Superior Court I Judge David Cates briefs the Kosciusko County Council on the continued success of Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative.

WARSAW — Kosciusko County Superior Court I Judge David Cates spoke before the Kosciusko County Council Thursday night, Aug. 8 and gave the panel an update on one of his most championed programs, the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative or JDAI. The program is designed to give offenders who are minors a chance to avoid jail time.

“The committee has been working very hard,” Cates said. “I want to give a lot of credit to Warsaw police, Kosciusko County Sheriff (Office), Warsaw schools, Wawasee schools, Tippecanoe Valley schools, county government, The Bowen Center, the probation department, Department of Child Services and we’ve even had some parental involvement.”

Cates said the committee developed a definition for a need to detain a juvenile offender, to include public safety, and balancing the dangers of detention and factoring in the best interest of the offender.

“These people have been working very hard to make sure that we’re detaining kids for the right reasons in our county,” he said.

In a related presentation as it relates to outreach for the community’s young people, Sheriff Kyle Dukes told the council that his inaugural Camp H.E.R.O., which stands for Honor Excellence Respect Opportunity, was a huge success.

“I was praying for 50 kids and received 106,” said Dukes. “When you have kids that young, you want a hands on type of camp. Today was graduation and it was very, very special. I was proud to be the sheriff of Kosciusko County and I was proud of every first responder who took three days out of their week to come here.”

The council also:

• Approved salary ordinance requests by Dukes for his salary and the salary of the matron. An additional appropriation of $19,000 for the sheriff’s office was also approved.
• Approved an additional appropriation for the county highway department for $60,000.
• Approved a records perpetuation fund affidavit for Recorder Joetta Mitchell for up to $140,000.
• Approved a prenatal grant request for Bob Weaver with the county’s health department for $44,291.
• Approved grant requests of $111,831, $95,000 and $100,732.50 from Emergency Management Director Ed Rock.
• Approved a grant request for $61,860 from Auditor Michelle Puckett.
• Heard from County Attorney Chad Miner that the county’s wheel tax will have to move forward without consideration for residents with historical vehicles. The council approved the ordinance without the historical vehicle provision.
• Approved a council statement called Budget Review of Taxing Units and Non-Binding Recommendation.