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Covering Milford, Syracuse & North Webster, Indiana
Koehler Is Newest LRSD Board Member
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
One Nation Under God
Page 8 themail-journal.com
Commissioners OK service agreement for commercial-industrial assessments To get the commercial and industrial assessments completed in 2024 and then thereafter, the Kosciusko County Commissioners on Tuesday, Dec. 5, put their trust into County Assessor Gail Chapman’s plan. At its Nov. 21 meeting, the commissioners approved ending a contract with Lexur Appraisal Services (part of Vision Government Solutions), per Chapman’s request, after Lexur failed to live up to expectations in the first year of their three-year contract. Tuesday, Chapman reported to the commissioners the termination of the contract with Lexur was taken care of. She met with them personally last Wednesday and hand-delivered it to them. “They received their 30-day notice. They accepted the termination. We had some discussion about some of the issues that went on during the year, and at this point I think we parted still speaking to each other, so I consider that a win-win for both sides,” she said. On Tuesday, Chapman presented a Kosciusko Commercial and Industrial Service Agreement to the commissioners. “This is different from the contract we had with Vision in the pure essence that Frank Kelly, who is president of Nexus Ltd., is going to be training Jennifer Spyres … who is going to be the supervisor of our commercial-industrial department. She’s already jumped in and started working,” Chapman said. “… This service agreement, I’m sure you all read it, basically encompasses all the work that will be done in commercial-industrial, but Frank will be the head of the training, but Jennifer will be beside him. She will be outside with him in all aspects of it while the training is going on.” Chapman reiterated the service agreement with Nexus was not like the contract the county had with Vision. The contract with Nexus is for a year at an amount not to exceed $68,500 to find out how much Spyres can learn, and then at the end of the year, Chapman will reevaluate it to figure out if Spyres needs some additional training. Depending on that evaluation, Chapman will make a decision on the contract and training for 2025. “... I’ve talked to (County Councilwoman) Sue Ann Mitchell about it. I think she is happy with who we chose, and I think we’re going to get a lot more service for the money ... allows us to bring it back in office, which I am extremely passionate about. That is my goal: To bring it back in office,” Chapman stated. Commissioner Cary Groninger
did ask if the contract with Nexus was billed by the hour. Chapman said it will be billed by the hour, but it will not exceed the $68,000 for 2024. “This also includes any appeals that would go to the state. His attorney would be called in on those. There’s no extra charge for that, for them to handle them at the state. There’s no overages. If he has to do more work, if there’s more involved, he’s not charging us more for it. ... ” she said. Chapman said she’s personally gone through every building permit they have had for the last two years. Chapman has looked at what has been done and found 20-25 June and July building permits that were never looked at. “So, we are physically going to go out and look at every single one of them by the end of the year, beginning of January, and we will know exactly what is done, ... and we’ll be able to assess that amount for Jan. 1, 2024,” she stated. Groninger made a motion to approve the agreement, Commissioner Brad Jackson seconded it and it was approved 3-0. Councilwoman Kathleen Groninger requested the commissioners approve a one-year contract with Reedy Financial Group for 2024. The money for the contract was allocated in the 2024 budget. “Our primary purpose in contracting with Reedy Financial is for planning purposes in the future. And so we’re really looking at them as a tool to help us help you with planning and also with the Strategic Planning Committee ... ” she said. Conley expressed some confusion about who Reedy Financial was. Carey Groninger reminded him the county had created a Strategic Planning Commission. Reedy Financial “is going to help us identify — once we have a strategic plan — what items we’re going to try and move forward with the fund,” he said. He said Reedy also will be able to help the county council with some of their financial planning. Continued on page 3
GETTING IN THE SPIRIT — Amanda Torres, office administrator at the Syracuse Community Center, is responsible for keeping her workplace in the holiday spirit by decorating for Christmas. She is pictured here adding an ornament to the 10-foot Christmas tree in the Community Center lobby, where she’s also put up garland, stockings and a few wooden snowmen. Photo by Lilli Dwyer.
A century later, Syracuse star to be a hall of famer By NATHAN PACE Sports Writer A wait that took 102 years is finally over. The late Emery Druckamiller, the first basketball star from Syracuse and Kosciusko County, is headed to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. Arden Druckamiller is Emery’s nephew, and knows the type of smile his uncle would have on getting inducted.
