WARSAW — Chicken farming, jail nurses and end-of-year fund transfers were topics of discussions at a brief, yet varied, Kosciusko County Council meeting.

The council met in regular session Thursday evening, Aug. 13.

Steve Snyder, attorney, came before the council requesting approval for a public hearing pertaining to an expansion project Precision Pullets, a poultry facility near Silver Lake, wishes to undertake. The project will double the facility’s size to approximately 56 feet by 360 feet, three stories high, at a cost of about $2.5 million.

Snyder said the expansion will add two jobs, at $84,000 a year, in addition to its four existing jobs. The majority of the company’s operations being automated, Snyder said. The goal is to produce about 1.5 million pullets a year.

“It certainly is an industrial facility, even though it’s agriculture-related,” Snyder said.

Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine asked the council to approve an additional jail nurse. He said the current goal is to have one nurse per 100 inmates. The department currently contracts with Advanced Correctional Healthcare.

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Rovenstine asked to transfer $318.20 and $544.98 from the sheriff department’s insurance payment fund to vehicle repairs and maintenance. At least one of those transfers, he said, was to cover a vehicle vs. deer accident.

Under highway department, $7,000 was transferred from the truck driver fund to the part-time employee fund. The department also requested an additional appropriation of $313,072.48 to complete repaving projects on county roads.

County Auditor Michelle Puckett requested additional appropriations of $65,000 for group insurance and $102,000 for Social Security contribution. According to Puckett, premiums are expected to go up in October and this is the latest estimate of what will be needed to cover the last three months of the year.

“We never know how much it’s going to go up until we get to that point,” she said.

Under Superior Courts II and III, additional appropriations of $8,000 were requested to finish out the year.

The council also looked at Milford Library’s appointment of Mark Baumgartner. Because Baumgartner was not present at the meeting, there was brief discussion as to how to proceed and, in the end, approved the appointment.

The council will hold a budget hearing at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 24. The budget adoption is set to take place during the next regular meeting at 7 pm. Thursday, Sept. 10.