An agreement for a medical director for Kosciusko County Emergency Dispatch was approved by the county commissioners at their meeting Tuesday.
Amanda See, director of 911 Operations, explained, “So, EMD is our Emergency Medical Dispatch. We have to have a medical provider oversee that and give us guidance ... making sure we’re following what’s appropriate.”
Dispatch’s current medical director is retiring, so See said they’d like to have the agreement with Dr. Timothy Schroer. Schroer is a local emergency room physician and has connections to the local EMS, too.
The contract is for $229.88 per pay period. The commissioners unanimously approved the agreement.
County Administrator Marsha McSherry presented a quote for furniture for the first floor of the Justice Building renovation project. She requested quotes from two companies, but only one - Business Furnishings - submitted a quote, which was for $49,331.15. KDA declined to bid, she said.
McSherry recommended the commissioners go with the bid from Business Furnishings, who provided the furniture for the second floor of the Justice Building as well. The commissioners accepted the recommendation.
Furnishing for the second floor was previously purchased using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
McSherry then provided an update on the renovation project, saying, “We just completed phase nine. There are 10 phases, so we moved into phase 10. Hopefully, by the first to the middle of April, that will be complete as well.”
Kristin Rude, Kosciusko Area Bus Service (KABS) general manager, sought approval from the commissioners for KABS to purchase cameras for buses.
“Under KABS’ procurement policy, county commissioners’ approval is required for purchases not previously approved in our budget, specifically for equipment with a unit cost of $300 or more,” she said. “KABS is looking to equip all of our 12 federally-regulated transportation vehicles with two cameras - one dual-facing front camera and one rear camera for lift operations.”
After thoroughly evaluating four vendors, Rude said KABS selected TripMaster as its preferred provider.
“TripMaster’s camera services came in at a lower cost compared to the other vendors. And they’re also in alignment for potential future partnership with software for us,” she stated.
The total cost of the equipment, including installation, is $19,250. KABS has secured a grant from the Saemann Foundation for $8,000 of that, so the total capital purchase for KABS would be $11,250. She asked the commissioners to review and approve the purchase.
Commissioner Cary Groninger asked if KABS had the money in its budget for the equipment, and she said they did. The commissioners approved the request.
Groninger said the cameras were good equipment to have on the buses to help keep the drivers and passengers safe.
Rude then told the commissioners, “INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) is closing out the 2023 and 2024 grant years. I shared a copy of the 5311 and 5339 de-obligation letter, which requires county commissioners’ authorization, due to CARES funding, which covered 100% of eligible expenses during the 2020 through 2022 grant periods. INDOT is still working to expend those older grant funds that were previously un-reimbursed. For the 2023 and the 2024 grant years, KABS had zero dollars de-obligated under the 5311 operating funds and the 5339 capital funds, also the state funds.”
She said she just needed the commissioners’ authorization signature, which they approved.
Groninger reminded everyone that KABS is creating a new deviated fixed bus route system and a public forum will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. March 25 at the Warsaw Community Public Library.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Approved an unofficial detour for INDOT, as requested by Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty.
“INDOT, in the spring of 2026, is going to replace a small structure located on 800 South, down by the Tippecanoe Valley High School. They’re looking for an unofficial detour route,” he said.
The route selected will be CR 900 South, over to CR 1000 West, back up to CR 700 South and back over to Ind. 19.
“We feel that this would be the best and safest (route),” he said.
• Approved a request from Tammy Johnston and Kelly Krugman, probation department, to apply for a $170,000 grant from the Indiana Office of Court Services for the Reentry Court.
Johnston said it’s the same grant they applied for and received some money from last year, and they want to apply for the grant funds again this year.
“It’s an ongoing thing. We have two participants. We really just got it up and running in January, so we have our first two participants that are doing well so far,” she said. “So this (grant) will just be able to keep this running.”
• Approved a voluntary settlement agreement with Richard Hearn, 10712 N. South Shore Drive, Syracuse, as requested by County Auditor Alyssa Schmucker.
She explained, “We had a taxpayer contact us to say that he should not have received a homestead credit in the year 2018. Upon our review, we showed that he should not have received it for 2019 or 2020 also, so we pursued the years 2018 and 2019. So we will be collecting $15,405.69 from that taxpayer.”
Of that, $14,005.18 will be paid back to the county; $1,386.51 will go into the county deduction fund; and $14 will be returned to the state.
• Approved Tonya Arter, registered nurse, to be appointed to the Kosciusko County Board of Health, replacing Terry Owens, RN, as requested by Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver. Owens retired. Arter is a quality control manager at Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital, and holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
• Approved for Troy Kintzel, KCHD, to travel out of state to attend the World of Asphalt 2025 in St. Louis, Mo., as requested by Moriarty.
“This is for educational classes on improving county highway,” Moriarty said, adding that Kintzel will be going alone.
• Heard the annual update on the Kosciusko County Convention & Visitors Bureau from Executive Director Cori Humes.
“In 2024, we welcomed an estimated number of 1.2 million visitors,” she said, in part. “... And the economic impact of that was significant, which was about $186.3 million spent by visitors, and that helped support about over 2,100 jobs.”
That helped generate about $19.6 million in tax revenue in 2023, she said.
• Heard from Emergency Management Director Kip Shuter that Indiana Gov. Mike Braun declared this week as Severe Weather Emergency Preparedness Week. The statewide tornado drill took place at about 10:15 a.m. Tuesday.
• Announced their next meeting will be at 9 a.m. March 25 in the old courtroom of the county courthouse.