Perry Township Board Meeting Minutes: February 25, 2015

The meeting is called to order at 3:25 pm

Members Present: Barb Sturbaum, Susie Hamilton, Jack Davis, Sharon Yorder (as Deputy Trustee)

Non-Members Present: Patrick Murray, Novella Shuck

Agenda

1. Martha's House Request for Funding

Martha's House Request for Funding

Martha’s House submitted a letter to the Perry Township board requesting a quarterly draw-down of $2,625 on their 2015 grant award. Now, in allocating 2015 grant awards at the October 2014 meeting, the board chose not to grant Martha’s House any money at that time because they had been asking for salary for a director, and the request was vague considering the internal activity going on at Martha’s House at that time. Instead, the board had put extra money into the emergency fund and had stated that some of that money could be re-appropriated to Martha’s House in the future if they so requested. This turned out to be a good thing, since Martha’s House went through a lot of changes. This request is instead for ongoing expenses like paying staff and running the general shelter operations.

In 2014 Martha’s House received $10,500. The $2,625 they are requesting currently is one-fourth of that. So essentially, they plan to request the same amount of money as last year, over 4 quarterly payments, and this first quarterly amount would cover staff wages for one bi-weekly payment.

The board asks Patrick why they are going to be requesting this money if Martha’s House is being turned into a detox center instead. Patrick states that the detox center was originally planning to open in Spring 2015, but that has been pushed back to Summer 2015 now, and might even be pushed farther into the future, so there is uncertainty there and Martha’s House needs to remain funded until at least then. Patrick says the reason they are asking for funding on a quarterly basis instead of all $10,500 at once is because their operations hinge on when the detox center opens. Susie states that she would rather we allocated a full 50% of their 2014 grant amount now ($5,250) instead of 25% so the board does not have to re-convene in 2 months for the same thing, especially as it seems unlikely the detox center will open before July 2015.

Susie makes a motion to draw down $5,250 from the budget to pay Martha’s House for ongoing operations. Jack seconds the motion. The board then has continued discussion on the motion. Sharon states that the money we are allocating comes from the emergency shelter fund/close-out fund, which currently has approximately $19,000 in it. The board must also assume that even if the detox group does take over as planned, there will still be shelter close-out costs they will have to cover. She also states that Perry Township has also been paying Martha’s House’s phone bill for a while (we still bill them, but they just aren’t paying) so there are other ways we are helping the organization besides our grants.

Sharon asks Patrick how they will cover their shelter costs after our grant is used for payroll, and Patrick states that they are receiving funding from Bloomington and Richland Townships as well and are eking their way along with this funding, though it is not easy.

Susie’s motion to approve funding for 2 quarters in the amount of $5,250 is brought to a vote. All vote in favor.

Barb adjourned the meeting at 3:39pm.