Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty speaks before the county’s American Rescue Plan Act Committee at its meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at the Kosciusko County Courthouse’s Old Courtroom. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — A company could be bringing 1,000 new jobs to the northern part of Kosciusko County.

The Kosciusko County American Rescue Plan Act Committee heard that news at its meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 9. Tasked with helping oversee who gets to use the county’s ARPA funds from the federal government, the committee heard six new requests for money and discussed a tabled one.

One of the new requests was brought by Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty. He asked for $2,888,000 for improving CR 1300N between Milford and Syracuse.

The request is related to a business that he declined to name that would be “coming in or expanding” in the area.

“We have the potential of having a thousand jobs added to the north part of our county,” he said.

The improvements would include adding “safer shoulders and a safer intersection for the increase of the semi traffic that would be coming to that area,” he said, later adding that intersection was at CR 1300N and CR 300E.

Kosciusko County Commissioners’ President and ARPA Committee President Cary Groninger said he was “100% in support of the project,” but said he wanted to check to make sure that there were not other funding sources available for it.

He also added that granting the amount for the project would mean using up a good portion of the county’s remaining ARPA money.

Fellow ARPA Committee Members Sue Ann Mitchell and Ernie Wiggins, who both serve on the Kosciusko County Council, agreed, causing the request to be tabled for now.

After the meeting, Groninger declined to give more details on the company in question, but mentioned that it involved industry that was “already here.”

Workforce housing

The committee also denied a request from the Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. for $1,100,000 for workforce housing.

KEDCo CEO Alan Tio had wanted to create a revolving loan fund to help people with housing. The request had been tabled from previous meetings due to the committee wanting more information.

As the committee learned from professional advice that the request would not meet guidelines for how ARPA money should be spent, it opted to deny it.

In other business, the committee:

• Approved a $60,582 request brought by Kosciusko Senior Services Executive Director David Neff to purchase a van that would meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
• Approved a $25,000 request from Kosciusko County Community Corrections Director Barry Andrews and a $29,465 request from Mentone Four-Way Ambulance Service Board President Jill Gross. Both were for new communication radios that would work with the county’s new communication towers system.
• Approved a more than $158,000 request brought by Fellowship Missions Executive Director Eric Lane for improved security measures and new washers and dryers for the nonprofit.
• Approved a $67,708 request brought by Kosciusko County Administrator Marsha McSherry for new controls for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system at the Kosciusko County Justice Building.

All of the approved requests will have to also be OK’d by the Kosciusko County Commissioners and Kosciusko County Council.