Commissioners OK County Judges’ Requests On Grants
October 25, 2022 at 8:36 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Circuit Court Judge Michael Reed sought to use up to $50,000 from a Court Reform Grant.
“Last November, I was here asking for permission to apply for this Court Reform Grant. It was $60,449. Last go around, you gave me permission to do that. It was for a court check-in information system, basically TV monitors and the software that supports that for all of the courts to have cases up on the big screens to hopefully get people to where they’re supposed to go,” Reed said.
He said they didn’t get approved for that from the state. Then in August the state gave approval for the $60,449.
“So much time had passed, we actually found another vendor, it’s going to be cheaper. And, so, basically I’m back to ask your permission to do the same thing,” Reed said.
He said he originally wanted to use up to $50,000 to mount the screens on the walls, two on the top floor and two on the ground floor, but after talking with County Administrator Marsha McSherry, they’ll go with floor mounts instead. There may be additional cabling to go along with that.
“The state’s OK’d anything up to the $60,000 that they gave us, they approved. So we do have to spend the money and then get reimbursed,” Reed said.
County Administrator Marsha McSherry said floor mounts were preferable because of locations. The county also may be able to do all the installation in-house, she said.
Reed said with the grant money, they will be able to get all the hardware and computer software support for five years.
The Commissioners approved Reed’s request.
For his request, Superior Court IV Judge Chris Kehler said every Wednesday the Supreme Court sends out an email to all the judges. Last Wednesday, Kehler said he received an email indicating there was an opportunity for the courts to apply for a Family Court Project Grant. The deadline for that is Nov. 10.
Kehler said he inquired whether or not the grant could be used for the purposes of paying for Guardian ad Litems (GALs). A Guardian ad Litem is an attorney appointed by the court to assist in mostly high-conflict custody cases, parenting time cases involving families who do not have - “in this case” - the funds to hire their own GAL, Kehler explained.
He said he was requesting $72,000 from the grant because after speaking to some local attorneys and a representative down state, Kehler thought a reasonable period of time to devote to a case would be 15 hours. With an hourly attorney rate of $200, that’s $3,000. If two GALs were appointed a month, that would 24 a year, so 24 times $3,000 is $72,000.
The way he came up with two GALs a month, being conservative, was because in 2021 in Superior Court IV “we had 166 pending DC cases, divorce with children; 1,511 pending JP cases, those are children of parents who were not married; 1,677 cases I appointed four GALs for those cases because only four families could afford it. In 2022, through the end of September, we had a total of 1,841 cases, I had appointed six GALs,” Kehler said.
The state representative said the grant money could be used for GALs.
The Commissioners approved for Kehler to apply for the grant.
In other business, the Commissioners approved:
• A letter in support of Syracuse-Wawasee Trail Committee’s application for a K21 Health Foundation grant.
“This would be a part of their trail system and I?believe this would be the Wawasee south trail that this letter is in support of,” McSherry explained.
• A memorandum of understanding between the county and the city of Warsaw for the county to place microwave equipment at the Warsaw radio tower to support the county’s 911 Datalink from Central Dispatch to the central tower site, as presented by McSherry.
• The annual interlocal agreement between the county and all of the outlying police departments for the Terminal Services Data. McSherry said this supports and allows the police departments to have access to what the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office has.
“There is a fee attached to this and we increased it by 5%,” McSherry said.
The agreement is for Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.
• An interlocal agreement between Kosciusko County government and the Kosciusko County Convention and Recreation Visitors Commission, as presented by County Auditor Michelle Puckett.
The agreement allows the auditor to act as the controller and secretary for the KCCRVC. The annual fee is $500 to reimburse the county for any materials used for the services.
• An interlocal agreement between the county and the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District for an annual fee of $6,000, as presented by Puckett. Since 2000, the county auditor has served as controller for the District.
The $6,000 allows the auditor’s office to do their payroll, claims, budgets and all of the District’s interactions with the Department of Local Government Finance.
• All of the nonprofit agreements for 2023 as approved during the budgeting process.
• The rezoning of 7.11 acres on McKenna Road near the southwest corner of Irish Lake from agricultural to residential, as presented by Area Plan Director Matt Sandy.
Several neighbors had concerns about the number of homes going onto the development, drainage, traffic, safety and wildlife. The Commissioners explained that at this point, they were just looking at what the best use of the property, whether that was agriculture or residential.
Representing Emerald Pointe Development LLC, Scott Saylor, Scott Marker and Kyle Coleman said it was too early in the process to know how many homes, what kind of homes, etc. would be built onto the property but they wanted to work with the neighborhood.
