Seeing it as a way to save the county money, Kosciusko County Sheriff Jim Smith presented a food service agreement with Kellwell Food Management for the county jail for 2025 to the county commissioners Tuesday.
“It’s something new and different from what we’ve done in the past,” he said. “Historically, we have partnered with the likes of GFS, also known as Gordon Food Services, and Stanz. Kellwell is a company that concentrates solely on correction facilities, whether it be prisons and jails.”
He said Kellwell started out in the southern U.S. states like Kentucky and Tennessee and have a presence in Georgia.
“They’re starting to make their way through the southern part of Indiana and coming up to our area,” Smith said, with Marshall County being the closest county that he knows of that has signed with Kellwell.
In talking with various sheriffs across Indiana that have already partnered with Kellwell, Smith said they’re pleased with the service that Kellwell provides.
“They do business a little bit different than what the others do. They can do this because they concentrate on correction facilities, and that is there’s a flat fee that we will pay. It’s in that contract that I submitted to (county attorney) Ed (Ormsby). And that amount is based on the size, the capacity of one’s jail. The numbers of the inmates fluctuate, so I think the best way to do that is what you can have in the jail and the capacity side of it,” Smith said.
“As you order your food, you’re paying at their cost, so you get to enjoy their buying power, if you will,” he continued. “I believe it’s a good time with the price of groceries that we all are feeling today with the economy, that we need to try something different.”
The Kosciusko County Jail is paying anywhere from $2 to $2.30 per meal. Going to Kellwell, Smith said they believe they can get it to less than $1 per meal, “which is a huge savings.” He said they want to get the contract with Kellwell started as close to the beginning of the year as possible.
The commissioners unanimously approved the contract.
Smith then presented an agreement with Pastor Layne Sumner for chaplain services for 2025 for $12,000.
“Historically, it’s been a volunteer program for a chaplain to service our employees. We recently, since I took office, we’ve had a chaplain that not only serviced the employees but also the jail side. That particular pastor has informed me that due to his life circumstances and how busy he is, he’s going to step away from all of it. We wish him nothing but the best and we appreciate everything he’s done for us, but it created a time where I needed to think outside the box a little bit,” Smith explained.
Warsaw Police Department partnered with Sumner for their chaplain needs. Sumner also serves the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory and does a remarkable job, Smith said.
“The contract states in there that he puts so many hours in the building per month, but also available on those extreme cases where officers may need that listening ear. And I think as busy as we are, and the severity of some of the calls that we respond to, I like the language that’s in that contract,” he stated, adding that he had Ormsby review that contract as well.
The contract, which will be funded out of the commissary account, was unanimously approved by the commissioners.
County Administrator Marsha McSherry presented on the Animal Welfare League annual service agreement. She said the last contract the county had with AWL was for $150,000 per year for two or three years.
The new agreement with the AWL is for five years, from 2025 through 2029, according to Ormsby. The amounts per year are $185,000 for 2025; $190,550 for 2026; $196,266.50 for 2027; $202,154.50 for 2028; and $208,219.14 for 2029.
Ormsby said the agreement does allow for the board to “terminate the agreement at any time should it determine in its sole discretion that those funds are not being used as the board wishes, despite the fact that the funds may already be appropriated.”
The AWL agreement was approved 3-0.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Approved a resolution in regards to the approval of the 2025 sheriff’s salary contract. The county council approved a resolution for the sheriff’s salary at their meeting Thursday. Sheriff Jim Smith’s salary will go from $120,515 in 2024 to $124,131 in 2025.
• Approved Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty’s request to purchase two dump trucks for 2025. One is a tandem single-axle Western Star 2025 for $322,208 and the other is a single-axle Western Star 2025 for $292,072. He said they’re both in the 2025 budget but they have to be ordered now.
• Opened a bid for an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) federal grant for the replacement of the chiller at the county courthouse. The sole bid was from Core Mechanical for $151,662.
Because it’s a federal contract, two bids are required. Ormsby said the bid from Core will be deferred and additional bids will be sought.
• Approved a five-year contract with Johnson Controls for managing the HVAC controls for the Justice Building and county courthouse units, as requested by McSherry. The first year of the contract starts at $15,380, increases by 4% each additional year, ending at $17,992.42 in the fifth year.
• Approved Systems Administrator Bob Momeyer’s request to spend roughly $62,000 for equipment, of which $58,000 will be paid out of the current budget year and the remainder paid out of 2025’s budget.
• Approved three memorandum of understandings pertaining to the county’s Health First Indiana, as presented by Kosciusko County Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver. The MOUs were approved by the Health First committee, county council and auditor’s office.
The MOUs are for $78,100 for a state-required school nurse liaison to work with private and public school districts in the county and $10,000 for unforeseen expenses; $5,400 for radio advertising with Kensington Digital Media and $1,680 with La Raza Radio for the department’s prenatal clinic.
• Approved Bruce Jackson to the Kosciusko County Redevelopment Commission by a vote of 2-0. Commissioner Brad Jackson abstained.
• Approved Perry Miller’s request to rezone property in Jefferson Township from Agriculture to Agriculture II. The Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission unanimously recommended that the rezoning be approved. There were no remonstrators. The property is on the west side of CR 650W, south of CR 1150N, Nappanee.
• Announced the next commissioners meeting will at 9 a.m. Monday, Dec. 23.