Kosciusko County Commissioners approved $172,000 Tuesday, Nov. 4, for repairs to the Justice Building after the exterior limestone panel collapsed in August. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW – Costs for repair work on the Justice Building exterior limestone panel collapse were approved by the Kosciusko County Commissioners Tuesday, Nov. 4.

County Administrator Marsha McSherry told the commissioners, “So, we’ve been working on the Justice Building with the soffit failure with the collapse that we had. We have a proposal on the table from Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates out of Indianapolis. It covers the scope of repairs for the failed soffit, which is $69,000, and it covers the repairs for the rest of the north part of the 1981 build, and that is $103,000, for a total of $172,000.”

The commissioners needed to approve those costs so the repairs can move forward as the work will also provide needed information.

County Commissioner Cary Groninger explained, “I know that we’ve had certain conversations with these and some other folks, just trying to make sure the scope of work is complete. This work not only includes where the collapse happened but also the other parts of the building, to make sure if there’s other systemic issues that need to be covered” that they get addressed.

He said it also covers a contractor coming in and doing some exploratory openings to “make sure we could look at some of those fasteners and better understand how it’s connected and what it’s looking like so we can make sure that documents that are prepared are something that’s really going to serve the county long-term, as far as the maintenance of the building.”

The county has done its due diligence trying to walk through and making sure it’s getting a complete quote for the project, Groninger said, while still working with the insurance company to confirm what will be covered by insurance.

“Given that information, I do think we need to move forward,” said Commissioner Bob Conley, making the motion to approve going forward with the work. Commissioner Sue Ann Mitchell seconded the motion, which passed 3-0.

On Aug. 29, exterior limestone panels on the east side (facing Lake Street) of the Justice Building fell. No one was injured. On Sept. 9, the Kosciusko County Commissioners approved Robinson Construction to start cleaning the damage up.

In other business, County Auditor Alyssa Schmucker presented the 2026 nonprofit agreements for the commissioners’ approval. The amounts were approved by the commissioners and included in the 2026 budget. The agreements are with the Beaman Home for $33,425; Cardinal Services, $108,129; Kosciusko County 4-H Council, $46,590; Kosciusko County Historical Society, $23,230; and Kosciusko Community Senior Services, $33,425. The 2026 service agreement with the St. Joe River Basin also was approved for $4,033.

Later in the meeting, Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) Director of Operations and Community Development Zach Dripps and Kosciusko County Parks and Recreation Board President Rob Bishop presented a grant opportunity to the commissioners.

Dripps said the grant opportunity through the Indiana Department of Health came across his desk recently and he thought Kosciusko County would be a perfect candidate for it.

“It’s for planning grants for community and bicycle and pedestrian improvements, and I know the county just recently mapped out their countywide bicycle and pedestrian plan, and this is a good opportunity to move the ball forward on a couple of those projects,” he said.

One of the project types the grant will cover is a project acceleration plan.

“The goal is to move a concept to get a feasibility of whether that bike plan will work, and so the goal is to … advance it forward,” Dripps said, including getting the routes, construction costs and other information to see if it would be a good, solid project.

MACOG is willing to help with the grant writing and work with the Parks Board to get the grant together. The grant is for $20,000 from the state, and requires a local match of $20,000. Bishop said the Parks Board is really excited as the Chinworth Bridge Trail extension is wrapped up.

“This would be our long-term project. This is certainly not something that we’d be looking at breaking ground tomorrow,” he said. “… This would get us shovel-ready to go out and get the grant to do a big project. We’ve always known that at some point in time, we would need to go out and fund raise and I think this is a great project for us to start that. It’s not an insurmountable amount of money to go get. So, I think we’re all excited and we hope you give us the opportunity to show we can raise this money through this sort of micro-grant, if you will, in terms of a parks trail project.”

Groninger said this will probably be one of the projects the Parks Board has in their master plan – the trail connection between Winona Lake and Pierceton. Bishop said Pierceton has done a lot of work already, including getting costs and potential plans together. Conley said he liked the concept of working with Pierceton and Winona Lake and it was a good project, but he advised they stay off Pierceton Road because it’s a dangerous and fast road. Bishop said the current “dream” is that everyone thinks Wooster Road is the way to go.

Mitchell thanked Bishop and his board for being willing to try to find the funding and applauded them for that as well as for their enthusiasm. The commissioners approved the grant application and for Groninger to be authorized to sign the paperwork.

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, new 4-H Youth Development Educator Amy Rumschlag presented the Purdue Cooperative Extension Services contractual agreement to the commissioners. The agreement was already approved with the 2026 budget, but needed to be signed, which the commissioners approved. Kosciusko County Community Coordinator Amy Roe presented her 2025 third quarter Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program (HELP) report.

“So, we would be and will be completed with everything in quarter four for the HELP brick-and-mortar projects and the planning projects. I’ve got all of what we have done by quarter three, and additional projects that I’ve been working on,” she said.

Groninger thanked Roe for having all the brick-and-mortar projects completed that she’s been working on for the last several years. He also recognized Dripps as MACOG was a big part of getting those projects completed, and the projects were super impactful to the three communities involved in those projects, as well as for the county.

“It’s exciting to see these next things that you’re working on, as well as I know we now have the CAP (Community Amenities Program) through OIRI (Orthopedic Industry Retention Initiative) that we’re starting to try to identify projects,” he said. “It’s almost like HELP 2.0, but maybe on steroids because I think there will be more participants, but it’s exciting to see all of our small communities continue to grow and thrive in the county.”

CAP is a $5 million grant initiative designed to fund transformational public projects that enhance quality of life in towns across the county, according to a previous news release. Established through the OIRI and managed by the K21 Health Foundation, CAP is a strategic investment in the places that is designed to bring communities together through things like parks, trails, gathering spaces, community centers and other public amenities that strengthen connection, well-being and hometown pride.