• The next Commissioners meeting will be at 9 a.m. Monday, Nov. 7 because of Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
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Circuit Court Judge Michael Reed sought to use up to $50,000 from a Court Reform Grant.
“Last November, I was here asking for permission to apply for this Court Reform Grant. It was $60,449. Last go around, you gave me permission to do that. It was for a court check-in information system, basically TV monitors and the software that supports that for all of the courts to have cases up on the big screens to hopefully get people to where they’re supposed to go,” Reed said.
He said they didn’t get approved for that from the state. Then in August the state gave approval for the $60,449.
“So much time had passed, we actually found another vendor, it’s going to be cheaper. And, so, basically I’m back to ask your permission to do the same thing,” Reed said.
He said he originally wanted to use up to $50,000 to mount the screens on the walls, two on the top floor and two on the ground floor, but after talking with County Administrator Marsha McSherry, they’ll go with floor mounts instead. There may be additional cabling to go along with that.
“The state’s OK’d anything up to the $60,000 that they gave us, they approved. So we do have to spend the money and then get reimbursed,” Reed said.
County Administrator Marsha McSherry said floor mounts were preferable because of locations. The county also may be able to do all the installation in-house, she said.
Reed said with the grant money, they will be able to get all the hardware and computer software support for five years.
The Commissioners approved Reed’s request.
For his request, Superior Court IV Judge Chris Kehler said every Wednesday the Supreme Court sends out an email to all the judges. Last Wednesday, Kehler said he received an email indicating there was an opportunity for the courts to apply for a Family Court Project Grant. The deadline for that is Nov. 10.
Kehler said he inquired whether or not the grant could be used for the purposes of paying for Guardian ad Litems (GALs). A Guardian ad Litem is an attorney appointed by the court to assist in mostly high-conflict custody cases, parenting time cases involving families who do not have - “in this case” - the funds to hire their own GAL, Kehler explained.
He said he was requesting $72,000 from the grant because after speaking to some local attorneys and a representative down state, Kehler thought a reasonable period of time to devote to a case would be 15 hours. With an hourly attorney rate of $200, that’s $3,000. If two GALs were appointed a month, that would 24 a year, so 24 times $3,000 is $72,000.
The way he came up with two GALs a month, being conservative, was because in 2021 in Superior Court IV “we had 166 pending DC cases, divorce with children; 1,511 pending JP cases, those are children of parents who were not married; 1,677 cases I appointed four GALs for those cases because only four families could afford it. In 2022, through the end of September, we had a total of 1,841 cases, I had appointed six GALs,” Kehler said.
The state representative said the grant money could be used for GALs.
The Commissioners approved for Kehler to apply for the grant.
In other business, the Commissioners approved:
• A letter in support of Syracuse-Wawasee Trail Committee’s application for a K21 Health Foundation grant.
“This would be a part of their trail system and I?believe this would be the Wawasee south trail that this letter is in support of,” McSherry explained.
• A memorandum of understanding between the county and the city of Warsaw for the county to place microwave equipment at the Warsaw radio tower to support the county’s 911 Datalink from Central Dispatch to the central tower site, as presented by McSherry.
• The annual interlocal agreement between the county and all of the outlying police departments for the Terminal Services Data. McSherry said this supports and allows the police departments to have access to what the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office has.
“There is a fee attached to this and we increased it by 5%,” McSherry said.
The agreement is for Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.
• An interlocal agreement between Kosciusko County government and the Kosciusko County Convention and Recreation Visitors Commission, as presented by County Auditor Michelle Puckett.
The agreement allows the auditor to act as the controller and secretary for the KCCRVC. The annual fee is $500 to reimburse the county for any materials used for the services.
• An interlocal agreement between the county and the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District for an annual fee of $6,000, as presented by Puckett. Since 2000, the county auditor has served as controller for the District.
The $6,000 allows the auditor’s office to do their payroll, claims, budgets and all of the District’s interactions with the Department of Local Government Finance.
• All of the nonprofit agreements for 2023 as approved during the budgeting process.
• The rezoning of 7.11 acres on McKenna Road near the southwest corner of Irish Lake from agricultural to residential, as presented by Area Plan Director Matt Sandy.
Several neighbors had concerns about the number of homes going onto the development, drainage, traffic, safety and wildlife. The Commissioners explained that at this point, they were just looking at what the best use of the property, whether that was agriculture or residential.
Representing Emerald Pointe Development LLC, Scott Saylor, Scott Marker and Kyle Coleman said it was too early in the process to know how many homes, what kind of homes, etc. would be built onto the property but they wanted to work with the neighborhood.
• The next Commissioners meeting will be at 9 a.m. Monday, Nov. 7 because of Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
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