INSIDE TODAY: DON’T BE A VICTIM PG. 2
theRISING SUNrecorder
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Thursday, September 4, 2014
Issue No. 36
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RISING SUN HIGH SCHOOL’S AMBASSADORS AT THE SWISS WINE FESTIVAL
VEVAY MEDIA GROUP PHOTOS
Karsen Cook and Chad Wagner Rising Sun High School’s Ambassadors at the Swiss Wine Festival riding in the parade.
Commissioners told Grants City fires employee Creek bridge to close guilty of reckless driving BY CHANDRA L. MATTINGLY STAFF REPORTER
Ohio County Commissioners learned the Ind. 156 bridge over Grants Creek will be closed for up to six months, clarified a payroll question, and addressed a speeding complaint at their Tuesday morning, Sept. 2, meeting. The Indiana Department of Transportation notified the county the bridge south of Rising Sun, temporarily repaired with a metal plate, will be closed Dec. 1, said Ohio County Highway Superintendent Ron York. The bridge will be re-decked, with completion expected in late June. Ohio County Sheriff's Deputy Andrew Riddell asked commissioners to rectify his pay in two instances. In one, he did not receive straight-time pay for a 12-hour sick day. In another, he had a 12-hour sick day during a week, then worked 46 hours that week. He was paid overtime for the 16 hours instead of for four. If the county would void the pay check he's already received, it would have to back out taxes and everything, said county auditor Connie Smith. But payroll clerk Liz Turner said she was concerned how the state board of accounts would view fixing the situation. The county's policy says sick leave is not counted toward the hours accumulated for overtime, said county attorney John Stroup. Vacation and personal time are. The policy was changed to exclude sick pay after it was
abused by a former employee, said Smith. Riddell said he was paid 16 hours of overtime. According to the rule, he's entitled to four hours of overtime, said Stroup. Ohio County Sheriff Eldon Fancher agreed 12 of the 16 hours of overtime Riddell was paid should have been straight time. Commissioner Todd Walton made a motion to correct Riddell's pay for that week, and pay him for the additional 12-hour sick leave, with his next pay check. It passed unanimously. Smith said she would provide a copy of the minutes to the payroll clerk to be kept with that record. Turner said the policy needs to be made “very, very, very specific.” Smith then called Don and Marian Ellis, 3729 Mexico Ridge, on speaker phone to address their complaint about speeding on their road. The couple's daughter Marcy Hall answered and relayed her and her parents' comments, after first praising the county for the “wonderful” condition of its roads in general. Where her folks live on Mexico Ridge, however, is a long straight stretch, she said. And their house is on one side of the road, the barns and garages on the other. Not only they but family members must cross the road to access transportation or farm machinery. And when backing a tractor out of the barn onto the road, one can't hear oncoming traffic. “People can build up speed. … It's almost a mile to the next curve,” she said. “... They
SEE COMMISSIONERS, PAGE 9
BY CHANDRA L. MATTINGLY STAFF REPORTER Rising Sun senior street laborer Tim Bovard's employment with the city was terminated by the Rising Sun Board of Works Thursday, Aug. 28. Bovard, 55, who had worked for the city 18 years according to his father, Paul Bovard, street department superintendent, pleaded guilty Friday, Aug. 15, to public intoxication and reckless driving, both Class B misdemeanors, according to Ohio Circuit Court papers filed Aug. 20. Over 40 people packed the BOW meeting, which followed an executive session to discuss alleged misconduct of an employee. Paul Bovard told the BOW his son is an “exceptional employee” and asked the board to give him a second chance. “He made a mistake. We all make mistakes,” said Paul Bovard, noting the board has given second chances to em-
ployees in the past. Rising Sun Mayor April Hautman noted Tim Bovard pleaded guilty to public intoxication and reckless driving “on city time especially.” The charges, which stem from January, don't specifically say the activity occurred while he was operating city equipment, “but that's what happened here,” she said. Reading from a city personnel policy regarding a drug and alcohol free workplace, Hautman said all employees are required to report to work free of alcohol, drugs, or the misuse of any medication. The city expects all employees to support the policy to better the overall safety, health, productivity and welfare of employees and the public they serve, she read. She then called for a motion to keep Tim Bovard as an employee, and none was made. When she called for a motion to terminate Bovard's employment, BOW member
Steve Slack made that motion with a second by BOW member Jim McDaniel and the motion was passed unanimously by the three-member board. “I'm sorry this had to happen,” Hautman said as the majority of the crowd filed out of council chambers muttering comments including, “Thanks for nothing” and “You just opened a big can of worms.” After they left, Hautman said the BOW also had some concerns about the city insurance, not only whether it would cover an incident under such circumstances, but also whether the city's insurance cost would increase had the BOW continued Bovard's employment. “It's unfortunate that the board of works was put in the position to have to make this difficult decision,” she said later. Tim Bovard was sentenced in circuit court to 180 days
SEE CITY, PAGE 9
PAINTING A PROJECT
INSIDE today COMMUNITY OBITS/LEGALS SPORTS
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Copyright Register Publications, 2014
131st Year, No. 36
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WEATHER TODAY Mostly Sunny HIGH ......91 LOW.....69 Friday Scattered T-Storms HIGH ......91 LOW.....71 Saturday Scattered T-Storms HIGH ......77 LOW.....61 Sunday: Mostly Sunny HIGH ......77 LOW.....55 Monday Sunny HIGH ......78 LOW.....57
BOB MATTINGLY PHOTOS
Members of Boy Scout Troop 700, Patriot, paint a garage they've already scraped at the United Methodist parsonage on N. High Street in Rising Sun as a community service project the week before school starts. Above, left: Dakota King, foreground, pauses a minute as Rich Lanter keeps painting. Above, working, from left, are Matt Oatman, Skyler Habel, Ian McCarty and Caleb Valentine.