Commissioners OK Transferring Grant Funds To Stillwater Hospice
March 14, 2023 at 11:43 p.m.
Commissioners OK Transferring Grant Funds To Stillwater Hospice
By David [email protected]
Stillwater Hospice Kosciusko Community Outreach Director Glenn Hall, formerly the executive director of KCHCH, said, “As you all may be aware, we recently announced our merger with Stillwater Hospice out of Fort Wayne. We’re very, very excited about that because what it does for us is ensure our ability to continue to provide homecare and hospice services for Kosciusko County for the future.”
KCHCH struggled some financially, especially ever since Covid, he said, “and so when we started thinking outside the box of just our county, Stillwater approached us about a potential partnership, and so we made that decision, effective March 1.”
During the 2022 grant cycle, the commissioners “blessed us” with a $50,000 grant, he said. “I’m here today not only to introduce our new CEO - Leslie Friedel, CEO of Stillwater Hospice - but to ask that those remaining grant funds that have not yet been distributed of that grant just be transferred in name to Stillwater, our new agency.”
Those funds will go into the Stillwater Foundation and will be earmarked specifically for patient care in Kosciusko County, he said. “I want to assure the commissioners of that.”
Commissioner Cary Groninger asked if, with the merger, there were any differences with services provided to clients in Kosciusko County.
“We hope to increase our palliative care. They call it chronic disease management in Kosciusko County, so we hope to increase those services. Of course, we’re going to be heavily marketing, trying to increase our hospice services as well,” Hall said. “We are continuing to serve our veterans for the foreseeable future, so we’re excited about that. But Stillwater’s primary focus is hospice and we’re looking to grow that business in Kosciusko County.”
Commissioner Bob Conley said he knows that what they do is a “labor of love.” Having been involved in several cases himself, Conley said what hospice does is “mind-boggling.” A couple years ago, during several meetings, he said there was discussion about whether or not KCHCH would even continue to exist. “So this is a shot in the arm and hopefully in the right direction.”
The commissioners approved Stillwater’s request.
Next up, Cardinal Services Inc. Business Development Director Tony Peterson introduced the new Kosciusko Area Bus Service (KABS) general manager, Steve Lockridge.
Lockridge started in February and has 30 years of experience in the transportation industry, including route sales, training and managing drivers. He has worked for companies like Wildman and Bertsch Vending. He has been for 34 years to Laura and they have two children.
Peterson also presented the quarterly operating claims for October through December 2022.
“The claim represents $91,495 in federal funds, $64,011 in state funds. The total expense of $155,506,” he said. “During that quarter, we also provided 8,475 trips and covered 33,873 miles.”
Groninger asked how KABS’ ridership was doing and if they’ve seen any comeback in that. During the Covid pandemic, ridership dropped considerably.
“It’s getting better. We’ve actually gotten a couple more drivers. We’re down one driver, however, if I can put a plug in, we also want to just market that we’re open until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday,” Peterson said.
KABS begins picking up riders at 5:30 a.m.
The commissioners approved the quarterly claim.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
• For Emergency Management Director Ed Rock to apply for two $150,000 State Homeland Security Program grants. One will go toward cybersecurity improvements, and the other one will be for closed-circuit television cameras for the exterior of the county courthouse.
“After talking to (County Administrator) Marsha (McSherry), I knew she had been looking at trying to get the cameras installed. And after we had the bomb threat here a few years ago, those cameras would have been a huge help for us to identify who the individual was and get things straightened out there. We managed to get the job done, anyhow, but this would have made it a lot better,” Rock stated.
Both grants are reimburseable grants and the county council approved March 9 for Rock to apply for them.
“The camera system that we’re looking to install around the courthouse would be integrated with the current camera system that we have. So, court security, sheriff’s department - they would be able to see those cameras around the outside of the courthouse,” McSherry said.
After the commissioners approved the grant application, Rock informed them that this whole week is Severe Weather Awareness Week. On Tuesday, he said they were going to conduct a tornado drill for all county offices.
“Actually, it works out great because we just got a new system installed in the Justice Building that will allow us to do that, so I just wanted to let everybody know that sometime between 10 and 10:30 today, we will have a tornado drill and we actually will move all county employees to the tornado shelters, just to make sure everything works out and we can fit everyone in. It should be a good test,” Rock explained.
The siren went off at about 10:22 a.m. Tuesday.
• Four contracts from Koorsen Fire & Security, as presented by McSherry, for fire alarm and detection systems, fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers and fire suppression system for the county courthouse, work release, annex building and the Justice Building. The total for all four contracts is $13,833.40.
• The 2022 annual operational report for local roads, streets and bridges as presented by Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty. He said it’s a requirement and the commissioners have to approve it first before it’s sent on to the state.
• The reappointment of Bob Marcuccilli to the Lakeland Regional Sewer District Board of Trustees, as requested by Board President Jim Haney. Marcuccilli has served on the board for approximately 10 years.
• Appointed Emergency Management Agency Assistant Director Kip Shuter to the Public Safety Tech Committee. Shuter replaces Rock, who is retiring March 31, on the committee.
• Approved the county security committee, including Brad Voelz for the prosecutor’s office, Groninger for the commissioners, McSherry, Mike Mulligan for the sheriff’s department, Judge Mike Reed for the judges, Mike Spiegel for court security and Councilman Tony Ciriello for the county council.
