Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE – The last meeting of the Syracuse Town Council was held Tuesday evening and members dealt with a full agenda, including election of officers for 2026.
Council member Paul Stoelting nominated Cindy Kaiser for council president for 2026.
Stoelting told current Council President Nathan Scherer, “Nate, I think you’ve done a fantastic job, but I think we should all have a chance and I think Cindy will do a good job.”
The nomination passed 3-0 with Kaiser abstaining and Councilman Bill Musser was not present. Councilman Larry Siegel then nominated Bill Musser as vice president in his absence, and it passed unanimously.
In a related matter, the council and council president needed to approve board appointees for 2026. The council approved the list of appointees including Jay Rigdon as town attorney, Jim Layne as police chief, Nathan Scherer, Cindy Kaiser and Corky Wong to the fire territory board and Jeff Goralczyk and David Rosenberry to the Redevelopment Commission. Those are all one-year terms. They also approved Elizabeth Goralczyk and Mark Aurich to the tree board and Jeff Nicodemus to the park board; those positions are three-year terms. Scherer approved his appointments to the redevelopment commission including himself, Mark Madinger and there is a vacant position that needs to be filled.
Town Health Insurance
Darron Longenecker with Integrated HEALTH was present to offer the council health insurance options for 2026. He said the town currently has IPAP/Anthem and that will be increasing 21.21% in 2026, which he stated was “a substantial increase” and said the plan was on “the high side of the middle” and it’s been a “rough year from a claims perspective.” He also said the federal minimums for health savings plans or deductibles are indexing up each year and is set by the federal government not municipalities so in 2026 it’s $3,400 versus the $3,300 deductible for this year.
He said they shopped around, and he presented an option from PHP — Physical Health Plan, Fort Wayne and that plan increased 10.4% over this year but the deductible is high at $3,500 versus $3,300. However, he told the council it is a different structure; it’s a level solutions plan, which means they pay level premiums through the year and at the end of the year if there is money left in the claims fund, the town gets a portion of that money back — it could be nothing or it could be thousands of dollars.
He added the town had PHP in the past and in his opinion their customer service is outstanding. He said the town would save $50,000 if they switched to PHP. Longenecker also said the council should consider if they want to continue to fully cover the deductibles or have the employees pay the difference of $200 for the year.
Scherer asked Clerk-Treasurer Virginia Cazier what she thought and she said they had PHP before and just switched to IPAP last year to save $80,000. She said they had great coverage with both and no complaints. She asked if the council wanted to cap it at $3,300 or pay the whole amount.
Scherer said he agreed with Longenecker and said, “Our employees have incredible coverage at zero cost. I think it’s appropriate at some point to get some skin in the game and $200 a year doesn’t seem like much.”
Stoelting agreed and Siegel made a motion to go with PHP. The council approved.
Salary Ordinance
In the clerk-treasurer’s report, Cazier had the 2026 salary ordinance for approval. After the meeting she said it was a three-percent increase across the board with no increase for elected officials. Elected official’s salaries for 2026 are: council president, $9,758.75 a year; other council members, $8,167.41 annually; clerk-treasurer, $3,086.78 per pay period plus longevity and certifications and town attorney, $25,000 per year. Department Heads pay include town manager, $3,461.54 per pay period plus longevity; public works director, $3,269.23 plus longevity, police chief, $2,980.71 per pay period plus longevity, park superintendent, $2,910.60 plus longevity; street department superintendent, $35.29 per hour plus longevity; water department superintendent, $36.05 per hour plus longevity; and wastewater department superintendent, $22.30 per hour plus longevity.
All other positions were also listed.
Resident Concerned About Pier Rental
Ron Sindelar was present to express his concern about the increase in pier rental. He told the council he has had the same space for 10 years and shares it with two other people. He said he was expecting an increase because “everything’s gone up, but from $100 to $500 is a big chunk. I don’t understand why it is so much.”
Scherer explained they went through all the ordinances and some hadn’t been increased in a decade. He said he checked with other communities to see what they charged for pier rental and discovered they charged two or three times more than Syracuse.
He said, “This is what happens when councils don’t do incremental increases and inflation keeps going up then it takes a big chunk.”
He added with what the state has done with Senate Bill 1, they are going to lose a lot of their property tax revenue, the town has to keep up. He said Sindelar made a valid point about the council doing incremental increases instead of such a big chunk, so he thanked him and said it was important for the public to hear.
“They don’t want increases but at some point, inflation keeps going up and there’s no choice,” he said.
In other business, the council:
• Approved a resolution to pay the 2015 sewage works bonds and the 2016 water works bonds in full.
• Approved the purchase of two police vehicles not to exceed $86,852.
• Heard the police department will be losing an officer due to a move so they will be hiring soon.
• Approved a resolution for end-of-year transfers.
• Introduced an ordinance, 2025-18, for water rates for out-of-town customers, charging a 15% surcharge above the estimated rate and authorized the town manager and clerk to schedule a public hearing.
• Approved the list of holidays for 2026.
• Approved the employee handbook changes previously discussed.
• Heard pier rental can’t be deposited into a police training fund so they’ll be deposited into general fund, and an additional appropriation can be done at year’s end.
• Received the last fire report from retired chief Mickey Scott by new chief Quinn Hunter. Hunter introduced Deputy Chief Shade Keeney. He also told the council Assistant Chief Kevin Grindle will be retiring and they’re hosting a retirement party on Jan. 9 from 4-7 p.m.
• Signed the resolutions and ordinances approved in the special meeting held Dec. 4 —rainy day transfer resolution and additional appropriations ordinance.
• Siegel brought up they’d like the council packets sooner and Scherer said he’d prefer the documents to be electronic so paper packets will be given to the council the Wednesday before the meeting and they will research software to input documents electronically.
