THE NEW-HARMONY GAZETTE.

POSEY COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT GETTING NEW BUILDING!
By: Dan Barton, Publisher of THE NEW-HARMONY GAZETTE

The Posey County Health Department is in the process of buying a new building in Mt. Vernon to replace its the current office at 126 Third Street, Room 20. The County Council passed a resolution expressing interest in purchasing the property at 100 Vista Drive in Mt. Vernon and agreed, along with the County Commission, on a price of $125,000, at their October meeting.

County Health Officer Kyle Rapp, M.D. has been pursuing the purchase of this building since at least September 2018. He stated to the Council that in the past three to five years the Health Department has seen significant growth in services and employees. He said it is outgrowing its current space. He has not been specific about how many services have been added, but the Indiana Local Boards of Health Orientation Manual currently used by Dr. Rapp’s Board, and which officially defines the services his office provides the public, was written in 2006 with no changes since that year.

The variable operating expenses that would have been expected to increase along with a “significant growth in services” are not reflected in any of the County budgets over the past several, three to five years or more, other than the automatic salary increases of the government employees. Dr. Rapp was also not specific about how much of an increase in staff the Health Department has seen over the period he defined. 2013, ’14, ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 and 2019 Budgets all show the same number of five full-time employees working for the Health Department. Where’s the demonstrated need for this building? Why no prying questions by our elected representatives?

Dr. Rapp said in September that the Health Department would pay $100,000 toward the purchase of the building, leaving $25,000 for the County to resolve. The 2018 budget approved a total allocation of $325,000 for the Health Department, without the $100,000 building designation included. The new 2019 Budget shows a total allocation to the Health Department of $432,326. Including the $100,000 for a “Building.”

I contacted the Posey County Auditor, Sara Beth Meighen, and asked her how Rapp’s statement could be made with such certainty in September while not having the money already in the Department’s budget. She couldn’t answer that question, other than to say that County Commissioner Jim Alsop would address any issues before he leaves office on January 1, 2019. In addition to the $125,000 base purchase price, the building will have to be remodeled. No price for the remodeling has yet been set. Neither has the Health Department provided any information, at this time, concerning how much the annual maintenance and upkeep of the building will be. Also not answered is who will be responsible for the utilities, such as phones, internet, water, sewage and electric for the new building.

This will be the fourth major building project for Posey County in the last three years. The County Coroner’s building cost the County $374,000, the new Storage Building cost $351,000 and now the new Health Department Building will cost in excess of $125,000. In addition, the new County Jail, which went from an initial estimate in 2015 of $11.5 million to the finished product of $16.4 million, was also built in 2018.

The Jail project required a first time ever perpetual Public Safety Tax that will cost every County taxpayer an additional $63 for every $25,000 in income per year that they earn. Posey County’s accounting processes had to be shifted in order to accommodate the tax and the financing of the Jail project, transferring much of the Sheriff’s Department expenditures from the General Fund to a new Public Safety Tax Fund in order to accommodate paying off the huge finance arrangement that the County made on the Jail.

But let’s get back to the new Health Department building! Public records show that the new building at 100 Vista Drive will be purchased from a Vice-Chairman on the Health Department Board, Larry Horton. Mr. Horton bought the building at a William Wilson Auction on June 18, 2015, for $68,750 and now stands to sell it to the Health Department, where he serves as a fiduciary, for $125,000; making a $56,250 gain in just over a three year period.

Indiana Code 16-20-2-13 -Conflict of Interest, clearly states: An individual who has a vested interest or stands to gain financially from any activity of the local health department or a policy decision of the board is ineligible to serve on a local health board.

I texted County Councilman Aaron Wilson, who has lived and worked most of his life in New Harmony and asked him to look into this County purchase transaction. I advised him that many of the details that I have now revealed in this article were never released to the public during the County Council or Commission meetings for the purchase of the Vista Drive building. Wilson responded that it, “was all done by [County Commissioner] Alsop and [Medical Board Administrator] Denny Shaffer.” He also made it clear to me that he was not the Councilmember for New Harmony, that it was Councilman David Pearce, the owner of the Posey County News, who is New Harmony’s Council Representative.

Further, Wilson said, “I suggested using the New Harmony School.” However, the County Council minutes attest otherwise. Councilwoman Stefani Miller had made the motion to adopt the Resolution to consider buying the new building. And it was, in fact, Councilman Aaron Wilson who seconded her motion. The Council vote, which included Wilson’s, was 7-0 in favor of adopting the Resolution. Councilman Wilson also approved the allocation of the $100,000 on the 2019 County Budget for the Health Department to buy a “Building.” His signature is the first one on the Budget approval. {Wilson telephoned me on the evening of November 30th and said that he had just gotten off the phone with Councilman/Posey County News owner Dave Pearce and that they had discussed the details of the article that you have just been reading. I then later received an email correspondence from Pearce himself, where he stated, “Dan: You did a nice job on this one and told me some things I didn’t know (which isn’t necessarily difficult). Perhaps we should talk sometime about merging or sharing information? Your thoughts?” I politely turned Councilman Pearce’s offer down. Apparently, now, everyone is in the loop on this development.}

I have indicated to Mr. Wilson that it should be part of our county’s goal to spread County government throughout the county. In recent years, part of Indiana’s main goal has been to stem the tide of de-population in rural communities. Interconnecting the small rural towns with our State’s population centers, like Mt. Vernon, our County Seat. That was the objective that the Regional Cities plan was supposed to address. One sure way to start that process would be to take advantage of situations such as the County government’s purchasing of new County offices which are being acquired at needlessly high prices per square foot. Instead, they could use already existing structures within small towns, like New Harmony, for the additional desired municipal office space. I’m talking about the former New Harmony School, in this case. It has been offered for sale by the Town of New Harmony several times over the past four years and is currently advertised again on the market for $360,000.

The proposed new Vista Drive Health Department building, before rehabilitation, is selling at a price of $125,000 for it’s 1,683 square feet, with only 18 parking slots. It is going for a price of $74.27 per square foot. The former New Harmony school is for sale on the market at $360,000 and has 56,000 square feet of space with 50 rooms, plus 20 surrounding acres that include 10 acres of parking. Its sale price is $6.43 per square foot.

Since the County is on a building and buying spree, I would think that someone down at the County Seat, the Council, and Commission, in Mt. Vernon would think about the advantages that can be gained by including the entire County in its plans. Why keep spending taxpayers

dollars on boondoggle deals all the time? Is there something we’re not getting up here in North Posey?

C’mon Councilman Wilson, pound the table! Cite Indiana Code 16-20-2-13, Conflict of Interest; or something! Merely suggesting that they use the New Harmony School just won’t work! Does this Health Department deal have a smell about it?

On Tuesday, December, 18th, 2018, The Town Council of New Harmony president Alvin Blaylock announced that the 56,000 square foot, former New Harmony School will be put on the market for sale at a new minimum price of $80,000. That comes to $1.43 per square foot. Bargain basement pricing.