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Kosciusko County Council is the “purse strings” for the county, usually approving or denying expenditures from the various county departments.
Thursday night, however, they heard how changes in the jail kitchen over the past year saved almost a half million dollars.
Michelle Hyden, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office jail matron, reminded the council in January 2025, the jail brought in a new food purchasing program through Kellwell Food Management in hopes of reducing the cost to feed inmates and operating the kitchen.
“Before making the switch to Kellwell, the cost of each tray was between $2.15 and $2.30 a tray. We don’t have a great estimate just because of the way the fund was managed that time and with the tray counts,” she said.
At the end of 2025, the cost per tray was down to approximately $1.06.
“So it went down from approximately $2.15-$2.30 to $1.06, and that’s thanks to several people,” Hyden said.
It takes more effort from the kitchen staff to make the food, and they’re working with the jail trustees a lot longer. She said the kitchen coordinator, Michelle Jackson, has done a phenomenal job at utilizing the program to the fullest and is always finding more ways to save more money.
Sheriff Jim Smith wasn’t at the council meeting Thursday, but Hyden thanked him for being the “driving force between saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do something here,’ and he was thinking outside the box, and so we found this and brought it in, knowing it would be a savings, not how much.”
She stated they ended 2025 with returning $432,978.94 back to the county general fund from the inmate meals.
“So that is over 57% of the adopted budget that we returned to county general by making this switch. With the rise in food costs continuing, I have no doubt that by staying with this program this year, that we’re going to save the county half a million dollars, just by keeping up with that,” Hyden said.
So far in 2026, the cost per tray in January was about $1.04, and they received some food donations in February, which Hyden said they’ve been using “wisely.” With those food donations, she estimated they were down to $0.96 per tray in February.
Council Vice President Kathy Groninger asked how would someone donate food and what did the county jail need.
Hyden said sometimes food banks have an overstock of something and they will donate it to the jail. Combined Community Services will do the same when they have too much of something they’re not able to utilize in a timely fashion or don’t have the room to store it.
“We take chicken, we take eggs, just anything where there’s an abundance, and people don’t want the food to go to waste,” Hyden said.
To make a donation, Hyden said someone can call her, the sheriff’s office or the jail kitchen and they will utilize it if they can.
Councilwoman Kimberly Cates asked if they get food from restaurants that’s already prepared. Hyden said through the commissary program, occasionally, they offer the inmates an opportunity to order something like a pepperoni pizza, but that’s all through commissary and is not purchased with the inmate meal fund. “That is through their own funds that is from their family,” she explained.
Later in the meeting, Superior Court I Judge Karin McGrath sought permission to apply for the Indiana Office of Court Services grant for 2027 for $123,750 for the Reentry Court. The grant for 2026 is around $95,000 to $96,000, but McGrath said they were hoping for a little more next year because costs keep going up like everyone else’s and they want to expand the services they provide to the Reentry Court participants.
“I wish I had a full hour to tell you the amazing things that are happening with Reentry Court. I won’t do that tonight, but good things are happening. Lives are being changed, the community is better for it. Safer. And, families are reunited and people are working and productive and following the law. That’s what we hope to see,” she stated.
McGrath said they want to keep that going so the grant is “obviously absolutely essential” to continue the program. No county matching funds are required for the grant.
Groninger asked McGrath to explain the Reentry Court in a “brief nutshell.”
McGrath said it’s a problem-solving court. There are many different kinds of problem-solving courts, with many of them more along the lines of a diversion program than the Drug Court, “which takes a case out of the normal legal process, sets them aside while people work services and try to get in a better place and ultimately they might end up,” if they’re successful, not getting a massive prison sentence or something because they’re rehabilitated.
“Reentry Court is looking at people who have already been incarcerated, been convicted, incarcerated, they’re serving a sentence. They’ve already served sometimes a very, very significant sentence. They still have some more to go, and we realize that, the fact is, those folks eventually will come back to this community. Their sentence will run out. Very, very few people stay locked up forever and ever,” McGrath explained.
Before those people are released, they are brought back early and are given services with heavy accountability, support services, drug testing, lots of check-ins, weekly court hearings and case management.
“We help them break down any barriers they might have. Some of our people, we’ve been able to get them specialized driving privileges so they can actually drive legally to their job. We help them find employment. We help them in numerous different ways,” McGrath said.
Councilman Will Stockdale asked if Reentry Court was totally grant funded or mixed funding. McGrath said it’s entirely grant funded, but donations are welcome. If the grant funding goes away, the program also will go away.
The council unanimously approved the grant application, as did the county commissioners Tuesday.
Previously, the council approved to move the Probation Department out of the judges’ budgets and give the Probation Department its own budget within the county general fund.
Thursday, the council took several actions to make that happen. First, they approved a budget reduction of $291,117 out of the probation administration fee fund and then approved a budget reduction of $1,041,880 from county general Circuit and Superior Courts I and IV. They then approved an additional appropriation of $1,089,672 to move the reductions into the probation department’s own budget within county general fund.
McGrath said it took many hours and lots of work by many people to make the change with the probation department budget happen properly and legally. She appreciated everyone’s cooperation.
In other business, the council approved:
• A transfer of $40,000 in adult probation administration fees from mandated increase to fees retention bonus for the retention bonuses the council approved back in October. Each probation officer who works from Jan. 1, 2026, to Dec. 31, 2026, will receive the retention bonus.
• An additional appropriation for $39,900 from a Railroad Grade Crossing Grant, as requested by Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty.
• An additional appropriation for a total of $1,507,334 from three Highway Safety Improvement Program 90/10 matching grants, as requested by Moriarty. Two are for road striping and one is for sign replacement, and they will be starting this summer.
• An additional appropriation for $3.85 million from a bridge replacement grant for bridge 145, which is on CR 600W, north of Shilling Road, as requested by Moriarty. Total cost of the project is $3.85 million, but the county’s share will only be $770,000.
• An appropriation adjustment request for $42,650 for an insurance reimbursement that will go into the sheriff insurance vehicle replacement fund, as requested by Chief Deputy Chris McKeand. It is from a collision involving one of the sheriff’s office squad cars.
• A budget reduction of $11,600 for the county clerk’s office, as requested by County Auditor Alyssa Schmucker. She said County Clerk Melissa Boggs had a supervisor position that’s no longer needed so the salary was decreased.
• Three transfers from the Indiana Health First Fund, as requested by County Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver. The transfers are going to programs approved by the county attorney, the Health Board and county commissioners. They are for $60,596 from special projects to Northern Indiana Maternal Child Healthcare Network; $100,000 from special projects to Live Well Kosciusko; and $41,000 from special projects to Warsaw Community Schools.
• Community Corrections Director James Henry’s request to apply for a $7,500 Indiana Office of Court Services grant for training, incentives for participants and miscellaneous winter clothing and gas cards for participants.
• Council committee appointments for 2026.
