By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Public pushback to the county spending $2.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for Justice Building interior improvements resulted in the Kosciusko County Council tabling the request to their July meeting for more information.

County Commissioner Cary Groninger presented the recommendation for the expenditure Thursday, June 8, to the council. The ARPA Committee and the commissioners approved it previously.

“This is a project we’ve been looking at for some time here. We hired an architectural firm — Design Collaborative — a few months back to kind of look at the project with us. They went through room by room trying to designate what would need to happen and in what room, as far as this is an update to the interior of the Justice Building,” he said. “So we’re talking about carpet, paint, wallpaper, some base trim in some areas, but no doorways or anything like that. It’s more the cosmetics of it.”

Groninger said the building has served the county well for over 20 years. Design Collaborative did an in-house estimate of how much the improvements would cost and they came up with a price tag of a little less than $2.4 million. Groninger said it was a good estimate with some contingency in there as prices continue to increase with construction prices right now. He said it would not involve new furniture or ceiling tile.

Councilwoman Joni Truex asked if they got any other quotes.

Groninger said, at this point, the $2.4 million was just a quote from the architect and it’s not been put out to bid yet. Design Collaborative will put the documents together and then go out for a formal bid to multiple contractors to actually do the work.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Truex said. “I’ve already gotten pushback from the public. $2.4 million is just ridiculous, it really is.”

Councilwoman Kimberly Cates said she’s received a lot of calls about it.

“My concern, and I’m going to piggyback on Joni’s, is that the reason we’re in this situation is because we didn’t stagger maintenance five years and 10 years and do a little bit at a time. It seems like, we do this all at once and we’re going to have the same problem in 10 years,” Cates stated.

Groninger said if you stagger, you’re either taking something out before it’s due or fully used or you’re taking something out that’s way past its prime and needs to be redone.

“The other thing that I would say with that is if you’re looking from a cost perspective, you’re always going to get your best price when you’re buying in value and you’re doing a larger project,” Groninger.

He also said doing the project all at once keeps the building looking nice and consistent.

“I really think the best way to do this is to do it all at one time versus staggard like that in this particular instance,” Groninger said.

Truex made a motion to table the request until they got quotes back and knew the figures they were actually talking about. Groninger responded, “We can’t put something out for bid that we don’t have funding for.” Truex said they could use other funds. Groninger said they were only going to spend what the quotes came back in at.

“I understand that, but I also don’t think the due diligence has been done to know exactly what this is going to cost, so I stand by my motion to table it because we do have other funds we could pull. It doesn’t have to be ARPA funds,” Truex said.

Groninger said the architectural firm went through the building room by room and he could have Design Collaborative send the council the whole spread sheet which shows the square footage of everything from the carpeting to the wallpaper.

“We’re only going to spend what the projects come back as, with a competitive bid, what those projects actually cost,” he said. “… We’re trying to hit a window, trying to get this out for bid here soon because contractors are several months out. And if we’re talking about wanting to use ARPA dollars, we want to make sure the project can be completed in the timeframe those ARPA dollars have to be spent by.”

Groninger said most contractors are really busy right now so it may be six months before a contractor could even get started on a project like this.

Councilman Dave Wolkins said he had positive and negative feedback on the project and the $2.4 million. He said he would like to see the cost spreadsheet by the architectural firm, and Groninger said he could get that to the council.

Wolkins then seconded Truex’s motion to table the matter to the July meeting, pending receiving the spreadsheet. The motion passed 6-1, with Council President Mike Long opposed.

Long said he went through the building and saw the need for the improvements. Groninger said County Administrator Marsha McSherry would be happy to give the council members a tour of the Justice Building.

“There’s some areas that are in dire need of some updating,” Groninger said.

Councilwoman Sue Ann Mitchell said the county was blessed to have the ARPA money to be able to accomplish this. Councilman Tony Ciriello “clarified” his vote and said he wasn’t against the project, because he thinks it needs to be, but he has to answer to taxpayers by doing his due diligence first.

Groninger then reported on the amount of money the commissioners have used this year for the county attorney.

“So, current to date, the end of April, we’re setting at just under 10% below our budgeted amount, so we’ve spent $27,110 … that was designated for the commissioners. And we spent $1,150 of the $10,000 that was designated for the Highway Department,” he said.

He said there’s a lot of things happening right now.

Truex said the council was supposed to be getting a monthly report prior to their council meetings and they haven’t received one at all this year. Groninger said he was aware one was requested for December but he didn’t realize it was supposed to continue. Truex said it’s in the council’s meeting minutes that they will be provided a breakdown of the invoices and the year-to-date monthly.

Council President Mike Long said it was his fault as he thought the reports were only supposed to be quarterly.

Mitchell offered a simpler solution of the auditor’s office printing out what’s being paid out from that particular line item. She said they could try it for a month and see if that was enough.

In other business, the council:

• Approved $100,000 in ARPA funds for the Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau toward the purchase of a new digital sign. The commissioners and ARPA Committee already approved the request.
• Approved $1.888 million in ARPA funds for CR 1300N improvements, which will help connect Milford to Syracuse and better handle the increased semi traffic. The total cost of the project is $2.888 million, according to Kosciusko County Highway Superintendent Steve Moriarty, and the other $1 million is coming from his motor vehicle highway fund.
• Approved the transfer of $76,000 in ARPA funds that’s already been appropriated for a new fire alarm system in the old county courthouse as requested by Groninger.
• Tabled the tax abatement compliance reviews for Louis Dreyfus Company Agricultural Industries LLC and iDNA Series LLC to the July meeting as no representatives of either company were present and the council did not have all the information they needed from the courthouse.
• After hearing a half hour presentation by Reedy Financial Group P.C., decided to give them a try in helping the county develop a longterm capital improvement plan for the remainder of 2023. The cost per month is $5,000. At the end of the year, the county could renew for another year at $60,000.
• Heard a presentation from Sheriff Jim Smith, Chief Deputy Chris McKeand and Heidi Blake, Kosciusko Coalition on Drug Education, about the Integrated Reentry and Correctional Support program.

An informational meeting with the community is scheduled for 5:30 to 7 p.m. June 21 at The Palette, 2521 E. Center St., Warsaw. It is open to the public.

• Heard requests from nonprofits for funding for 2024. No action was taken. The commissioners heard similar presentations at their meeting Tuesday and will decide on funding amounts later and submit those figures in their 2024 budget for approval by the county council.

Kosciusko County 4-H Council requested $46,589.91 for 2024; Cardinal Services, $111,373; Stillwater Hospice, $50,000; Kosciusko County Historical Society, $25,000; Beaman Home, $40,000; Kosciusko County Senior Services, $40,000,; and St. Joe River Basin, $3,794.

Total amount requested for 2024 is $316,756.91. The total amount approved for 2023 was $297,147. In 2022, the total amount approved was $287,734