Council member Kimberly Cates explains the need for the creation of the Strategic Planning Committee.

WARSAW — It’s taken over a decade, but the Kosciusko County Council has begun to take the steps to create a way for all departments to open the doors for unified communication. The council approved the motion to create a Strategic Planning Committee during the council meeting held on Thursday, Nov. 9.

Council member Kimberly Cates explained how in 2010 “the commissioners brought in an outside group of three or four guys” who “looked internally at what [the county] did here and made some recommendations; some of which [were] actually implemented.” She continued by stating, “So at the end of their recommendations, we said we should do it every two years.”

However, now its seven years later and there has not been a collection of department heads and commissioners since. “Now we are into 2017. We have some trouble figuring out what two years is,” joked Cates.

But the council has taken steps to correct the oversight. The Council passed a motion 6-0 to create a new committee that would be comprised of department heads, commission and council members. The committee would work on communicating to members in different departments and boards to work to keep each other up-to-date on their departments as well as use the sessions to share ideas and goals for their own departments and receiving input from others.

“It was positive for the department heads who felt like they had some input,” said Cates, “but it was positive for the people on the outside to look at it because they obviously brought in a new perspective … I just think it’s a positive thing, and it could be something we rotate or have set people.”

In other news:

• The board approved the KCODE 2018 budget with $20,466.95 projected for prevention and education, $27,950 for intervention and treatment and $14,9000 for law enforcement and justice.
• The council approved the Solid Waste Inter-Local Agreement Resolution.
• The board approved Dan Woods to replace Kenny Johnson on the AC Board for the remainder of the term.