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Kosciusko County Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office and the town of Leesburg.
In presenting the MOU to the commissioners for their approval, Sheriff Jim Smith said the KCSO was contacted by the town to assist them in enforcing their ordinances. County attorney Ed Ormsby received a copy of the MOU.
Commissioner Bob Conley said the town of Pierceton is doing the same thing. “I think their chief is helping them with their enforcement of their codes and stuff that gets very much needed,” he said, saying it’s a good idea.
Smith said Lt. Mike Mulligan did all the work on the MOU, directly working with the town of Leesburg. He also said Tim Sammons would be the officer enforcing Leesburg’s codes, but “it’s not married to him. We can utilize others if that’s the case, needed, if one day Tim decides to move on. But, I’m excited about it. I think it’s good for both entities.”
Leesburg Town Councilman Mitch Rader was present at the commissioners meeting. He didn’t have anything more to add when asked by Commissioner Sue Ann Mitchell, but said he was fine with the MOU.
Bob Weaver, Kosciusko County Health Department administrator, presented four other MOUs to the commissioners. The MOUs pertain to Health First Kosciusko funding from the commissioners on behalf of the Health Department.
“All of these have been through the accepted approval process, with the health officer. I know the commissioners have seen these, and through the Health Board for approval. And we’re asking for final approval from the commissioners today for four of the MOUs,” he said.
The MOUs include $1,800 to 1Eighty Digital; $2,264 to the city of Warsaw Police Department’s CARES program; $8,900 to the Grace College Center for Literacy & Learning; and $9,880 to The Pavilion Help Center Inc.
All four MOUs for funding from Health First Kosciusko were approved 3-0.
Contracts & Agreements
Troy Kintzel, Kosciusko County Highway Department assistant superintendent, presented three things to the commissioners, with the first being an LPA (local public agency) consulting contract between the county and United Consulting for the preliminary engineering of the replacement of bridge 145 for $408,225. The bridge is on CR 600W over Trimble Creek.
After that contract was approved, Kintzel presented an agreement for right-of-way for parcels 1 and 3 for bridge 123. Work on the bridge is getting ready to start, he said, and is on Packerton Road. Another agreement was for parcel 2 for bridge 139 over Eel River on CR 700E.
The agreements were approved.
County Administrator Marsha McSherry reported she had contact Monday with Structural Waterproofing and Restoration LLC, the company that was awarded the bid July 14 for the Justice Building renovations and repair work for $698,000. She said the Memphis, Tenn., company will have the contract to the county this week for Ormsby to review and approve. It will then go before the commissioners for their approval at their Aug. 11 meeting.
Structural Waterproofing was the lowest of five bids for the work that were opened June 2. The facade and soffit on the north east side of the Justice Building was damaged and collapsed in August 2025.
Kosciusko Emergency Management Agency Director Kip Shuter requested permission to purchase a 2026 blue three-fourths-ton Silverado 2500 HD pickup truck from Wiers Chevrolet for $53,571.03. Wiers was the lowest of three bids and offered the highest trade-in value of the current EMA vehicle, a 2015 with over 111,000 miles on it. Shuter said repairs to the 2015 has cost his department budget “dearly” over the last several years.
The other two bids were $55,100 from McCormick Chevrolet and $55,732.97 from Lakeside Chevrolet.
The commissioners gave their approval for the purchase of the pickup truck from Wiers.
Eric Sorensen, the county’s director of technology, asked for permission to replace aging DVRs.
“Currently, we have five. They are the brains behind all the cameras here in the Justice Building and the courthouse. Our current DVRs are pushing seven years old, so it’s time to replace them,” he said.
The quote from SAS (Security Automation Systems) to replace the DVRs is $206,626. Sorensen said that includes all the labor, programming and timing them with the jail system. “So it’s all tied to our security system,” he stated.
The request was approved 3-0.
Area Plan
Area Plan Director Matt Sandy presented two vacation requests, both of which were approved; a rezoning request, which was sent back to the Area Plan Commission (APC) for a second review; and a grant application, which was approved.
The first vacation, petitioned for by Charles and Heather Perry, was for part of Bass and Shelf drives within the plat of Vanator Bluff Park.
“There’s two portions of this public right-of-way that are looking to be vacated. One of them is Shelf Drive. Shelf Drive runs parallel to the lake down there off Sechrist. A large portion of Shelf Drive was vacated years ago, and re-established with an easement to allow access down to the lakefront for those owners. This is that remainder of Shelf Drive running to the southeast,” Sandy said. “And then along with that, Bass Drive, which runs between Sullivan Road and (the lake) so that’s a 30-footer.”
The APC reviewed the petition and recommended 6-0 on July 1 that the commissioners approve the vacation of both Bass and Shelf, which they did Tuesday after hearing from the petitioner’s attorney, Steve Snyder, and two remonstrators.
The second vacation was for property out on Winona Beach, along a small portion of the road that’s out in the county, and was for James and Shannon Silveus. Sandy said the Silveuses wanted to vacate a platted right-of-way that “starts off 25 foot at the existing road, goes down to the lake. It narrows down to 5 or 6 feet at the lake.”
The APC recommended 6-0 that the right-of-way be vacated, which the commissioners approved after hearing from the petitioners’ attorney, Steve Snyder. There were no remonstrators.
The rezoning Sandy presented was for Earl and Lauren Chupp. The Chupps want to rezone 19.27 acres at 8121 W. CR 1100N, Nappanee, from an agricultural district to an agricultural-2 district. After reviewing it at their July 1 meeting, the APC came to the recommendation that the property should not be rezoned because it’s in a rural area, compatibility, soils, use of the property and the county’s comprehensive plan, Sandy explained.
Tina Owens, with John Kimpel & Associates land surveying, said Earl Chupp hired them to do the land surveying and do the minor subdivision plat. She said they were asking to rezone to Ag-2 so the lot can be split.
“So the Chupps have built two homes on the property. His intentions were to help his son get started in life. He just recently got married. He works in a trailer factory. He has bought the Chupps’ original home, and Earl has built a new home, and he would like his son to purchase the house and to do that, to be legal, in the event that things happen in life and they need to divide, they would just like him to own his own home and not be joined on the property,” she said.
After reviewing the surveying map from Owens, Commissioner Bob Conley said that was new information not presented to the APC. Owens also said the Chupps were willing to put conditions on the subdivision or look at alternative ways to get what they wanted accomplished done. Conley suggested the matter be sent back to the APC for review again, which the commissioners approved.
Finally, Sandy, along with Dawn Armey, from the Kosciusko County Soil & Water District, requested to apply for the 2027 Clean Water Indiana competitive grant for the Area Plan Department to hire a part-time employee to help with soil and water and erosion control enforcement. The grant would be applied for by the KCSWD but used by APC for a staff member. It would be a three-year grant. The commissioners approved the application.
The county council also must approve the grant application.
Mitchell said Sandy also presented the request to the county’s wage committee.
The application is due in September, and wouldn’t be awarded until December.
