Kosciusko County Surveyor Receives Approval For New Vehicle
WARSAW — At the Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting held Tuesday, Nov. 26, County Surveyor Mike Kissinger requested approval to purchase a vehicle specifically for section corner work.
Kissinger told commissioners the vehicle would be purchased with money from the Section Corner Perpetuation Fund.
“There is currently a balance of about $212,000 in the fund,” Kissinger said. “We’re estimating about $40,000 for a vehicle which will need to include visibility lighting and signage.”
Kissinger explained that when the county was originally laid out, it was laid out in one-mile squares, with every half mile being a section corner. All parcels of ground in the county are based off the location of a section corner.
“A section corner used to be a wooden post, then some of them were replaced with stones and now we go back and put iron pipes or monuments in so that it can be found by a metal detector,” said Kissinger. “There are almost 2,500 section corners in our county because we are one of the largest counties in the state and we are required by law to visit and maintain or reestablish 5 percent of those every year.”
Kissinger recalled that he was the assistant surveyor for 25 years and back then a truck was not supplied because the county would have had to buy it.
“Up until this time we were given .38 cents on the mile, just like anyone else in the county who uses their private vehicle,” said Kissinger. “But the wear and tear on the vehicles — that type of work is off-road, through fields and woods.”
Kissinger said the fund is based entirely on fees and did not come out of the commissioners’ budget or from taxes. The money that goes into the Section Corner Perpetuation Fund is a statutory requirement. For every document recorded at the recorder’s office, $5 from the fee goes into the fund.
“We’re the only county that I could find that has an employee (who have to) use his own vehicle to do section corner work,” Kissinger said.
“You just got my vote,” Commissioner Vice-President Brad Jackson said immediately.
Commissioners approved the purchase of a vehicle to be used specifically for section corner work.
In other matters, a flood control ordinance amendment request by Matt Sandy, assistant planning director for the county, was approved. The new amendment is less restrictive, Sandy said.
“Essentially, what has changed is the state has lowered some of their requirements for a minimum threshold,” Sandy explained. “This would allow for those homes raised on fill in a flood zone, they would not have to raise as high to meet the minimum regulatory standards.”
“Rather than deal with what’s called the Flood Protection Break, we now allow them to fill down to basic flood elevation, so it makes about a 2-foot difference,” Sandy said.
A yearly resolution presented by County Auditor Michelle Puckett was approved. The inter-local agreement with Kosciusko County Solid Waste Board allows the county auditor to act as the controller for the solid waste district. for which the county is paid $6,000 per year. The county auditor has been acting as controller since 2000 and the payment has not increased during that time. Puckett suggested an increase may be discussed at budget time in 2020.
County Highway Superintendent Scott Tilden requested approval to apply for a grant through INDOT for a bridge replacement project. The project includes replacing bridge #30 on Beer Road, over Turkey Creek. Tilden also asked commissioners to approve and sign an INDOT financial commitment letter that shows the breakdown of commitment for the project. The total project estimate is $1,896,200, with the federal share being $1,516,960, and the local share being $379,240. The local share would be paid out of the Accumulated Bridge Fund, Tilden said. Commissioners gave their approval.
Bids for 2020 annual highway supplies were opened at the Nov. 12 commissioners meeting. Tilden reviewed the bids and recommended that all bids be accepted due to different geographical locations.
“If we’re working on the west side of the county and there’s a gravel pit there, even though they may be 10 cents a ton higher, we’ll get it from them because it wouldn’t be worth driving 20 miles the wrong way and then haul it back. We’d be losing money,” Tilden explained.
Commissioners approved the bid recommendation.
In Other News:
- Commissioners approved a rezoning request by David Caswell, who petitioned to rezone 20 acres of land from an Agricultural District to Agricultural II District. The land is located at the intersection of CR 200S and CR 600W, Warsaw.
- The final contract between the county and FireEye Cyber Security was approved and signed by commissioners. The contract involves additional cybersecurity for voting systems. The state will pay for this service through 2022.
- The next regular meeting will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10.