Back in December, the Kosciusko County Council approved the creation of a public defender’s office after hearing a presentation by retiring Circuit Court Judge Mike Reed.
Thursday, the council approved new Circuit Court Judge Matthew Buehler’s request to pay the public defender board members for their work and the meetings they attend.
“I’m here to continue the hard work of my predecessor Judge Mike Reed as it relates to a request that’s being made for a small stipend to be given to the members of our public defender board,” Buehler explained. “For those of you that are not familiar - and I certainly hope that you are after Mike Reed was here last time to discuss the formation of the public defender office here in Kosciusko County - we are obligated to maintain a public defender board to ensure the compliance with state statute to ensure that the county receives its 40% reimbursement for the public defender fees.”
He said the three members of the public defender board have rotated a little bit but have pretty much been serving since 2021 on a strictly volunteer basis. The board is required to meet once a quarter in order to “maintain our compliance with the state statute.”
However, Buehler continued, “Given the upcoming formation of the public defender office, we’re certainly going to be asking a lot more of the members of that board going forward. And, as a result, Judge Reed believed it was just, and I concur with his request, in asking for a small stipend to be made available and provided to each of the members of the public defender board.”
The current board members are Kevin Deardorff, chair; Paul Stoelting and John Hall.
“We’re asking for the council to approve a $250 stipend for all of their hard work in 2024, what they did in helping us put the proposals forward to the council, and to provide a $109.67 salary per member for their quarterly meetings,” Buehler said.
The council unanimously approved the salary ordinance amendments providing for the $250 per board member stipend for all of 2024 and the $109.67 per meeting per board member going forward.
In other business:
• Prosecuting Attorney J. Brad Voelz requested an additional appropriation for the VOCA (Victims Of Crime Act) grant in the amount of $50,153 for 2025. In June, he said, they received their notice of award from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute for the grant that funds the prosecutor’s victims assistance program. It’s a reimburseable grant. The Council approved the request.
• Superior Court I Judge Karin McGrath requested permission to apply for the eighth year of the JDAI (Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative) grant. It’s an advance grant and she said they are seeking $60,000.
“This is the only money we have, actually, for juvenile funding on some really important (issues) - Teen Court, lots of other things that are happening in our community,” she said.
The council approved the grant application.
• Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Chris McKeand requested a salary ordinance amendment for the county’s dispatch.
“It’s to move a dispatcher from a supervisory position into a day shift position and then vice versa,” he said, noting the total is $66,420 and it’s just for two employees switching positions. The Council approved the request.
• Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty made several requests, all of which the council unanimously approved.
The first was for four additional appropriations totaling $4,221,153. He said they are funds for grants the KCHD received this year, including a Community Crossings Matching Grant for about $2.5 million.
The second request was for a 2025 salary ordinance amendment. “This is for an assistant admin. manager for two months ... and then there’s also a part-time position for assistant manager. I have two ladies that are going to be retiring at the same exact time - which makes me very ill - so we’ve hired one and want to bring on the other (replacement) so that they can get trained,” Moriarty explained.
His third request was for a transfer of $15,000 from overtime to highway assistant administration manager to cover the two months of the retiring KCHD employees training the new employees.
• Emergency Management Agency Director Kip Shuter requested approval for two additional appropriations for reimburseable grants that were awarded in October. One grant for $15,950 is for training, with another grant for $149,481 being for security cameras. The request was granted.
• County Administrator Marsha McSherry presented two additional appropriations totaling $147,500. One was for $95,000 from the Opioid Restricted Fund and the other was for $52,500 from Opioid Unrestricted. “This is to move those dollars forward into 2025 to be spent,” she explained, and the council approved.
McSherry also presented a list of additional appropriations for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds totaling $4,012,113.
“This is to move those appropriations into 2025 to be spent,” she stated, and the council approved. The expenditures have already been approved by the county ARPA committee, the commissioners and the council.
• County Auditor Alyssa Schmucker presented salary ordinance amendments - one for the Community Corrections director at $87,839 for 2025 and the other to correct the county general part-time wage at $15.45 hourly. Both were given the okay.
• Councilman Tony Ciriello was elected council president for 2025, replacing Mike Long who served as president for the last couple years. Councilwoman Kathleen Groninger was re-elected as vice president.
“Thank you, everybody, for your confidence. Looking forward to a good year,” Ciriello said.
• New council members Rachael Rhoades and DeLynn Geiger were recognized. They replace Joni Truex, who did not seek re-election in 2024, and Sue Ann Mitchell, who was elected as the new northern district county commissioner, replacing Brad Jackson, who retired. Groninger was re-elected in 2024 as the third at-large Council member. All three were unopposed in the 2024 election.
• Ciriello pointed out that Groninger was just elected as secretary to the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) board for North Central Indiana for the next year.