Kosciusko County Department of Parks and Recreation Board members from left, Aggie Sweeney, Troy Turley, Rob Bishop, Matt Metzger and Mike Cusick are given the oath by board secretary and county auditor Rhonda Helser (not pictured) Thursday, Jan. 18. Bishop will continue to serve as president for 2024, with Sweeney as vice president. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Updates on the two Kosciusko County Department of Parks and Recreation projects were provided by board members at its meeting Thursday, Jan. 18.

The projects include a greenways and blueways master plan and the extension of the Chinworth (Lake City) greenway. At their Nov. 30 meeting, the board selected a bid from Triad Associates Inc. for the design and engineering work of the trail extension; and on Nov. 16 selected Taylor Siefker Williams Design Group for the master plan.

Board members Mike Cusick and Aggie Sweeney represent the board for working with TSW to develop a steering committee for the master plan.

“The intent was to reach out to six to 10 individuals to be a part of that steering committee. We’ve been able to reach all but one so far, and they have accepted, and so we’re still waiting to hear from the final person,” Cusick said.

The list of the steering committee, so far, includes Cusick and Sweeney, Matt Sandy, Fred Helfrich, Rob Parker, Steve Moriarty, Tim Metzger, Ryan Martin, Amanda Plank and Larry Plummer. Two additional committee members had not confirmed as of Thursday’s meeting.

Cusick said TSW said an invitational to the steering committee members for the initial meeting will be sent out in the next week or so.

He then added, “I know there’s starting to be awareness from our adjoining counties in what we’re trying to do.” He said he recently met with an Elkhart County representative who said they were highly interested in connecting Goshen to Kosciusko County through the trail system. “So I just want to reiterate, even though our steering committee is representing our county, there’s still a great interest from the surrounding counties.” There’s also been discussions with individuals from Marshall County as well.

Sweeney brought up a concern of where the steering committee could meet that also would offer the opportunity for people to attend virtually. Along with places within county buildings, she was told of other possible locations in the county where the meetings could be held.

On the Chinworth trail extension, Board President Rob Bishop reported, “We believe that we have the base contract ready to submit to the commissioners. We were not able to get that ready and over to (County Auditor) Rhonda (Helser) in time for it to be advertised, so that’s going to go to the commissioners on the 30th for their review and approval.”

He said they are continuing to work with Triad as to the extension contract. “There is still a great desire to get at least the design and engineering done all the way up to the county line.” Bishop said it hasn’t been done as quick as they wanted to get it done, but they wanted to make sure it gets done and done right.

Sweeney commented, “As we have been working with Triad Associates on their work, the design and engineering for the trails, the base plus the two alternates, they provided preliminary cost estimates for the construction of the trail, and as we requested, they provided those cost estimates – just for the base and then for each alternate.”

She said the total adds up to just under $3 million, with about 90% of that being the preliminary construction cost. She said those preliminary cost estimates will likely change and that’s to be expected.

“We have a few timeline issues to deal with, with the allocation of the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) dollars that we received from the county. One of the questions that I have, given there’s a lot of unknowns … how do we want to allocate or invest the ARPA dollars we already have in hand?” Sweeney asked.

ARPA dollars have to be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent by 2026.

Cusick said his initial thoughts, because of the ARPA restrictions, are to at least get the base design and engineering completed. “I would say the base construction as well, because I am optimistic that we could have a quote and expectation on the construction before the end of the timeframe to complete that,” he said.

He said there was some concern that the construction estimates might be low and could take more of the ARPA funds than they realize. “So, if we were to do all the design and engineering for base (alternative) 1 and (alternative) 2, plus the current construction estimate — while it might fit right now within the ARPA dollars — if for some reason that construction estimate is 50% of the total, then we won’t have enough money to complete it. So my initial thought is, kind of working with what we know in the timeframe, which is the base design and engineering, plus the base construction, if there’s still dollars … maybe we can continue the construction with ARPA dollars as opposed to using the ARPA dollars for the alt. 1 and alt. 2 design and engineer,” Cusick said.

The county set aside $750,000 in ARPA funds for the design and build of the greenway extension and almost $80,000 for the master plan. The town of Winona Lake also has about $30,000 in grant funding it has offered to go toward the master plan.

Board member Matt Metzger asked if they could do things with the trail extension that would make people want to use it besides it just being a path.

“I agree completely,” Cusick said. He said the biggest issue for trail usage is that trails don’t always go anywhere. If a trail actually goes somewhere, people are more likely to use it. As trails are connected within the county and with trails in other counties, Cusick said he had a high confidence they would be used and data shows that.

Bishop said the board’s charge was to get the 0.8 mile trail extension completed. Getting money to go farther would be a bonus, but they need to focus on that first 0.8 mile as their first priority.
Board member Troy Turley said they will learn a lot by doing that first 0.8 mile as well.

Sweeney noted that if the trail crosses any waterways, permits from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and/or Indiana Department of Environmental Management will be needed and the timeline to get those may be six to eight months, if they don’t identify anything to cause it to be longer than that.

Cusick expressed a concern there wasn’t enough ARPA funding to cover everything going forward.
Later in the meeting, County Commissioner Cary Groninger told the board he appreciated the good discussion they were having and they were right on point from his perspective as a commissioner and what he thinks the county needs.

“I think we’ve got to keep our main thing the main thing. We have our objective of trying to finish out the HELP program, and that’s that Chinworth project and getting that first base in there, and I think it’s smart to learn to crawl before we walk and before we run. So I think if we can get that design done and get a good firm contract that we know where our pricing is going to be, then I think jumping right into the next level on designing that further out — 100% agree we need to have a shovel-ready project that’s already designed; ideally, permits are already in hand. I think all of those things will move a project a lot further up the list of being approved then it’s just a napkin sketch and you don’t have any other financing in place,” Groninger said.

In other business:

• Helser, county auditor and board secretary, gave the board members their oath of office for 2024.

• The board voted to retain Rob Bishop as president, with Aggie Sweeney serving as vice president for 2024.

Troy Turley was the vice president for 2023 but because of his work schedule he requested that someone else on the board be elected vice president for 2024.

• The board discussed their 2024 goals, with Bishop said the trail extension and master plan were the top priorities for him. Sweeney said they need to review their goals that they set in their master plan for the county parks and recreation department, which the board decided to discuss at their Feb. 15 meeting.