By KEN WYATT
Contributing Writer
Most of the news from the Concord Township Board meeting came in reports from County Commissioner Earl Poleski, Deputy Larry Jacobson and the approval of a 3.4 percent cost-of-living raise for Concord Fire Department’s firefighters.
Poleski’s report highlighted three areas of interest (which were also reported at Poleski’s other townships):
The District Court has received a grant to establish a Mental Health Court. According to the state courts website: “A mental health court is a specialized court docket for certain defendants with mental illness that substitutes a problem-solving model for traditional criminal court processing. Participants are identified through mental health screening and assessments and voluntarily participate in a judicially supervised treatment plan developed jointly by a team of court staff and mental health professionals. Incentives reward adherence to the treatment plan and other court conditions. Nonadherence may be sanctioned. Success, or graduation, is defined according to predetermined criteria.”
The county has also approved a body scanner for the Jackson County Jail. Poleski explained, “If you’re going into jail, make sure you don’t bring bad things in.” The jail has a chronic problem of people who hide drugs and other contraband either on or in their bodies. The scanner enables staff to find such things.
Poleski also reported that this year’s Jackson County Fair saw a major increase in attendance. Last year, about 77,000 people attended; this year the total was about 94,000. Fair officials credit free parking for the improvement. That enabled the county to realize about $70,000 in profit.
The board did its monthly business in a record 20 minutes or so this week.
Both the supervisor and a trustee were absent, leaving Trustee Guthrie Colburn, Treasurer Judy Clark and Clerk Terri Butts to pay the bills and process a light agenda.
In his report, Deputy Jacobson included this item:
“Oct. 17: Units again responded for ongoing issues at a business on King Road in the township. The owner of a company fired three employees for continuously smoking marijuana while they were working and thus causing company vehicles to smell like the stuff. The ex-employees have protested and filed a wrongful termination lawsuit under the ‘but it’s legal’ banner. Telling the ex-employees that alcohol is legal, too, but you can’t drink on the job doesn’t seem to resonate.”
Finally, when asked the status of the township’s search for a new cemetery sexton, Colburn said, “It’s in the works.” Township Clerk Butts had served in that role, but she has asked to be relieved of the responsibility.
