Sheriff Kyle Dukes and County Attorney Chad Miner stand during the Pledge of Allegiance. InkFreeNews photo by Lasca Randels.

By Lasca Randels
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Kosciusko County Sheriff Kyle Dukes asked county commissioners to approve an agreement that would allow the county work release director to become a non-merit role.

At the Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting Tuesday, Oct. 27, Sheriff Dukes said the current work release director, First Sgt. Larry Holderman, will be retiring Jan. 1.

“Mr. Holderman also falls under the merit status,” Dukes said. “My game plan Jan. 1 is to move that merit status back over to the sheriff’s office in the patrol division.”

Dukes said the job description was changed and sent to the firm that the county uses to set wages. The job description was reviewed and a wage was set for a non-merit work release director.

Dukes said he would like to have a non-merit work release director and to financially reimburse the county through the commissary account at work release, putting that money back into the general fund. The non-merit work release position would then be funded through work release. 

“I think that looking at the situation and the situation that lies ahead of us that this is a win-win for everybody involved and I firmly believe this is the right thing to do for Kosciusko County,” Dukes said. 

An agreement was worked out prior to the commissioners meeting with county attorney Chad Miner clarifying that this arrangement would only be valid during Dukes’ term as sheriff. 

Commissioner Cary Groninger said the move would also allow the sheriff’s office to have another merit officer on the road.

Dukes said they currently have 36 merit deputy sheriffs in a population of roughly 82,000 people. He said there are five deputy sheriffs per shift; however when you take into consideration illness, comp time and training, they generally average four per shift.

This is why the reserve program is vital to the sheriff’s office, Dukes said.

Commissioners approved the agreement. 

In another matter, County Administrator Marsha McSherry brought up concen with jail toilets.

“They flood occasionally, they get plugged up, a lot of the parts are rusting out and need to be replaced,” McSherry said.

A quote was presented from Willoughby Industries, located in Indianapolis, to replace sink/toilet combination units in six jail blocks: F, G, H, K, L and J.

“We had a demonstration by Willoughby a couple months ago. They came in and they can estimate by the number of inmates that you have — this can be done and you can limit the number of flushes they have,” McSherry said. “That’s something the jail commander would have to decide if he’s interested in doing that, but based on six flushes per inmate and the number of inmates we have, they estimate that we could save $27,000 a year on the water bill by being able to control the water flow to the system.”

McSherry said if a toilet is plugged, an alarm is sent and the water is shut off to that toilet so that it doesn’t flood. 

The total cost for the project would be $130,425.67. The price for five blocks, which contain 12 sink/toilet units, is $24,172.30 each. Another block, which has 14 sink toilet units, would cost $24,564.18.

“My proposal is to have approval to do two blocks at this time and see how it goes and then we could do the other four blocks later,” McSherry said. 

Commissioners approved the installation of new units for the first two blocks. McSherry said she would meet with Jail Commander Shane Coney to determine which blocks should be done first. 

McSherry added that 160 sprinkler heads have been replaced at the jail and that there have been no broken sprinkler heads in the past month. 

In other matters, Kosciusko County Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver received approval to apply for a $200,000 grant through the Cares Act Coronavirus Relief Fund for local testing sites.

Weaver said he anticipated the money being divided up, with $100,000 going toward the first testing site near the hospital and the other $100,000 to go toward a second testing site, possibly in the spring. A third option, Weaver said, could be to to expand the current testing site. 

The current site is the result of a partnership between the Bowen Center and the Kosciusko County Health Department. The program offers free testing five days a week and is expected to continue until June of 2021.

The site has been open for about a week and a half, Weaver said, and approximately 600 tests have already been performed.

Commissioners reviewed information related to a request to vacate what was originally a 40-foot easement known as Park Avenue, located off of Kalorama Road, Leesburg. The request was to vacate the original 40-foot easement but leave a 5-foot access easement.

Commissioner Bob Conley suggested during the APC meeting that the easement could begin as a 5-foot access easement at Kalarama Road, but widen out to eventually be 10-feet wide where the land meets the lake. This suggestion was approved by the APC at that time. After some discussion, commissioners approved the vacation compromise.

In other news:

• A county/city auction will be held at 10 a.m. Nov. 28. Current plans are to hold the auction at the Warsaw Police Department, although that could change according to Sheriff Dukes. The auction will be live and online. 
• Commissioners approved 2021 nonprofit agreements presented by County Auditor Michelle Puckett.
• Commissioners approved the purchase of a third chiller for the county justice building, on the recommendation of Core Mechanical. Cost of the chiller is $242,531. 
• Bids for the public safety communications project were opened at the meeting. Terry Burnworth, owner of Pyramid Consulting in Indianapolis, was given approval to take the bids under advisement and return in two weeks with recommendations.
• The next regular meeting will be 9 a.m. Nov. 10. 

Commissioner President Brad Jackson