“He had a smile on his face most of the time,” Arden said. “He was always friendly.” Druckamiller graduated from Syracuse High School in 1922 to make him eligible for the Centennial Award. It is the first year back for the Centennial Award after a few years absence. The main criteria being a player graduated over 100 years ago and made a significant contribution to the game of basketball in Indiana.
County parks board selects triad for trail extension project By DAVID SLONE Times-Union During a special meeting Thursday, Nov. 30, the Kosciusko County Parks and Recreation Board selected the bid from Triad Associates Inc. for the design and engineering work of the Lake City (Chinworth Bridge) Greenway trail extension. A contract with Triad for $60,000 will be presented to the Kosciusko County Commissioners for their approval once it’s available. After interviewing firms Nov. 9, on Nov. 16 the Parks Board unanimously selected Taylor Siefker Williams Design Group to recommend to the commissioners for the blueways and greenways master plan. A decision on the trail extension was tabled unanimously to Thursday for the board to gather more information on the two firms they had narrowed down their decision on — Triad and Troyer Group. Troyer Group’s bid was $67,000. Board President Rob Bishop said Thursday the board first
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needed to agree on what each firm’s cost was and then talk about what they had found in their further research on the companies. Then, he said, someone needed to make a motion on which bidder to approve. Board member Matt Metzger offered up a comment not related to the costs. He said, “I did talk to the county leadership and, while they did have some reservations about Troyer or some hiccups, they didn’t think they were insurmountable and they assumed that it would be a different person than they’d be working with, and they felt fairly confident they could make something work.” Bishop asked if that was the county highway department, and Metzger said it was. At the Nov. 16 meeting, the Parks Board discussed some concerns the highway department and the Michiana Area Council of Governments had with Troyer on the Husky Trail project. Metzger said Thursday that the highway department also had mentioned that they had not worked with Triad before.
Inside
By DAVID SLONE Times-Union
Board member Mike Cusick said, looking at the costs of the bids for the trail extension, Triad bid $60,000 for the base work design and Troyer bid $67,000. Aggie Sweeney, board member, asked, “Does that include the bid for the first phase?” Cusick said it was his understanding that both bids were for the base for the first phase of the project. Bishop said he personally looked at both bidders again and that “both of them are more than capable of doing this portion of the work. This isn’t the visionary stuff we’re looking at for the master plan. This is for architectural and design work. Both of them are capable of doing that.” After Bishop requested a motion from a board member on selecting a bidder for the project, Cusick made a motion for Triad and Metzger seconded it. Metzger said, “One of the things that I liked about Triad was that they had a representative here almost the entire time, every meeting we’ve had. They understand our needs very inContinued on page 2
Leesburg Candelaria Celebrates Christmas See Page 11 See Public Notices On Page 11
Matt Martin is the executive director of Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and said Druckamiller was voted by a committee to be the 2024 recipient of the Centennial Award. “We had to do some sleuthing to find family members,” Martin said. Druckamiller and his wife, Emma, both died over 20 years ago, and their children are deceased as well. Martin was able to get a hold of a granddaughter to be notified about the award. Druckamiller took Syracuse to the state championship game in 1921 where it lost to Huntington 20-16. All 16 points were scored by Druckamiller. He had 18 of the 20 points the Yellow Jackets scored in a 20-17 regional win over Crawfordsville. Druckamiller was interviewed in a 1988 article for the Angola Herald-Republican and said Kosciusko County did not have a gym while he played. Games were held in places such as abandon buildings and barns. An old
school house was used as the gym in Syracuse. “I would spend hour, after hour, after hour in that gym. I’d mark circles at different places on the floor and shoot five shots from each circle and I suppose 200 free throws everyday for about three years,” Druckamiller told the Herald-Republican. At 5’7”, Drukamiller was viewed as too small to play basketball at first by a coach while he was in the sixth grade. The coach had no idea Druckamiller had been practicing his shooting in the gym the whole time. He played on the second team while in the eighth grade. His freshman year at Syracuse resulted in him becoming a star in the area as he scored 32 points in a first round sectional win against Ligonier. Druckamiller would become the first player from the county to make the Indiana All-Star team and would play at Indiana University. He also played on the Indiana University baseball team Continued on page 2
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