Perry Township Board Meeting Minutes: Tuesday, September 14, 2023

The meeting is called to order at 12:00 pm

Members Present: Jack Davis, Barb Sturbaum, Dan Combs

Non-Members Present: Sharon Yoder, Branden Surigao

Agenda

1. Funding Requests from Community Groups
   • Amethyst House (Mark Delong)
   • Beacon for Friend's Place (Amy Kendall)
   • Boys and Girls Club (Leslie Abshier)
   • Centerstone (Stepping Stones) (Rene Llewellyn)
   • Community Kitchen (Vicki Pierce)
   • Courage to Change (Bobby Overman)
   • Hoosier Hills Food Bank (Julio Alonso & Jake Bruner)
   • Mother Hubbard's Cupboard (Megan Betz)
   • New Hope Family Shelter (Chase Techentin)
   • New Leaf New Life (Stacy Flynn)
   • Pantry 279 (Cindy Chavez)
   • VITAL (Bethany Turrentine)
   • All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center (Jessica Marchbank)
2. Perry Township Budget Items
   • Food Pantry Perry Township
   • Emergency Shelter (set-a-side) not for Friend's Place
   • Community Court Liaison Project
3. Budget Review
4. Other
   • Headstone
   • Executive Session: Set Date

Funding Request from Community Groups

Mark Delong was present for Amethyst House and their request was the same as last year. Amy Kendall, the Development Director for Beacon was present and their request is more than it was last year due to adding more beds. Leslie Abshier, for the Boys and Girls Club was present and their request was the same from last year to put toward transportation. Rene Llewellyn for Centerstone (Stepping Stones) was present and their request is the same as it was last year. Vicki Pierce for Community Kitchen was present and their request has increased since last year due to the increase in food prices and their numbers have increased. Bobby Overman with Courage to Change was present and their request is less than it was last year. Julio Alonso and Jake Bruner for Hoosier Hills were present and their request is the same as last year. Megan Betz for Mother Hubbard's Cupboard was present and their request is the same as last year. Chase Techentin with New Hope was present and their request has increased since last year due to the new building costs and the two programs they are running out of the new building. Stacy Flynn, the Assistant Director with New Leaf New Life was present and their request has increased to continue to pay for wages, utilities, and the workbooks and guides they provide to their clients. Cindy Chavez with Pantry 279 was present and their request is less than last year and states that they have officially moved into a larger space. Bethany Turrentine with VITAL was present and their request is the same as last year. Jessica Marchbank for All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center was present and they are requesting funding for the first time. They distribute about 20,000 diapers per month and their number of requests for help has been increasing.

Perry Township Budget Items

The Food Pantry fund is for buying food from Hoosier Hills and then whole sale stores and butchers. Nancy currently has donation barrels set up in different stores across town, she is looking at getting a grant through Wal-Mart, as well as other donations. Hoosier Hills has not been supplying any protein. We are also looking into allowing the clients to come more than once a month. The Emergency Shelter Fund (set-a-side} is money put aside that can later be transferred to another area of the budget it may need to be later in case of emergencies. The Court Liaison Fund is set up to pay for mileage, supplies, etc for a caseworker to be set up at the courthouse during eviction hearings as a resource. We have not been setting up at the court house for a couple of years and did not even put money into this fund last year.

Budget Review

The increase in growth quotient was 4 percent. Employee wages were discussed by the Board and the Trustee.

Other

There is a Civil War veteran headstone and one other veteran headstone at Mt. Salem that need to be replaced. The Government Marker Program through the VA, Scott Emery, is replacing veteran headstones. These headstones are two that he plans to replace at no charge to the Township but since the cemetery is owned by the Township he needs Dan's permission to replace them.

An Executive Board Meeting will need to be scheduled as soon as possible to discuss a situation about the shelter.

Dan provided the board with copies of rough drafts from William for the policy on the usage of the meeting room and deed easement for the cemetery. Another matter that needs to be discussed with William other than these rough drafts is how to properly have people removed from the property.

Branden has tried getting quotes on generators. The window in Suite B is broken so Branden is looking into getting some quotes.

Meeting was concluded at 2:40 pm.