At the Kosciusko County Commissioners’ meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 30, are from left: Commissioners’ Vice President Brad Jackson, Commissioners’ President Cary Groninger and Commissioner Bob Conley. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Kosciusko County Commissioners have approved spending $1.2 of the county’s American Rescue Act Plan funds from the federal government on Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program projects.

The commissioners’ approval at their regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 30, follows the county ARPA committee’s similar move at its meeting on Monday, Aug. 29.

The county was one of a handful of communities selected by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to participate in the HELP initiative. HELP is meant to assist Indiana counties and communities with spending their ARPA funds on projects to better their communities in four specific areas: Advancing E-Connectivity; Enhancing Quality of Place; Promoting Community Wellness; and Strengthening Local Economies.

Through HELP, the county has a community coordinator, Amy Roe, who is helping guide those in the area through the process.

At the Monday ARPA committee meeting, leaders working to help decide on projects using HELP funds did presentations. Though the groups have narrowed down the focus for the projects, no specific projects have been decided on yet.

Kosciusko County Commissioners’ President Cary Groninger, who also serves as the head of the county’s ARPA committee, told InkFreeNews after Monday’s meeting OCRA was to meet with leaders next month to narrow down the projects more before they could be approved.

“Over the next month, month and a half, we’re going to refine these projects down,” he said during Tuesday’s meeting.

Commissioners and the Kosciusko County Council would need to approve specific projects before they could be implemented, Groninger added Tuesday.

In response to a question from Commissioner Bob Conley, Roe said the goal for HELP is for the county to have a “capstone project,” as well as a list of other projects that can be accomplished dependent on funding.

Roe and OCRA are also to assist the county to obtain other funding for HELP projects.

US 30 Freeway

The commissioners also heard from Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer regarding planning for the future of U.S. 30.

He heads up the U.S. 30 Coalition board, a group of government leaders working to ensure that any future redesign of the highway works for the people that live in the area and businesses along the route.

He thanked Groninger, who also serves on the coalition board, and Matt Sandy from the Kosciusko County Area Plan office for meeting yesterday with other officials.

“We met with the project manager from INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) yesterday,” said Thallemer. “And we were able to outline what we have done locally for the past four or five years, talked about all of our resources … We presented where we pretty much stand at this point on this project.”

Coming up, he noted there will be four public informational meetings and a website whereby people may give input regarding U.S. 30. More information on those is to be announced.

“We really appreciate the collaboration the city and county have put together for the last five, six years, and we’re getting started. It’s going to become a reality at some point,” said Thallemer regarding the U.S. 30 project.

The commissioners’ next meeting is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, at the Kosciusko County Courthouse’s Old Courtroom.