Kosciusko County Juvenile Probation Officers Kara Shively, center right, and Dana Bailey, center left, make a grant request at the Kosciusko County Commissioners’ meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 7, at the Kosciusko County Courthouse’s Old Courtroom. InkFreeNews photos by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Kosciusko County Commissioners have OK’d a request to apply for a grant regarding alternative sentencing for youths.

At their meeting on Monday, Nov. 7, the commissioners approved the request brought by Kosciusko County Juvenile Probation Officers Kara Shively and Dana Bailey on behalf of Kosciusko Superior Court 1 Judge Karin McGrath. The commissioners’ meeting was on Monday, as Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

It’s a $70,000 Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative grant through the Indiana Department of Correction, and this is the sixth year that the county has applied for it.

“JDAI is a grant that we can use to seek alternatives for detention for juveniles,” explained Shively afterward to InkFreeNews. “It can be anything from teen court to … mentoring, so any type of alternative or juvenile programming we can apply for or coordinate or try to implement with JDAI funds.”

In other business, commissioners:

• Approved the county’s regular contractual services agreement and memorandum of understanding with Purdue Extension.
• Were introduced to the county’s new information technology Assistant Systems Administrator Eric Sorensen by Systems Administrator Bob Momeyer.
• Watched and heard County Attorney Ed Ormsby and County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty open bids for supplies for the department for 2023. Commissioners plan to approve bids at their next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 22.
• Approved bids for equipment for the justice building. Those were for $3,878, $8,250 and $7,935.

Commissioners’ next meeting is at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22, at the Kosciusko County Courthouse’s Old Courtroom.

New Kosciusko County information technology Assistant Systems Administrator Eric Sorensen, left, shakes hands with Systems Administrator Bob Momeyer after the meeting.