Kosciusko County Sheriff Jim Smith, left, explains to the Kosciusko County Council at their meeting Thursday why his department needs new positions for 2025. Council members shown seated from the left are Dave Wolkins, Sue Ann Mitchell and Kathy Groninger. Not pictured but present are Mike Long, Kimberly Cates, Joni Truex and Tony Ciriello. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Wage committee recommendations for the 2025 budget were first presented to the Kosciusko County Council at their informational meeting on June 6.

At its regular meeting Thursday night, June 13, Sheriff Jim Smith explained why the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department needs four new jailers, one new deputy and a new traffic/administrative sergeant, along with the work release cook moving from part time to full time.

County Human Resource Director Cathy Reed presented all of the wage committee recommendations to the council Thursday night. The council will make a decision on the positions during their budget meetings.

The recommendations included the new position of a financial deputy/grant administrator for the auditor’s office. For systems administration, it’s recommended two job descriptions be updated with title changes, and a new position of technology assistant be added. In the probation department, a re-entry court coordinator/case manager is recommended, for as long as there is grant funding for the position. A part-time Emergency Management Agency coordinator was recommended for the county EMA.

After Reed concluded reading the recommendations for the sheriff’s department, Councilman Dave Wolkins asked if the council members not on the wage committee were going to hear some of the reasons for the new position requests. Council President Mike Long said they’d hear those during the budget sessions, but Smith, being at the meeting for other agenda items, provided his reasoning then.

On the need for a full-time cook at work release, he said they started the year with 50 inmates in the program and now have around 80.

“So, obviously, the need is there, and it’s a part-time cook that’s trying to make all the meals work with the trustees out there,” Smith said.

While that works, he said when he requested work release increase its capacity to reduce the population at the jail, that’s more people to feed. Work Release Director Jerrad Jones told Smith he could get through 2024 with the part-time cook, but needed a full-time cook past that.

On the jail staff, Smith said, “The first thing that comes to my mind is the mental health. Out here our deputies are dealing with more and more mental health calls. That doesn’t change just because they’re in jail. Mental health issues are on the rise. When you have those, you deal with them in a way that it takes more than one deputy oftentimes. We have to make sure our staff is safe. We also need to make sure that the inmates are safe as well.”

He said they run on four 12-hour shifts, just like on the road. The request for four new jailers will put one more on each shift.

Councilwoman Joni Truex said she knows that the jail has been short-staffed for a long time. She asked if adding four more would be an answer to that completely. Smith said it would certainly help, and Truex asked how many he was still short.

“We’re fully staffed with what we have on the roster right now. I can tell you that we’re fully staffed in the jail. But when you start looking at our jail inspection report and what they recommend, the ratio with inmates and guards, I don’t know, for as long as I’ve ever been here, if we’ve ever actually hit those numbers. We’ve been in the red in that regard,” Smith stated.

He said their numbers, as far as inmates, are low right now as the jail has about a current population of 230, compared to where it’s been at around 280.

Smith also noted that last year they transported inmates about 43,000 miles all over the place.

“It’s very, very busy. Some of those take more than one guard to transport, depending on their charges and that sort of thing,” he said.

He talked about the inmates having tablets, which have been a good thing to keep the inmates occupied instead of doing things like fighting in the jail, but maintaining the tablets requires additional responsibility for the guards.

In the past week, the KCSO has handled two fatal accidents. The traffic sergeant position, Smith explained, will focus on completing fatal accident reports, addressing traffic concerns and “everything traffic.”

Wolkins said he felt a little better about the additional positions after hearing Smith’s reasoning.
In other business, the council:

• Approved the salary analysis by Reedy Financial Group for $15,000 by a vote of 4-3 after almost an hour-long discussion on it. Voting for it were Long, Kathy Groninger, Kimberly Cates and Sue Ann Mitchell. Voting against it were Truex, Tony Ciriello and Wolkins. The county commissioners approved the salary analysis at their June 4 meeting.

• Heard the 2025 budget requests from eight nonprofit organizations, similar to what the county commissioners heard on June 4.

The requests total $352,802.71, and include $20,000 from Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center; $47,521.71 from Kosciusko County 4-H Council; Cardinal Services, $111,373; $50,000, Stillwater Hospice; $30,000 Kosciusko County Historical Society; $50,000, The Beaman Home; $40,000, Kosciusko Community Senior Services; and $3,794 from St. Joseph River Basin.

• Approved for the Kosciusko County Emergency Management Agency to apply for a $132,432 2024 State Homeland Security Grant for fiber internet.

• Approved County Assessor Gail Chapman’s additional appropriation request for $9,000 for computer equipment and another one for $14,000 for computer maintenance and software.

• Approved Smith’s three additional appropriations totaling $15,000 for the Department of Natural Resources 2024-25 federal grant for lake patrol presence on Lake Wawasee, Tippecanoe and Syracuse.

• Approved Jail Matron Michelle Hyden’s request for an ordinance to create a donation fund for the Kosciusko County Community Recovery Program (CRP). The county commissioners previously approved it.

• Approved KCSO Chief Deputy Chris McKeand’s request to apply for a 2024 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Use Site-Based Program grant for $1 million over three years for the CRP through the Department of Justice. This is the third DOJ grant he’s applied for over about the past two months, for the CRP, but the CRP will only be awarded one of the three grants. If awarded, it would begin Oct. 1, 2024, and run through September 2027. It is not a matching grant.

• Approved all the tax abatements through the county to be continued for Louis Dreyfus Co. Agricultural Industries LLC, iDNA Series LLC and IGDB Biogass LLC.