Wanda English Burnett
Editor

The January meeting of the Ripley County Council was held Tuesday, January 19 instead of their regularly scheduled date of the third Monday of each month due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

At the meeting unanimous approval was given for Dephane Smith to continue as council president with Donald Dunbar serving as president pro-tem.

Several additional appropriations were granted, all with unanimous approval from the council. They included:

• $40,240 to be appropriated from the Home Incarceration Work Release fund to pay for the Integrator upgrade at the jail.

• $125 was appropriated from Rental Deposits to return rental deposits for the Ripley County Parks.

• Health Department expenses related to H1N1 totaled $96,636.

• Ripley County Clerk was granted additional appropriation requests to pay three weeks vacation for Marilyn Hunt and Luella Franklin.

The request to transfer $1040.90 from Jury Fee to Jury Fee/Computer Software was approved for the superior court.

The following appointments were made:

• Lisa Barnett to the Batesville Memorial Public Library Board of Trustees.

• Donald Dunbar to the Southeastern Indiana Solid Waste District as council representative.

• Andy Saner to serve on the Batesville Economic Development Commission.

• Dephane Smith will serve as a voting member of the Southeastern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

• Jeff Meinders will serve as a board member to the Vernon Fork Water District for a term of three years.

• Sue Meisberger and Jeff Volz will serve on the Ripley County Redevelopment Commission for 2010.

• Sandra Gloyd was appointed to fill the Osgood Public Library Board vacancy due to Lila Neal resigning.

• It was agreed to renew the contract for the sheriff at the salary of $73,000.

In other business:

- Melvin Meisberger gave his resignation from the Ripley County Park Board.

- Commissioner Robert Reiners and Sheriff Tom Grills gave a report on the update of the Integrator system and how it functions.

- Katherine Taul gave the annual report for the Ripley County Tourism Board.

- Sheriff Tom Grills asked about ordering two new vehicles. He was granted the request with one no vote from Donald Dunbar.

The next regular scheduled meeting of the Ripley County Council will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 16 - again a change from the regular meeting dates of Mondays for the council. This is in reference to President’s Day being on February 15.

All council members with the exception of Ed Armbrecht were in attendance at the January meeting, along with Ripley County Auditor William (Bill)Wagner to take the minutes and Neil Comer, county attorney, to advise.