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After not getting the information she sought on Flock camera audits from police, even after filing Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Jodi Cox, along with attorney and Kosciusko County Councilman Will Stockdale, went before the Warsaw Common Council on Monday to encourage council members to look into the matter.
“The thing I came here primarily to talk to you guys about tonight was, I came into possession of an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request for some Flock records, and just to set the background, for five-plus years we had Flock cameras in our community and on Sept. 10 the community said ‘thank you, but no thank you’ so we terminated that program,” Stockdale told the council, referring to the Kosciusko County Council’s decision to defund Flock cameras.
He said he assumed the city attorney works very closely with the police department in responding to APRA requests.
“It was a really fine response and a lot of requests. You guys withheld law enforcement investigatory records, as allowed by law. Pointed the concerned citizen to proper places to look for information, if it wasn’t readily available to the city, but in other respects, it was not so great,” Stockdale said.
One issue in the response was it pointed to a Flock Transparency Portal that doesn’t appear to work.
“And the other piece was that it requested audit logs of the Flock system, and the response was essentially that those records do not exist and the city is not required to create them if they don’t exist,” Stockdale said. “Citizens were assured that audits and transparency were a priority with the Flock system, both by our sheriff, by the Warsaw Police Department, by everybody involved. The Flock committee established audit procedures. Mr. Mayor, that was in your letter that there were audit procedures in place. The Warsaw Police Department policy manual in section 426.6 requires audits of the Flock system on a regular basis. And then five years later, after the records are requested, the response is that those audit records do not exist.”
If no audit records exist, he asked how does the public know that the audits were really happening? “It would be really easy, in my opinion, to report dates, times and outcomes of a routine audit. If such records do not exist, but the audits did happen, please show the people the receipts. Any reasonable evidence would be appreciated. We’re not asking for any sort of investigatory records, but just that actual audits were being made in accordance with Flock committee policy and the Warsaw Police Department policy manual,” he said, adding he wasn’t expecting a response, just something for the council to look into.
Cox said she was the person who filed the FOIA requests for the WPD and Kosciusko County.
“I received the county’s FOIA back today. I placed it Aug. 24, I placed Warsaw’s Aug. 25. Received no information whatsoever from either the county or the city. The audits were promised to commissioners, city council, county council, that were being processed and taken care of. For our safety, they were promised, with that technology,” she said. “I’ve been met with complete disregard, especially with the Warsaw Police Department.”
Cox said when she went to file her first FOIA request, they would not give her a FOIA paper for a long time.
“I had filed a FOIA with the sheriff’s department first, so I knew that they did have the FOIAs there. They tried to discourage me. They finally did give me something, but they didn’t give me any information. They told me to go here, go there, talk to the prosecutor, talk to the Warsaw Police Department, talk to the county prosecutor. They just basically didn’t give me any information whatsoever,” Cox stated.
She continued that when she went to pick up a second FOIA, “the captain told me that he wasn’t going to tell me why he wasn’t going to give me answers on the audit, he just said he wasn’t going to give it to me. I have it on video where I said, ‘Well, you have to at least tell me why you won’t give me the information.’ And he said, ‘No, I’m just not going to give it to you.’”
She reiterated the audits were promised to city council and county commissioners that they were being performed so the information they’ve been getting for the last five years has been on the “up and up,” but Cox said they refused to give her the information. “I just think we all should be aware.”
CVET, FIT Resolution
Earlier in the meeting, Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen presented a resolution to designated which funds the city’s Commercial Vehicle Excise Tax (CVET) and Financial Institution Tax (FIT) are received into.
“In 2025, the legislation changed and the way the county distributes the money to us changed. Previously, the county would get the distributions from the state and the county would distribute it out to us, and they kind of would go by formula that would put ‘X’ amount into tax-rated funds, depending on that tax rate and funds rate,” she explained. “And in 2025, the legislation was changed that both distributions would just go into the general fund, unless there was a resolution or ordinance or a vote by hand from the council to disperse it differently.”
The two city funds that receive the most distribution were for the general fund and the fire territory operating fund.
“So what I’m asking for you in this resolution, and from further guidance from the State Board of Accounts later in the year of 2025, that we put 60% of the distributions in the general fund and 40% into the fire territory fund, and I based that on the population is more city of Warsaw than it is in the fire territory,” Christiansen said.
She said some of the distributions and funds were so little, they didn’t amount to much by the time they formally got through all the distributions from the county. The distributions are received in the spring and fall settlements.
Councilwoman Diane Quance asked once the resolution was passed, would it stay that way unless the council changes it? Christiansen said that was correct, unless state legislation changes again. She also noted the city had already received its distributions for 2026, so the resolution won’t take effect until spring 2027.
Quance made a motion to approve the resolution, Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins seconded the motion and it passed 6-0, with Councilman Josh Finch absent.
Other Business
In other business, the council:
• Approved on second reading an ordinance making Bison Lane a one-way from Fort Wayne Street north until it ends at the alley connecting to the Nye Youth Cabin, as presented by Public Works Director Dustin Dillon.
He told the council he hadn’t heard any concerns or requests from residents, and the Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission voted unanimously to recommend it be a one-way street at their October meeting.
• Approved four annexation ordinances on second readings, as presented by Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner.
The properties to be annexed into the city of Warsaw include the property on the corner of CRs 300N and 100E, owned by Chandler Williams, zoned as Industrial-2; property on the corner of CRs 250N and 100E, owned by Robinson Construction, zoned Industrial; property along CRs 300N and 175E, owned by the Warsaw Municipal Airport, zoned Industrial; and property along CRs 300N and 150W, owned by West Hill Development LLC and Groninger Group LLC, zoned Residential-3.
The ordinances will be advertised in the newspaper and recorded, taking effect in 30 days.
• Approved on second reading an ordinance to vacate a small portion (about 12 feet by 68 feet) of the Columbia Street right-of-way in order to place NIPSCO transformers to serve the new Millworks development, as presented by Skinner.
• Heard from Dillon that loose leaf pick-up started this week in the city.
“Currently, residents’ leaves will be picked up on their normal trash day. They can put them out curbside. Please keep sticks, other debris, out of those as we do. It is hard on the machinery going through the hoses and stuff,” he said. “Again, the time has changed now so it gets darker a little quicker. Right now, we were able to get completely through Monday’s route without having to stay over. We will be picking until dark as needed to get through those normal days.”
He encouraged drivers to be vigilant and aware of workers, who will have safety vests on, but drivers should still pay attention.
Leaves should be kept out of storm drains and back behind the curb. Leaves in backyards can be pushed to the alleys where they also will be picked up, but Dillon requested residents give them a heads-up about leaves along the alleys if possible.
Loose leaf pick-up will go until tentatively Dec. 11, depending on the weather.
