Kosciusko County Commissioners took another step toward forming a sewer district to serve Tippecanoe and Chapman lakes at its meeting Tuesday.

On the recommendation of county attorney Chad Miner, the commissioners approved a motion permitting County Administrator Marsha McSherry to seek additional appropriations not to exceed $145,000 for the project. Some funds are available, but it wasn’t certain how much.

The money will be used to hire a trio of firms: Jones Petry Rafinski, South Bend; Ice Miller, Indianapolis; and Umbaugh and Associates, Mishawaka. The hiring will be made official at the March 20 commissioners meeting, providing the additional funds are secured by then.



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The three companies will do the preparation work necessary, including recommending rates for the sewer service, with the intent of petitioning the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to establish the sewer district.

Miner said a meeting Thursday was held with representatives of Tippecanoe Sewer Initiative, a group that originally sought to form a conservancy for the establishing of sewer service, the three engineering firms and others. The conservancy has a court hearing scheduled for March 29, and representatives have said they would postpone that hearing if steps were taken to form a sewer district in a timely manner. Miner said he felt the appropriation would be enough to prompt that postponement.

In other business, the commissioners approved the installation of Odyssey, a new criminal records system that has been provided by the state. County Clerk Ann Torpy said the system would run along with the old program until the clerks were certain the bugs have been worked out. Superior Court I Judge David Cates said the old system, called JTS, “is six to eight years old and has easily exceeded its life expectancy.”

Emergency Management Director Ed Rock said, “I did the math and, conservatively, we had 27 billion gallons of rain fall on Kosciusko County” in the past couple of weeks. He asked the commissioners to sign a disaster declaration for the county, which they did.

Rock said he and his team had completed 218 damage assessments from recent flooding, with four structures being total losses and 18 sustaining major damage. The rest fall into one of two categories, “minor” damage or “affected.”

Rock also asked commissioners to approve seeking a grant to pay back 50 percent of his wages and that of his assistant. “The grant would be to get money we’ve already spent,” and the commissioners approved the request.

After presenting Thomas Kinch as the county’s veteran of the month, County Veterans Affairs Officer Rich Maron asked the commissioners for flexibility in his office hours to attend veteran events in the evening, to increase awareness of the office and veteran benefits. His request was granted.

Commissioners approved McSherry’s request to appoint Mike DeWald and Parke Smith to the Lakeland Regional Sewer District board. They also approved County Auditor Michelle Puckett’s annual request to re-establish cumulative capital development funds.