Kosciusko Area Bus Service (KABS) is creating a new deviated fixed bus route system and is seeking public input.
At Tuesday’s Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting, KABS General Manager Kristin Rude said a public forum will take place at 5 p.m. March 25 at the Warsaw Community Public Library for the community to learn more and provide feedback. The meeting will go until approximately 7 p.m.
Cardinal Services also sent out a news release Tuesday announcing the public forum. The release states that KABS partnered with Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to develop a new bus route system in and around the city of Warsaw. The new system will be in addition to the current on-demand service, which will still be available in the city and throughout the county.
The new route will operate on a fixed schedule but can deviate up to two times per hour within a half-mile radius to accommodate passengers with mobility challenges or those in low-density areas. While high-traffic stops are already identified, KABS seeks input from the community on stops of high value to them.
KABS will be available to provide rides at no charge to and from the March 25 meeting. To schedule a ride, call KABS dispatch at 574-267-4990.
Rude also requested on Tuesday the commissioners approve KABS’ 5311 quarter four operating claim.
“For the operating claim, KABS incurred a total of $214,399 in expenses from October to December of 2024. Of this, $63,044 was covered by federal operating funds. The remaining balance of $151,355 is funded through local match. As we closed out the 2024 operating year, KABS fully utilized all of our state and federal match dollars, and we accessed restricted funds to cover the remaining of our operation costs,” she explained.
Looking ahead, Rude said KABS proactively renegotiated its contract for transportation services with Cardinal Services and entered into an agreement with WellTrans for non-emergency medical transportation. Both will “positively” affect KABS’ bottom line, she stated.
“KABS continues to focus on operational efficiency and explore alternative finance sources,” Rude continued.
With no questions, the commissioners approved the quarterly claim, as well as continuing the pass-through agreement between the county and KABS through 2026.
In other business:
• Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty requested the commissioners award the county’s latest Community Crossing Matching Grant project to Phend & Brown for $1,785,571.85. The state CCMG grant will pay 50% of the cost, with the county’s share being $892,785.93.
The paving project includes Packerton Road, Armstrong Road, Warner, Eli Lilly, Chapman Road, EMS C19.
Moriarty said Phend & Brown was the lowest and most responsive of the three bids received at the last commissioners meeting.
The total CCMG funds the county received from the state for the last round of grant funding was $1,280,076.65.
The commissioners approved awarding the bid to Phend & Brown.
• County attorney Ed Ormsby presented a resolution establishing the official formation of a county opioid settlement funds committee, which the commissioners approved.
The committee will consist of two members of the county council and one commissioners, who each will serve for one-year terms. For 2025, committee members are Commissioner Sue Ann Mitchell, County Council President Tony Ciriello and Councilman Delynn Geiger. The county auditor will serve as the secretary for the committee.
The committee will be responsible for creating a grant application process for use of the opioid settlement funds, both restricted and unrestricted.
• GIS Director Bill Holder requested to apply for the state of Indiana’s Geographic Information Office SEED (Sowing Enriched & Enhanced Datasets) grant. He said they’re looking to give out up to $30,000 per county to improve certain GIS datasets.
“The highest priority of those are the road center line and address point datasets,” he said. “It’s sort of for the purpose of what’s called Next Generation 911. So they’re wanting to have each county kind of get to a certain level.”
County Commissioner Cary Groninger said, “I’m pretty excited. Anything we can do to continue to update our GIS. I don’t think people realize how useful that is.”
He pointed out that there were about 12 million clicks on the county’s GIS website last year.
“That’s pretty incredible how much people use that GIS. Anything we can do to make that more accurate information, not only for individuals’ use but also our emergency services, there’s no doubt that it’s all going to get integrated into emergency services eventually,” Groninger stated.
Holder said he thought all county dispatch centers are going toward what’s called NextGen911 so the two layers of data (road center lines and addresses) are core to making that happen.
The commissioners approved for Holder to apply for the grant.
• County Parks and Recreation Board President Rob Bishop told the commissioners Triad Associates, the engineering vendor for the Chinworth Bridge trail extension project, was bought by VS Engineering. VS Engineering asked that the county’s contract for the project be in their name, and Bishop asked for that to be approved. The commissioners approved.
Bishop let everyone know that at 4 p.m. March 20 will be the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the project.
• County Administrator Marsha McSherry reported there was a vacancy on the Milford Public Library Board and asked that Janna Stollery be approved to replace Carol Zimmerman, who stepped down. The commissioners approved.
• McSherry also requested permission to seek Request for Proposals (RFPs) for business furnishings for the main floor of the Justice Building as part of the renovation project. She said the cost should be under $50,000 so RFPs are required.
“As you recall, we did the top floor, the second floor, with the two courtrooms and the juvenile courtroom and replaced all of the old furnishings upstairs. So now we’re complete on the second floor and prepared to request quotes,” she said.
The commissioners approved for McSherry to seek RFPs for the furnishings.
Updating them on the Justice Building renovations, McSherry said phase nine - which is in the basement- should be completed by March 6. Phase 10, which encompasses the south end of the building including the meeting rooms, restrooms and hallways, should be completed by April 15.
“Getting ready to wrap up that project. It’s been over a year,” she stated.
• Area Plan Director Matt Sandy presented a recommendation from the Area Plan Commission to approve a vacation on the east side of Diamond Lake for Kevin Hohman. The vacation is for the entirety of a platted road right-of-way that is part of a subdivision, but Hohman is the only person who accessess off it. All the properties will be combined so nothing is landlocked. There were no remonstrators and the commissioners approved the vacation.
Sandy also presented the commissioners with a recommendation for an ordinance amendment regarding data centers. The ordinance defines a data center as “a location housing one or more large computer systems and related equipment concerned with building, maintaining or processing data and providing other data processing services.”
The ordinance lists data centers/data processing under exception uses in Industrial-3 (heavy industrial) zoning districts. Exception uses take an extra step to the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals for approval.
The commissioners approved adopting the zoning ordinance amendment.