming at 1:15 and adjourning at around 3:30 p.m.  Read More

New class schedule also to begin this fall

•July 22, 2015•

by Derek Pope
Bethany Reporter

In time for the closing of fiscal year 2015 on June 30, the Okaw Valley’s administration approved their final estimated ending budget, giving a glimpse into what Okaw Valley School District can expect this next fiscal year, financially.
The budget fell largely in line with what superintendent Kent Stauder had projected months earlier when concerns of state education budget cuts loomed overhead. The district ended their fiscal year with almost $5,2630,000 total in all their various funds, incurring a deficit of roughly $145,000—an increase over last year’s deficit of nearly $59,000. The majority of that deficit came from the district’s operation and maintenance fund, which ended with close to $97,000 less than with what the district began. The operation and maintenance fund pays for the upkeep of school building and grounds as well as the day to day functions needed to keep each school running. This year the district saw several one-time expenditures that affected the operation and maintenance fund, including the recent asbestos abatement and demolition of Okaw Valley Intermediate School in Findlay. Read More