Kosciusko County Commissioners this morning approved a contract with a Carmel treatment center for young female inmates. The county approved the contract with Cedarbridge Treatment Centers LLC at the request of Administrator Ron Robinson. Robinson said other counties have used the center with success, and noted the fee – $99 per person per day for up to 1,000 days – is a lower rate with higher benefit compared to other centers the county uses. Commissioners also approved a letter of agreement with GovTech Services Inc., which Treasurer Sue Ann Mitchell said will help the county keep track of which banks pay mortgages on properties and be able to inform taxpayers when they will be paid. “The companies often don’t send a check ’til the 11th hour,” she remarked. She said her office currently uses a part-time staffer for the labor-intensive process, which hasn’t proved a very effective plan. The service also will not cost the county anything, only the companies, at a rate of 25 to 75 cents per transaction. And commissioners approved two agreements at the request of Highway Superintendent Scott Tilden: $124,897.66 for USI Consultants Inc. to inspect and rank 110 bridges in the county with a span of 20 feet or longer in 2014 and 2016; and about $49,890 to raise the grade of Old 15 at CR 600N to meet a “substantial” raising of the siderail to the level of the main tracks. Tilden said the work will begin after Norfolk Southern and the Indiana Department of Transportation also sign the agreement, and that the county’s expenses will be reimbursed based on the estimate he presented. Commissioners also approved Tilden’s request to install a stop sign at the southwest corner of the railroad crossing at CR 1050N, just east of Old 15.
