Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
By participating in the Indiana Department of Correction Community Transition Program, Kosciusko County can receive approximately $15 a day per offender.
Under the program, Kosciusko County would accept inmates from the Indiana Department of Correction who have 60 to 90 days of their sentences left. The inmates would then be put in the work release program. The county wouldn't accept anyone charged with a crime above a C or D felony, though the program does allow counties to take anyone charged with up to an A felony.
C felons must have 90 days to serve on the program and will be released to the county if a court-ordered denial is not received by the offender's community transition program commencement date. D felons must have 60 days to serve on the program.
"The program allows you to go up to an A felony but we're only applying for up to a C felony," Rovenstine said today.
Tuesday, Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine asked permission from the county commissioners to apply for a grant for $45,000 each year for two years to help pay for the expenses of participating in the program. The cost would include hiring a person to monitor the program, a vehicle for transportation of inmates and purchasing drug testing equipment.
After the initial two years, the county can reapply for the grant every two years. Since the Indiana Department of Corrections has problems with overcrowding, Rovenstine said today he thought the money for the grant for the program will be there for a long time.
The program was initiated in July 1999 and modified in March 2000 and May 2001. The mission of the program is to facilitate the successful reintegration of offenders returning to the community. Any offender accepted by Kosciusko County, Rovenstine said today, would have to be from Kosciusko County.
Initially, he said, the program met with resistance from sheriffs because the Lgislature approved it at the end of a session without sheriff input. The legislation was then modified twice since originally approved.
The IDOC offered to pay counties only $7 a day per inmate but now will pay $15 for all released CTP offenders. The offender is responsible for all medical expenses. If the offender is found to be indigent, IDOC is responsible for medical expenses, not the counties.
Any victim of the offender is notified by IDOC regarding program eligibility and the victim's right to send written comment to the court.
The commissioners approved Rovenstine to apply for the grant. Thursday, Rovenstine will ask the county council for approval to apply for the grants. Since new personnel is involved, Rovenstine must get the council's approval, too.
If the council approves for Rovenstine to proceed with the grant application, he said, he does not know when the program could begin because of the bureaucracy of getting the program started.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Approved the contract between the county and attorney Mike Miner for legal services for the year.
• Approved a contract to allow emergency management to have storage in the Justice Building.
• Approved county auditor Sue Ann Mitchell to approach the county council to transfer money in the commissioners' budget for recording fees.
Previously, all ordinances and other paperwork approved by the county commissioners was recorded at no charge. Now, the Indiana State Board of Accounts is requiring the commissioners to pay for any and all recording they do.
"... All ordinances and documents we record, we'll have to pay for now," said commissioner Avis Gunter.
Mitchell said the state board said that if citizens have to pay for recording fees, so, too, should the county.
• Approved the acceptance of a $145,000 grant for the Indiana Housing Finance Authority.
• Accepted the grant application certification for a Beaman Home grant.
Members of the Kosciusko County Commissioners are chairwoman Avis Gunter, Brad Jackson and Ron Truex. They meet at 9 a.m. every other Tuesday in the county courthouse, Warsaw.
