Kosciusko County Council met Thursday morning, Sept. 5, for its informational session, with the regular meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12. in the old courtroom of the county courthouse. Shown from left are Tony Ciriello, Dave Wolkins, President Mike Long, Sue Ann Mitchell, Joni Truex and Kimberly Cates. Not present was Vice President Kathy Groninger. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Kosciusko County Councilwoman Sue Ann Mitchell made it clear Thursday morning, Sept. 5, the $85,790 the county is providing from American Rescue Plan Act funds to the Kosciusko County Fair is for roof repairs and not for the fair to bank some money.

During the county council’s informational meeting Thursday morning, County Administrator Marsha McSherry presented the ARPA Committee recommendations.

“The recommendation is, from the ARPA Committee, for $625,350, and that includes all these applications. That money is there because we had $2.4 million that was appropriated for the Justice Building renovation project and it came in under budget, so we have some money to do some other projects in the county, and that was what the recommendation was from the ARPA Committee,” McSherry said.

The recommendations include $23,000 for Justice Building parking lot cameras; $64,435 for Work Release security system; $7,800 for Work Release exterior painting; $7,425 for Work Release parking lot improvement; $220,000 for Justice Building furniture; $66,900 for building assessment; $150,000 for courthouse exterior cameras; and $85,790 for Kosciusko County Fair repairs.

Councilwoman Joni Truex asked about the $220,000 for Justice Building furniture not being included in the $2.4 million for the building renovation.

McSherry said the $2.4 million was for renovation work only, including carpeting, wall covering, painting, bathroom tiles, etc., and it did not include furniture.

Truex asked what furniture was included in the $220,000. McSherry said it’s replacing the chairs in the courtrooms for Superior I, Circuit and juvenile. “That replaces the stationary chairs for the jurors and the audience, and it has furniture for the jury rooms and the two lobbies and any side chairs that are needed. And there were benches needed in the other courtrooms, as well,” McSherry said.

As for the old furniture, McSherry said the county hopefully is going to try to sell some of it.

Councilwoman Kimberly Cates asked McSherry if the Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce had contacted her about the furniture. McSherry said they did, but, “We hadn’t gotten this far when they did.”

McSherry said she’d give the Chamber a call, but the new furniture was only ordered about three to four weeks ago.

Mitchell, who sits on the ARPA Committee with Council President Mike Long and County Commissioner Cary Groninger, commented on the ARPA funds for the fair.

“I believe whenever we talk about it, we need to put into the minutes that they’re to receive no reimbursement from any other entity with any already standing agreements they have,” she said. “They have agreements with other people that the fair will split a third, a third and a third. I discovered that, and I did talk to people with the fair board and they said they weren’t going to do that. They wouldn’t ask them for a share of that. Well, they’re not going to ask them. The intent was not to get them $60,000 into their treasury. The intent was to get the work done at the fair.”

Long made a notation of that at the bottom of the fair’s application for ARPA funds. In the presentation to the ARPA Committee in July, Fair President Randy Shepherd said the funds would be used for the roofs of the Beef Barn and Home & Family Arts Building.

The council’s regular meeting, when they will vote on the ARPA recommendations, is at 6 p.m. Sept. 12.

Updating the council on the Justice Building renovation, McSherry said they’re in the middle of phase four of about 10 phases and things are moving along well.

“Phase four includes Superior III courtroom and all of the staff and judge’s chambers and jury rooms, conference rooms, used by those people. We’ve got a lot of carpet down. It’s not complete yet. They started on the restrooms yesterday and they’re supposed to be here and complete those until they’re done,” she said. “Wall covering is done in the courtroom itself, but we have judge’s chambers have to have wall covering and maybe half of the hallway is done in that area.”

She also reported the renovation of the Justice Building parking lot is underway.

“Things are moving along in that regard as well. We have a lot of parking areas, spaces for people to go to and we haven’t had a lot of complaints. Everybody seems to know where they’re supposed to go as far as employees where they can park and the courts are working with their jury people to come in,” McSherry explained.

County Surveyor Mike Kissinger is requesting the council approve a $6,000 transfer of funds from drainage board secretary/claims to part-time to cover the extension of a part-time employee through the end of the year.

While Kissinger was not at Thursday morning’s meeting, Long read a letter from Kissinger.

The letter states, in part, “As we are in the latter part of 2024, my office is experiencing some manpower challenges. One of my employees is dealing with some health issues, which is limiting the time they are able to be in the office/field.

“Another one of my employees has been made aware that their job will be unexpectedly eliminated at the end of this year. They are now likely looking for other employment while still fulfilling all of the tasks and responsibilities I continue to give them without hesitation or any degree of malice. They have been, and continue to be, an integral part of my office.”

The letter also states Kissinger is asking the council to approve the $6,000 transfer to the part-time position, currently occupied by Krista Baker, who has been training Sandy Angel, the current drainage board secretary, since October 2023. The part-time fund currently only has about 12 days of funding left, and Kissinger believes it would be advantageous to have Baker and her experience stay on in the surveyor’s office until the end of 2024.

Kissinger did not seek re-election this year. Jim Moyer, who is not a licensed county surveyor, won the election for county surveyor. A non-licensed county surveyor can’t perform some of the duties of the office so those will have to be contracted out. It’s the first time in 64 years that the county hasn’t had a licensed county surveyor and it’s estimated that contracted services could cost $170,000 to $200,000, though Moyer presented his vision to the council Aug. 14 on how he will handle those costs, including the elimination of a position and taking on additional duties himself.

The council also heard a Kosciusko County Convention and Recreation Visitors Commission board appointment recommendation from Long. The recommendations were for Mike Loher, entertainment, and Chris Polk, restaurant, to be appointed to the board.