KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Rezoning land, honoring a communication director and a vacation cleanup all dominated what was a fairly eventful Kosciusko County Commissioner’s meeting.

Dan Richard of the Area Planning Committee came before the Commissioners to recommend they approve two different area plans, one for a vacation, and one for rezoning.

The first plan is to vacate parts of a driveway on the south side of Webster Lane. There are multiple plots of land in that area that meet the water and the plan is to clean up the area where the land meets the water.

This month, the area planning committee will vacate three lots, which Richard said “just need to be taken care of.” However, he also said that “next month, we will try to vacate all of the lots, but for now, we need to do the three.”

The vacated land already has patios, walls and decks, but no one ever uses the land because of the condition that it is in.

The council motioned and approved the vacation, with the anticipation that there would be another recommendation for the rest of the lots next month.

In addition to the vacation and cleanup, the area planning committee also brought forth a rezoning plan from Worthington Tractor Parts.

WTP currently owns five acres of land that is agriculturally zoned, that it wants to turn into industrial so it can expand. Since the land is agricultural, as of right now, the business cannot expand to the area. “They want to re-zone from agricultural to industrial,” said Richard. WTP needs more industrial land to expand its car salvaging operations, which is growing and expanding. The area is just south of Leesburg, by SR 15.

Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine also came to recognize and honor David R. Rosenberry. Rosenberry has worked with Kosciusko 911 communications for 21 years. He recently acquired a job in a private sector, and so after 21 years working as both assistant director and director of communications, he will be stepping out of the role.

A man of few words, Rosenberry simply said “I want to thank the council, and the department heads and WPD for all their hard work during my time at Kosciusko 911 Communications.”

In other business, the commissioners approved the following:

• A request from Ed Rock, Kosciusko County Emergency Management Director, to sign a document previously signed by the Commissioners. According to Rock, the state has changed the way the document needs to be signed, and is asking for two elected officials to sign, including the county auditor. Ron Truex and Michelle Puckett signed it.
• A request from County Administrator Ron Robinson for $12,684 for backflow valves for the justice building and the main water supply. There are currently nine valves that protect waterlines from flowing backwards, and two of them need replaced.
• The not-for-profit budget, that has not increased since last year, except for Bowen Center. Michelle Puckett said, “The state mandates that the Bowen Center be raised the same amount as the county, and so we had to increase theirs.”
• Scott Tilden’s date for the 2016 annual county highway supply bids is 9:15 a.m. Nov. 2.
• The 2016 operations grant for KABS, requested by Kevin Planck. “Nothing is different,” he assured the Commissioners.