Aren’t there enough event centers in the county? County Councilman Dave Wolkins bluntly asked KEDCO CEO Alan Tio Thursday after Tio made a proposal for funding for, among other things, a study to see if an event center was needed downtown Warsaw.
Tio went before the council to ask for a total of $195,000 of the $250,000 the county had budgeted for 2023 in its Economic Development Income Tax funds for economic development projects. The request ed amount includes $50,000 for an ongoing Entrepreneurship Initiative, a one-time $60,000 for a Housing Initiative and $85,000 for two feasibility studies.
The county commissioners approved the use of the $195,000 at their meeting July 5.
Speaking on the feasibility studies Thursday, Tio said, “These are very exciting. These are really showing that we are planning and preparing for future growth. One of them is around a feasibility study looking at the development of a downtown parking structure, perhaps a hotel, conference space, multi-use project. But our interest at the county level is to really look into the feasibility of a parking structure ... and then the second project is looking at developing an innovation district, somewhere in the unincorporated portion of the county. This would be a significant investment to attempt to bring in new investment in terms of new companies coming to the community. Companies that would compliment what we already have.”
That’s when Wolkins asked if there weren’t already enough centers, asking if the Center Lake Pavilion wouldn’t be OK.
“That’s a great question,” Tio said. “The feasibility study will look at where the gaps are. Our understanding, just generally speaking, is there are some gaps in terms of performance space, events and conference space, especially attached to hotel and parking together.”
County Councilwoman Joni Truex said, “We don’t really know what the Center Lake Pavilion is going to be able to do for people because it’s not ready, so we think that will take some of that need.”
She said there’s a problem for finding space for events for over 250 people.
According to the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department Friday, once the pavilion renovation is completed, the maximum capacity of the full space will be 248.
Councilwoman Kimberly Cates said, “I also think ... if you have a huge wedding type of reception, you’re going to want to have alcohol beverages and the larger places that we have available do not allow that.”
The council unanimously approved the funding request.
In other business, the council:
• Approved a request by the Kosciusko County Highway Department (KCHD) for an additional appropriation of $40,000 for advance warning pavement markings for railroad crossings for 2023.
• Approved a request from the KCHD to apply for the At Grade Crossing Grant for 2024 railroad pavement markings.
• Approved a request from the KCHD to apply for the 2023 Community Crossing Matching Grant in the amount of $2 million.
• Approved a commitment letter for the 2023 Community Crossing Matching Grant in the amount of $999,790 for a small structure (bridge) over EMS T26 Lane, as requested by the KCHD. The county’s share of that road project would be $499,895.
• Approved a commitment letter for the 2023 Community Crossing Matching Grant in the amount of $991,010.80 for the road work on Old 30 from CR 450E to U.S. 30, a continuation of the work that was done this year; and on Ogden Point Road from Cherokee to the end, including Sunrise Road and Rozella Drive, as requested by the KCHD. The county’s share would be $495,505.
• Approved An annual ordinance from the county recorder’s office requesting the sum of $265,455 from the recorder’s perpetuation fund to be used to supplement payment of the expenses of the recorder’s office for 2024.
• Approved a salary ordinance amendment for the assessor’s office for a part-time employee to be paid $21.38 an hour. The county’s wage committee approved the rate.
• Approved a $250 additional appropriation for uniforms for the veteran service office.
• Was presented with a proposed logo for the County Parks and Recreation Board by Board President Rob Bishop. No action was requested or taken on the logo, but the council did approval two $1,000 additional appropriations for the county parks for mileage and printing and advertising.
• Approved an additional appropriation of $5,000, requested by the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office, for supplies for the sex and violent offender registry.
• Approved a $10,000 additional appropriation from the previously approved Stop Arm Violation Enforcement (SAVE) 2023 grant, as requested by the sheriff’s office.
• Approved a $14,500 additional appropriation from the previously approved CHIRP (Comprehensive Highway Injury Reduction Program) grant for extra patrols for seatbelt enforcement, as requested by the sheriff’s office.
• Approved $15,960 additional appropriation from the IN Local Body Cam grant for body cameras for jailers in the jail.
• Approved a transfer of $47,640 from 911 equipment to 911 public safety expenses for the county’s public safety communication project.
“This is for the utilities for the tower sites,” County Administrator Marsha McSherry said. “So when we started this, we did not have this information when we did the budget last year. This is to appropriate to the end of the year for those utility expenses, and we budgeted in 2024 for those expenses.”
• Approved two additional appropriations in the EDIT fund for the Revitalization Committee, including $10,000 for legal services for the rest of 2023 and $60,000 for unsafe buildings.
• Approved two additional appropriations in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund. They’ve already been approved by the committee, commissioners and council, but this action was to appropriate the dollars so they can be spent. They include $100,000 for the Kosciusko County Convention & Visitors Bureau for a digital sign and $1,888,000 for the CR 1300N renovation and improvement project.
• Approved the eight compliance forms for tax abatement renewal for Louis Dreyfus Company and the one for iDNA Series LLC.
• Heard a semi-annual review from the Kosciusko County Purdue Extension Office on the many projects and activities they’ve been working on over the past year.
• Heard from Councilwoman Sue Ann Mitchell that at the August meeting the council will be asked to approve making the veteran service officer a full-time position for Darryl McDowell.
The Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program community coordinator position also will become full time through 2026, if the council approves, to finish out the HELP grant. The position is held by Amy Roe.
• Heard from Mitchell on the opioid grant that the county has finally submitted the last piece of paperwork. Fellowship Missions will receive $150,000, with $30,000 going toward counseling in the county jail and $22,500 will go toward juvenile counseling. The county will provide the matching funds as required by the grant.
On top of that, the county will receive $1,000 a month to administer the grant.