Going over the requests for American Rescue Plan Act funds are from left, Kosciusko County Councilwoman Sue Ann Mitchell, Middle District County Commissioner Cary Groninger, County Council President Mike Long and County Administrator Marsha McSherry. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Every nickel and dime of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds have to be allocated by year’s end or the county loses it.

All of the allocated dollars then have to be spent by the end of 2026.

Wednesday, Oct. 16, the Kosciusko County ARPA Committee approved 18 grant budget reductions so that unused money from previously approved ARPA grants from the county can be appropriated toward other new requests.

“So these are all projects that we had ARPA funds allocated for and between things not costing as much as we thought or — we had a couple that were significant — we also got a grant just last week for the courthouse cameras, so that’s where that $150,000 is coming off of there for the courthouse cameras. So there’s multiple things that are adding up to this list,” County Commissioner and Committee Chair Cary Groninger said.

The reductions from grant requests that came in under budget or because other funding became available totaled $997,207.93.

Council President Mike Long had a question on the reduction of $569,059.50 for the CR 1300N project. He said he spoke to Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty Wednesday morning.

“I know they do the best with what they have, and I know they have limited resources, and it was indicated to me that there are a couple projects where this money could be used. So I guess I’m questioning, do we want to move that, take that back and not do the other two projects? I think I know why you’re wanting the EDIT (Economic Development Income Tax) fund healthy … will another year make a difference because some of the projects that have been earmarked for the EDIT fund probably won’t be completed until the end of 2026,” Long said.

Groninger said he also talked to Moriarty who has two projects — one is about $150,000 and the other is around $350,000.

“I agree that some of the projects that we have listed above, especially like the (Justice Building) parking lot, that’s in our EDIT fund budgeted, so it is a matter of, do we want to spend ARPA dollars or EDIT dollars? Those aren’t in his original road program for this year, so it is additional footage of road,” he said, noting that one of Moriarty’s project is for resurfacing while the other is for turning gravel road into a paved road.

Groninger said he supports the Highway Department and the ARPA Committee has been generous with them already with the CR 1300N project. A year or two, the commissioners also budgeted an additional paver for the department.

Councilwoman Sue Ann Mitchell said one way or the other, Moriarty would have to reapply for ARPA dollars. County Administrator Marsha McSherry said that would be correct and even with the budget reduction for the CR 1300N project, Moriarty would still have to reapply to use those funds for a different project.

Groninger said, “It would still go back into the bucket. … Even if you add up the list of what projects we’re going to talk about in a minute, it’s more than what we’re showing we’re putting back into the bucket. And some of that is, we’re wanting to make sure we’ve over-allocated the dollars, knowing that we want to make sure that if a project falls off, we already have ARPA dollars appropriated so we know at the end of the year we can spend all of our ARPA funds we’ve been given to invest.”

Mitchell said they’ve got to have it all figured out by the end of the year when the report is due.

Groninger said one of the big ARPA-funded projects that’s still out there, waiting for bids to come in, is the Chinworth Trail extension.

McSherry read the list of grant budget reductions and the amount of the reductions, which included: office disinfection, $9,052; Public Safety Communication radios, $17,141.02; fire alarm systems, $8,620.56; jail showers project, $3,445.48; tower connectivity, $60,244.01; coroner equipment, $504; community corrections radios, $511.26; Claypool police radios, $170.54; Milford police radios, $109.26; Highway CR 1300N project, $569,059.50; courthouse camera system, $150,000; Kosciusko County Historical Society repairs, $12,832.42; Combined Community Services HVAC and box truck, $2,594.40; Beaman Home upgrades to Mary’s Ann Place, $3,154.78; CCS transit grant, $217; Animal Welfare League cat house, $299.55; and Justice Building renovations project, $90,450.

On the courthouse exterior camera system project, McSherry said the $150,000 was being reduced from the budget because the county had also applied for a grant through the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and the county recently was awarded that grant. “So we’ll be processing that project through the grant as opposed to the ARPA funds,” she explained.

Long made a motion to approve the budget reduction totaling $997,207.39, Mitchell seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

McSherry said there were three other items that will have budget reductions – one for $30,442 in the Public Safety Communications project; change orders in the renovation project amounting to $99,109; and furniture moving in the renovations budget for $64,830. Groninger said with those, “that puts us just short of $1.2 million that needs to be reallocated.”

Mitchell said there’s a couple other projects on the list – like the Wagon Wheel roofing project – that the county doesn’t know exactly where they’re at.

McSherry read and explained the new ARPA grant requests for the funds from the budget reductions. Those included $721,340 for the Justice Building parking lot; $144,553 for the Justice Building parking lot lights; $125,000 for Work Release fiber internet to the Highway Department; $85,000 for courthouse chiller labor; $79,600 for the three Public Safety Communications shelters that have HVAC; $65,000 for Work Release fiber from the Warsaw Police Department to work release; and $47,500 for Justice Building parking lot fiber.

She said the Justice Building parking lot fiber will go clear around the parking lot and allow for the security cameras on the poles in the lot to have the security.

Groninger said, “Those fiber connections, that’s pretty much we’re building a whole redundant system at the county highway for our computer system. So, that currently we do that wirelessly through microwave out to there. And from a speed and an ability to back up quicker and security, we’re really wanting to get that hard fiber connection.”

He said the county already has a hard fiber connection from the county courthouse to the WPD. From there, it’ll go to Work Release and from there to the highway department.

“So when we’re done, we’ll have a complete dedicated fiber connection from the Justice Building to the courthouse, from the courthouse to Work Release and Work Release to the County Highway. All those buildings will be interconnected,” Groninger said.

The county will keep the wireless system as a backup.

The ARPA Committee unanimously approved all of the grant requests, which total $1,335,194.55. A separate $67,201.55 also was reduced from the grant budget and reappropriated earlier in the meeting to the Pierceton sidewalk project.

The final business of the committee was to set meeting dates for the rest of 2024 and for 2025. Those will be at 1 p.m. Nov. 13 and Dec. 18, 2024; and Jan. 15, April 16, July 16, Oct. 15 and Dec. 17, 2025.