The Starke County Commissioners asked the Starke County Council members for just over $142,000 in additional appropriations for capital projects in the CEDIT and Jail CEDIT funds.
On Monday night, Commissioner Kathy Norem explained that the commissioners reviewed priority projects in the county and found that the tuckpointing project at the courthouse needs to be done as water is causing damage on the exterior of the building. Norem said the work needs to be done behind the gutters so the gutters have to be removed and reinstalled as part of the process. Also, stone repairs are needed over the entryways at the courthouse as part of this project. A quote from RestoreWorks was provided for $58,565. That money would come out of the regular CEDIT Fund.
Norem said the commissioners also would like to appropriate $50,000 out of the regular CEDIT Fund for the 10 percent grant match for the courthouse elevator project. The county received a K-IRPC grant for the project in the amount of $500,000.
Lastly, the commissioners asked for $34,000 out of the Jail CEDIT Fund to purchase a squad car for the Starke County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Bill Dulin was granted permission to use any extra funds to wire the lights and radios.
The council members approved the requests with a unanimous vote.
Commissioner Norem reviewed other projects that the commissioners will be requesting funds for this year including a new ambulance, a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system for the Starke County Sheriff Department, an IT server, and a new telephone system.