The next commissioners’ meeting is 9 a.m. March 28 in the county courthouse.
Stillwater Hospice Kosciusko Community Outreach Director Glenn Hall, formerly the executive director of KCHCH, said, “As you all may be aware, we recently announced our merger with Stillwater Hospice out of Fort Wayne. We’re very, very excited about that because what it does for us is ensure our ability to continue to provide homecare and hospice services for Kosciusko County for the future.”
KCHCH struggled some financially, especially ever since Covid, he said, “and so when we started thinking outside the box of just our county, Stillwater approached us about a potential partnership, and so we made that decision, effective March 1.”
During the 2022 grant cycle, the commissioners “blessed us” with a $50,000 grant, he said. “I’m here today not only to introduce our new CEO - Leslie Friedel, CEO of Stillwater Hospice - but to ask that those remaining grant funds that have not yet been distributed of that grant just be transferred in name to Stillwater, our new agency.”
Those funds will go into the Stillwater Foundation and will be earmarked specifically for patient care in Kosciusko County, he said. “I want to assure the commissioners of that.”
Commissioner Cary Groninger asked if, with the merger, there were any differences with services provided to clients in Kosciusko County.
“We hope to increase our palliative care. They call it chronic disease management in Kosciusko County, so we hope to increase those services. Of course, we’re going to be heavily marketing, trying to increase our hospice services as well,” Hall said. “We are continuing to serve our veterans for the foreseeable future, so we’re excited about that. But Stillwater’s primary focus is hospice and we’re looking to grow that business in Kosciusko County.”
Commissioner Bob Conley said he knows that what they do is a “labor of love.” Having been involved in several cases himself, Conley said what hospice does is “mind-boggling.” A couple years ago, during several meetings, he said there was discussion about whether or not KCHCH would even continue to exist. “So this is a shot in the arm and hopefully in the right direction.”
The commissioners approved Stillwater’s request.
Next up, Cardinal Services Inc. Business Development Director Tony Peterson introduced the new Kosciusko Area Bus Service (KABS) general manager, Steve Lockridge.
Lockridge started in February and has 30 years of experience in the transportation industry, including route sales, training and managing drivers. He has worked for companies like Wildman and Bertsch Vending. He has been for 34 years to Laura and they have two children.
Peterson also presented the quarterly operating claims for October through December 2022.
“The claim represents $91,495 in federal funds, $64,011 in state funds. The total expense of $155,506,” he said. “During that quarter, we also provided 8,475 trips and covered 33,873 miles.”
Groninger asked how KABS’ ridership was doing and if they’ve seen any comeback in that. During the Covid pandemic, ridership dropped considerably.
“It’s getting better. We’ve actually gotten a couple more drivers. We’re down one driver, however, if I can put a plug in, we also want to just market that we’re open until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday,” Peterson said.
KABS begins picking up riders at 5:30 a.m.
The commissioners approved the quarterly claim.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
• For Emergency Management Director Ed Rock to apply for two $150,000 State Homeland Security Program grants. One will go toward cybersecurity improvements, and the other one will be for closed-circuit television cameras for the exterior of the county courthouse.
“After talking to (County Administrator) Marsha (McSherry), I knew she had been looking at trying to get the cameras installed. And after we had the bomb threat here a few years ago, those cameras would have been a huge help for us to identify who the individual was and get things straightened out there. We managed to get the job done, anyhow, but this would have made it a lot better,” Rock stated.
Both grants are reimburseable grants and the county council approved March 9 for Rock to apply for them.
“The camera system that we’re looking to install around the courthouse would be integrated with the current camera system that we have. So, court security, sheriff’s department - they would be able to see those cameras around the outside of the courthouse,” McSherry said.
After the commissioners approved the grant application, Rock informed them that this whole week is Severe Weather Awareness Week. On Tuesday, he said they were going to conduct a tornado drill for all county offices.
“Actually, it works out great because we just got a new system installed in the Justice Building that will allow us to do that, so I just wanted to let everybody know that sometime between 10 and 10:30 today, we will have a tornado drill and we actually will move all county employees to the tornado shelters, just to make sure everything works out and we can fit everyone in. It should be a good test,” Rock explained.
The siren went off at about 10:22 a.m. Tuesday.
• Four contracts from Koorsen Fire & Security, as presented by McSherry, for fire alarm and detection systems, fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers and fire suppression system for the county courthouse, work release, annex building and the Justice Building. The total for all four contracts is $13,833.40.
• The 2022 annual operational report for local roads, streets and bridges as presented by Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty. He said it’s a requirement and the commissioners have to approve it first before it’s sent on to the state.
• The reappointment of Bob Marcuccilli to the Lakeland Regional Sewer District Board of Trustees, as requested by Board President Jim Haney. Marcuccilli has served on the board for approximately 10 years.
• Appointed Emergency Management Agency Assistant Director Kip Shuter to the Public Safety Tech Committee. Shuter replaces Rock, who is retiring March 31, on the committee.
• Approved the county security committee, including Brad Voelz for the prosecutor’s office, Groninger for the commissioners, McSherry, Mike Mulligan for the sheriff’s department, Judge Mike Reed for the judges, Mike Spiegel for court security and Councilman Tony Ciriello for the county council.
The next commissioners’ meeting is 9 a.m. March 28 in the county courthouse.
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