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After weeks of review, the Kosciusko County Commissioners approved the lowest bid Tuesday for the Justice Building repairs.
Five bids were received and opened June 2 for the repair of the facade and soffit that was damaged and collapsed back in August 2025.
The bids were from Buckeye Construction & Restoration Ltd., Waterford, Ohio, $1,799,708; Hagerman Construction, Fort Wayne, $1,100,900; Wells Masonry Restoration Inc., New Palestine, $1,792,908; Structural Waterproofing and Restoration LLC, Memphis, Tenn., $698,000; and Berglund Construction Company, Chesterton, $1,150,000.
On Tuesday, County Commissioner Cary Groninger said, “When we opened our bids, the apparent low bidder was Structural Waterproofing and Restoration LLC from Memphis, Tennessee. They were at $698,000. So they were significantly lower than our next lowest bid. After doing our due diligence, meeting with our engineer, meeting with the contractor, checking references, we did a pretty extensive study just making sure we had a quality contractor because there was a pretty big difference between the lowest and next-lowest bidder. We wanted to make sure we had everything covered. They stated they were happy with the bid, had everything covered in it and we received a letter from our engineering firm stating the same thing.”
He made the motion to approve Structural Waterproofing and Restoration LLC to do the repairs on the Justice Building. The repairs will not only include the facade and where the facade failed, but also the replacement of panels, additional hangars, tuck pointing and regrouting of the limestone panels. “A pretty extensive project,” Groninger stated.
Commissioner Sue Ann Mitchell seconded the motion and thanked Groninger for all the details he helped prepare.
“It’s been a long drawn-out process, but I think due diligence is the keyword there. I know there’s some issues with the community wondering what was going on there, and I think we need to put that to rest by letting them know that there were several bids and a lot of footwork and elbow grease went into you taking this on. Appreciate you doing that,” Commissioner Bob Conley said.
The motion passed 3-0.
Earlier in the meeting, county attorney Ed Ormsby presented a proposed order for the commissioners to amend the 2025-27 Capital Improvement Plan by adding two items for 2026.
The two items were $803,000 for highway road projects and $700,000 for the Justice Building renovation.
The order was approved 3-0.
Warsaw Municipal Airport Manager Nick King presented his request to get the memorandum of understanding (MOU) started for the county’s contribution of $500,000 toward the runway 9-27 rehabilitation project.
“You guys approved this a couple months ago, and this is just for you guys to sign. This is a very similar document to what we signed last year,” King said. “So this is for a $500,000 contribution toward our runway 9-27 rehabilitation. Last year, we did phase I, so that whole runway is about 6,000 feet in length.”
The first 2,000 feet was done in 2025; the second 2,000 feet this year; and the project will be completed in 2027.
“So, this will just help us be able to get that across the finish line,” King stated.
Bids were approved last week by the Warsaw Board of Aviation Commissioners. King said they were a little bit higher this year than last year, but that was expected because last year they did a 2-inch mill and fill and this year they’re doing a 3-inch mill and fill.
“The main reason for that is when we did the milling last year, we didn’t quite get through the entire top layer so we just have to go a little bit deeper just so we don’t have any delamination, but we actually had enough money in savings from the bid last year that we were able to cover that cost overage this year without having to ask for any more money, so we should be good to go,” King explained.
The airport will be contributing around $650,000 for this year’s project. With the county’s $500,000, King said they should be able to get it across the finish line.
The commissioners approved King’s request.
Dawn Wilkinson, Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) director of projects and operations, presented on branding for the county, which included a new county logo.
“So, sometime ago, through our special project fund that the county provides to KEDCO, one of our requests was to work on branding for the county. As KEDCO goes out and does business attraction, we found that we were lacking any kind of brand or identity for our county that we could share with people exactly what we are, who we are, who you are, what our county represents,” she said.
KEDCO, along with representatives from the county, undertook the branding project. They worked with a company called Golden Shovel and came up with a brand for the county, which is implemented now.
She presented packets of information to the commissioners, which includes branding guidelines and how the logo can be used.
“Just have a more professional piece for the county,” Wilkinson said. “We’re just excited to present that to you today.”
Groninger said it looked good. Mitchell said it was very good representation of the county.
“I think it came out really nicely. I like the colors. I like kind of what it stands for. It states that we have strong government, strong economy, strong community. Serving today, planning for tomorrow, building together. I think it came together really nicely,” Wilkinson said.
County Administrator Marsha McSherry said they’ll be integrating it into the county’s website as the new website is updated.
Wilkinson said it’s for the county to use. The commissioners unanimously adopted the branding.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
• A letter of understanding for the unofficial detour route for Ind. 19, as presented by Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty.
He explained that in winter 2027, the state will have a bridge replacement on Ind. 19. The unofficial detour route will go from CR 700N over to CR 900W up to CR 700N “because at the intersection of 650 North and State Road 19 is where the bridge is being replaced,” he said.
• An agreement between Butler, Fairman & Seufert (BF&S Civil Engineers) and Kosciusko County not to exceed $20,000 for engineering services for the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) grant that the Highway Department wants to apply for when it becomes available in November, as requested by Moriarty.
“There’s going to be some engineering that needs to be done. This is the agreement to do that, and this is for the 90/10 HSIP Grant for guardrail replacement,” he stated. “So I’d like that approval to further this and they’d help with our application and the study of this to be able to apply for that grant.”
The maximum amount of the grant is up to $1 million. Moriarty said the last two years they’ve received that grant for road striping and sign replacement.
• An update to an agreement with CivicPlus for the county website that the commissioners approved two weeks ago, as presented by Ormsby. CivicPlus wanted a change in the contract from it being automatically renewed to it expiring in one year.
• Kosciusko County Emergency Management Agency Director Kip Shuter’s request to apply for the 2026 State Homeland Security Grant Program funding. If approved, the $140,000 in grant dollars will be used toward the purchase of 26 portable radios and a base radio for the incident command trailer. The radios will replace the cache of radios Shuter currently has in his office. The County Council approved his request last week. There is no match for the reimbursable grant.
The next commissioners meeting is at 9 a.m. July 28.
