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Kosciusko County Area Plan Director Matt Sandy and Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) Director of Regional Housing Collaborative Lisa Slomka gave the County Council a presentation Thursday on land banks.
No action was taken.
Sandy said the discussion about land banks has been going on in the county since early 2025. He said the Kosciusko County Community Foundation started the discussion and what it could look like. The foundation funded a study on land banks to see if one could be feasible in Kosciusko.
“The study came back and said, yes, a land bank could be feasible in our county,” he said, as well as the different aspects, how it could operate and what it might entail. Once the study was completed, various stakeholders sat down and went over the different options. MACOG was brought in to assist as they had already started land bank discussions with other area counties.
The county commissioners were approached with the land bank concept in June, and funding was the big question. The Foundation shared there was the potential for a grant for the land bank program. The grant was approved in July and the foundation made it to MACOG.
Sandy said everyone knows housing is an issue in the county and a land bank could be a potential for infill housing. “This isn’t going to be the developments, this isn’t going to be the new subdivision, this will be infill of where those properties could possibly go,” he said.
Blight is another major concern that land banks could help address, he said.
“The other side of it is tax sale properties, and that’s where the study itself looked at those properties that are on the tax sale carousel. And not every property on the tax sale is a property that would be eligible for this,” Sandy said.
Slomka said a land bank is “an entity that oftentimes is a nonprofit, sometimes could be a governmental entity, but usually in Indiana is a nonprofit that works on acquiring, stabilizing and turning back around for redevelopment distressed properties in a community.”
Land banks are able to take those distressed properties and make them clean and clear, both with their title and the actual property itself, she said. “So that then we can turn the property around to a responsible homeowner, nonprofit developer or for-profit developer, basically somebody who is able to redevelop that property and turn it back around to productive use.”
Slomka said the foundation gave MACOG a large grant to put together a land bank, and the idea is for the county to be a partner in that.
Councilman Joe Irwin asked if the grant was to get the land bank up and going and if the idea was for the land bank to fund itself.
Slomka responded, “Usually land banks are not fully self-sustaining. They do require some additional funding, whether it’s from grants, municipal, etc. We do have kind of a set of pricing out for what is expected with the land bank.”
The first three years - 2026-28 - are funded by grant dollars. She said they do expect to come back in the summer to start talking about what it could look like with the county, working in collaboration with what the county is interested in and what the county is willing to do.
“We anticipate that as we work on these properties, the inventory will go down, so we can expect costs to go down over time,” she said.
Costs for 2029 are estimated to be around $100,000 for funding, whether that’s from the county and/or other sources. “As we do this work, we will be developing a sustainable funding plan, that we will be in communication with the county and others,” Slomka said.
Community Foundation CEO Stephanie Overbey said the foundation was really excited to do anything to support quality and the amount of housing in the county.
In other business, the county council approved:
• The recommendation from the Kosciusko County Opioid Settlement Funds Committee to grant $75,000 to LITE; $30,000 to Serenity House; and $175,000 to Fellowship Missions. The county commissioners also previously approved the grant recommendations.
• An additional appropriation request of $10,000 for legal services for the council, as presented by Council President Tony Ciriello.
• An additional appropriation for $100,000, as requested by the Kosciusko County Convention and Recreation Visitors Commission (KCCRVC), which was presented by County Auditor Alyssa Schmucker.
• The 2027 interlocal agreement between the county and the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District for the county auditor’s office to serve as the controller for the district for $10,000.
• The 2027 interlocal agreement with the KCCRVC for the auditor’s office to assist the commission with such things as processing claims, for $2,000.
• An appropriation adjustment request for $5,582.61, which is an insurance reimbursement for a 2024 Chevy Tahoe that was damaged in a crash caused by another driver, as requested by Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) Deputy Chief Chris McKeand.
• An appropriation adjustment request for $12,389.14, which is an insurance reimbursement for a 2025 Chevy Tahoe that was damaged in a crash caused by another driver, as requested by McKeand.
• For the KCSO to apply for two Kosciusko Coalition On Drug Education (KCODE) reimbursable grants, one for $7,000 for (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) DARE and the other for $5,000 for Jail Chemical Addiction Program (JCAP), as requested by McKeand.
• A transfer of $9,500 from motor vehicle highway (MVH) highway equipment operators fund to MVH highway superintendent fund due to a leave bank payout to former Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty, as requested by current Superintendent Troy Kintzel.
• An appropriation adjustment request for $5,200, which is an insurance reimbursement for a guardrail that was damaged in an automobile accident, as requested by Kintzel.
• An additional appropriation of $10,000, as requested by Kosciusko County Superior Court III Judge Chad Miner, for jury pay per diem and travel to finish out the year.
• An additional appropriation of $10,000, as requested by Kosciusko County Superior Court I Judge Karin McGrath, for Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative coordinators’ pay. The salary ordinance amendment was also approved.
• McGrath’s request to apply for a KCODE grant for $12,000 for the Reentry Court.
• Three additional appropriation requests totaling $15,362 for full-time wages, Social Security and Medicare and retirement for the victim’s assistant, as requested by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. The sum is paid for through the Victims Of Crime Act grant.
• Eight transfers totaling $68,800 from the Kosciusko County Public Defender’s Office, as requested by Chief Public Defender Jack Birch. The transfers will go into the contract fund to pay for two part-time employees, Will Kirkwood and Derek Faulkner, after a full-time employee, Kirkwood, wanted to return to private practice.
•For Emergency Management Director Kip Shuter to apply for a $30,000 Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness grant and a $58,526 Emergency Management Performance Grant.
• Three additional appropriations totaling $4,700, as requested by Kosciusko County Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver, in the gas, oil, etc. fund; Environmental Health Supplies fund; and postage.
• An ordinance increasing the cash change fund for the county treasurer’s office, as requested by County Treasurer Michelle Puckett. The county commissioners approved the same ordinance at their meeting Tuesday.
• The 2027 council meeting dates.
The council heard the annual update from Bowen Health.
Upcoming events the council was reminded or made aware of included:
• The State of the County, Oct. 20, 6 p.m., Lincoln Elementary School auditorium.
• MUST Committee meeting, 8:30 a.m., Oct. 15, old county courtroom, county courthouse.
• Nov. 6, 9 a.m., a joint public open meeting between the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals to discuss housing.
