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By David Slone
Time-Union
WARSAW – A transfer request for $5,000 for legal services by County Commissioners narrowly missed approval from the Kosciusko County Council at its Thursday, Nov. 10 meeting.
Accounts Executive Marsha McSherry provided a $5,000 monthly transfer from lands and improvements in the county’s capital improvement fund to legal services. He does not have the October bill from county attorney Ed Ormsby because it is not due until the 15th of the month.
Council Deputy Speaker Joni Truex asked McSherry if he knew the amount of the October bill from Ormsby.
McSherry said, “Not at this time. Of the balance there, $16,010 is in legal services, $6,800 of that is for the highway, the rest is $9,210, and that’s up to the Commissioners.”
The October bill will be paid from the $5,000 transfer, and McSherry added, there is also November and December to come.
Truex asked how long it would take the council to pay a bill once it was received, if it was 30 days. McSherry said yes.
Truex made a motion to cancel the transfer “because you will have time to come back and get the $5,000. You have now earned $9,210.” He said he didn’t think the commissioners needed the $5,000 transfer right now, and said the motion would come first if the commissioners “have already spent the money.”
Councilman Ernie Wiggins said he made the motion and didn’t think it was part of his motion – it would be accepted if they wanted.
McSherry said of the $9,210 there is, $5,000 for October and $4,210 for November, there is no money for legal work for December.
Council President Sue Ann Mitchell said she needed $5,000 in December to help.
“What we’re trying to get here is to not carry a bill from December and pay the December bill in January from the January budget. The January bill that pays has to come out of the December budget and compromise, so we walk through the year and know where we are,” said Mitchell.
He asked what bad things would happen if the Council approved the $5,000 on Thursday night and then in December they would know where they were.
Councilwoman Kimberly Cates said they may not know because they won’t receive the bill until after the Council meeting. Mitchell said the Council may need to change the due date of Ormsby’s bill before the fifth of the month.
Councilman Mike Long supported Truex’s motion to deny the transfer, but the motion failed on a 3-4 vote with Truex, Long and Cates voting against it.
Councilwoman Kathleen Groninger made a motion to approve the transfer, Wiggins seconded, and it was approved 4-3.
Mitchell said, “The bottom line is, if you move money into that account, if you don’t spend it at the end of the year, you’re done. You are done. It’s not going anywhere.”
Some of the special projects that Ormsby worked on in 2021 for the Commissioners included the county’s Legal Services Audit and Second Order Audit, which was not approved by some in the community.
At the Council meeting on September 9, 2021, Council voted to increase the County Commissioner’s legal services budget for county attorney Ed Ormsby by only 4% to $60,320 in 2022. Commissioners asked for $131,000 in legal services for 2022, said former attorneys under the county’s accounting. Ormsby started as county attorney on January 1, 2021.
At the Council meeting on August 11, 2022, the Council approved the transfer of $15,000 for legal services to the Commission budget and $5,000 per month for the remainder of the year.
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